Pretreatment with heat confers cardiopulmonary protection in endotoxemic animals. This mechanism may be through suppression of pro-inflammatory mediator production. The objectives of this study were ...to determine the effect of heat stress on tumor necrosis factor- alpha (TNF- alpha ) and macrophage inflammatory protein-2 (MIP-2) in a lipopolysaccharide-exposed macrophage cell line and to study the relationship between TNF- alpha and MIP-2 production. Heat pretreatment resulted in decreased TNF- alpha transcription and translation by lipopolysaccharide-exposed macrophages; and increased MIP-2 concentration without additional effect in transcription. Administration of TNF- alpha antibody prior to exposure to lipopolysaccharide resulted in increased MIP-2 concentration suggesting that TNF- alpha acts to down-regulate MIP-2 production. The mechanism by which heat stress causes an increase in MIP-2 concentration may be secondary to its suppressing effect on TNF- alpha production.
Patients who suffer in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) are less likely to survive if the arrest occurs during nighttime versus daytime. Diastolic blood pressure (DBP) as a measure of chest compression ...quality was associated with survival from pediatric IHCA. We hypothesized that DBP during CPR for IHCA is lower during nighttime versus daytime.
This is a secondary analysis of data collected from the Pediatric Intensive Care Quality of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation Study. Pediatric or Pediatric Cardiac Intensive Care Unit patients who received chest compressions for ≥1 min and who had invasive arterial BP monitoring were enrolled. Nighttime was defined as 11:00PM to 6:59AM and daytime as 7:00AM until 10:59PM. Primary outcome was attainment of DBP ≥ 25 mmHg in infants <1 year and ≥30 mmHg in older children. Secondary outcomes were mean DBP, ROSC, and survival to hospital discharge. Univariable and multivariate analyses evaluated the relationships between time (nighttime vs. daytime) and outcomes.
Between July 1, 2013 and June 30, 2016, 164 arrests met all inclusion/exclusion criteria: 45(27%) occurred at nighttime and 119(73%) during daytime. Average DBPs achieved were not different between groups (DBP: nighttime 28.3 mmHg25.3, 36.5 vs. daytime 29.6 mmHg21.8, 38.0, p = 0.64). Relative risk of DBP threshold met during nighttime vs. daytime was 1.27, 95%CI 0.80, 1.98, p = 0.30. There was no significant nighttime vs. daytime difference in ROSC (28/4562% vs. 84/11971% p = 0.35) or survival to hospital discharge (16/4536% vs. 61/11951%, p = 0.08).
In this cohort of pediatric ICU patients with IHCA, there was no significant difference in DBP during CPR between nighttime and daytime.
Background Cardiac complications related to COVID‐19 in children and adolescents include ventricular dysfunction, myocarditis, coronary artery aneurysm, and bradyarrhythmias, but tachyarrhythmias are ...less understood. The goal of this study was to evaluate the frequency, characteristics, and outcomes of children and adolescents experiencing tachyarrhythmias while hospitalized for acute severe COVID‐19 or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Methods and Results This study involved a case series of 63 patients with tachyarrhythmias reported in a public health surveillance registry of patients aged <21 years hospitalized from March 15, 2020, to December 31, 2021, at 63 US hospitals. Patients with tachyarrhythmias were compared with patients with severe COVID‐19–related complications without tachyarrhythmias. Tachyarrhythmias were reported in 22 of 1257 patients (1.8%) with acute COVID‐19 and 41 of 2343 (1.7%) patients with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. They included supraventricular tachycardia in 28 (44%), accelerated junctional rhythm in 9 (14%), and ventricular tachycardia in 38 (60%); >1 type was reported in 12 (19%). Registry patients with versus without tachyarrhythmia were older (median age, 15.4 range, 10.4–17.4 versus 10.0 range, 5.4–14.8 years) and had higher illness severity on hospital admission. Intervention for treatment of tachyarrhythmia was required in 37 (59%) patients and included antiarrhythmic medication (n=31, 49%), electrical cardioversion (n=11, 17%), cardiopulmonary resuscitation (n=8, 13%), and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (n=9, 14%). Patients with tachyarrhythmias had longer hospital length of stay than those who did not, and 9 (14%) versus 77 (2%) died. Conclusions Tachyarrhythmias were a rare complication of acute severe COVID‐19 and multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children and adolescents and were associated with worse clinical outcomes, highlighting the importance of close monitoring, aggressive treatment, and postdischarge care.
To evaluate the clinical characteristics and neurologic outcome of children with carbon monoxide poisoning treated with normobaric oxygen therapy.
We reviewed the medical records of all children with ...a diagnosis of carbon monoxide exposure admitted during a 10-year period. Exposures were categorized as (1) severely toxic, carboxyhemoglobin level >25%; (2) toxic, carboxyhemoglobin level 10.1 to 25%; (3) suspected toxic, carboxyhemoglobin level < or = 10% with acute neurologic manifestations; or (4) nontoxic, carboxyhemoglobin < or = 10% without acute neurologic manifestations.
One hundred six patients (median age, 3.5 years; range, 0.1-14.9 years) were identified, 37 with severe toxic, 37 with toxic, 13 with suspected toxic, and 19 with nontoxic exposures. The most common presenting signs or symptoms included altered level of consciousness, metabolic acidosis, tachycardia, and hypertension. All patients received normobaric oxygen for 5.5 hours (range, 0.6-44 hours). Carboxyhemoglobin levels decreased to less than 3% in 3.6 hours (range, 0-15.5 hours). Fifteen patients died, three from massive burn injury, eight from hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy after cardiopulmonary arrest at presentation, and four from late complications of burn injury. Seven survivors did not recover their premorbid neurologic state, four of whom had respiratory arrest when rescued. Two patients had initial neurologic recovery followed by transient deterioration at 4 and 14 days after exposure. One patient developed seizures and was found to have bilateral occipital lobe infarctions 51 days after exposure.
Acute neurologic manifestations after carbon monoxide exposure are common in children. These resolve rapidly with normobaric oxygen, however. Persistent sequelae are primarily related to asphyxia. Delayed neurologic syndromes are uncommon in children treated with normobaric oxygen.
In an effort to delineate the clinical characteristics of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection in the compromised host, we compared children with bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), congenital ...heart disease (CHD), premature birth, failure to thrive, and gastroesophageal reflux to previously healthy children. During a four-year period, 262 patients were admitted to the hospital with RSV infection diagnosed by a rapid RSV antigen detection test. Children with BPD or CHD had more hospital days and supplemental oxygen days than the previously healthy group (P less than 0.05). Patients with BPD also had more ICU days, ventilator days, and NPO days, as well as a higher physiologic stability index and therapeutic intervention score than the previously healthy group (P less than 0.05). Premature infants were more likely to present with apnea from RSV (P less than 0.001). Patients with underlying illness tended to be older, although significant difference was demonstrated only for the BPD group (7.0 +/- 5.3 vs. 3.5 +/- 3.3, P less than 0.05). Patients with BPD and CHD had more nosocomial infections than the previously healthy group (P less than 0.0001) and death occurred only in patients with underlying illness. We conclude that previously compromised patients are at risk for more severe and prolonged RSV disease. Earlier diagnosis and therapeutic intervention may be necessary in such patients to improve outcome.
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