Severity of Hypoxemia may Explain Indeterminate Results in Pediatric Trials of iNO

Inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) is used for refractory hypoxemia in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) via vasodilation of pulmonary arterioles to ventilated alveoli, particularly in pediatrics. However, iNO has not affected... read more

COVID-19 Infection Induces Long-lived Bone Marrow Plasma Cells

Population scale sweeps of viral pathogens, such as SARS-CoV-2, require high intensity testing for effective management. Here, we describe "Systematic Parallel Analysis of RNA coupled to Sequencing for Covid-19 screening"... read more

Percutaneous Ultrasound Guided Gastrostomy Tube Placement

Percutaneous ultrasound guided gastrostomy (PUG) is similar in terms of complications to percutaneous gastrostomy tube (PRG) placement and a safe method for gastrostomy tube placement in the critically ill with the added... read more

Managing Patients With Short-Term Mechanical Circulatory Support

The use of mechanical circulatory support for patients presenting with cardiogenic shock is rapidly increasing. Currently, there is only limited and conflicting evidence available regarding the role of the Impella (a microaxial,... read more

Pharmacological principles guiding prolonged glucocorticoid treatment in ARDS

Current literature addressing the pharmacological principles guiding glucocorticoid (GC) administration in ARDS is scant. This paucity of information may have led to the heterogeneity of treatment protocols and misinterpretation... read more

Clinical strategies for implementing lung and diaphragm-protective ventilation

Mechanical ventilation may have adverse effects on both the lung and the diaphragm. Injury to the lung is mediated by excessive mechanical stress and strain, whereas the diaphragm develops atrophy as a consequence of low... read more

Checklist for Early Recognition and Treatment of Acute Illness and Injury

A quality-improvement intervention with remote simulation training to implement a decision support tool was associated with decreased nonadherence to daily care processes, shorter length of stay, and decreased mortality. The... read more

Randomised controlled trials in pre-hospital trauma

This mapping review has highlighted that evidence from trials in prehospital trauma is sparse and where trials have been completed, the reporting is generally poor and study designs sub-optimal. There is a continued need,... read more

Precision Medicine in ARDS

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a devastating critical illness that can be triggered by a wide range of insults and remains associated with a high mortality of around 40%. The search for targeted treatment for... read more

Sepsis Subclasses: A Framework for Development and Interpretation

Sepsis is defined as a dysregulated host response to infection that leads to life-threatening acute organ dysfunction. It afflicts approximately 50 million people worldwide annually and is often deadly, even when evidence-based... read more

Increasing the Reproducibility of Research Reduces the Problem of Apophenia

Apophenia, or the tendency of identifying meaningful patterns where none truly exist, is part of the human condition. We cannot surmount it, but we can strive to manage its influence. In the research context, apophenia can... read more

COVID-19: Convalescent Plasma vs. Standard Plasma

Administration of convalescent plasma to hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 infection increased antibodies to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus disease 2 but was not associated with improved outcome. Enrollment... read more

Promoting Evidence-Based Practice in ARDS

There is a dearth of literature addressing interventions to improve implementation of evidence-based practices in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Existing interventions to improve clinician knowledge and facilitate... read more

Decreased Mortality in ARDS Patients Treated with Corticosteroids

The use of glucocorticoids might result in reduced mortality in patients with ARDS. Glucocorticoids might be recommended as an adjunct to standard care for ARDS; however, the optimal dose and duration of steroid therapy remains... read more

Clinical Trial of Therapeutics for Severely Ill Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients Begins

A new Phase 3 trial to test the safety and efficacy of therapeutics for COVID-19 has begun enrolling patients hospitalized with life-threatening cases of COVID-19, including those with acute respiratory failure. The trial... read more

Sedation with Midazolam After Cardiac Surgery in Children with and without Down Syndrome

The majority of children with and without Down syndrome required additional sedation after cardiac surgery. This pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic analysis does not provide evidence for different dosing of midazolam in... read more

Effect of Infusion Set Replacement Intervals on Catheter-related Bloodstream Infections

The optimal duration of infusion set use to prevent life-threatening catheter-related bloodstream infection (CRBSI) is unclear. We aimed to compare the effectiveness and costs of 7-day (intervention) versus 4-day (control)... read more

Mortality Outcomes with Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine in COVID-19 Patients

Substantial COVID-19 research investment has been allocated to randomized clinical trials (RCTs) on hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine, which currently face recruitment challenges or early discontinuation. We aim to estimate... read more

Individualized vs. Fixed Positive End-expiratory Pressure for Intraoperative Mechanical Ventilation in Obese Patients

This secondary analysis of obese patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery found better oxygenation, lower driving pressures, and redistribution of ventilation toward dependent lung areas measured by electrical impedance tomography... read more

A Controlled Trial of Methylprednisolone in COVID-19 Pneumonia

The use of corticosteroids in patients with pneumonia secondary to COVID-19 has been a controversially hot topic, particularly early on in the pandemic. Prior evidence seen in Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and... read more

Guidelines on Myocardial Infarction, Novel Therapeutic Targets in Post-infarction Remodelling

This Focus Issue on ischaemic heart disease contains the ‘2020 ESC Guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndromes in patients presenting without persistent ST-segment elevation: The Task Force for the management... read more

Comparison of Two Delayed Strategies for RRT initiation for severe AKI

Delaying renal replacement therapy (RRT) for some time in critically ill patients with severe acute kidney injury (AKI) and no severe complication is safe and allows optimisation of the use of medical devices. Major uncertainty... read more