Echocardiography for prognostication during the resuscitation of intensive care unit patients with non-shockable rhythm cardiac arrest.

Aim: Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) during cardiopulmonary arrest (CPA) has been studied in victims of cardiac arrests. Our objective was to evaluate the feasibility and usefulness of TTE in victims of cardiac arrest with non-shockable rhythms hospitalized in intensive care units (ICUs).

Methods: This prospective and observational cohort study evaluated ICU patients with CPA in asystole or pulseless electrical activity (PEA).

How to assess intensive care randomized trials.

Randomized controlled trials are scientific investigations considered as the gold-standard to evaluate therapeutic interventions. Randomized controlled trials may examine the safety and efficacy of new drugs and therapeutic procedures or compare the effects of two or more drugs or any other intervention. In this article, we present the essential features of these studies, as well as, factors which may bias randomized controlled trials.

Aerobic exercise and submaximal functional capacity in overweight pregnant women: a randomized trial.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of aerobic training on submaximal cardiorespiratory capacity in overweight pregnant women.

Methods: We conducted a randomized clinical trial in a referral center prenatal clinic during the period 2000-2002. Of 132 overweight (body mass index 26-31 kg/m2) but otherwise healthy volunteers, at 20 years of age or older, with gestational age of 20 weeks or less, and without diabetes or hypertension, 92 consented to participate and were randomized.