Articles: function.
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In a recent issue of Critical Care, Poole and colleagues found that plasma citrulline concentration and glucose absorption were reduced in 20 critically ill patients compared with 15 controls; however, the authors found no correlation between these two variables. This study highlights the question of the accuracy of plasma citrulline for assessing small bowel function in critically ill patients. Future studies should take into account the type of intestinal failure considered, the particular metabolism of citrulline, the time of plasma citrulline measurement, as well as the range of citrullinemia considered.
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Intensive care medicine · Jan 2015
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Observational StudyThromboelastography in patients with severe sepsis: a prospective cohort study.
To investigate the association between consecutively measured thromboelastographic (TEG) tracings and outcome in patients with severe sepsis. ⋯ In our cohort of patients with severe sepsis, progressive hypocoagulability defined by TEG variables was associated with increased risk of death and increased risk of bleeding.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Observational Study
Association between biomarkers of endothelial injury and hypocoagulability in patients with severe sepsis: a prospective study.
Patients with severe sepsis often present with concurrent coagulopathy, microcirculatory failure and evidence of vascular endothelial activation and damage. Given the critical role of the endothelium in balancing hemostasis, we investigated single-point associations between whole blood coagulopathy by thrombelastography (TEG) and plasma/serum markers of endothelial activation and damage in patients with severe sepsis. ⋯ In our cohort of patients with severe sepsis, higher circulating levels of biomarkers of mainly endothelial damage were independently associated with hypocoagulability assessed by TEG and FF. Endothelial damage is intimately linked to coagulopathy in severe sepsis.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Cognitive Impairment Precedes and Predicts Functional Impairment in Mild Alzheimer's Disease.
The temporal relationship of cognitive deficit and functional impairment in Alzheimer's disease (AD) is not well characterized. Recent analyses suggest cognitive decline predicts subsequent functional decline throughout AD progression. ⋯ Analyses from three databases indicated cognitive decline precedes and predicts subsequent functional decline in mild AD dementia, consistent with previously proposed hypotheses, and corroborate recent publications using similar methodologies. Cognitive impairment may be used as a predictor of future functional impairment in mild AD dementia and can be considered a critical target for prevention strategies to limit future functional decline in the dementia process.