Bioengineering (Basel)
September 2024
: To develop and validate machine learning models for predicting the length of stay (LOS) in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) using data from the Virtual Pediatric Systems (VPS) database. : A retrospective study was conducted utilizing machine learning (ML) algorithms to analyze and predict PICU LOS based on historical patient data from the VPS database. The study included data from over 100 North American PICUs spanning the years 2015-2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Med (Lausanne)
February 2023
Mechanical ventilation is a common procedure performed in pediatric intensive care units, with over 20% of patients requiring invasive ventilator support. The most common indication for endotracheal intubation and ventilation in the pediatric population is respiratory failure either due to respiratory embarrassment or neurologic pathology. Despite the use of ventilation modes that are lung protective in the pediatric population, complications of mechanical ventilation occur frequently.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSAGE Open Med Case Rep
August 2022
Presentation, management, and outcomes of COVID-19 infections among younger patients is an area of medicine with deficits in research, likely due to the lower incidence of severe COVID-19 disease among the younger population. Management can be challenging, and clinicians often guide their decision-making based on the ever-changing protocols that are tailored mostly to the elderly population. Even more underrepresented in COVID-19 research are patients with chromosomal abnormalities and trisomy syndromes, as they appear less frequently, but have risk of increased morbidity and mortality due to underlying medical conditions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRespir Med Case Rep
July 2020
Severe pediatric ARDS remains a significant challenge for clinicians, and management strategies are essentially limited to lung protective ventilation strategies, and adjunct approaches such as prone positioning, steroids, surfactant, and inhaled nitric oxide in unique situations. Inhaled nitric oxide produces pulmonary vasodilation in ventilated regions of the lung, shunting blood away from poorly ventilated areas and thus optimizing the ventilation perfusion ratio. A subset of patients with ARDS are known to be non-responders to nitric oxide, and selective pulmonary vasodilators such as Epoprostenol can be useful as rescue therapy in such cases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnilateral lung diseases such as unilateral pneumonia, trauma or pulmonary hemorrhage can cause profound hypoxemic respiratory failure necessitating mechanical ventilation. These disorders are characterized by marked asymmetry in lung mechanics, with the affected lung having a lower compliance compared to the healthier lung, and management involves complex strategies such as simultaneous independent lung ventilation. However, such strategies can be challenging in pediatric populations due to technical limitations, and also lead to ventilator induced lung injury.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFChildren with severe sepsis are known to have altered zinc homeostasis and decreased circulating zinc levels, suggesting a role for zinc supplementation to improve outcomes. We tested the hypothesis that zinc supplementation would improve survival in a juvenile model of polymicrobial sepsis. Juvenile (13-14-d-old) C57BL/6 mice were treated with 10 mg/kg of zinc via i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Measuring disease and injury burden in populations requires a composite metric that captures both premature mortality and the prevalence and severity of ill-health. The 1990 Global Burden of Disease study proposed disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) to measure disease burden. No comprehensive update of disease burden worldwide incorporating a systematic reassessment of disease and injury-specific epidemiology has been done since the 1990 study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Non-fatal health outcomes from diseases and injuries are a crucial consideration in the promotion and monitoring of individual and population health. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) studies done in 1990 and 2000 have been the only studies to quantify non-fatal health outcomes across an exhaustive set of disorders at the global and regional level. Neither effort quantified uncertainty in prevalence or years lived with disability (YLDs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Each year almost one million newborns die from infections, mostly in low-income countries. Timely case management would save many lives but the relative mortality effect of varying strategies is unknown. We have estimated the effect of providing oral, or injectable antibiotics at home or in first-level facilities, and of in-patient hospital care on neonatal mortality from pneumonia and sepsis for use in the Lives Saved Tool (LiST).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn estimated one million newborns die from infections in developing countries. Despite the huge burden, high-quality data from community-based epidemiologic studies on etiology, risk factors, and appropriate management are lacking from areas in which newborns experience the greatest mortality. Several planned and ongoing studies in South Asia and Africa promise to address the knowledge gaps.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfections are a major cause of neonatal death in developing countries. High-quality information on the burden of early-onset neonatal sepsis and sepsis-related deaths is limited in most of these settings. Simple preventive and treatment strategies have the potential to save many newborns from sepsis-related death.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Studies have shown a high prevalence of psychiatric illnesses among patients in primary health care settings. Family physicians have a fundamental role in managing psychiatric illness with psychopharmacological medications. Providing information about the disease, its management and the potential adverse effects of the medications is an important part of the management of mental illnesses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To assess the magnitude and risk factors of the problem of depression in an elderly population of Pakistan.
Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted using a sample of 402 people aged 65 and above visiting the Community Health Center of the Aga Khan University, Karachi. Questionnaire based interviews were conducted for data collection and the 15-Item Geriatric Depression Scale was used to screen for depression.
Background: Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a psychiatric disorder characterized by a preoccupation with an imagined or slight defect which causes significant distress or impairment in functioning. Few studies have assessed gender differences in BDD in a non clinical population. Also no study assessed BDD in medical students.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To study the health and needs of geriatric patients
Methods: A questionnaire based survey of patients visiting the out-patient department of Aga Khan University was carried out. Ethical requirements were met and included administration of informed consent and provision of confidentiality to patients. Convenience sampling was used without any randomization for interviews.