Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Dec 2007
Strategies to improve pediatric disaster surge response: potential mortality reduction and tradeoffs.
To estimate the potential for disaster mortality reduction with two surge response strategies: 1) control distribution of disaster victims to avoid hospital overcrowding near the scene, and 2) expand capacity by altering standards of care to only "essential" interventions. ⋯ Quantitative simulations suggest that response strategies controlling patient distribution and expanding capacity by altering standards of care may lower mortality rates in large disasters.
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Critical care medicine · Dec 2007
Comment Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyInfluence of volume therapy with a modern hydroxyethylstarch preparation on kidney function in cardiac surgery patients with compromised renal function: a comparison with human albumin.
There is continuing concern about the influence of hydroxyethylstarch on renal function in patients with compromised kidney function. ⋯ A hydroxyethylstarch preparation with a low molecular weight and a low molar substitution given in cardiac surgery patients with preoperative compromised kidney function did not negatively influence kidney integrity compared with a human albumin-based volume replacement strategy.
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Critical care medicine · Dec 2007
Comment Multicenter StudyPredictive and pathogenetic value of plasma biomarkers for acute kidney injury in patients with acute lung injury.
To identify biological and clinical predictors of acute kidney injury in subjects with acute lung injury. ⋯ Elevations in PAI-1, interleukin-6, and the sTNFRs in subjects with acute kidney injury suggest that disordered coagulation, inflammation, and neutrophil-endothelial interactions play important roles in the pathogenesis of acute kidney injury. The combination of these biological and clinical risk factors may have important and additive value in predictive models for acute kidney injury.