Critical care medicine
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Critical care medicine · Jul 2015
Observational StudyMonocyte Tumor Necrosis Factor-α-Converting Enzyme Catalytic Activity and Substrate Shedding in Sepsis and Noninfectious Systemic Inflammation.
To determine the effect of severe sepsis on monocyte tumor necrosis factor-α-converting enzyme baseline and inducible activity profiles. ⋯ Monocyte tumor necrosis factor-α-converting enzyme catalytic activity appeared altered by sepsis and may result in reduced shedding of tumor necrosis factor receptors. Changes seemed specific to sepsis and correlated with illness severity. A better understanding of how tumor necrosis factor-α-converting enzyme function is altered during sepsis will enhance our understanding of sepsis pathophysiology, which will help in the assessment of patient inflammatory status and ultimately may provide new strategies to treat sepsis.
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Critical care medicine · Jul 2015
Multicenter Study Observational StudyEffects and Clinical Characteristics of Intracranial Pressure Monitoring-Targeted Management for Subsets of Traumatic Brain Injury: An Observational Multicenter Study.
To evaluate the efficacy of traumatic brain injury management guided by intracranial pressure monitoring and to explore the specific subgroups for which intracranial pressure monitoring might be significantly associated with improved outcomes based on a classification of the various traumatic brain injury pathophysiologies using the clinical features and CT scans. ⋯ There were multiple differences between the intracranial pressure monitoring and no intracranial pressure monitoring groups regarding patient characteristics, injury severity, characteristics of CT scan, and hospital type. Intracranial pressure monitoring in conjunction with intracranial pressure-targeted therapies is significantly associated with lower mortality in some special traumatic brain injury subgroups. The prospective randomized controlled trials specifically investigating these subgroups will be required to further characterize the effects of intracranial pressure monitoring on behavioral outcomes in patients with traumatic brain injury.