Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Mar 2015
Detailed characterization of a long-term rodent model of critical illness and recovery.
To characterize a long-term model of recovery from critical illness, with particular emphasis on cardiorespiratory, metabolic, and muscle function. ⋯ This detailed physiological, metabolic, hormonal, functional, and histological muscle characterization of a model of critical illness and recovery reproduces many of the findings reported in human critical illness. It can be used to assess putative therapies that may attenuate loss, or enhance recovery, of muscle mass and function.
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Critical care medicine · Mar 2015
Thrombocytopenia Impairs Host Defense During Murine Streptococcus pneumoniae Pneumonia.
Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common causative pathogen in community-acquired pneumonia. In patients, thrombocytopenia is correlated with an adverse outcome of pneumonia. Platelets can modulate the host response to infection in several ways, that is, by facilitating clot formation, production of antimicrobial proteins, and interaction with neutrophils. We studied the effect of thrombocytopenia during murine pneumococcal pneumonia. ⋯ Platelets play a protective role during pneumococcal pneumonia independent of their aggregation.