Potential benefits of using an energy-dense, high-protein formula enriched with β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate, fructo-oligosaccharide, and vitamin D for enteral feeding in the ICU: A pilot case-control study in COVID-19 patients.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the potential benefits of using an energy-dense, high-protein (HP) formula enriched with β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate (HMB), fructo-oligosaccharide (FOS), and vitamin D (VitD) for enteral feeding in the intensive care unit (ICU).

Methods: This was a nested case-control multicenter study. Mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19 in whom enteral nutrition was not contraindicated and receiving an energy-dense, HP-HMB-FOS-VitD formula (1.

High dose coupled plasma filtration and adsorption in septic shock patients. Results of the COMPACT-2: a multicentre, adaptive, randomised clinical trial.

Purpose: This study aimed at evaluating the efficacy and safety of high-dose (> 0.2 L/kg of treated plasma per day) coupled plasma filtration-adsorption (CPFA) in treating patients with septic shock.

Methods: Multicentre, randomised, adaptive trial, performed in 12 Italian intensive care units (ICUs).

PROSAFE: a European endeavor to improve quality of critical care medicine in seven countries.

Background: Long-lasting shared research databases are an important source of epidemiological information and can promote comparison between different healthcare services. Here we present PROSAFE, an advanced international research network in intensive care medicine, with the focus on assessing and improving the quality of care. The project involved 343 ICUs in seven countries.

Enhancing safety of laparoscopic surgery in COVID-19 era: clinical experience with low-cost filtration devices.

Background: Surgery in the era of the current COVID-19 pandemic has been curtailed and restricted to emergency and certain oncological indications, and requires special attention concerning the safety of patients and health care personnel. Desufflation during or after laparoscopic surgery has been reported to entail a potential risk of contamination from 2019-nCoV through the aerosol generated during dissection and/or use of energy-driven devices. In order to protect the operating room staff, it is vital to filter the released aerosol.

Standard and viscoelastic mechanical properties of respiratory system compartments in dogs: Effect of volume, posture, and shape.

In 9 anesthetized, paralyzed dogs lung and chest-wall standard (viscous resistance, Rint, and quasi-static elastance, Est) and viscoelastic parameters (resistance, Rvel, and time constant, τvel) were measured in the supine posture before and after rib-cage block, after application of an expiratory threshold load, and after 75° head-up tilting before and after wide chest opening. Lung and chest-wall τvel were the same under all conditions. Rvel was independent of volume and posture, and greater for the lung.

Data collection and research with MargheritaTre.

Objective: MargheritaTre is an electronic health record developed by the Italian Group for the Evaluation of Interventions in Intensive Care Medicine designed to support clinical practice in intensive care units (ICUs) and ensure high-quality data for research purposes.

Approach: MargheritaTre was developed in collaboration with clinical experts, researchers, and IT specialists. It is currently installed in 40 ICUs and its database contains complete records of more than 65,000 patients.

Psychological Considerations in the Assessment and Treatment of Pain in Neurorehabilitation and Psychological Factors Predictive of Therapeutic Response: Evidence and Recommendations from the Italian Consensus Conference on Pain in Neurorehabilitation.

Background: In order to provide effective care to patients suffering from chronic pain secondary to neurological diseases, health professionals must appraise the role of the psychosocial factors in the genesis and maintenance of this condition whilst considering how emotions and cognitions influence the course of treatment. Furthermore, it is important not only to recognize the psychological reactions to pain that are common to the various conditions, but also to evaluate how these syndromes differ with regards to the psychological factors that may be involved. As an extensive evaluation of these factors is still lacking, the Italian Consensus Conference on Pain in Neurorehabilitation (ICCPN) aimed to collate the evidence available across these topics.

Psychological Treatments and Psychotherapies in the Neurorehabilitation of Pain: Evidences and Recommendations from the Italian Consensus Conference on Pain in Neurorehabilitation.

Background: It is increasingly recognized that treating pain is crucial for effective care within neurological rehabilitation in the setting of the neurological rehabilitation. The Italian Consensus Conference on Pain in Neurorehabilitation was constituted with the purpose identifying best practices for us in this context. Along with drug therapies and physical interventions, psychological treatments have been proven to be some of the most valuable tools that can be used within a multidisciplinary approach for fostering a reduction in pain intensity.

The role of the intensive care unit in real-time surveillance of emerging pandemics: the Italian GiViTI experience.

The prompt availability of reliable epidemiological information on emerging pandemics is crucial for public health policy-makers. Early in 2013, a possible new H1N1 epidemic notified by an intensive care unit (ICU) to GiViTI, the Italian ICU network, prompted the re-activation of the real-time monitoring system developed during the 2009-2010 pandemic. Based on data from 216 ICUs, we were able to detect and monitor an outbreak of severe H1N1 infection, and to compare the situation with previous years.

World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) guidelines for management of skin and soft tissue infections.

Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) encompass a variety of pathological conditions ranging from simple superficial infections to severe necrotizing soft tissue infections. Necrotizing soft tissue infections (NSTIs) are potentially life-threatening infections of any layer of the soft tissue compartment associated with widespread necrosis and systemic toxicity. Successful management of NSTIs involves prompt recognition, timely surgical debridement or drainage, resuscitation and appropriate antibiotic therapy.

The effects of CO2 on respiratory mechanics in anesthetized paralyzed humans.

Background: There is little information concerning the carbon dioxide-related effects on respiratory mechanics in anesthetized, paralyzed subjects; however, hypocapnia or hypercapnia is often permitted in patients with severe brain injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome. Therefore, the carbon dioxide dependence of respiratory mechanics in healthy anesthetized, paralyzed subjects was investigated.

Methods: Interrupter resistance (Rint), additional tissue viscoelastic resistance (deltaR), and quasi-static elastance (Est) of lung (L) and chest wall were assessed by means of the rapid end-inspiratory occlusion method in two groups of seven healthy paralyzed subjects anesthetized with diazepam or isoflurane.

Volume and time dependence of respiratory system mechanics in normal anaesthetized paralysed humans.

The purpose of the present investigation was to assess the effect of large tidal volumes and mean lung volumes on the viscoelastic properties of the respiratory system in normal humans; and to verify if in this case the results could be satisfactorily described by a simple linear viscoelastic model of the respiratory system. Twenty-eight subjects (7 females), aged 14-28 yrs, were studied before orthopaedic surgery on the lower limbs. None were obese, or had clinical evidence of cardiopulmonary disease.

Assessment of respiratory system viscoelasticity in spontaneously breathing rabbits.

Airflow, volume (V), inspiratory time (TI), tracheal pressure (Ptr), abdomen (Dab) and rib cage diameters (Drc), peak diaphragm (Adi) and parasternal muscle activity (Aic) were measured in thirteen anaesthetized and vagotomized rabbits and in six vagotomized rabbits with cordotomy at T1 during unimpeded inspirations followed by rapid end-inspiratory airway occlusion, relaxation against closed airways, and inspiratory effort. To modify the inspiratory flow pattern, such sequences were performed at different volume, levels of chemical drive, and body temperatures (BT). Under all conditions, Adi, Aic, TI, Drc and Dab at iso-volume were the same for unimpeded and occluded inspirations; end-inspiratory Ptr was lower for occluded than for unimpeded inspirations, the difference (Pdiff) being larger the lower the volume at which occlusions were performed and the higher the chemical drive and BT.

[Subarachnoid hemorrhage: protective hypotension in delayed surgery].

Systemic hypertension is frequently observed in patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH). Continuing systemic hypertension might augment the risk of rebleeding and also increase the blood flow and blood volume, resulting in more marked cerebral edema and intracranial hypertension. However, reduction of blood pressure might also decrease cerebral perfusion pressure in patient with an impaired autoregulation and in this way enhance the risk of cerebral ischemia.

Chest wall interrupter resistance in anesthetized paralyzed humans.

Tracheal (Ptr) and esophageal (Pes) pressure and flow were measured in 12 supine anesthetized paralyzed normal subjects aged 16-22 yr. The subjects were ventilated with a fixed inflation volume (range 0.57-0.

[Pathology requiring admission to the neurosurgical intensive care].

A patient's admission to an ICU should benefit the patient (either short or long term). Consequently patients admitted to the ICU should be only those neurological-neurosurgical ones with one or more organ failure who need immediate or prolonged therapy with adequate monitoring and technical support not available in other wards. Normally admission depends on may other factors, the most important ones seem to be medico-legal responsibilities of the possible refusal of admission even if due to clinical reasons, organizational problems such as equipment and bed availability.

Effect of PEEP on respiratory mechanics in anesthetized paralyzed humans.

With the use of the technique of rapid airway occlusion during constant flow inflation, respiratory mechanics were studied in eight anesthetized paralyzed supine normal humans during zero (ZEEP) and positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) ventilation. PEEP increased the end-expiratory lung volume by 0.49 liter.

Pulmonary and chest wall mechanics in anesthetized paralyzed humans.

Pulmonary and chest wall mechanics were studied in 18 anesthetized paralyzed supine humans by use of the technique of rapid airway occlusion during constant-flow inflation. Analysis of the changes in transpulmonary pressure after flow interruption allowed partitioning of the overall resistance of the lung (RL) into two compartments, one (Rint,L) reflecting airway resistance and the other (delta RL) representing the viscoelastic properties of the pulmonary tissues. Similar analysis of the changes in esophageal pressure indicates that chest wall resistance (RW) was due entirely to the viscoelastic properties of the chest wall tissues (delta RW = RW).