Inspiring Change: a report on acute non-invasive ventilation.

The British Thoracic Society audit of non-invasive ventilation has shown that mortality rates are higher than expected and increasing. The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death undertook a detailed analysis of data from 432 patients treated with acute non-invasive ventilation to identify how clinical aspects of non-invasive ventilation treatment could be improved. The study 'Inspiring Change' was published in July 2017.

Severe Gastrointestinal Haemorrhage: Summary of a National Quality of Care Study with Focus on Radiological Services.

Purpose Of Study: To identify the remediable factors in the quality of care provided to patients with severe gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding.

Method: All hospital admissions in the first four months of 2013 with ICD10 coding for GI bleeding who received a transfusion of 4 units or more of blood. Up to five cases/hospital randomly selected for structured case note peer review.

Preoperative renal dysfunction and mortality after non-cardiac surgery.

Background: Chronic kidney disease is an important preoperative risk factor. However, the association between renal dysfunction and risk of death has not been well explored in non-cardiac surgery.

Methods: Two prospective observational studies in non-cardiac surgery were analysed: the European Surgical Outcomes Study (EuSOS) and the UK National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD).

Development and validation of the Surgical Outcome Risk Tool (SORT).

Background: Existing risk stratification tools have limitations and clinical experience suggests they are not used routinely. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a preoperative risk stratification tool to predict 30-day mortality after non-cardiac surgery in adults by analysis of data from the observational National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) Knowing the Risk study.

Methods: The data set was split into derivation and validation cohorts.

The management of trauma victims with head injury: a study by the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death.

Introduction: In 2006 the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death undertook a large prospective study of trauma care, which revealed several findings pertaining to the management of head injuries in a sample of 493 patients.

Methods: Case note data were collected for all trauma patients admitted to all hospitals accepting emergencies in england, wales, Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands over a three-month period. severely injured patients with an injury severity score (iss) of ≥16 were included in the study.

Selective susceptibility of different populations of sympathetic neurons to diabetic neuropathy in vivo is reflected by increased vulnerability to oxidative stress in vitro.

Diabetes is the major cause of autonomic neuropathy in humans. Sympathetic neurons from the celiac/superior mesenteric ganglia (CG/SMG) develop neuropathic changes in diabetes whereas sympathetic superior cervical ganglion (SCG) neurons do not. Glucose-induced oxidative stress is proposed as a major factor in the development of diabetic neuropathy.

Comparative effects of high glucose on different adult sympathetic neurons in culture.

In vivo, diabetes causes neuropathy in the sympathetic celiac/superior mesenteric ganglion (CG/SMG) but not the superior cervical ganglion (SCG). Therefore, our aim was to compare the effects of high glucose in vitro on adult rat SCG and CG/SMG neurons. High glucose decreased viability and neurite outgrowth and increased TUNEL staining in freshly dissociated neurons from both ganglia.

Mechanisms underlying postjunctional synergism between responses of the vas deferens to noradrenaline and ATP.

Mechanisms of postjunctional synergism between adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP) and noradrenaline were studied in isolated guinea pig vas deferens. Whereas prior exposure to ATP had no significant effect on noradrenaline-mediated contractions, noradrenaline concentration-dependently enhanced ATP-induced contractions. Similarly to noradrenaline, histamine, which also acts via phospholipase-coupled receptors, induced contractions of the vas deferens and enhanced subsequent responses to ATP.