The American journal of the medical sciences
-
Editorial Historical Article
2019 SSCI Founders' Medal Award Acceptance Address.
-
End stage renal disease (ESRD) is characterized by autonomic dysfunction. During orthostatic stress, sympathetic (SNS) activity increases and parasympathetic (PNS) activity decreases to maintain arterial blood pressure (BP). We hypothesized that ESRD patients have impaired ability to adjust cardiac SNS and PNS activity during orthostasis, which could contribute to increased blood pressure variability, orthostatic intolerance and falls. ⋯ These data suggest that ESRD patients have impaired autonomic adjustments to orthostatic stress.
-
The optimal duration of antibiotic treatment has not been established for pneumonia patients. Some investigators reported procalcitonin (PCT)-guided antimicrobial stewardship reduces the duration of antibiotic use without increasing mortality in pneumonia patients. ⋯ PCT-guided antibiotic discontinuation might be useful for shortening the duration of antibiotic treatment without increasing pneumonia recurrence.