A prolonged run-in period of standard subcutaneous microdialysis ameliorates quality of interstitial glucose signal in patients after major cardiac surgery.

We evaluated a standard subcutaneous microdialysis technique for glucose monitoring in two critically ill patient populations and tested whether a prolonged run-in period improves the quality of the interstitial glucose signal. 20 surgical patients after major cardiac surgery (APACHE II score: 10.1 ± 3.

The Accuracy of the CNAP® Device Compared with Invasive Radial Artery Measurements for Providing Continuous Noninvasive Arterial Blood Pressure Readings at a Medical Intensive Care Unit: A Method-Comparison Study.

Background: In cases of intensive care unit (ICU) patients without an arterial line, noninvasive continuous blood pressure monitoring could be very beneficial. The CNAP® monitor (CNSystems Medizintechnik AG) provides noninvasive, beat-to-beat blood pressure (BP) estimates using the volume clamp method to measure finger arterial pressure calibrated to brachial pressure values. The aim of this study was to compare noninvasive BP estimates of the CNAP monitor with invasive blood pressure (IBP) measurements obtained via a radial arterial catheter in unselected medical ICU patients under routine clinical conditions.

Effect of high-dose vitamin D3 on hospital length of stay in critically ill patients with vitamin D deficiency: the VITdAL-ICU randomized clinical trial.

Importance: Low vitamin D status is linked to increased mortality and morbidity in patients who are critically ill. It is unknown if this association is causal.

Objective: To investigate whether a vitamin D3 treatment regimen intended to restore and maintain normal vitamin D status over 6 months is of health benefit for patients in ICUs.

Evaluation of a novel automated non-invasive pulse pressure variation algorithm.

In mechanically ventilated patients, Pulse Pressure Variation (PPV) has been shown to be a useful parameter to guide fluid management. We evaluated a real-time automated PPV-algorithm by comparing it to manually calculated PPV-values. In 10 critically ill patients, blood pressure was measured invasively (IBP) and non-invasively (CNAP(®) Monitor, CNSystems Medizintechnik, Austria).

The ignored diversity: complex bacterial communities in intensive care units revealed by 16S pyrosequencing.

Indoor microbial communities play an important role in everyday human health, especially in the intensive care units (ICUs) of hospitals. We used amplicon pyrosequencing to study the ICU microbiome and were able to detect diverse sequences, in comparison to the currently used standard cultivation technique that only detected 2.5% of the total bacterial diversity.

Efficacy and safety of glucose control with Space GlucoseControl in the medical intensive care unit--an open clinical investigation.

Background: We aimed to investigate the performance of the Space GlucoseControl system (SGC) (B. Braun, Melsungen, Germany) in medical critically ill patients. The SGC is a nurse-driven, computer-assisted device for glycemic control combining infusion pumps with the enhanced Model Predictive Control algorithm.

Comparison of 3 different multianalyte point-of-care devices during clinical routine on a medical intensive care unit.

Purpose: Multianalyte point-of-care (POC) devices are important to guide clinical decisions in critical care. However, the use of different devices in one hospital might cause problems. Therefore, we evaluated 3 commonly used POC devices and analyzed accuracy, reliability, and bias.

Hospital glucose control: safe and reliable glycemic control using enhanced model predictive control algorithm in medical intensive care unit patients.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the performance of the enhanced Model Predictive Control (eMPC) algorithm for glycemic control in medical critically ill patients for the whole length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay.

Methods: The trial was designed as a single-center, open, noncontrolled clinical investigation in a nine-bed medical ICU in a tertiary teaching hospital. In 20 patients, blood glucose (BG) was controlled with a laptop-based bedside version of the eMPC.

Interleukin-6 produced in subcutaneous adipose tissue is linked to blood pressure control in septic patients.

Cytokines are inflammatory mediators of major relevance during sepsis. Recent evidence shows that adipose tissue can produce many distinct cytokines under physiological and pathological conditions, but the role of cytokines produced in adipose tissue was not addressed in sepsis. In the present study the open-flow microperfusion (OFM) technique was used to investigate whether the cytokines produced in subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT) of patients with severe sepsis correlate with clinical variables.

Evaluation of indocyanine green clearance and model for end-stage liver disease for estimation of short-term prognosis in decompensated cirrhosis.

Background: Indocyanine green (ICG) clearance has been proposed as a quantitative liver function test several decades ago. Interest in this method has been renewed following the development of finger pulse densitometry for noninvasive estimation of the ICG plasma disappearance rate (PDR). On the other hand, the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD), which is based on routine laboratory parameters, is widely used for estimation of short-term survival in cirrhosis, but its prognostic value in critically ill cirrhotic patients is unclear.

Tight glycaemic control by an automated algorithm with time-variant sampling in medical ICU patients.

Objective: Tight glycaemic control (TGC) in critically ill patients improves clinical outcome, but is difficult to establish The primary objective of the present study was to compare glucose control in medical ICU patients applying a computer-based enhanced model predictive control algorithm (eMPC) extended to include time-variant sampling against an implemented glucose management protocol.

Design: Open randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Nine-bed medical intensive care unit (ICU) in a tertiary teaching hospital.

Travel-associated rabies in Austrian man.

Rabies developed in an Austrian man after he was bitten by a dog in Agadir, Morocco. Diagnosis was confirmed by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and immunohistochemistry. The patient's girlfriend was bitten by the same dog, but she did not become ill.

Oxidative stress: potential of distinct peroxide determination systems.

When reactive oxygen species attack biological structures, peroxides, which are short-lived oxidative intermediates, are generated. We evaluated the potential of two different, commercially available peroxide activity assays (Pox-Act and d-ROMS) to see whether the results were associated with the clinical condition of subjects who were participating in a routine health care program. Furthermore, we determined the total antioxidant status (TAS) and the titer of autoantibodies against oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oLAb) to verify the hydroperoxide measurements.

Economic burden of illness imposed by severe sepsis in Austria.

Introduction: Sepsis is a life-threatening disease, requiring instant treatment in an intensive care unit (ICU). The aim of this study was to determine the direct and indirect costs occurring in Austria due to this disease.

Patients And Methods: Direct costs were calculated based on a retrospective chart analysis in four adult Austrian ICUs, evaluating 74 patient records from the years 2000/2001.