BioMed research international
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Purpose. Early recognition of acute mesenteric ischemia (AMI) can be challenging. Extensive bowel necrosis secondary to AMI is associated with high rates of mortality. ⋯ The median preoperative lactate was 2.96 ± 2.59 mmol/l in patients with ≤50 cm, 6.86 ± 4.08 mmol/l in patients with 51-100 cm, 4.73 ± 2.76 mmol/l in patients with >100 cm ischemic bowel, and 14.07 ± 4.91 mmol/l in the group with multivisceral ischemia. Conclusion. Although elevated serum lactate might permit an early suspicion and thus influence the clinical decision-making with regard to prioritization of surgery in patients with suspected AMI, a linear relationship between serum lactate and the extent of bowel ischemia could not be established in this study.
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Purpose. Effectiveness of nonpharmacological multicomponent prevention delivered by trained volunteers (medical and psychology students), targeted at delirium risk factors in geriatric inpatients, was assessed at an internal medicine ward in Poland. Patients and Methods. ⋯ There was a trend towards a shorter hospitalization time and a not statistically significant decrease in deaths in the intervention group. Conclusion. Nonpharmacological multicomponent intervention targeted at delirium risk factors effectively reduced length of hospitalization and need for initiating antipsychotic treatment in elderly patients at the internal medicine ward.
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Although itch and pain are distinct experiences, both are unpleasant, may demand attention, and interfere with daily activities. Research investigating the role of attention in tonic itch and pain stimuli, particularly whether attention is drawn to the stimulus location, is scarce. ⋯ In contrast with our hypotheses, no indications were found for spatial attention allocation towards the somatosensory stimuli. This may relate to dynamic shifts in attention over the time course of the tonic sensations. Our secondary finding that itch and pain interfere with task performance is in-line with attention theories of bodily perception.
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According to the European Resuscitation Council guidelines, the use of mechanical chest compression devices is a reasonable alternative in situations where manual chest compression is impractical or compromises provider safety. The aim of this study is to compare the performance of a recently developed chest compression device (Corpuls CPR) with an established system (LUCAS II) in a pig model. Methods. ⋯ Animals treated with Corpuls CPR had significantly higher mean arterial pressures during resuscitation, along with a detectable trend of greater carotid blood flow and organ perfusion. Conclusion. Chest compressions with the Corpuls CPR device generated significantly higher mean arterial pressures than compressions performed with the LUCAS II device.
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Paraquat (PQ) is a widely used herbicide with extremely high poisoning mortality mostly from acute lung injury (ALI) or progressive pulmonary fibrosis. Toxicity mechanisms remain unclear, but a redox cycling process that generates reactive oxygen species (ROS) is involved, as are inflammation and cell apoptosis. We established an ALI mouse model by intraperitoneal injection of PQ (28 mg/kg) and then investigated the effects of a potent liver X receptor (LXR) agonist, TO901317 (5 or 20 mg/kg), injected intraperitoneally 30 min after PQ administration. ⋯ PQ exposure induced upregulation of the proapoptotic gene Bax and downregulation of the antiapoptotic gene Bcl-2, leading to marked cell apoptosis in the lung tissues. TO901317 treatment reversed all these effects through inhibition of PQ-induced nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) and JNK/p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) activation. The LXR agonist TO901317 had potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antiapoptotic effects against PQ-induced ALI.