Intensive care medicine
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Intensive care medicine · Jun 2005
Comparative StudyCentral venous-arterial carbon dioxide difference as an indicator of cardiac index.
The mixed venous-arterial (v-a) pCO(2) difference has been shown to be inversely correlated with the cardiac index (CI). A central venous pCO(2), which is easier to obtain, may provide similar information. The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between the central venous-arterial pCO(2) difference and CI. ⋯ Venous-arterial pCO(2) differences obtained from both the PA and CV circulations inversely correlate with the cardiac index. Substitution of a central for a mixed venous-arterial pCO(2) difference provides an accurate alternative method for calculation of cardiac output.
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Intensive care medicine · Jun 2005
Comparative StudyA prospective study of outcome predictors after severe brain injury in children.
To directly compare the predictive powers of somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) to those of motor and pupillary responses. ⋯ SEPs are the best overall predictor of outcome while motor and pupillary responses have advantages in some specific areas. The routine use of SEPs should be considered in the prediction of outcome of severely brain-injured patients.
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Intensive care medicine · Jun 2005
Illness severity and parental permission for clinical research in a pediatric ICU population.
Research in child subjects requires parental permission. We examined whether parental authorization of involvement in a clinical study is influenced by the child's severity of illness at the time of the consent decision. ⋯ Parents of children with higher illness severity scores are not more likely to decline permission to include their child in clinical observational research on the ICU. History of disease and subjectively perceived burden to the child are important factors that must be considered.
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Intensive care medicine · Jun 2005
Protective effect of beta-glucan on lung injury after cecal ligation and puncture in rats.
Understanding the biological mediators involved in the complex inflammatory response of sepsis and acute lung injury offers the possibility of future investigations targeting treatment based on these mediators. This study investigated whether macrophage activator beta-glucan has a protective effect on acute lung injury in an experimental model of sepsis. ⋯ In this rat model of intra-abdominal sepsis beta-glucan treatment partially protected against secondary lung injury, decreased lung hemorrhages, and lung neutrophilia. These results suggest that beta-glucan protects against sepsis-associated lung damage.