2017 Jun 15 - The Diaphragm Acts as a Brake during Expiration to Prevent Lung Collapse

Mariangela Pellegrini , Göran Hedenstierna , Agneta Roneus , Monica Segelsjö , Anders Larsson , and Gaetano Perchiazzi  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Jun 15, 2017, vol. 195, no. 12: 1608-1616

Rationale: The diaphragm is the major inspiratory muscle and is assumed to relax during expiration. However, electrical postinspiratory activity has been observed. Whether there is an expiratory diaphragmatic contraction that preserves lung patency has yet to be explored.

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2017 Jun 15 - Acute Kidney Injury as a Risk Factor for Delirium and Coma during Critical Illness

Edward D. Siew , William H. Fissell , Christina M. Tripp , Jeffrey D. Blume , Matthew D. Wilson , Amanda J. Clark , Andrew J. Vincz , E. Wesley Ely , Pratik P. Pandharipande , and Timothy D. Girard  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Jun 15, 2017, vol . 195, no. 12: 1597 - 1697

Rationale: Acute kidney injury may contribute to distant organ dysfunction. Few studies have examined kidney injury as a risk factor for delirium and coma.

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2017 Jun 1 - Outcomes after Rehospitalization at the Same Hospital or a Different Hospital Following Critical Illness

May Hua , Michelle Ng Gong , Andrea Miltiades , and Hannah Wunsch Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Jun 1, 2017, vol. 195, no. 11: 1486-1493

Rationale: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients who receive mechanical ventilation are at high risk for early rehospitalization. Given the medical complexity of these patients, a lack of continuity of care may adversely affect their outcomes during rehospitalization.

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2017 Jun 1 - Effort to Breathe with Various Spontaneous Breathing Trial Techniques. A Physiologic Meta-analysis

Michael C. Sklar, Karen Burns, Nuttapol Rittayamai, Ashley Lanys, Michela Rauseo, Lu Chen, Martin Dres, Guang-Qiang Chen, Ewan C. Goligher, Neill K. J. Adhikari, Laurent Brochard, and Jan O. Friedrich  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Jun 1, 2017, vol. 195, no. 11: 1477-1485

Rationale: Spontaneous breathing trials (SBTs) are designed to simulate conditions after extubation, and it is essential to understand the physiologic impact of different methods.

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2017 May 15 - Balanced Crystalloids versus Saline in the Intensive Care Unit. The SALT Randomized Trial

Matthew W. Semler , Jonathan P. Wanderer , Jesse M. Ehrenfeld , Joanna L. Stollings , Wesley H. Self , Edward D. Siew , Li Wang , Daniel W. Byrne , Andrew D. Shaw , Gordon R. Bernard , and Todd W. Rice for the SALT Investigators* and the Pragmatic Critical Care Research Group  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. May 15, 2017, vol. 195, no. 10: 1362-1372

Rationale: Saline is the intravenous fluid most commonly administered to critically ill adults, but it may be associated with acute kidney injury and death. Whether use of balanced crystalloids rather than saline affects patient outcomes remains unknown.

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2017 May 15 - A Missense Genetic Variant in LRRC16A/CARMIL1 Improves Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Survival by Attenuating Platelet Count Decline

Yongyue Wei , Paula Tejera , Zhaoxi Wang , Ruyang Zhang , Feng Chen , Li Su , Xihong Lin , Ednan K. Bajwa , B. Taylor Thompson , and David C. Christiani  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. May 15, 2017, vol. 195, no. 10: 1353 - 1361

Rationale: Platelets are believed to contribute to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) pathogenesis through inflammatory coagulation pathways. We recently reported that leucine-rich repeat–containing 16A (LRRC16A) modulates baseline platelet counts to mediate ARDS risk.

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2017 May 1 - Physiologic Effects of High-Flow Nasal Cannula in Acute Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure

Tommaso Mauri , Cecilia Turrini , Nilde Eronia , Giacomo Grasselli , Carlo Alberto Volta , Giacomo Bellani , and Antonio Pesenti  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. May 1, 2017, vol. 195, no. 9: 1207-1215

Rationale: High-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) improves the clinical outcomes of nonintubated patients with acute hypoxemic respiratory failure (AHRF).

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2017 May 1 - Favorable Neurocognitive Outcome with Low Tidal Volume Ventilation after Cardiac Arrest

Jeremy R. Beitler, Tiffany Bita Ghafouri, Sayuri P. Jinadasa, Ariel Mueller, Leeyen Hsu, Ryan J. Anderson, Jisha Joshua, Sanjeev Tyagi, Atul Malhotra, Rebecca E. Sell, and Daniel Talmor  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. May 1, 2017, vol. 195, no. 9: 1198-1206

Rationale: Neurocognitive outcome after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is often poor, even when initial resuscitation succeeds. Lower tidal volumes (Vts) attenuate extrapulmonary organ injury in other disease states and are neuroprotective in preclinical models of critical illness.

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2017 Apr 15 - Partial Neuromuscular Blockade during Partial Ventilatory Support in Sedated Patients with High Tidal Volumes

Jonne Doorduin, Joeke L. Nollet, Lisanne H. Roesthuis, Hieronymus W. H. van Hees, Laurent J. Brochard, Christer A. Sinderby, Johannes G. van der Hoeven, and Leo M. A. Heunks  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Apr 15, 2017, vol. 195, no. 8: 1033-1042

Rationale: Controlled mechanical ventilation is used to deliver lung-protective ventilation in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome. Despite recognized benefits, such as preserved diaphragm activity, partial support ventilation modes may be incompatible with lung-protective ventilation due to high Vt and high transpulmonary pressure. As an alternative to high-dose sedatives and controlled mechanical ventilation, pharmacologically induced neuromechanical uncoupling of the diaphragm should facilitate lung-protective ventilation under partial support modes.

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2017 Apr 15 - Comparison of Echocardiographic Indices Used to Predict Fluid Responsiveness in Ventilated Patients

Philippe Vignon, Xavier Repessé, Emmanuelle Bégot, Julie Léger, Christophe Jacob, Koceila Bouferrache, Michel Slama, Gwenaël Prat, and Antoine Vieillard-Baron  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Apr 15, 2017, vol. 195, no. 8: 1022-1032

Rationale: Assessment of fluid responsiveness relies on dynamic echocardiographic parameters that have not yet been compared in large cohorts.

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2017 Apr 1 - Quick Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment, Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome, and Early Warning Scores for Detecting Clinical Deterioration in Infected Patients outside the Intensive Care Unit

Matthew M. Churpek , Ashley Snyder , Xuan Han , Sarah Sokol , Natasha Pettit , Michael D. Howell , and Dana P. Edelson  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Apr 1, 2017, vol. 195, no. 7: 906-911

Rationale: The 2016 definitions of sepsis included the quick Sepsis-related Organ Failure Assessment (qSOFA) score to identify high-risk patients outside the intensive care unit (ICU).

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2017 Apr 1 - DJ-1/PARK7 Impairs Bacterial Clearance in Sepsis

Hajera Amatullah , Yuexin Shan , Brittany L. Beauchamp , Patricia L. Gali , Sahil Gupta , Tatiana Maron-Gutierrez , Edwin R. Speck , Alison E. Fox-Robichaud , Jennifer L. Y. Tsang , Shirley H. J. Mei , and Tak W. Mak Patricia R. M. Rocco , John W. Semple , Haibo Zhang , Pingzhao Hu , John C. Marshall , Duncan J. Stewart , Mary-Ellen Harper , Patricia C. Liaw , W. Conrad Liles , and Claudia C. dos Santos on behalf of the Canadian Critical Care Translational Biology Group  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Apr 1, 2017, vol. 195, no. 7: 889-905

Rationale: Effective and rapid bacterial clearance is a fundamental determinant of outcomes in sepsis. DJ-1 is a well-established reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenger.

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2017 Apr 1 - The Epidemiology of Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. A 50th Birthday Review

Tài Pham , and Gordon D. Rubenfeld  Am. J Resp. Crit. Care Med. Apr 1, 2017, vol 195, no. 7: 860-870

Since its first description 50 years ago, no other intensive care syndrome has been as extensively studied as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Despite this extensive body of research, many basic epidemiologic questions remain unsolved.

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2017 Mar 15 - Sevoflurane for Sedation in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome. A Randomized Controlled Pilot Study

Matthieu Jabaudon , Pierre Boucher , Etienne Imhoff , Russell Chabanne , Jean-Sébastien Faure , Laurence Roszyk , Sandrine Thibault , Raiko Blondonnet , Gael Clairefond , Renaud Guérin , and Sébastien Perbet Sophie Cayot , Thomas Godet , Bruno Pereira , Vincent Sapin , Jean-Etienne Bazin , Emmanuel Futier , and Jean-Michel Constantin  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Mar 15, 2017, vol. 195, no. 6: 792-800

Rationale: Sevoflurane improves gas exchange, and reduces alveolar edema and inflammation in preclinical studies of lung injury, but its therapeutic effects have never been investigated in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

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2017 Mar 15 - Recovery after Acute Kidney Injury

John A. Kellum , Florentina E. Sileanu , Azra Bihorac , Eric A. J. Hoste , and Lakhmir S. Chawla  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Mar 15, 2017, vol. 195, no. 6: 784-791

Rationale: Little is known about how acute kidney injury (AKI) resolves, and whether patterns of reversal of renal dysfunction differ among patients with respect to ultimate recovery.

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2017 Mar 15 - Epidemiology of Weaning Outcome according to a New Definition. The WIND Study

Gaëtan Béduneau , Tài Pham , Frédérique Schortgen , Lise Piquilloud , Elie Zogheib , Maud Jonas , Fabien Grelon , Isabelle Runge , Nicolas Terzi , Steven Grangé , and Guillaume Barberet Pierre-Gildas Guitard , Jean-Pierre Frat , Adrien Constan , Jean-Marie Chretien , Jordi Mancebo , Alain Mercat , Jean-Christophe M. Richard , and Laurent Brochard for the WIND (Weaning according to a New Definition) Study Group and the REVA (Réseau Européen de Recherche en Ventilation Artificielle) Network  Am. J. Resp Crit. Care Med. Mar 15, 2017, vol. 195, no. 6: 772-783

Rationale: The weaning process concerns all patients receiving mechanical ventilation. A previous classification into simple, prolonged, and difficult weaning ignored weaning failure and presupposed the use of spontaneous breathing trials.

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2017 Mar 1 - Permissive Underfeeding or Standard Enteral Feeding in High– and Low–Nutritional-Risk Critically Ill Adults. Post Hoc Analysis of the PermiT Trial

Yaseen M. Arabi , Abdulaziz S. Aldawood , Hasan M. Al-Dorzi , Hani M. Tamim , Samir H. Haddad , Gwynne Jones , Lauralyn McIntyre , Othman Solaiman , Maram H. Sakkijha , Musharaf Sadat , Shihab Mundekkadan  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Mar 1, 2017, vol. 195, no. 5: 652-662

Rationale: The optimal nutritional strategy for critically ill adults at high nutritional risk is unclear.

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2017 Mar 1 - Experimental Lung Injury Reduces Krüppel-like Factor 2 to Increase Endothelial Permeability via Regulation of RAPGEF3–Rac1 Signaling

Ru-Ting Huang, David Wu, Angelo Meliton, Myung-Jin Oh, Matthew Krause, Joyce A. Lloyd, Recep Nigdelioglu, Robert B. Hamanaka, Mukesh K. Jain, Anna Birukova, John P. Kress  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Mar 1, 2017, vol.195, no. 5: 639-651

Rationale: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is caused by widespread endothelial barrier disruption and uncontrolled cytokine storm. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have linked multiple genes to ARDS. Although mechanosensitive transcription factor Krüppel-like factor 2 (KLF2) is a major regulator of endothelial function, its role in regulating pulmonary vascular integrity in lung injury and ARDS-associated GWAS genes remains poorly understood.

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2017 Feb 15 - Anti–N-Methyl-d-Aspartate Receptor Encephalitis in Adult Patients Requiring Intensive Care

Etienne de Montmollin , Sophie Demeret , Noëlle Brulé , Marie Conrad , Frédéric Dailler , Nicolas Lerolle , Jean-Christophe Navellou , Carole Schwebel , Mikaël Alves , Martin Cour , Nicolas Engrand  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Feb 15, 2017, vol. 195, no. 4: 491-499

Rationale: Encephalitis caused by anti–N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antibodies is the leading cause of immune-mediated encephalitis. There are limited data on intensive care unit (ICU) management of these patients.

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2017 Feb 15 - A Genome-Wide Association Study to Identify Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms for Acute Kidney Injury

Bixiao Zhao , Qiongshi Lu , Yuwei Cheng , Justin M. Belcher , Edward D. Siew , David E. Leaf , Simon C. Body , Amanda A. Fox , Sushrut S. Waikar , Charles D. Collard , Heather Thiessen-Philbrook  Am. J. Resp. Crit. Care Med. Feb 15, 2017, vol. 195, no. 4: 482-490

Rationale: Acute kidney injury is a common and severe complication of critical illness and cardiac surgery. Despite significant attempts at developing treatments, therapeutic advances to attenuate acute kidney injury and expedite recovery have largely failed.

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