Pediatric cardiac surgery: machine learning models for postoperative complication prediction.

Purpose: Managing children undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) presents a significant challenge for anesthesiologists. Machine Learning (ML)-assisted tools have the potential to enhance the recognition of patients at risk of complications and predict potential issues, ultimately improving outcomes.

Methods: We evaluated the prediction capacity of six models, ranging from logistic regression to support vector machine, using a dataset comprising 33 variables and 1364 subjects.

Thermogravimetric, Morphological and Infrared Analysis of Blends Involving Thermoplastic Starch and Poly(ethylene-co-methacrylic acid) and Its Ionomer Form.

This study focuses on the thermal properties and structural features of blends consisting of thermoplastic starch (TPS) and poly(ethylene-co-methacrylic acid) copolymer (EMAA) or its ionomer form (EMAA-54Na). The aim is to investigate how carboxylate functional groups of the ionomer form intervene in blends compatibility at the interface of the two materials and how this impacts their properties. Two series of blends (TPS/EMAA and TPS/EMAA-54Na) were produced with an internal mixer, with TPS compositions between 5 and 90 wt%.

Impact of collaborative physician-pharmacist stewardship strategies on prophylactic antibiotic practices: a quasi-experimental study.

Background: An effective use of surgical antibiotic prophylaxis (SAP) appears essential to prevent the development of infections linked to surgery while inappropriate and excessive prescriptions of prophylactic antibiotics increase the risk of adverse effects, bacterial resistance and Clostridium difficile infections. In this study, we aimed to analyze SAP practices in an acute secondary hospital in Belgium during the years 2016-2021 in order to evaluate the impacts of combined stewardship interventions, implemented thanks to a physician-pharmacist collaboration.

Methods: A quasi-experimental study on SAP practices was conducted during 5 years (2016-2021) in a Belgian University Hospital.

Common clinical thresholds of intraoperative hypotension and 30-day mortality following surgery: A retrospective cohort study.

Background: A wide range of thresholds define intraoperative hypotension and can be used to guide intraoperative blood pressure management. Many clinicians use the systolic blood pressure (SBP) <80 mmHg, the mean arterial pressure (MAP) <60 mmHg and the SBP percent drop from baseline (ΔSBP) >20% as alarming limits that should not be exceeded. Whether these common thresholds are valid limits that can inform clinicians on a possible increased risk of post-operative complications, particularly 30-day mortality, is currently unclear.

Anaesthesia care team improves outcomes in surgical patients compared with solo anaesthesiologist: An observational study.

Background: In anaesthesiology, little attention has been drawn to the role of anaesthesia nurses as support personnel on quality of care.

Objectives: To compare an anaesthesiologist alone (solo anaesthesiologist) with an anaesthesia care team (anaesthesiologist and anaesthesia nurse).

Design: An observational study.