Critical care medicine
-
Critical care medicine · Apr 2011
Prevention of post-cardiopulmonary bypass acute kidney injury by endothelin A receptor blockade.
The aim of this study was to determine whether administration of a specific endothelin A receptor antagonist, sitaxsentan sodium, would prevent the development of post-cardiopulmonary bypass acute kidney injury in swine. ⋯ In this model, post-cardiopulmonary bypass acute kidney injury is associated with endothelial dysfunction, regional tissue hypoxia, and proximal tubular epithelial cell stress but not acute tubular necrosis. Antagonism of the endothelin-1 A receptor reversed these changes and may represent a therapeutic target for the prevention of post-cardiac surgery acute kidney injury.
-
Critical care medicine · Apr 2011
Multicenter StudyAssociation of low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and mortality in the critically ill.
We hypothesized that deficiency in 25-hydroxyvitamin D before hospital admission would be associated with all-cause mortality in the critically ill. ⋯ Deficiency of 25-hydroxyvitamin D before hospital admission is a significant predictor of short- and long-term all-cause patient mortality and blood culture positivity in a critically ill patient population.
-
Critical care medicine · Apr 2011
ReviewEvidence for quality indicators to evaluate adult trauma care: a systematic review.
Multiple quality indicators are available to evaluate adult trauma care, but their characteristics and outcomes have not been systematically compared. We sought to systematically review the evidence about the reliability, validity, and implementation of quality indicators for evaluating trauma care. ⋯ Although many quality indicators are available to measure the quality of trauma care, reliability evidence, validity evidence, and description of outcomes after implementation are limited.