Development of a predictive algorithm for patient survival after traumatic injury using a five analyte blood panel.

Severe trauma can induce systemic inflammation but also immunosuppression, which makes understanding the immune response of trauma patients critical for therapeutic development and treatment approaches. By evaluating the levels of 59 proteins in the plasma of 50 healthy volunteers and 1000 trauma patients across five trauma centers in the United States, we identified 6 novel changes in immune proteins after traumatic injury and further new variations by sex, age, trauma type, comorbidities, and developed a new equation for prediction of patient survival. Blood was collected at the time of arrival at Level 1 trauma centers and patients were stratified based on trauma level, tissues injured, and injury types.

The Potential Proconvulsant Effects of Cannabis: a Scoping Review.

Introduction: Cannabis' effect on seizure activity is an emerging topic that remains without consensus and merits further investigation. We therefore performed a scoping review to identify the available evidence and knowledge gaps within the existing literature on cannabis product exposures as a potential cause of seizures in humans.

Methods: A scoping review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines.

SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence and Drug Use in Trauma Patients from Six Sites in the United States.

In comparison to the general patient population, trauma patients show higher level detections of bloodborne infectious diseases, such as Hepatitis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus. In comparison to bloodborne pathogens, the prevalence of respiratory infections such as SARS-CoV-2 and how that relates with other variables, such as drug usage and trauma type, is currently unknown in trauma populations. Here, we evaluated SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity and antibody isotype profile in 2,542 trauma patients from six Level-1 trauma centers between April and October of 2020 during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Opioid Use and Driving Performance.

Introduction: The USA is in an opioid epidemic, with an increased number of individuals taking psychoactive drugs while executing the tasks of everyday life, including operating a motor vehicle. The pharmacology of opioids has been widely studied, but the effects of opioids on psychomotor function, driving performance, and the risk of motor vehicle collision remain less clear. Clinicians are faced with the challenge of controlling patient pain while also reconciling conflicting messages from the literature about how safe it is for their patients taking opioids to engage in potentially dangerous routine tasks.

Cannabinoid toxicity in pediatrics.

Purpose Of Review: The advent of legalized cannabis in multiple regions of the United States has rendered the drug more accessible to pediatric patients. Pediatricians and Pediatric Emergency Medicine Providers face new challenges in counseling both patients and their parents, diagnosing exploratory ingestions of cannabinoids in toddlers, and managing complications of prolonged, heavy cannabis use in adolescents. The purpose of this review article is to provide clinicians a succinct summary of recent literature regarding tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, impacts on development, as well as presentations of acute and chronic toxicity.

Drug-induced hyperlactatemia.

Background: Hyperlactatemia is common in critically ill patients and has a variety of etiologies. Medication toxicity remains an uncommon cause that providers often fail to recognize. In this article, we review several medications that cause hyperlactatemia in either therapeutic or supratherapeutic dosing.

Medical marijuana and driving: a review.

Medical marijuana remains a highly debated treatment regimen despite removal of state penalties against care providers prescribing the drug and patients treated with the drug in many areas of the USA. The utility of marijuana in specific medical conditions has been studied at length, but its effects on driving performance and risk of motor vehicle collision remain unclear. As with other medications that affect psychomotor function, the healthcare provider should be informed of the potential risks of driver safety prior to prescribing this psychotropic drug to give appropriate anticipatory guidance for appropriate use.

Sodium acetate as a replacement for sodium bicarbonate in medical toxicology: a review.

Sodium bicarbonate is central to the treatment of many poisonings. When it was placed on the FDA drug shortage list in 2012, alternative treatment strategies to specific poisonings were considered. Many hospital pharmacies, poison centers, and medical toxicologists proposed sodium acetate as an adequate alternative, despite a paucity of data to support its use in medical toxicology.

Macrophage response to cross-linked and conventional UHMWPE.

To prevent wear debris-induced osteolysis and aseptic loosening, cross-linked ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene's (UHMWPE) with improved wear resistance have been developed. Hip simulator studies have demonstrated very low wear rates with these new materials leading to their widespread clinical use. However, the biocompatibility of this material is not known.