Plos One
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Cost-Effectiveness of a Specialist Geriatric Medical Intervention for Frail Older People Discharged from Acute Medical Units: Economic Evaluation in a Two-Centre Randomised Controlled Trial (AMIGOS).
Poor outcomes and high resource-use are observed for frail older people discharged from acute medical units. A specialist geriatric medical intervention, to facilitate Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment, was developed to reduce the incidence of adverse outcomes and associated high resource-use in this group in the post-discharge period. ⋯ The specialist geriatric medical intervention for frail older people discharged from acute medical unit was not cost-effective. Further research on designing effective and cost-effective specialist service for frail older people discharged from acute medical units is needed.
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Low maternal vitamin D status during the second trimester of pregnancy: a cross-sectional study in Wuxi, China.
Vitamin D deficiency is common in pregnant women, but an optimal serum vitamin D level during pregnancy has not been determined and remains an area of active research. Vitamin D data from large populations of pregnant Chinese women are still limited. ⋯ There is a high prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency among pregnant Chinese women, and 25(OH)D levels varied according to season and air temperature. The results of this study also suggest that currently there is a big gap between the levels of Vitamin D detected in pregnant Chinese women and the levels recommended by the Endocrine Society.
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Albumin Kinetics in Patients Undergoing Major Abdominal Surgery.
The drop in plasma albumin concentration following surgical trauma is well known, but the temporal pattern of the detailed mechanisms behind are less well described. The aim of this explorative study was to assess changes in albumin synthesis and transcapillary escape rate (TER) following major surgical trauma, at the time of peak elevations in two well-recognized markers of inflammation. ⋯ Two days after major abdominal surgery, at the time-point when two biomarkers of generalised inflammation were at their peak and the plasma albumin concentration had decreased by 33%, we were unable to show any difference in the absolute synthesis rate of albumin, TER and plasma volume as compared with values obtained immediately pre-operatively. This suggests that capillary leakage, if elevated postoperatively, had ceased at that time-point. The temporal relations between albumin kinetics, capillary leakage and generalised inflammation need to be further explored.
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Multicenter Study
Decreased and Increased Anisotropy along Major Cerebral White Matter Tracts in Preterm Children and Adolescents.
Premature birth is highly prevalent and associated with neurodevelopmental delays and disorders. Adverse outcomes, particularly in children born before 32 weeks of gestation, have been attributed in large part to white matter injuries, often found in periventricular regions using conventional imaging. To date, tractography studies of white matter pathways in children and adolescents born preterm have evaluated only a limited number of tracts simultaneously. ⋯ These findings indicate that prematurity-related white matter differences in later childhood and adolescence do not affect all tracts in the periventricular zone and can involve both decreased and increased FA. Differences in the patterns of radial diffusivity and axial diffusivity suggest that the tissue properties underlying group FA differences may vary within and across white matter tracts. Distinctive diffusion properties may relate to variations in the timing of injury in the neonatal period, extent of white matter dysmaturity and/or compensatory processes in childhood.
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Acute Kidney Injury in Severe Sepsis and Septic Shock in Patients with and without Diabetes Mellitus: A Multicenter Study.
Whether diabetes mellitus increases the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) during sepsis is controversial. ⋯ In patients with severe sepsis or septic shock, diabetes is not associated with occurrence of AKI or need for RRT but is an independent risk factor for persistent renal dysfunction in patients who experience AKI during their ICU stay.