Impact of Low-Dose Dronabinol Therapy on Cognitive Function in Cancer Patients Receiving Palliative Care: A Case-Series Intervention Study.

Background: Cannabis may offer therapeutic benefits to patients with advanced cancer not responding adequately to conventional palliative treatment. However, tolerability is a major concern. Cognitive function is a potential adverse reaction to tetrahydrocannabinol containing regimens.

Assessment of neuropsychiatric manifestations in a cohort of intensive care unit survivors: A proof of concept study.

The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and outcome of a neuropsychiatric evaluation protocol intended for adult intensive care unit survivors in a Danish regional hospital, in which a follow-up consultation was conducted 2 months after hospital discharge. Twenty-three participants were able to finalize the neuropsychiatric evaluation, and 20 (87%) among those were detected with neuropsychiatric manifestations, including cognitive impairment ( = 17; 74%) and fatigue ( = 17, 74%). This study finds a high prevalence of neuropsychiatric manifestations and fatigue, and evaluates a follow-up protocol for the ICU patient population.

Real-world causal evidence for planned predictive enrichment in critical care trials: A scoping review.

Background: Randomised clinical trials in critical care are prone to inconclusiveness due, in part, to undue optimism about effect sizes and suboptimal accounting for heterogeneous treatment effects. Although causal evidence from rich real-world critical care can help overcome these challenges by informing predictive enrichment, no overview exists.

Methods: We conducted a scoping review, systematically searching 10 general and speciality journals for reports published on or after 1 January 2018, of randomised clinical trials enrolling adult critically ill patients.

Causal inference for planning randomised critical care trials: Protocol for a scoping review.

Background: Randomised clinical trials in critical care are prone to inconclusiveness owing, in part, to undue optimism about effect sizes and suboptimal accounting for heterogeneous treatment effects. Planned predictive enrichment based on secondary critical care data (often very rich with respect to both data types and temporal granularity) and causal inference methods may help overcome these challenges, but no overview exists about their use to this end.

Methods: We will conduct a scoping review to assess the extent and nature of the use of causal inference from secondary data for planned predictive enrichment of randomised clinical trials in critical care.

Insufficiency fractures of the knee, ankle, and foot in rheumatoid arthritis: A case series and case-control study.

Objective: To evaluate cases of insufficiency fractures verified by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the knee, ankle, and foot in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) cared for in our clinic over an 8-year period, to identify possible risk factors, and to test these in a case-control study.

Methods: All patients in the rheumatology clinic with RA were registered prospectively in the database, DANBIO. All MRIs ordered from the clinic were registered and coded according to the anatomical region.

P2X receptor blockers reduce the number of circulating thrombocytes and the overall survival of urosepsis with haemolysin-producing Escherichia coli.

Urosepsis is a severe condition often caused by Escherichia coli that spontaneously have ascended the urinary tract to the kidneys causing pyelonephritis and potentially bacteraemia. The number of sepsis cases has been steadily increasing over the last decades, and there are still no specific, molecular supportive therapies for sepsis to supplement antibiotic treatment. P2X receptors are expressed by a number of immune cells including thrombocytes, which presently have been established as an important player in the acute immune response to bacterial infections.

Erythrocyte P2X receptor expression is correlated with change in haematocrit in patients admitted to the ICU with blood pathogen-positive sepsis.

Background: Pore-forming proteins released from bacteria or formed as result of complement activation are known to produce severe cell damage. Inhibition of purinergic P2X receptors markedly reduces damage inflicted by cytolytic bacterial toxin and after complement activation in both erythrocytes and monocytes. P2X expression generally shows variation throughout the population.

[Primary septic arthritis is a rare, atypical manifestation of invasive meningococcal disease].

We present a case report of a 50-year-old man diagnosed with a primary septic arthritis with invasive Neisseria meningitidis serogroup W (MenW) clonal complex 11 identified with culture in blood and synovial fluid. The patient recovered from rapidly instituted relevant antibiotics and synovectomy, but there may be a risk of fatal delayed diagnosis and treatment by an atypical manifestation of invasive meningococcal disease. Invasive MenW disease has been increasing in recent years and has been described with atypical presentations.

Loop Diuretics Diminish Hemolysis Induced by α-Hemolysin from Escherichia coli.

Uropathogenic Escherichia coli often produce the virulence factor α-hemolysin (HlyA), and the more severe the infection, the likelier it is to isolate HlyA-producing E. coli from patients. HlyA forms pores upon receptor-independent insertion of the toxin into biological membranes and it has been substantiated that HlyA-induced hemolysis is amplified by toxin-induced ATP release and activation of P2X receptors.

P2X, P2X, and P2X Receptor Knock Out Mice Expose Differential Outcome of Sepsis Induced by α-Haemolysin Producing .

α-haemolysin (HlyA)-producing commonly inflict severe urinary tract infections, including pyelonephritis, which comprises substantial risk for sepsis. , the cytolytic effect of HlyA is mainly mediated by ATP release through the HlyA pore and subsequent P2X/P2X receptor activation. This amplification of the lytic process is not unique to HlyA but is observed by many other pore-forming proteins including complement-induced haemolysis.

Inhibition of P2X Receptors Protects Human Monocytes against Damage by Leukotoxin from Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and α-Hemolysin from Escherichia coli.

α-Hemolysin (HlyA) from Escherichia coli and leukotoxin A (LtxA) from Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans are important virulence factors in ascending urinary tract infections and aggressive periodontitis, respectively. The extracellular signaling molecule ATP is released immediately after insertion of the toxins into plasma membranes and, via P2X receptors, is essential for the erythrocyte damage inflicted by these toxins. Moreover, ATP signaling is required for the ensuing recognition and phagocytosis of damaged erythrocytes by the monocytic cell line THP-1.

[Ca2+]i Oscillations and IL-6 Release Induced by α-Hemolysin from Escherichia coli Require P2 Receptor Activation in Renal Epithelia.

Urinary tract infections are commonly caused by α-hemolysin (HlyA)-producing Escherichia coli. In erythrocytes, the cytotoxic effect of HlyA is strongly amplified by P2X receptors, which are activated by extracellular ATP released from the cytosol of the erythrocytes. In renal epithelia, HlyA causes reversible [Ca(2+)]i oscillations, which trigger interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-8 release.

P2X receptor-dependent erythrocyte damage by α-hemolysin from Escherichia coli triggers phagocytosis by THP-1 cells.

The pore-forming exotoxin α-hemolysin from E. coli causes a significant volume reduction of human erythrocytes that precedes the ultimate swelling and lysis. This shrinkage results from activation of Ca2+-sensitive K+ (KCa3.