Bmc Infect Dis
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N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide levels associated with severe hand, foot and mouth disease.
Severe hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is sometimes associated with serious complications such as acute heart failure that can cause substantial child mortality. N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is a sensitive and specific biomarker of congestive heart failure. The aim of this study was to use plasma NT-proBNP levels to establish the severity of childhood HFMD. ⋯ Plasma NT-pro-BNP level appears to be a useful biological marker for predicting the severity and mortality of HFMD.
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Septic shock is a common and often devastating syndrome marked by severe cardiovascular dysfunction commonly managed with vasopressors. Whether markers of heart rate complexity before vasopressor up-titration could be used to predict success of the up-titration is not known. ⋯ Only a third of vasopressor up-titrations were successful among patients with septic shock. MAP and the long-term fractal exponent were associated with success of up-titration. These two, complementary variables may be important to the development of rational vasopressor titration protocols.
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Immigrants from countries with high incidence of tuberculosis (TB) are usually offered screening when they arrive to low incidence countries. The tuberculin skin test (TST) is often used. The interferon gamma release assays (IGRAs) are more specific and not affected by BCG vaccination. The aims of this study were 1. To see if there if there is a correlation between a positive IGRA (QFT) and presence of a BCG scar in children with TST ≥10 mm, 2. To compare the TST diameter with QFT result, 3. To see if chest X-ray can be omitted in QFT negative children despite TST ≥10 mm. ⋯ Previous BCG vaccination had an effect on the TST diameter so an IGRA is recommended to diagnose latent TB. Using only TST for screening of latent TB would lead to overdiagnosis. The TST diameter was larger in QFT positive than in QFT negative children but could not predict QFT in the individual patient. Chest X ray contributes little to the diagnosis of TB in QFT negative children but can not be omitted because of late seroconversion of QFT in some patients.