Journal of critical care
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2017
The association of blood urea nitrogen levels with mortality in acute pulmonary embolism.
The aim of this study was to investigate the association of BUN levels with in-hospital and long-term adverse clinical outcomes in acute pulmonary embolism (APE) patients treated with tissue-plasminogen activator (t-PA). ⋯ In this study, elevated admission BUN level was found to be a predictor of all-cause in-hospital mortality. BUN testing is commonly part of the basic metabolic panel; and it can be used to detect high-risk patients with APE, and it bears little risk, is inexpensive, and easy to perform.
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2017
Cytokine profiles as novel diagnostic markers of Epstein-Barr virus-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in children.
The aim of this study was to identify specific laboratory indices to distinguish Epstein-Barr virus-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH) in children. ⋯ This study showed that IFN-γ, IL-10/IL-6, and IFN-γ/IL-6 are novel specific indicators for differential diagnosis of EBV-HLH. Additionally, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, and IFN-γ are useful indices for monitoring the effects of treatment on EBV-HLH.
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2017
Hemodynamic and neuro-monitoring for neurocritically ill patients: An international survey of intensivists.
To investigate multimodality systemic and neuro-monitoring practices in acute brain injury (ABI) and to analyze differences among "neurointensivists" (NI; clinical practice comprised >1/3 by neurocritical care), and other intensivists (OI). ⋯ Intensivists with exposure to ABI patients employ more neuro- and hemodynamic monitoring. We found large heterogeneity and low overall use of advanced brain-physiology parameters.
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2017
Brain death after decompressive craniectomy: Incidence and pathophysiological mechanisms.
Patients who received decompressive craniectomy (DC) are usually not regarded to qualify for brain death (BD) as intracranial pressure (ICP) is not assumed to reach levels critical enough to cause cerebral perfusion failure. Here we investigated the incidence of BD after DC and analyzed the pathophysiological mechanisms. ⋯ Our study evidences that DC does not exclude BD. Even after DC, BD is preceded by a severely reduced CPP, supporting loss of cerebral perfusion as a critical step in BD pathophysiology.
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Journal of critical care · Jun 2017
Observational StudyCorrelation study on chromogranin A genetic polymorphism and prognosis of critically ill patients.
The objective was to investigate the correlation between single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of chromogranin A (CHGA) and prognosis of critically ill patients. ⋯ Critically ill patients with CHGA-415 T/C mutant genotype display higher 30-day mortality than those with the wild-type group. CHGA-415 T/C polymorphism is an independent risk factor of poor prognosis in critically ill Chinese Han patients.