American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Mar 2012
ReviewSedation and analgesia in the mechanically ventilated patient.
Sedation and analgesia are important components of care for the mechanically ventilated patient in the intensive care unit (ICU). An understanding of commonly used medications is essential to formulate a sedation plan for individual patients. ⋯ An evidence-based strategy for administering these drugs can lead to improvements in short- and long-term outcomes for patients. In this article, we review advances in the field of ICU sedation to provide an up-to-date perspective on management of the mechanically ventilated ICU patient.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Mar 2012
The Parker B. Francis Fellowship Program: analysis of 31 years of career development support.
The Parker B. Francis (PBF) Fellowship Program has supported more than 750 M.D., M.D./Ph.D., and Ph.D. fellows since 1976, but there is little information about the effectiveness of the program in fostering successful careers and producing important research. ⋯ The PBF Program has been highly successful in producing a large number of scientific and clinical leaders in pulmonary and critical care medicine. The results provide comprehensive data about the success of this career development program and provide a model for programs designed to build the workforce in pulmonary and critical care medicine.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Mar 2012
Inhaled glucocorticoids during pregnancy and offspring pediatric diseases: a national cohort study.
Glucocorticoid inhalation is the preferred asthma treatment during pregnancy. Previous studies on its safety focused on obstetric outcomes and offspring malformations. ⋯ Regarding most disease categories, data are reassuring, supporting the use of inhaled glucocorticoids during pregnancy. In line with animal data, glucocorticoid inhalation during pregnancy may be a risk factor for offspring endocrine and metabolic disturbances, which should be considered further.
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Mar 2012
Regulation of transforming growth factor-β1-driven lung fibrosis by galectin-3.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic dysregulated response to alveolar epithelial injury with differentiation of epithelial cells and fibroblasts into matrix-secreting myofibroblasts resulting in lung scaring. The prognosis is poor and there are no effective therapies or reliable biomarkers. Galectin-3 is a β-galactoside binding lectin that is highly expressed in fibrotic tissue of diverse etiologies. ⋯ This study identifies galectin-3 as an important regulator of lung fibrosis and provides a proof of principle for galectin-3 inhibition as a potential novel therapeutic strategy for IPF.