HLA-A*31 as a marker of genetic susceptibility to sepsis.

Objective: The HLA haplotype has been associated with many autoimmune diseases, but no associations have been described in sepsis. This study aims to investigate the HLA system as a possible marker of genetic sepsis susceptibility.

Methods: This is a prospective cohort study including patients admitted to an intensive care unit and healthy controls from a list of renal transplant donors.

Neuropeptide downregulation in sepsis.

Neuropeptides are an extremely conserved arm of neurobiology. Despite their effects as neurohormones and neurotransmitters, a multitude of other effects have been described, putting in evidence their importance as regulators of immune responses, such as chemotaxis, oxidative burst, pro-inflammatory signaling, and many others. The effects of neuropeptides in the pathophysiology of sepsis, however, remain poorly investigated.

Septic shock in older people: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Septic shock is the first cause of death in Intensive Care Units. Despite experimental data showing increased inflammatory response of aged animals following infection, the current accepted hypothesis claims that aged patients are immunocompromised, when compared to young individuals.

Results: Here, we describe a prospective cohort study designed to analyze the immune profile of this population.

Cathelicidin LL-37 bloodstream surveillance is down regulated during septic shock.

Host defense peptides are ancient weapons of the innate immunity. The human cathelicidin LL-37 protects the epithelial barrier against infection and is constitutively secreted in the bloodstream by immune cells. Current knowledge claims that LL-37 is up regulated upon infection.

Decreased parathyroid hormone levels despite persistent hypocalcemia in patients with kidney failure recovering from septic shock.

Introduction: Hypocalcemia is a common and poorly understood finding in critically ill patients. The current study was designed to assess the association of ionized calcium, vitamin D, phosphorus and Parathyroid hormone levels in a cohort of patients with and without kidney dysfunction admitted for sepsis or non-infectious causes.

Methods: Prospective cohort clinical and biochemical study.

[Effect of the implementation of a guideline for venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in surgical patients].

Introduction: Effective strategies for prevention of venous thromboembolism (VTE) are widely available, but still remain underused, mainly in our country.

Objective: Our aim was to verify whether the implementation of a guideline for VTE prophylaxis for surgical patients influenced the prescription of prophylaxis by the medical staff.

Methods: This was a retrospective preintervention-postintervention study.