Project description:Apelin is a newly discovered peptide hormone that has recently been linked to insulin resistance and obesity. Data collected from both the clinical and basic research settings show that apelin: (i) is correlated with the states of insulin resistance and obesity; (ii) stimulates glucose utilization; (iii) decreases insulin secretion; and (iv) negatively regulates catecholamine-mediated lipolysis. These and other lines of evidence demonstrate that apelin may be a potentially viable candidate in the search for treatments for Type 2 diabetes and the insulin resistance (metabolic syndrome). The present review summarizes the literature on the regulation by apelin of glucose and lipid metabolism and the signaling pathways involved.
Project description:Global healthcare systems are challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. There is a need to optimize allocation of treatment and resources in intensive care, as clinically established risk assessments such as SOFA and APACHE II scores show only limited performance for predicting the survival of severely ill COVID-19 patients. Comprehensively capturing the host physiology, we speculated that proteomics in combination with new data-driven analysis strategies could produce a new generation of prognostic discriminators. We studied two independent cohorts of patients with severe COVID-19 who required intensive care and invasive mechanical ventilation. SOFA score, Charlson comorbidity index and APACHE II score were poor predictors of survival. Instead, using plasma proteomes quantifying 302 plasma protein groups at 387 timepoints in 57 critically ill patients on invasive mechanical ventilation, we found 14 proteins that showed trajectories different between survivors and non-survivors. A proteomic predictor trained on single samples obtained at the first time point at maximum treatment level (i.e. WHO grade 7) and weeks before the outcome, achieved accurate classification of survivors (AUROC 0.81, n=49). We tested the established predictor on an independent validation cohort (AUROC of 1.0, n=24). The majority of proteins with high relevance in the prediction model belong to the coagulation system and complement cascade. Our study demonstrates that predictors derived from plasma protein levels have the potential to substantially outperform current prognostic markers in intensive care.
Project description:Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can lead to multiorgan damage and fatal outcomes. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are detectable in blood, reflecting cell activation and tissue injury. We performed small RNA-Seq in healthy controls (N=11), non-severe (N=18) and severe (N=16) COVID-19 patients
Project description:The clinical outcome of the disease provoked by the SARS-CoV-2 infection, COVID-19, is largely due to the development of interstitial pneumonia accompanied by an Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), often requiring ventilatory support therapy in Intensive Care Units (ICUs). Current epidemiologic evidence is demonstrating that the COVID-19 prognosis is significantly influenced by its acute complications. Among these, delirium figures as one of the most frequent and severe, especially in the emergency setting, where it shows a significantly negative prognostic impact. In this regard, the aim of our study is to identify clinical severity factors of delirium complicating COVID-19 related-ARDS. We performed a comparative and correlation analysis using demographics, comorbidities, multisystemic and delirium severity scores and anti-delirium therapy in two cohorts of ARDS patients with delirium, respectively, due to COVID-19 (n = 40) or other medical conditions (n = 39). Our results indicate that delirium in COVID-19-related ARDS is more severe since its onset despite a relatively less severe systemic condition at the point of ICU admission and required higher dosages of antipsychotic and non-benzodiazepinic sedative therapy respect to non-COVID patients. Finally, the correlation analysis showed a direct association between the male gender and maximum dosage of anti-delirium medications needed within the COVID-19 group, which was taken as a surrogate of delirium severity. Overall, our results seem to indicate that pathogenetic factors specifically associated to severe COVID-19 are responsible for the high severity of delirium, paving the way for future research focused on the mechanisms of the cognitive alterations associated with COVID-19.
Project description:Rationale: Treatment with noninvasive ventilation (NIV) in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is frequent. Shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds led clinicians to deliver NIV also outside ICUs. Data about the use of NIV in COVID-19 is limited.Objectives: To describe the prevalence and clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 treated with NIV outside the ICUs. To investigate the factors associated with NIV failure (need for intubation or death).Methods: In this prospective, single-day observational study, we enrolled adult patients with COVID-19 who were treated with NIV outside the ICU from 31 hospitals in Lombardy, Italy.Results: We collected data on demographic and clinical characteristics, ventilatory management, and patient outcomes. Of 8,753 patients with COVID-19 present in the hospitals on the study day, 909 (10%) were receiving NIV outside the ICU. A majority of patients (778/909; 85%) patients were treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which was delivered by helmet in 617 (68%) patients. NIV failed in 300 patients (37.6%), whereas 498 (62.4%) patients were discharged alive without intubation. Overall mortality was 25%. NIV failure occurred in 152/284 (53%) patients with an arterial oxygen pressure (PaO2)/fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO2) ratio <150 mm Hg. Higher C-reactive protein and lower PaO2/FiO2 and platelet counts were independently associated with increased risk of NIV failure.Conclusions: The use of NIV outside the ICUs was common in COVID-19, with a predominant use of helmet CPAP, with a rate of success >60% and close to 75% in full-treatment patients. C-reactive protein, PaO2/FiO2, and platelet counts were independently associated with increased risk of NIV failure.Clinical trial registered with ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04382235).
Project description:Objectivesto evaluate the factors associated with COVID-19 death in pregnant women hospitalized in Intensive Care Units in Brazil.Methodsthis ecological study was conducted using secondary data from Brazilian pregnant women with COVID-19 hospitalized in Intensive Care Units between March 2020 and March 2022. Univariate analysis and logistic regression were employed.Resultsout of 3,547 pregnant women with COVID-19 hospitalized in Intensive Care Units, 811 died (22.8%). It was found that lack of COVID-19 vaccination (OR: 2.73; 95% CI: 1.83; 4.04), dyspnea (OR: 1.73; 95% CI: 1.17; 2.56), obesity (OR: 1.51; 95% CI: 1.05; 2.17), chronic cardiovascular disease (OR: 1.65; 95% CI: 1.14; 2.38), and non-white race/color (OR: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.00; 1.66) were independently and significantly associated with death.Conclusionsit is concluded that vaccination status, presence of comorbidities, and clinical and ethnic-racial characteristics are associated with COVID-19 death in pregnant women hospitalized in Intensive Care Units in Brazil.
Project description:AimsThe goal of this study was to gain insight into the views and experiences of an intensive care team working in a new nursing-care delivery model during the COVID-19 waves. A new model of care was implemented to augment nursing capacity and provide sufficient intensive care beds.DesignA qualitative monocentric study using rapid qualitative descriptive methods was reported in line with the COREQ checklist.MethodsNurse, ward manager and physician participants were purposively recruited between January and March 2021 in a tertiary university-affiliated hospital in the Flemish-speaking part of Belgium. Semistructured interviews were conducted and analysed using thematic analysis methods.ResultsThe participants were seventeen expert nurses, twelve supporting nurses, seven ward managers and four physicians. A central theme of ensuring safe, high-quality care emerged from the findings. There was a sense of losing one's grip on clinical practice when working in the mixed nursing-care teams. Different underlying experiences played a part in this sense of losing control: dealing with unknown elements, experiencing role ambiguity, struggling with responsibility and the absence of trust. Several coping mechanisms were developed by the nursing-care team to deal with those experiences, including attempts to create stability, to strike a balance between delegating and educating, to build in control and to communicate openly.ConclusionIn this rapid qualitative descriptive study, the implementation of a new nursing-care delivery model during a pandemic was seen to lead to several challenges for all members of the care team. Coping mechanisms were developed by the team to deal with these experienced challenges.ImpactWhen rethinking nursing-care delivery models, the findings of this study may help guide the process of implementing mixed nursing-care teams. Special attention needs to be paid to clarifying roles, sharing responsibility and clinical leadership. Other significant influences (such as moral distress) should also be taken into account.
Project description:IntroductionA new respiratory virus, SARS-CoV-2, has emerged and spread worldwide since late 2019. This study aims at analysing clinical presentation on admission and the determinants associated with admission in intensive care units (ICUs) in hospitalized COVID-19 patients.Patients and methodsIn this prospective hospital-based study, socio-demographic, clinical and biological characteristics, on admission, of adult COVID-19 hospitalized patients presenting from the community for their first admission were prospectively collected and analysed. Characteristics of patients hospitalized in medical ward to those admitted in ICU were compared using Mann-Whitney and Chi-square or Fisher exact test when appropriate. Univariate logistic regression was first used to identify variables on admission that were associated with the outcome i.e. admission to an ICU versus total hospital stay in a medical ward. Forward selection was then applied beginning with sex, age and temperature in the multivariable logistic regression model.ResultsOf the 412 patients included, 325 were discharged and 87 died in hospital. Multivariable regression showed increasing odds of ICU hospitalization with temperature (OR, 1.56 [95% CI, 1.06-2.28] per degree Celsius increase), oxygen saturation <90% (OR, 12.45 [95% CI, 5.27-29.4]), abnormal lung auscultation on admission (OR, 3.58 [95% CI, 1.58-8.11]), elevated level of CRP (OR, 2.7 [95% CI, 1.29-5.66for CRP>100mg/L vs CRP<10mg/L). and monocytopenia (OR, 3.28 [95% CI, 1.4-7.68]) were also associated with increasing odds of ICU hospitalization. Older patients were less likely to be hospitalized in ICU (OR, 0.17 [95%CI, 0.05-0.51].ConclusionsAge and delay between onset of symptoms and hospital admission were associated with the risk of hospitalisation in ICU. Age being a fixed variable, interventions that shorten this delay would improve the prognosis of Covid-19 patients.