Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Dec 1999
Automated infusion of vasoactive and inotropic drugs to control arterial and pulmonary pressures during cardiac surgery.
To evaluate the feasibility of a closed-loop system for simultaneous control of systemic arterial and pulmonary artery blood pressures during cardiac surgery. ⋯ Closed-loop control of both arterial and pulmonary pressures using multiple drugs is feasible during cardiac surgery.
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Critical care medicine · Dec 1999
Comparative StudyVascular hyporesponsiveness of the renal circulation during endotoxemia in anesthetized pigs.
To compare the vascular reactivity of the renal circulation in control and septic conditions. ⋯ This study shows a hyporesponsiveness of the renal circulation to vasoactive agents during endotoxemia. Vasoconstriction to NE, endothelium-dependent as well as endothelium-independent relaxations are altered during endotoxemia but not abolished, and despite the continuous infusion of endotoxin for 18 hrs, no recovery was observed over time.
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Critical care medicine · Dec 1999
A quantitative assessment of how Canadian intensivists believe they utilize oxygen in the intensive care unit.
To investigate attitudes and practices regarding oxygen therapy in intensive care units (ICUs) and to devise quantitative descriptive indices. ⋯ Considerable variation exists in the attitudes, beliefs, and stated practices relating to the management of oxygen therapy in the ICU. These data are amenable to quantitative description and illustrate the necessity for documentation of actual practice and development of support systems for decision-making in this and similar areas.
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Critical care medicine · Dec 1999
Differential expression pattern of heme oxygenase-1/heat shock protein 32 and nitric oxide synthase-II and their impact on liver injury in a rat model of hemorrhage and resuscitation.
To investigate the role of the vasodilator systems heme oxygenase-1/heat shock protein 32 (HO-1/HSP32) and nitric oxide synthase-II (NOS-II), generating carbon monoxide and nitric oxide respectively, as modulators of liver injury in an experimental model of reversible hemorrhagic shock. ⋯ These data suggest that HO-1/HSP32, but not the alternative cyclic guanosine monophosphate-generating enzyme NOS-II, is induced after hemorrhage and resuscitation and protects against hepatocellular injury. Both metabolites generated by the heme oxygenase pathway, e.g., carbon monoxide (a vasodilator) and biliverdin (an antioxidant) seem to contribute to the salutary effects of induction of HO-1/HSP32.
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Critical care medicine · Dec 1999
Acute graded hypercapnia increases collateral coronary blood flow in a swine model of chronic coronary artery obstruction.
To evaluate the effect of acute hypercapnia on regional myocardial blood flow in a swine model of chronic, single-vessel coronary artery obstruction. Permissive hypercapnia is being used frequently in critical care settings. One possible detrimental effect of hypercapnia is the initiation of coronary "steal" in patients with coronary artery disease. The effects of hypercapnia on collateral coronary blood flow in the setting of coronary obstruction have not been defined. ⋯ In this swine model of chronic single-vessel coronary artery obstruction, acute hypercapnia does not induce coronary steal from collateral-dependent myocardium, but it does increase global coronary blood flow.