Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Appropriate antibiotic (AB) therapy remains a challenge in the intensive care unit (ICU). Procalcitonin (PCT)-guided AB stewardship could help optimize AB treatment and decrease AB-related adverse effects, but firm evidence is still lacking. Our aim was to compare the effects of PCT-guided AB therapy with standard of care (SOC) in critically ill patients. ⋯ PCT-guided AB therapy may be associated with reduced AB use, lower 28-day mortality but higher infection recurrence, with similar ICU and hospital length of stay. Our results render the need for better designed studies investigating the role of PCT-guided AB stewardship in critically ill patients.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Mega-dose sodium ascorbate: a pilot, single-dose, physiological effect, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial.
Mega-dose sodium ascorbate (NaAscorbate) appears beneficial in experimental sepsis. However, its physiological effects in patients with septic shock are unknown. ⋯ In patients with septic shock, mega-dose NaAscorbate did not significantly increase cumulative 24-h UO. However, it induced a significantly greater increase in UO and a greater reduction in vasopressor dose and SOFA score over time. One episode of hypernatremia and one of hemolysis were observed in the NaAscorbate group. These findings support further cautious investigation of this novel intervention. Trial registration Australian New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry (ACTRN12620000651987), Date registered June/5/2020.
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Low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol have been associated with higher rates and severity of infection. Alterations in inflammatory mediators and infection are associated with alterations in HDL cholesterol. It is unknown whether the association between HDL and infection is present for all particle sizes, and whether the observed associations are confounded by IL-6 signalling. ⋯ Low number of small HDL particles are associated with increased hazard of sepsis, sepsis-related death, and sepsis-related critical care admission. However, genetic analyses did not strongly support this as causal. Instead, we demonstrate that increased IL-6 signalling, which is known to alter infection risk, could confound associations with reduced HDL particle count, and suggest this may explain part of the observed association between (small) HDL particle count and sepsis.