Critical care : the official journal of the Critical Care Forum
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Observational Study
Incidence of near-death experiences in patients surviving a prolonged critical illness and their long-term impact: a prospective observational study.
So far, the few prospective studies on near-death experience (NDE) were carried out only in intensive care unit (ICU) patients with homogeneous aetiologies, such as cardiac arrest or trauma survivors. The aims of this 1-year prospective and monocentric study were to investigate the incidence of NDE in ICU survivors (all aetiologies) as well as factors that may affect its frequency, and to assess quality of life up to 1 year after enrolment. ⋯ The recall of NDE is not so rare in the ICU. In our cohort, cognitive and spiritual factors outweighed medical parameters as predictors of the emergence of NDE. Trial registration This trial was registered in Clinicaltrials.gov in February 2020 ( NCT04279171 ).
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This paper discusses the use of Artificial Intelligence Chatbot in scientific writing. ChatGPT is a type of chatbot, developed by OpenAI, that uses the Generative Pre-trained Transformer (GPT) language model to understand and respond to natural language inputs. AI chatbot and ChatGPT in particular appear to be useful tools in scientific writing, assisting researchers and scientists in organizing material, generating an initial draft and/or in proofreading. ⋯ ChatGPT work should not be used as a replacement for human judgment and the output should always be reviewed by experts before being used in any critical decision-making or application. Moreover, several ethical issues arise about using these tools, such as the risk of plagiarism and inaccuracies, as well as a potential imbalance in its accessibility between high- and low-income countries, if the software becomes paying. For this reason, a consensus on how to regulate the use of chatbots in scientific writing will soon be required.
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Observational Study
Plasma neurofilament light is a predictor of neurological outcome 12 h after cardiac arrest.
Previous studies have reported high prognostic accuracy of circulating neurofilament light (NfL) at 24-72 h after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA), but performance at earlier time points and after in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) is less investigated. We aimed to assess plasma NfL during the first 48 h after OHCA and IHCA to predict long-term outcomes. ⋯ The prognostic accuracy of NfL for predicting good and poor outcomes is excellent as early as 12 h after OHCA. NfL is less reliable for the prediction of outcome after IHCA.
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Review Randomized Controlled Trial
A randomized, double-blind trial comparing the effect of two blood pressure targets on global brain metabolism after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
This study aimed to assess the effect of different blood pressure levels on global cerebral metabolism in comatose patients resuscitated from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). ⋯ Among comatose patients resuscitated from OHCA, targeting a higher MAP 180 min after ROSC did not significantly improve cerebral energy metabolism within 96 h of post-resuscitation care. Patients with a poor clinical outcome exhibited significantly worse biochemical patterns, probably illustrating that insufficient tissue oxygenation and recirculation during the initial hours after ROSC were essential factors determining neurological outcome.
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Severe community-acquired Streptococcus pneumoniae bacterial meningitis: clinical and prognostic picture from the intensive care unit.
Severe community-acquired pneumococcal meningitis is a medical emergency. The aim of the present investigation was to evaluate the epidemiology, management and outcomes of this condition. ⋯ Mortality rate in critically ill patients with pneumococcal meningitis is lower than previously reported. Delay in antibiotic treatment following admission is the only amendable factor associated with mortality.