Articles: function.
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Autonomic dysfunction in pediatric patients with acquired brain injury is often encountered and greatly understudied. We sought to identify the incidence of Paroxysmal Sympathetic Hyperactivity (PSH) in critically ill pediatric patients with meningoencephalitis and encephalitis, associated risk factors and influence on outcome. ⋯ PSH was found in a high percentage of our patients with significant variation in risk factors and outcome noted between patients with bacterial and nonbacterial causes of their meningoencephalitis/encephalitis.
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Smokers are assessed for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) using spirometry, with COPD defined by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) as airflow limitation that is not fully reversible with bronchodilators. There is a subset of smokers with normal spirometry (by GOLD criteria), who have a low diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO), a parameter linked to emphysema and small airway disease. The natural history of these "normal spirometry/low DLCO" smokers is unknown. ⋯ In the normal spirometry/normal DLCO group assessed over 45±20 months, 3% developed GOLD-defined COPD. In contrast, in the normal spirometry/low DLCO group, followed over 41±31 months, 22% developed GOLD-defined COPD. Despite appearing "normal" according to GOLD, smokers with normal spirometry but low DLCO are at significant risk of developing COPD with obstruction to airflow.
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Critical care medicine · Dec 2015
Gene Expression of Proresolving Lipid Mediator Pathways Is Associated With Clinical Outcomes in Trauma Patients.
Specialized proresolving lipid mediators have emerged as powerful modulators of inflammation and activators of resolution. Animal models show significant benefits of specialized proresolving lipid mediators on survival and wound healing after major burn trauma. To date, no studies have investigated specialized proresolving lipid mediators and their relation to other lipid mediator pathways in humans after trauma. Here we determine if patients with poor outcomes after trauma have dysregulated lipid mediator pathways. ⋯ proresolving lipid mediator lipidomics and/or protein expression, and identifying associated therapeutic targets, may influence the clinical management of trauma patients.
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To determine the direct and indirect effects of function on clinical variables such as age, pain intensity, years of the disease, severity of symptoms, and depression in women with electrodiagnostic and clinical diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). ⋯ Our study demonstrated that function mediates the relationship between depression and symptoms severity with pain intensity in women with CTS. Future longitudinal studies will help to determine the clinical implications of these findings.
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COPD is characterized by chronic airway inflammation and remodeling, with serious modifications of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Hyaluronic acid (HA) is an abundant ECM molecule in the lung with various biologic functions that depend on its molecular weight (MW). High-MW HA exhibits antiinflammatory and immunosuppressive effects, whereas low-MW HA is proinflammatory. In this study, we investigated whether acute exacerbations of COPD (AECOPDs), which affect patient quality of life and survival, are associated with altered HA turnover in BAL. ⋯ AECOPDs are associated with increased HYAL activity in BAL and subsequent degradation of HA, which may contribute to airway inflammation and subsequent lung function decline during exacerbations.