Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Endogenous plasma activated protein C levels and the effect of enoxaparin and drotrecogin alfa (activated) on markers of coagulation activation and fibrinolysis in pulmonary embolism.
There are no published data on the status of endogenous activated protein C (APC) in pulmonary embolism (PE), and no data on the effect of drotrecogin alfa (activated) (DAA) given in addition to therapeutic dose enoxaparin. ⋯ In patients with acute submassive PE endogenous APC levels are low. DAA infusion enhances the inhibition of fibrin formation.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Circulating adenosine increases during human experimental endotoxemia but blockade of its receptor does not influence the immune response and subsequent organ injury.
Preclinical studies have shown that the endogenous nucleoside adenosine prevents excessive tissue injury during systemic inflammation. We aimed to study whether endogenous adenosine also limits tissue injury in a human in vivo model of systemic inflammation. In addition, we studied whether subjects with the common 34C > T nonsense variant (rs17602729) of adenosine monophosphate deaminase (AMPD1), which predicts increased adenosine formation, have less inflammation-induced injury. ⋯ Human experimental endotoxemia induces an increase in circulating cytokine levels and subclinical endothelial and renal injury. Although the plasma adenosine concentration is elevated during systemic inflammation, co-administration of caffeine or the presence of the 34C > T variant of AMPD1 does not affect the observed subclinical organ damage, suggesting that adenosine does not affect the inflammatory response and subclinical endothelial and renal injury during human experimental endotoxemia.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
sRAGE in diabetic and non-diabetic critically ill patients: effects of intensive insulin therapy.
Hyperglycemia represents an independent prognostic factor in critically ill non-diabetic patients but not in those with diabetes. In this context, there is an ongoing debate on the benefit of an intensive insulin therapy, particularly in diabetic patients. We tested the hypothesis that expression of the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE), an important signal transduction receptor that elicits long-lasting nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activation, may underlie this difference. RAGE expression is regulated by multiple ligands, including high mobility group box-1 (HMGB-1), and is reflected by its released soluble form (sRAGE). ⋯ These findings support the hypothesis that sRAGE release, time-course and response to intensive insulin therapy differ between hyperglycemic diabetic and non-diabetic critically ill patients. Whether this difference underlies the dissimilarity in clinical outcome of hyperglycemia in these two conditions warrants further studies.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Comparison of intravenous immunoglobulin and plasma exchange in treatment of mechanically ventilated children with Guillain Barré syndrome: a randomized study.
Respiratory failure is a life threatening complication of Guillain Barré syndrome (GBS). There is no consensus on the specific treatment for this subset of children with GBS. ⋯ In children with GBS requiring MV, PE is superior to IVIG regarding the duration of MV but not PICU stay or the short term neurological outcome.The negative correlation between CSF protein values and duration of MV in PE group requires further evaluation of its clinical usefulness.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Impact of quetiapine on resolution of individual delirium symptoms in critically ill patients with delirium: a post-hoc analysis of a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study.
We hypothesized that delirium symptoms may respond differently to antipsychotic therapy. The purpose of this paper was to retrospectively compare duration and time to first resolution of individual delirium symptoms from the database of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study comparing quetiapine (Q) or placebo (P), both with haloperidol rescue, for critically ill patients with delirium. ⋯ Our exploratory analysis suggests that quetiapine may resolve several intensive care unit (ICU) delirium symptoms faster than the placebo. Individual symptom resolution appears to differ in association with the pharmacologic intervention (that is, P vs Q, both with as needed haloperidol). Future studies evaluating antipsychotics in ICU patients with delirium should measure duration and resolution of individual delirium symptoms and their relation to long-term outcomes.