Extracorporeal Life Support: The Next Step in Moderate to Severe ARDS-A Review and Meta-Analysis of the Literature.

Despite the use of lung protective ventilation (LPV) strategies, a severe form of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is unfortunately associated with high mortality rates, which sometimes exceed 60%. Recently, major technical improvements have been applied in extracorporeal life support (ECLS) systems, but as these techniques are costly and associated with very serious adverse events, high-quality evidence is needed before these techniques can become the "cornerstone" in the management of moderate to severe ARDS. Unfortunately, evaluation of previous randomized controlled and observational trials revealed major methodological issues.

Differential diagnosis and treatment of acute cauda equina syndrome in the human immunodeficiency virus positive patient: a case report and review of the literature.

Background: Acute cauda equina syndrome is an uncommon but significant neurologic presentation due to a variety of underlying diseases. Anatomical compression of nerve roots, usually by a lumbar disk hernia is a common cause in the general population, while inflammatory, neoplastic, and ischemic causes have also been recognized. Among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, infectious causes are encountered more frequently, the most prevalent of which are: cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus 1/2, varicella zoster virus, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections.

Pancreatic mediastinal pseudocyst presenting as a posterior mediastinal mass with recurrent pleural effusions: a case report and review of the literature.

Introduction: A rare complication of chronic pancreatitis is the formation of single or multiple mediastinal pseudocysts, which are fueled from the pancreas through anatomical openings of the diaphragm. We present a rare case with a difficult diagnosis, treatment and potentially catastrophic complications.

Case Presentation: A 53-year-old Caucasian man was referred to our hospital for further investigation and treatment of a large heterogeneous mass situated in the posterior mediastinum, and bilateral pleural effusions which had developed after recent multiple episodes of pancreatitis.

Chronotypology and melatonin alterations in minimal hepatic encephalopathy.

Background: "Minimal (subclinical) hepatic encephalopathy" is a term that describes impairment of every day life activities in cirrhosis patients without clinical neurologic abnormalities. Melatonin diurnal pattern disruption and metabolic changes due to liver insufficiency can affect the human biologic clock. Our study was conducted to measure plasma melatonin levels in an attempt to correlate plasma melatonin abnormalities with liver insufficiency severity, and describe chronotypology in cirrhosis patients with minimal encephalopathy.