Journal of critical care
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Journal of critical care · Dec 2017
Prognostic value of left ventricular-arterial coupling in elderly patients with septic shock.
To investigate the predictive value of left ventricular-arterial coupling (VAC) for clinical prognosis of elderly patients with septic shock. ⋯ Left VAC has prognostic value in elderly patients with septic shock.
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Journal of critical care · Dec 2017
Observational StudyClinical and laboratory predictors of Infectious Complications in patients after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest.
Identification of clinical and laboratory predictors related to Infectious Complications (ICs) in patients after Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA). ⋯ Early initiated antibiotic treatment is overused in patients after OHCA. This practice is associated with necessitating antibiotic change in the majority of patients with IC. Assessment of clinical and laboratory parameters in the first days after OHCA increases the likelihood of appropriate ATB therapy.
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Journal of critical care · Dec 2017
Perioperative prediction of agitated (hyperactive) delirium after cardiac surgery in adults - The development of a practical scorecard.
Delirium is a temporary mental disorder that occurs frequently among hospitalized patients. In this study we sought to develop a user-friendly scorecard based on perioperative features to identify patients at risk of developing agitated delirium after cardiac surgery. ⋯ Using a large cohort of adult patient's undergoing cardiac surgery, a user-friendly scorecard was developed and validated, which will facilitate the implementation of timely interventions to mitigate adverse effects of agitated delirium in this high risk population.
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Journal of critical care · Dec 2017
Decision support system facilitates rapid decreases in pressure support and appropriate inspiratory muscle workloads in adults with respiratory failure.
A commercially available decision support system (DSS) provides guidance for setting inspiratory pressure support (PS) to maintain work of breathing (WOB/min), breathing frequency (f), and tidal volume (VT) in proper clinical ranges (VentAssist™). If these values are outside the proper clinical range patients may suffer fatigue, atrophy, hypoventilation, hyperventilation, volutrauma, or VT deficiency. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the increase of the percentage of breaths in the targeted clinical ranges when the DSS guidance for setting the PS was followed. ⋯ The DSS is successful at assisting clinicians on how to set PS specific to a patient's individual demands (VT and f) while accounting for their breathing effort (WOB/min). The DSS appears to promote rapid weaning of PS to minimal ventilator settings when appropriate.
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Journal of critical care · Dec 2017
Gut microbiota trajectory in patients with severe burn: A time series study.
This time series experiments aimed to investigate the dynamic change of gut microbiomes after severe burn and its association with enteral nutrition (EN). ⋯ Severe burn injury can cause a dramatic dysbiosis of gut microbiota. A trend of enriched beneficial bacteria and diminished opportunistic pathogen bacteria may serve as prognosis microbiome biomarkers of severe burn patients.