Plasma fibrinogen and albumin concentrations initially decrease after abdominal surgery. On postoperative days 3-5 fibrinogen concentration returns to the preoperative level or even higher, while albumin stays low. It is not known if these altered plasma concentrations reflect changes in synthesis rate, utilization, or both.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSevere traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide, especially in low- and middle-income countries, and in austere, rural, and remote settings. The purpose of this Perspective is to challenge the notion that accurate and actionable diagnosis of the most severe brain injuries should be limited to physicians and other highly-trained specialists located at hospitals. Further, we aim to demonstrate that the great opportunity to improve severe TBI care is in the prehospital setting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is frequently observed after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) even in patients with previously normal renal function. In this study, we investigated the impact of factors such graft steatosis, post-reperfusion syndrome (PRS), and hepatic ischemia reperfusion injury (HIRI) on the development of AKI after OLT in adult patients.
Methods: We retrospectively examined consecutive adult patients who underwent OLT at our institution between July 2011 and June 2017.
Background: In major abdominal surgery albumin is shifted from the circulation, presumably leaking into the interstitial space, contributing to a 30-40% decrease in plasma albumin concentration. During and after liver transplantation exogenous albumin is infused for volume substitution and to maintain plasma albumin concentration. Here we used liver transplantation as a model procedure for the study of albumin mass balance and kinetics during major abdominal surgery with albumin substitution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Experiments were undertaken to compare morbidity and mortality from brief inhalation exposures to high levels of hydrogen fluoride (HF) and carbonyl fluoride (COF).
Methods: Rats from both sexes were exposed for durations of 5 and 10 min to nominal concentrations of 10,000 to 57,000 ppm HF or 500 to 10,000 ppm COF. Respiration was monitored before, during, and after exposure.