Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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The composition and function of intestinal microflora are emerging as integral to both health and disease. During critical illness the normal microbiota are rapidly replaced by pathogenic species as a result of both the physiologic stress itself and the use of antibiotics. In this report, the authors use fecal pH as a surrogate marker to determine the predictive value of the functional output of the intestinal microflora during critical illness. Fecal pH appears to be highly predictive of outcome from critical illness, and may reflect the output of key organic acids such as the short-chain fatty acids, lactic acid, and other important products of the gut microflora.
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Editorial Comment
Sepsis in transit: from clinical to molecular classification.
In the previous issue of Critical Care, Maslove and colleagues studied circulating neutrophil transcriptional expression to discover and validate a molecular subclassification of adult patients with sepsis. The authors divided patients into small derivation (n = 55) and validation (n = 71) cohorts. Their complex methodology included partitioning around medoid and hierarchical clustering methods to define two transcriptionally distinct subtypes of sepsis. ⋯ Interestingly, most patient characteristics did not differ between groups, except for an increase in the proportion of severe sepsis in molecular subtype 1. Possible confounders of this study were the small sample size, population stratification, and lack of information regarding drug interventions, all of which support the need for more studies with larger cohorts that include transcriptional profiles. This thought-provoking hypothesis-generating study could lead to a new neutrophil expression-based molecular classification of adult sepsis.
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Smith and Perner report an observational cohort study of 164 patients with septic shock. For patients still alive on day 3, higher compared with lower fluid volume resuscitation was associated with lower 90-day mortality. This association of a relationship between fluid intake and decreased mortality aligns with the randomized controlled trial of early goal-directed therapy and later observational studies. I suggest careful individualization of fluid resuscitation to achieve adequate mean arterial pressure (about 60 to 70 mmHg) and normalization of arterial lactate levels in septic shock.
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Editorial Comment
Advancing the science of ventilator-associated pneumonia surveillance.
The landmark Study on the Efficacy of Nosocomial Infection Control definitively demonstrated that infection surveillance and control programs prevent hospital-acquired infections. The rise of public reporting, benchmarking, and pay for performance movements, however, has considerably changed the infection surveillance landscape in the 27 years since this study was published. ⋯ Surveillance definitions need to be revised to enhance objectivity and to ensure that they detect clinically meaningful events associated with compromised outcomes. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released modified definitions for ventilator-associated events that have the potential to make safety surveillance for ventilated patients more credible and useful once again.
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Comment
ω-3 fatty acids, γ-linolenic acid, and antioxidants: immunomodulators or inert dietary supplements?
The omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids docosahexaenoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid, along with γ-linolenic acid and antioxidants, may modulate systemic inflammatory response and improve oxygenation and outcomes in patients with acute lung injury. ⋯ Twice-daily enteral supplementation of n-3 fatty acids, γ-linolenic acid, and antioxidants did not improve the primary end point of ventilator-free days or other clinical outcomes in patients with acute lung injury and may be harmful.