Chest
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Multicenter Study
Prediction of acute respiratory disease in current and former smokers with and without COPD.
The risk factors for acute episodes of respiratory disease in current and former smokers who do not have COPD are unknown. ⋯ Although acute episode of respiratory disease rates are higher in subjects with COPD, risk factors are similar, and at a population level, there are more episodes in smokers without COPD.
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The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasing, which presents challenges for both patients and health-care budgets. Although this phenomenon has been attributed to the growth in diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, sleep apnea and nocturnal hypoxemia may also contribute to the pathogenesis of CKD and its progression to kidney failure. Two pathophysiologic mechanisms responsible for CKD are glomerular hyperfiltration and chronic intrarenal hypoxia, resulting in tubulointerstitial injury, the final common pathway to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). ⋯ Nevertheless, sleep apnea and nocturnal hypoxemia have been associated with loss of kidney function and kidney injury, suggesting that they contribute to the pathogenesis of continued deterioration in kidney function. There are several pathways through which sleep apnea may achieve this, including a direct effect of intrarenal hypoxia and activation of the systemic and renal renin-angiotensin system. Further research is required to better understand these relationships and determine whether specific interventions in patients with sleep apnea have an impact on clinical outcomes, such as reducing the prevalence of CKD and delaying its progression to ESKD.
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Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) develops in approximately 20% of patients in the ICU receiving prolonged mechanical ventilation (MV). Among the range of methods for preventing VAP, the evidence base for topical antibiotics (TAs), including selective digestive decontamination, appears to be the most compelling. However, several observations are puzzling, and the contextual influence resulting from concurrent use of both topical placebo and TA within an ICU remains untested. ⋯ The mean VAP incidence for five other categories of control groups from the broader evidence base is within four percentage points of the benchmark. The contextual effect of TA is paradoxic, peculiar, potent, perfidious, and potentially perilous. The TA evidence base requires reappraisal to consider this herd peril.
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Multicenter Study
Fibulin-1 predicts disease progression in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
The underlying mechanisms of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) are unknown. This progressive disease has high mortality rates, and current models for prediction of mortality have limited value in identifying which patients will progress. We previously showed that the glycoprotein fibulin-1 is involved in enhanced proliferation and wound repair by mesenchymal cells and, thus, may contribute to lung fibrosis in IPF. ⋯ Fibulin-1 is a novel potential biomarker for disease progression in IPF and raises the possibility that it could be used as a target for the development of new treatments.
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Review
Brain death and islam: the interface of religion, culture, history, law, and modern medicine.
How one defines death may vary. It is important for clinicians to recognize those aspects of a patient's religious beliefs that may directly influence medical care and how such practices may interface with local laws governing the determination of death. Debate continues about the validity and certainty of brain death criteria within Islamic traditions. ⋯ The results of the literature review inform this discussion. Brain death has been acknowledged as representing true death by many Muslim scholars and medical organizations, including the Islamic Fiqh Academies of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Muslim World League, the Islamic Medical Association of North America, and other faith-based medical organizations as well as legal rulings by multiple Islamic nations. However, consensus in the Muslim world is not unanimous, and a sizable minority accepts death by cardiopulmonary criteria only.