Medicine & Healthcare Intensive care medicine

A large-scale study of more than 31,000 patients found pneumonia occurred more often after breathing tubes were removed than during ventilation. Researchers say the condition, tied to swallowing dysfunction, should be recognized as a distinct clinical entity—one that may be preventable with early intervention.

Duke-NUS and NUHS scientists uncover a complex web of genetic, age-related and microbial factors that increase the risk of stomach cancer.

Ateneo researchers are looking to turn milkfish skin, a common waste byproduct of the Philippine fishing industry, into an invaluable medical resource.

The physiological mechanisms underlying severe burns are not well understood. Researchers at Osaka University used mass spectrometry to identify key blood proteins associated with burn mortality. Ultimately, three proteins (HBA1, TTR, SERPINF2) were very highly correlated with morality rates. Further research into these proteins and their pathways may lead to better drugs to treat people with life-threatening burns.

A group of researchers at Osaka University used a noninvasive method to evaluate Cerebrovascular Autoregulation (CVAR) in patients after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. The mortality rate increased significantly with the duration of time that CVAR was undetectable. It has been suggested that CVAR, a function that is normally present in the normal state, may be impaired after cardiac resuscitation. However, the relationship between CVAR function and patient prognosis has been unclear. The research examined CVAR over time, using the moving Pearson correlation coefficient calculated from regional cerebral oxygen saturation and mean blood pressure data, and performed a survival analysis using the presence or absence of CVAR as a time-dependent covariate. The findings of this study may first be useful in predicting neuroprognosis after cardiac resumption and may help avoid early withdrawal of treatment in those who may recover. In addition, they suggest that treatment and management that maintains proper CVAR after cardiac resumption may improve patient prognosis, which may be applied to the management of post-cardiac arrest resuscitation based on cerebral circulation to optimize treatment for each individual patient.

Scientists developed a novel device that predicts whether an ICU patient taken off mechanical ventilation is likely to suffer from respiratory emergencies, helping critical care teams to provide immediate life-saving interventions.