Life Fatigue: A Critical Analysis.

Introduction: In recent years, euthanasia has been decriminalized or legalized in several countries. The debate on whether to legalize such a practice is open in many places and is a topic that arouses great controversy. Euthanasia has been presented as a response to situations of advanced, incurable, or irreversible disease, or situations that cause intolerable suffering to the person.

Lung ultrasound and procalcitonin, improving antibiotic management and avoiding radiation exposure in pediatric critical patients with bacterial pneumonia: a randomized clinical trial.

Background: Pneumonia is a major public health problem with an impact on morbidity and mortality. Its management still represents a challenge. The aim was to determine whether a new diagnostic algorithm combining lung ultrasound (LUS) and procalcitonin (PCT) improved pneumonia management regarding antibiotic use, radiation exposure, and associated costs, in critically ill pediatric patients with suspected bacterial pneumonia (BP).

The reuse of genetic information in research and informed consent.

Important advances in genetics research have been made in recent years. Such advances have facilitated the availability of huge amounts of genetic information that could potentially be reused beyond the original purpose for which such information was obtained. Any such reuse must meet certain ethical criteria to ensure that the dignity, integrity, and autonomy of the individual from whom that information was obtained are protected.

Modifications in Abdominal Wall Graft Retrieval: When the Donor Closure Is Not Guaranteed.

Background: Twenty percent of intestinal transplant recipients will require a surgical alternative to conventional primary abdominal wall closure. Abdominal wall transplant is a developing technique that is increasingly performed for this purpose in isolated intestinal or multivisceral recipients; however, adequate closure of the donor is paramount while simultaneously obtaining a large enough graft. The aim of this study is to describe alternative surgical techniques for closure of the donor in cases in which abdominal wall graft extraction hinders subsequent donor abdominal closure.

Ventilator-associated pneumonia is linked to a worse prognosis than community-acquired pneumonia in children.

Background: Around 12-20% of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) require critical care. Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the second cause of nosocomial infection in Paediatric Intensive Care Units (PICU). As far as we know, there are no studies comparing both types of pneumonia in children, thus it remains unclear if there are differences between them in terms of severity and outcomes.

RISK score for developing ventilator-associated pneumonia in children: The RISVAP study.

Objectives: Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is the second most common healthcare-associated infection in children. The aim of this study was to determine the risk factors for VAP in children and to create a risk score for developing VAP (RISVAP score).

Study Design: It was a prospective observational study, including children who required mechanical ventilation (MV), registered in the multicentre ENVIN-HELICS database from 2014 to 2019.

Risk factors and incidence of invasive bacterial infection in severe bronchiolitis: the RICOIB prospective study.

Background: Bacterial infection (BI), both community-acquired (CA-BI) and hospital-acquired (HAI), might present as a severe complication in patients with bronchiolitis. This study aimed to describe BI in children with severe bronchiolitis, and to define risk factors for BI.

Methods: This was a prospective, descriptive study that included infants admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) due to bronchiolitis between 2011 and 2017.

New multivariable prediction model PEdiatric SEpsis recognition and stratification (PESERS score) shows excellent discriminatory capacity.

Aim: To develop a quantitative predictive scoring model for the early recognition and assessment of paediatric sepsis.

Methods: Prospective observational study including emergency department and in-hospital febrile patients under 18 years. Sepsis diagnose (Goldstein 2005 definitions) was the main outcome.

Non-invasive oxygenation support in acutely hypoxemic COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU: a multicenter observational retrospective study.

Background: Non-invasive oxygenation strategies have a prominent role in the treatment of acute hypoxemic respiratory failure during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). While the efficacy of these therapies has been studied in hospitalized patients with COVID-19, the clinical outcomes associated with oxygen masks, high-flow oxygen therapy by nasal cannula and non-invasive mechanical ventilation in critically ill intensive care unit (ICU) patients remain unclear.

Methods: In this retrospective study, we used the best of nine covariate balancing algorithms on all baseline covariates in critically ill COVID-19 patients supported with > 10 L of supplemental oxygen at one of the 26 participating ICUs in Catalonia, Spain, between March 14 and April 15, 2020.

A training plan to implement lung ultrasound for diagnosing pneumonia in children.

Background: Lung ultrasound (LUS) for critical patients requires trained operators to perform them, though little information exists on the level of training required for independent practice. The aims were to implement a training plan for diagnosing pneumonia using LUS and to analyze the inter-observer agreement between senior radiologists (SRs) and pediatric intensive care physicians (PICPs).

Methods: Prospective longitudinal and interventional study conducted in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit of a tertiary hospital.

An algorithm combining procalcitonin and lung ultrasound improves the diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia in critically ill children: The PROLUSP study, a randomized clinical trial.

Background: Lung ultrasound (LUS) and procalcitonin (PCT) are independently used to improve accuracy when diagnosing lung infections. The aim of the study was to evaluate the accuracy of a new algorithm combining LUS and PCT for the diagnosis of bacterial pneumonia.

Methods: Randomized, blinded, comparative effectiveness clinical trial.

Mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin for diagnosing evolution after cardiac surgery in newborns: the PRONEW study.

Newborns are the most vulnerable patients after cardiac surgery. Although mortality risk scores before surgery may help predict the risk of poor outcome, new tools are required, and biomarkers could add objective data to these tools. The aim of this study was to assess the ability of mid-regional pro-adrenomedullin (pro-ADM) and pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (pro-ANP) to predict poor outcome after cardiac surgery.

Infection…what else? The usefulness of procalcitonin in children after cardiac surgery.

Objectives: Procalcitonin is a useful biomarker for predicting bacterial infection after cardiac surgery. However, sometimes procalcitonin rises following cardiac surgery without a confirmation of bacterial infection. The aim was to analyse procalcitonin levels in children without a bacterial infection after cardiac surgery.

Hemoderivative Transfusion in Liver Transplantation: Comparison Between Recipients of Grafts From Brain Death Donors and Recipients of Uncontrolled Donors After Circulatory Death.

Introduction: Intraoperative bleeding during liver transplantation has been correlated with a higher risk of morbidity and mortality and decrease in patient and graft survival.

Materials And Methods: Between January 2006 and December 2016 we performed 783 orthotopic liver transplants. After applying exclusion criteria, we found liver grafts from donors after circulatory death (DCD, group A) were used in 69 patients and liver grafts from donors after brain death (group B) were used in 265 patients.

T cell-mediated response to SARS-CoV-2 in liver transplant recipients with prior COVID-19.

Whether immunosuppression impairs severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2-specific T cell-mediated immunity (SARS-CoV-2-CMI) after liver transplantation (LT) remains unknown. We included 31 LT recipients in whom SARS-CoV-2-CMI was assessed by intracellular cytokine staining (ICS) and interferon (IFN)-γ FluoroSpot assay after a median of 103 days from COVID-19 diagnosis. Serum SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies were measured by ELISA.

Impact of a modification of the clinical practice guide of the American Academy of Pediatrics in the management of severe acute bronchiolitis in a pediatric intensive care unit.

Objective: To describe the characteristics and evolution of patients with bronchiolitis admitted to a pediatric intensive care unit, and compare treatment pre- and post-publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics clinical practice guide.

Design: A descriptive and observational study was carried out between September 2010 and September 2017.

Setting: Pediatric intensive care unit.

Acute cholecystitis in recent lung transplant patients: a single-institution series of 10 cases.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical and imaging findings of acute cholecystitis in recent lung transplant patients.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all abdominal ultrasounds and computed tomography (CT) scans of patients who developed acute cholecystitis in the early postoperative period following lung transplantation from November 2014 to December 2020 in a tertiary care university hospital.

Results: Ten patients (4.

Weaning from neonatal and pediatric ECMO with stand-by cannula.

The precise moment for weaning a patient off extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is not always easy to establish. Also, mechanical causes may obligate to disconnect the patient from the circuit before the optimal weaning off. In these selected cases, the patient can be disconnected from the circuit and the cannula can be left in place (stand-by cannula) until the patient's stability without ECMO is assured.

The different manifestations of COVID-19 in adults and children: a cohort study in an intensive care unit.

Background: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has collapsed health systems worldwide. In adults, the virus causes severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), while in children the disease seems to be milder, although a severe multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) has been described. The aim was to describe and compare the characteristics of the severe COVID-19 disease in adults and children.