Articles: chronic.
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Acute kidney injury (AKI) after cardiac surgery is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The long-term association between AKI and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) in an Asian population is unknown. Given the high prevalence of diabetes and a younger age of presentation for cardiac surgery, it is important to track this progression of kidney disease. Therefore, we studied the long-term risk of ESRD and mortality in our Asian patients who developed AKI after cardiac surgery. ⋯ AKI is associated with ESRD and mortality after cardiac surgery in our Asian population. The trajectory from AKI to ESRD is rapid within 5 years of cardiac surgery. A concerted periodic follow-up assessment is advocated for AKI patients post-cardiac surgery.
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Clin J Am Soc Nephrol · Feb 2017
Integrating Quality Improvement Education into the Nephrology Curricular Milestones Framework and the Clinical Learning Environment Review.
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education requires that trainees show progressive milestone attainment in the practice-based learning and systems-based practice competencies. As part of the Clinical Learning Environment Review, sponsoring hospitals must educate trainees in health care quality improvement, provide them with specialty-specific quality data, and ensure trainee participation in quality improvement activities and committees. Subspecialty-specific quality improvement curricula in nephrology training programs have not been reported, although considerable curricular and assessment material exists for specialty residencies, including tools for assessing trainee and faculty competence. ⋯ Fellow quality improvement projects have improved nephrology clinical care within the institution and introduced new educational and assessment tools to the training program. All have been opportunities for quality improvement scholarship. The curriculum prepares fellows to apply quality improvement principals in independent clinical practice-while showing milestone advancement and divisional compliance with Clinical Learning Environment Review requirements.
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Review Meta Analysis
Efficacy and tolerability of muscle relaxants for low back pain: Systematic review and meta-analysis.
Muscle relaxants are commonly prescribed for low back pain (LBP); however, there is limited evidence of their clinical efficacy and tolerability. This review evaluated the efficacy and tolerability of muscle relaxants in people with LBP. We searched online databases including Medline, EMBASE, CENTRAL and PsycINFO (inception to end October 2015) and performed citation tracking for eligible randomized controlled trials (RCTs). ⋯ Prolonged use of these medicines in LBP cannot be guided by trial evidence. WHAT DOES THIS REVIEW ADD?: Muscle relaxants provide clinically significant pain relief for acute low back pain. Caution must be taken with the interpretation of the findings as the evidence comes from specific muscle relaxant medicines.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · Feb 2017
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative StudyHigher vs. lower haemoglobin threshold for transfusion in septic shock: subgroup analyses of the TRISS trial.
Using a restrictive transfusion strategy appears to be safe in sepsis, but there may be subgroups of patients who benefit from transfusion at a higher haemoglobin level. We explored if subgroups of patients with septic shock and anaemia had better outcome when transfused at a higher vs. a lower haemoglobin threshold. ⋯ In exploratory analyses of a randomized trial in patients with septic shock and anaemia, we observed no survival benefit in any subgroups of transfusion at a haemoglobin threshold of 90 g/l vs. 70 g/l.
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Opioids are often used for pain treatment, but the response is often insufficient and dependent on e.g. the pain condition, genetic factors and drug class. Thus, there is an urgent need to identify biomarkers to enable selection of the appropriate drug for the individual patient, a concept known as personalized medicine. Quantitative sensory testing (QST) and clinical parameters can provide some guidance for response, but better and more objective biomarkers are urgently warranted. Electroencephalography (EEG) may be suitable since it assesses the central nervous system where opioids mediate their effects. ⋯ The current clinical study demonstrates the viability of EEG as a biomarker and with results consistent with previous experimental results. The combined method of machine learning and electroencephalography offers promising results for future developments of personalized pain treatment.