Pantoprazole in Patients at Risk for Gastrointestinal Bleeding in the ICU.

Background: Prophylaxis for gastrointestinal stress ulceration is frequently given to patients in the intensive care unit (ICU), but its risks and benefits are unclear.

Methods: In this European, multicenter, parallel-group, blinded trial, we randomly assigned adults who had been admitted to the ICU for an acute condition (i.e.

Lower versus higher hemoglobin threshold for transfusion in septic shock.

Background: Blood transfusions are frequently given to patients with septic shock. However, the benefits and harms of different hemoglobin thresholds for transfusion have not been established.

Methods: In this multicenter, parallel-group trial, we randomly assigned patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) who had septic shock and a hemoglobin concentration of 9 g per deciliter or less to receive 1 unit of leukoreduced red cells when the hemoglobin level was 7 g per deciliter or less (lower threshold) or when the level was 9 g per deciliter or less (higher threshold) during the ICU stay.

Experiences of participation in rhythm and movement therapy after stroke.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate how persons with stroke experience participation in rhythm and music therapy.

Methods: To gain knowledge of the qualitatively different ways persons with stroke experience participation in Ronnie Gardiner Rhythm and Music (RGRM) therapy, a phenomenographic approach was chosen. Interviews with 17 persons with stroke were done.

Hydroxyethyl starch 130/0.42 versus Ringer's acetate in severe sepsis.

Background: Hydroxyethyl starch (HES) [corrected] is widely used for fluid resuscitation in intensive care units (ICUs), but its safety and efficacy have not been established in patients with severe sepsis.

Methods: In this multicenter, parallel-group, blinded trial, we randomly assigned patients with severe sepsis to fluid resuscitation in the ICU with either 6% HES 130/0.42 (Tetraspan) or Ringer's acetate at a dose of up to 33 ml per kilogram of ideal body weight per day.

Kidney failure related to broad-spectrum antibiotics in critically ill patients: secondary end point results from a 1200 patient randomised trial.

Objectives: To explore whether a strategy of more intensive antibiotic therapy leads to emergence or prolongation of renal failure in intensive care patients.

Design: Secondary analysis from a randomised antibiotic strategy trial (the Procalcitonin And Survival Study). The randomised arms were conserved from the primary trial for the main analysis.

Procalcitonin-guided interventions against infections to increase early appropriate antibiotics and improve survival in the intensive care unit: a randomized trial.

Objective: For patients in intensive care units, sepsis is a common and potentially deadly complication and prompt initiation of appropriate antimicrobial therapy improves prognosis. The objective of this trial was to determine whether a strategy of antimicrobial spectrum escalation, guided by daily measurements of the biomarker procalcitonin, could reduce the time to appropriate therapy, thus improving survival.

Design: Randomized controlled open-label trial.

Lactate concentrations in the rectal lumen in patients in early septic shock.

Background: Previously, we observed that rectal luminal lactate was higher in non-survivors compared with survivors of severe sepsis or septic shock persisting >24 h. The present study was initiated to further investigate this tentative association between rectal luminal lactate and mortality in a larger population of patients in early septic shock.

Methods: A prospective observational multicentre study of 130 patients with septic shock at six general ICU's of university hospitals.

[Resuscitation of severely hypothermic and multitraumatised female following long-term cardiac arrest].

We describe the case of a patient who was severely hypothermic after 45 minutes of submersion. The patient received about 90 minutes of basic and advanced life support before being connected to extra corporal heart lung assistance (ECHLA). The core temperature was 28.

The Procalcitonin And Survival Study (PASS) - a randomised multi-center investigator-initiated trial to investigate whether daily measurements biomarker Procalcitonin and pro-active diagnostic and therapeutic responses to abnormal Procalcitonin levels, can improve survival in intensive care unit patients. Calculated sample size (target population): 1000 patients.

Background: Sepsis and complications to sepsis are major causes of mortality in critically ill patients. Rapid treatment of sepsis is of crucial importance for survival of patients. The infectious status of the critically ill patient is often difficult to assess because symptoms cannot be expressed and signs may present atypically.

The pharmacokinetic profile of plasma-derived mannan-binding lectin in healthy adult volunteers and patients with Staphylococcus aureus septicaemia.

Mannan-binding lectin (MBL) is a member of the innate immune system, and MBL-deficiency affects 10-15% of Caucasians. With development of a plasma-derived MBL, substitution has become a therapeutic option in diseases associated with MBL insufficiency. The pharmacokinetics of injected MBL is weakly described, particularly in patients with infectious diseases.

[The national patient registry. Evaluation of data quality].

The Danish National Patient Register, which includes information on all patients admitted to hospitals, has been evaluated as concerns the quality of the data included. The material examined consisted of a representative sample of 1094 patients from departments all over the country (gynaecology and obstetrics, medicine, surgery and paediatrics). Recoding of data, clinical as well as administrative, based on copies of the case records from the hospitals was carried out by two clinically working physicians (registrars).

Intestinal permeability in patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis and their first degree relatives.

Increased intestinal permeability in patients with Crohn's disease and their first degree relatives has been proposed as an aetiological factor. The nine hour overnight urinary excretion of polyethyleneglycol-400 (PEG-400) and three inert sugars (lactulose, l-rhamnose, and mannitol) was used to test the permeation in 47 patients with Crohn's disease of whom 18 had at least one first degree relative with inflammatory bowel disease (2BD) and 52 patients with ulcerative colitis of whom 16 had at least one first degree relative with IBD. A total of 17 first degree relatives with IBD and 56 healthy first degree relatives were included.