The Journal of surgical research
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Alcohol (EtOH) poses a challenge in traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) given its metabolic and neurologic impact. Studies have had opposing results regarding mortality and complication rates in the intoxicated TBI patient. We hypothesized that trauma mechanism, brain injury severity, and blood alcohol concentration (BAC) would influence the impact of EtOH on mortality in TBI. ⋯ We found that EtOH is not associated with mortality in the patient with TBI, suggesting no causative effect. However, EtOH showed some predictability of mortality based on a receiver operator characteristic analysis. Interestingly, EtOH was associated with lower infectious complications, suggesting an immunomodulatory effect of EtOH in TBI.
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Soluble suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (sST2), a decoy receptor for interleukin (IL)-33, has emerged as a novel biomarker in various disease processes. Recent studies have elucidated the role of the sST2/IL-33 complex in modulating the balance of Th1/Th2 immune responses after tissue stress. However, the role of sST2 as a biomarker after traumatic injury remains unclear. To address this, we evaluated serum sST2 correlations with mortality and in-hospital adverse outcomes as endpoints in blunt trauma patients. ⋯ Elevations in serum sST2 levels are associated with poor clinical trajectories and mortality after blunt trauma. High sST2 coupled with low IL-33 associates with severe injury, mortality, and worse clinical outcomes. These findings suggest that sST2 could serve as an early prognostic biomarker in trauma patients and that sustained elevations of sST2 could contribute to a detrimental suppression of IL-33 bioavailability in patients with high injury severity.
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Section 6002 of the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as "The Sunshine Act," is legislation designed to provide transparency to the relationship between physicians and industry. Since 2013, medical product and pharmaceutical manufacturers were required to report any payments made to physicians to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). We predicted that most clinical faculty at our institution would be found on the Open Payments website. We elected to investigate payments in relationship to divisions within the department of surgery and the level of professorship. ⋯ Reporting of open payments to CMS provides transparency between physicians and industry. The significant relationship of division and rank with open payments database is driven by relatively few faculty. The majority (94%) received either no payments or less than $10,000.
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Several serum biomarkers have been studied to diagnose incidence and severity of traumatic brain injury (TBI), but a reliable biomarker in TBI has yet to be identified. Ubiquitin carboxy-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1) has been proposed as a biomarker in clinical and preclinical studies, largely in the setting of isolated TBI or concussion. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of UCH-L1 as a serum biomarker in the setting of polytrauma and TBI. ⋯ Our study demonstrates that UCH-L1 is not a specific marker for TBI but is elevated in models that induce central and peripheral nerve ischemia. Given the increase in UCH-L1 levels observed after hemorrhagic shock, we propose that UCH-L1 may be a useful adjunct in quantifying severity of shock or global ischemia rather than as a specific marker of TBI.
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Review Meta Analysis
The Effect of Perioperative Music on the Stress Response to Surgery: A Meta-analysis.
Current perioperative patient care aims to maintain homeostasis by attenuation of the stress response to surgery, as a more vigorous stress response can have detrimental effects on postoperative recovery. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to assess the effect of perioperative music on the physiological stress response to surgery. ⋯ Perioperative music can attenuate the neuroendocrine stress response to surgery.