The Worst Trauma Experienced as a Nurse

As a relatively new nurse, I never experienced the terror that normal people experience when someone starts to die. For me, I knew how to handle it.... read more

A closer step to artificial blood

A closer step to artificial blood

Researchers have created an artificial red blood cell that effectively picks up oxygen in the lungs and delivers it to tissues throughout the body. This artificial blood can be freeze-dried, making it easier for combat medics... read more

Scoring System Predicts Difficult Airways in Obese Patients

Scoring System Predicts Difficult Airways in Obese Patients

As a result of the literature review, the researchers created a scoring system for independent predictors of a difficult airway in morbid obesity.... read more

Skeletal muscle quality as assessed by CT-derived skeletal muscle density is associated with 6-month mortality in mechanically ventilated critically ill patients

Skeletal muscle quality as assessed by CT-derived skeletal muscle density is associated with 6-month mortality in mechanically ventilated critically ill patients

Low skeletal muscle quality at ICU admission, as assessed by CT-derived skeletal muscle density, is independently associated with higher 6-month mortality in mechanically ventilated patients. Thus, muscle quality as well... read more

Short-term Effects of High-Dose Caffeine on Cardiac Arrhythmias in Patients With Heart Failure

Short-term Effects of High-Dose Caffeine on Cardiac Arrhythmias in Patients With Heart Failure

This randomized clinical trial evaluates the short-term effects of high-dose caffeine consumption vs placebo in patients with heart failure at increased risk for arrhythmic events. After 500 mg of caffeine administered over... read more

Alpha blockers more effective for large kidney stones

Alpha blockers more effective for large kidney stones

Researchers report a 57 percent higher risk of stone passage for larger stones with an alpha blocker, but no benefit for smaller stones. Location did not make a difference, nor did type of alpha blocker used.... read more

Drugs Don’t Cut Trastuzumab-Tied Left Ventricular Remodeling

Drugs Don’t Cut Trastuzumab-Tied Left Ventricular Remodeling

The researchers found that the drugs were well tolerated, with no serious adverse events reported. The indexed left ventricular end diastolic volume increased in patients treated with perindopril, bisoprolol, and placebo... read more

Families and providers caring for medically complex patients share goals

Families and providers caring for medically complex patients share goals

In this study, parents of children with medical complexity emphasized how important many aspects of the hospital-to-home transition are to them, and they particularly emphasized how important it was to take into account their... read more

Testosterone VTE Risk; Novel Clot Buster Flops Again; Saturated Fat Culpability

Testosterone VTE Risk; Novel Clot Buster Flops Again; Saturated Fat Culpability

The venous thromboembolism (VTE) risk warned about with testosterone treatment appears to be transient, peaking within 6 months after starting and then gradually declining.... read more

Researchers develop novel wound-healing technology

A WSU research team has successfully used a mild electric current to take on and beat drug-resistant bacterial infections, a technology that may eventually be used to treat chronic wound infections.... read more

Warding off Fight, Flight, or Freeze

Warding off Fight, Flight, or Freeze

There's some evidence that suggests that just by telling people the physiological facts about stress, this is why you get tunnel vision, this is why you can't remember drug doses or what's next in the algorithm... read more

Pulmaquin Looks Promising for Treating Lung Infections in Non-CF Bronchiectasis Patients

Pulmaquin Looks Promising for Treating Lung Infections in Non-CF Bronchiectasis Patients

Aradigm has announced top-line results from two Phase 3 clinical trials of Pulmaquin (inhaled ciprofloxacin) for the treatment of patients with non-cystic fibrosis bronchiectasis (non-CF BE) who have chronic lung infections... read more

Adherence to guidelines reduces catheter-associated UTIs

Adherence to guidelines reduces catheter-associated UTIs

Adherence to CDC guidelines for the placement, maintenance and removal of catheters and American College of Critical Care Medicine and Infectious Disease Society of America guidelines for evaluating fever in a critically... read more

Gut microbes promote motor deficits in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease

Gut microbes promote motor deficits in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease

Gut microbes may play a critical role in the development of Parkinson's-like movement disorders in genetically predisposed mice, researchers report.... read more

Sleep deprivation for 24-hour work shifts can affect heart

Sleep deprivation for 24-hour work shifts can affect heart

Sleep deprivation while working 24-hour shifts affects heart function, a new German study suggests.... read more

The key to making ICUs less frightening and more comfortable for patients

Making patients feel more comfortable and less frightened while in the intensive care unit starts and ends with communication. In a radio interview with WERS 88.9 in Boston, patients and doctors share important changes that... read more

Emotional impact on relatives & friends in ICU

Emotional impact on relatives & friends in ICU

Having a relative, partner or close friend critically ill in ICU is a crisis situation that everyone deals with differently. Here people talk about the emotional effects when someone they were related to or close to was ill... read more