Prolonged mechanical ventilation in critically ill patients: six-month mortality, care pathways, and quality of life.

Background: There is limited knowledge about long-term mortality, care pathways and health-related quality of life (HrQoL) among intensive care unit (ICU) patients receiving prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV).

Research Question: What are the long-term mortality, care pathways, and HrQoL of patients receiving invasive PMV, stratified by weaning success?

Study Design: and methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of patients from the cluster-randomised controlled Enhanced Recovery after Intensive Care trial who were treated in two ICU clusters and received invasive PMV (≥21 days via endotracheal tube/tracheostomy or ≥four days via tracheostomy). Data on weaning success, mortality, care place transitions, readmissions, and HrQoL were collected for six months after ICU discharge.

Influence of frailty status on the incidence of intraoperative hypotensive events in elective surgery: Hypo-Frail, a single-centre retrospective cohort study.

Background: Frailty is a predictor of morbidity and mortality in older patients. This study aimed to investigate the influence of frailty status on likelihood, rate, duration, and severity of intraoperative hypotension (IOH), which can lead to severe organ dysfunction.

Methods: Surgical patients (≥70 yr old) with preoperative frailty assessment were analysed retrospectively.

Risk factors of avascular femoral head necrosis after a pediatric femoral neck fracture: a 15-year follow up and an adjustment to the Delbet classification.

Background: Pediatric femoral neck fractures (PFNF) are rare but associated with a high rate of serious complications such as avascular femoral head necrosis (AVN). Major risk factors and prognostic tools for an AVN are still unclear. As AVN is a devastating complication, this study aims to evaluate the predictors for AVN following a PFNF.

Symbiosis and horizontal gene transfer promote herbivory in the megadiverse leaf beetles.

Beetles that feed on the nutritionally depauperate and recalcitrant tissues provided by the leaves, stems, and roots of living plants comprise one-quarter of herbivorous insect species. Among the key adaptations for herbivory are plant cell wall-degrading enzymes (PCWDEs) that break down the fastidious polymers in the cell wall and grant access to the nutritious cell content. While largely absent from the non-herbivorous ancestors of beetles, such PCWDEs were occasionally acquired via horizontal gene transfer (HGT) or by the uptake of digestive symbionts.

Real-time control of radiofrequency ablation using three-dimensional ultrasound echo decorrelation imaging in normal and diseasedhuman liver.

Ultrasound echo decorrelation imaging can successfully monitor and control thermal ablation of animal liver and tumor tissue ex vivo and in vivo. However, normal and diseased human liver has substantially different physical properties that affect echo decorrelation. Here, effects of human liver tissue condition on ablation guidance by three-dimensional echo decorrelation imaging are elucidated in experiments testing closed-loop control of radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in normal and diseased human liver tissue ex vivo.