British journal of anaesthesia
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Low-dose buprenorphine infusion to prevent postoperative hyperalgesia in patients undergoing major lung surgery and remifentanil infusion: a double-blind, randomized, active-controlled trial.
Postoperative secondary hyperalgesia arises from central sensitization due to pain pathways facilitation and/or acute opioid exposure. The latter is also known as opioid-induced hyperalgesia (OIH). Remifentanil, a potent μ-opioid agonist, reportedly induces postoperative hyperalgesia and increases postoperative pain scores and opioid consumption. The pathophysiology underlying secondary hyperalgesia involves N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-mediated pain pathways. In this study, we investigated whether perioperatively infusing low-dose buprenorphine, an opioid with anti-NMDA activity, in patients receiving remifentanil infusion prevents postoperative secondary hyperalgesia. ⋯ Low-dose buprenorphine infusion prevents the development of secondary hyperalgesia around the surgical incision but shows no long-term efficacy at three months follow-up.
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Comparative Study
Epidemiology of sepsis and septic shock in critical care units: comparison between sepsis-2 and sepsis-3 populations using a national critical care database.
New sepsis and septic shock definitions could change the epidemiology of sepsis because of differences in criteria. We therefore compared the sepsis populations identified by the old and new definitions. ⋯ In an ICU database, compared with Sepsis-2, Sepsis-3 identifies a similar sepsis population with 92% overlap and much smaller septic shock population with improved predictive validity.
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Randomized controlled trials on the post-admission use of statins in sepsis patients have not shown a survival benefit. Whether preadmission use of statins would confer any beneficial effects in sepsis patients has not been well studied. ⋯ In this national cohort study, preadmission statin therapy before sepsis development was associated with a 12% reduction in mortality when compared with patients who never received a statin. There were no consistent beneficial effects of statins in all patient subgroups.
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Effective communication within teams is crucial, especially in crisis situations. Hierarchy gradients between team members can contribute to communication failures and are influenced by many factors. The effect of gender on team performance has not been well studied. The objective of this study was to examine the effect of the physician's gender on respiratory therapists' ability to effectively challenge clearly incorrect clinical decisions during a life-threatening crisis. ⋯ The study showed a significant effect of superiors' gender on a respiratory therapist's ability to challenge leadership. A female staff anaesthetist was challenged more often and with greater assertiveness and effectiveness. This has implications for an educational intervention targeting the ability to challenge a wrong decision by a supervisor and emphasizing the effect of gender on the willingness to speak up.