Problems in care and avoidability of death after discharge from intensive care: a multi-centre retrospective case record review study.

Background: Over 138,000 patients are discharged to hospital wards from intensive care units (ICUs) in England, Wales and Northern Ireland annually. More than 8000 die before leaving hospital. In hospital-wide populations, 6.

Clinical review: the role of ultrasound in estimating extra-vascular lung water.

The estimation of extra-vascular lung water (EVLW) is an essential component in the assessment of critically ill patients. EVLW is independently associated with mortality and its manipulation has been shown to improve outcome. Accurate assessment of lung water is possible with CT and MR imaging but these are impractical for real-time measurement in sick patients and have been superseded by single thermal dilution techniques.

Ephs and ephrins: emerging therapeutic targets in neuropathology.

Eph receptors have been the subject of intense research since their discovery. Their widespread pattern of expression, involvement in a variety of important cellular phenomena and unique mode of action have stimulated interest in their role in health and disease across biological and medical domains. However, the function of Ephs in nervous system development and plasticity remains the best characterised.

Lipocalin-2 controls neuronal excitability and anxiety by regulating dendritic spine formation and maturation.

Psychological stress causes adaptive changes in the nervous system directed toward maintaining homoeostasis. These biochemical and structural mechanisms regulate animal behavior, and their malfunction may result in various forms of affective disorders. Here we found that the lipocalin-2 (Lcn2) gene, encoding a secreted protein of unknown neuronal function, was up-regulated in mouse hippocampus following psychological stress.

Neuropsin cleaves EphB2 in the amygdala to control anxiety.

A minority of individuals experiencing traumatic events develop anxiety disorders. The reason for the lack of correspondence between the prevalence of exposure to psychological trauma and the development of anxiety is unknown. Extracellular proteolysis contributes to fear-associated responses by facilitating neuronal plasticity at the neuron-matrix interface.