Scientific output and organizational characteristics in Brazilian intensive care units: a multicenter cross-sectional study.

Objective: To examine the associations between the scientific output of Brazilian intensive care units and their organizational characteristics.

Methods: This study is a re-analysis of a previous retrospective cohort that evaluated organizational intensive care unit characteristics and their associations with outcomes. We analyzed data from 93 intensive care units across Brazil.

Dapagliflozin in patients with critical illness: rationale and design of the DEFENDER study.

Background: Critical illness is a major ongoing health care burden worldwide and is associated with high mortality rates. Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors have consistently shown benefits in cardiovascular and renal outcomes. The effects of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors in acute illness have not been properly investigated.

The II Brazilian Guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 Joint Guidelines of the Associação Brasileira de Medicina de Emergência, Associação de Medicina Intensiva Brasileira, Associação Médica Brasileira, Sociedade Brasileira de Angiologia e Cirurgia Vascular, Sociedade Brasileira de Infectologia, Sociedade Brasileira de Pneumologia e Tisiologia and Sociedade Brasileira de Reumatologia.

Objective: To update the recommendations to support decisions regarding the pharmacological treatment of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Brazil.

Methods: Experts, including representatives of the Ministry of Health and methodologists, created this guideline. The method used for the rapid development of guidelines was based on the adoption and/or adaptation of existing international guidelines (GRADE ADOLOPMENT) and supported by the e-COVID-19 RecMap platform.

Use of a Portable Mechanical Ventilator during Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation is Feasible, Improves Respiratory Parameters, and Prevents the Decrease of Dynamic Lung Compliance.

Background: For practical and protective ventilation during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), a 150-grams mechanical ventilator (VLP2000E) that limits peak inspiratory pressure (PIP) during simultaneous ventilation with chest compressions was developed.

Objectives: To evaluate the feasibility of VLP2000E ventilation during CPR and to compare monitored parameters versus bag-valve ventilation.

Methods: A randomized experimental study with 10 intubated pigs per group.

IMPACTO-MR: a Brazilian nationwide platform study to assess infections and multidrug resistance in intensive care units.

Objective: To describe the IMPACTO-MR, a Brazilian nationwide intensive care unit platform study focused on the impact of health care-associated infections due to multidrug-resistant bacteria.

Methods: We described the IMPACTO-MR platform, its development, criteria for intensive care unit selection, characterization of core data collection, objectives, and future research projects to be held within the platform.

Results: The core data were collected using the Epimed Monitor System® and consisted of demographic data, comorbidity data, functional status, clinical scores, admission diagnosis and secondary diagnoses, laboratory, clinical, and microbiological data, and organ support during intensive care unit stay, among others.

Statistical analysis of a cluster-randomized clinical trial on adult general intensive care units in Brazil: TELE-critical care verSus usual Care On ICU PErformance (TELESCOPE) trial.

Objective: The TELE-critical Care verSus usual Care On ICU PErformance (TELESCOPE) trial aims to assess whether a complex telemedicine intervention in intensive care units, which focuses on daily multidisciplinary rounds performed by remote intensivists, will reduce intensive care unit length of stay compared to usual care.

Methods: The TELESCOPE trial is a national, multicenter, controlled, open label, cluster randomized trial. The study tests the effectiveness of daily multidisciplinary rounds conducted by an intensivist through telemedicine in Brazilian intensive care units.

Antivirals for adult patients hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 infection: A randomized, Phase II/III, multicenter, placebo-controlled, adaptive study, with multiple arms and stages. COALITION COVID-19 BRAZIL IX - REVOLUTIOn: protocol and statistical analysis plan.

Repurposed drugs are important in resource-limited settings because the interventions are more rapidly available, have already been tested safely in other populations and are inexpensive. Repurposed drugs are an effective solution, especially for emerging diseases such as COVID-19. The REVOLUTIOn trial has the objective of evaluating three repurposed antiviral drugs, atazanavir, daclatasvir and sofosbuvir, already used for HIV- and hepatitis C virus-infected patients in a randomized, placebo-controlled, adaptive, multiarm, multistage study.

Brazilian Guidelines for the pharmacological treatment of patients hospitalized with COVID-19: Joint guideline of Associação Brasileira de Medicina de Emergência, Associação de Medicina Intensiva Brasileira, Associação Médica Brasileira, Sociedade Brasileira de Angiologia e Cirurgia Vascular, Sociedade Brasileira de Infectologia, Sociedade Brasileira de Pneumologia e Tisiologia, Sociedade Brasileira de Reumatologia.

Objective: Several therapies are being used or proposed for COVID-19, and many lack appropriate evaluations of their effectiveness and safety. The purpose of this document is to develop recommendations to support decisions regarding the pharmacological treatment of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 in Brazil.

Methods: A group of 27 experts, including representatives of the Ministry of Health and methodologists, created this guideline.

Brazilian guidelines for the treatment of outpatients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. A joint guideline of the Brazilian Association of Emergency Medicine (ABRAMEDE), Brazilian Medical Association (AMB), Brazilian Society of Angiology and Vascular Surgery (SBACV), Brazilian Society of Geriatrics and Gerontology (SBGG), Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases (SBI), Brazilian Society of Family and Community Medicine (SBFMC), and Brazilian Thoracic Society (SBPT).

Background: Several therapies have been used or proposed for the treatment of COVID-19, although their effectiveness and safety have not been properly evaluated. The purpose of this document is to provide recommendations to support decisions about the drug treatment of outpatients with COVID-19 in Brazil.

Methods: A panel consisting of experts from different clinical fields, representatives of the Brazilian Ministry of Health, and methodologists (37 members in total) was responsible for preparing these guidelines.

Resuscitation fluid practices in Brazilian intensive care units: a secondary analysis of Fluid-TRIPS.

Objective: To describe fluid resuscitation practices in Brazilian intensive care units and to compare them with those of other countries participating in the Fluid-TRIPS.

Methods: This was a prospective, international, cross-sectional, observational study in a convenience sample of intensive care units in 27 countries (including Brazil) using the Fluid-TRIPS database compiled in 2014. We described the patterns of fluid resuscitation use in Brazil compared with those in other countries and identified the factors associated with fluid choice.

Quality of life and long-term outcomes after hospitalization for COVID-19: Protocol for a prospective cohort study (Coalition VII).

Introduction: The long-term effects caused by COVID-19 are unknown. The present study aims to assess factors associated with health-related quality of life and long-term outcomes among survivors of hospitalization for COVID-19 in Brazil.

Methods: This is a multicenter prospective cohort study nested in five randomized clinical trials designed to assess the effects of specific COVID-19 treatments in over 50 centers in Brazil.

Brazilian guidelines for the management of brain-dead potential organ donors. The task force of the AMIB, ABTO, BRICNet, and the General Coordination of the National Transplant System.

Objective: To contribute to updating the recommendations for brain-dead potential organ donor management.

Method: A group of 27 experts, including intensivists, transplant coordinators, transplant surgeons, and epidemiologists, joined a task force formed by the General Coordination Office of the National Transplant System/Brazilian Ministry of Health (CGSNT-MS), the Brazilian Association of Intensive Care Medicine (AMIB), the Brazilian Association of Organ Transplantation (ABTO), and the Brazilian Research in Intensive Care Network (BRICNet). The questions were developed within the scope of the 2011 Brazilian Guidelines for Management of Adult Potential Multiple-Organ Deceased Donors.

COVID-19-associated ARDS treated with DEXamethasone (CoDEX): study design and rationale for a randomized trial.

Objective: The infection caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spreads worldwide and is considered a pandemic. The most common manifestation of SARS-CoV-2 infection (coronavirus disease 2019 - COVID-19) is viral pneumonia with varying degrees of respiratory compromise and up to 40% of hospitalized patients might develop acute respiratory distress syndrome. Several clinical trials evaluated the role of corticosteroids in non-COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome with conflicting results.

Rationale and design of the "Tocilizumab in patients with moderate to severe COVID-19: an open-label multicentre randomized controlled" trial (TOCIBRAS).

Introduction: Pro-inflammatory markers play a significant role in the disease severity of patients with COVID-19. Thus, anti-inflammatory therapies are attractive agents for potentially combating the uncontrolled inflammatory cascade in these patients. We designed a trial testing tocilizumab versus standard of care intending to improve the outcomes by inhibiting interleukin-6, an important inflammatory mediator in COVID-19.

Comparison of two frailty identification tools for critically ill patients: A post-hoc analysis of a multicenter prospective cohort study.

Purpose: We aimed to describe the association of two frailty screening tools, the validated Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) score and the recently described modified Frailty Index (mFI) in critically ill patients.

Materials And Methods: We performed a post-hoc analysis of a multicenter cohort of patients admitted to six Canadian Intensive Care Units (ICU) between 2010 and 2011. Frailty was screened using the CFS and the mFI.

Practices for promoting sleep in intensive care units in Brazil: a national survey.

Objective: To conduct a national survey of intensive care professionals to identify the practices for promoting sleep in adult intensive care units in Brazil and describe the professionals' perceptions of the importance of sleep for patients.

Methods: An electronic questionnaire was distributed by the clinical research cooperation network of the Associação de Medicina Intensiva Brasileira and by the Brazilian Research in Intensive Care Network to physicians and nurses registered with the association. The questionnaire evaluated the profile of the respondents, the profile of their intensive care units, whether protocols for promoting sleep were present, the pharmacological and nonpharmacological measures typically employed in the unit, and the professionals' perceptions regarding sleep in critically ill patients.

Availability of resources to treat sepsis in Brazil: a random sample of Brazilian institutions.

Objective: To characterize resource availability from a nationally representative random sample of intensive care units in Brazil.

Methods: A structured online survey of participating units in the Sepsis PREvalence Assessment Database (SPREAD) study, a nationwide 1-day point prevalence survey to assess the burden of sepsis in Brazil, was sent to the medical director of each unit.

Results: A representative sample of 277 of the 317 invited units responded to the resources survey.

Effect of Increasing Blood Pressure With Noradrenaline on the Microcirculation of Patients With Septic Shock and Previous Arterial Hypertension.

Objectives: To assess whether an increase in mean arterial pressure in patients with septic shock and previous systemic arterial hypertension changes microcirculatory and systemic hemodynamic variables compared with patients without arterial hypertension (control).

Design: Prospective, nonblinded, interventional study.

Setting: Three ICUs in two teaching hospitals.

Systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria and the prediction of hospital mortality in critically ill patients: a retrospective cohort study.

Objective: This study intended to determine whether the systemic inflammatory response syndrome criteria can predict hospital mortality in a Brazilian cohort of critically ill patients.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study at a private tertiary hospital in São Paulo (SP), Brazil. We extracted information from the adult intensive care unit database (Sistema EpimedTM).