Intensive Care News and Research

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New guidelines for treating severely injured patients

If someone is injured in an automobile collision or is severely burned, emergency room physicians across the country would probably take similar steps to stabilize each condition. But subsequent treatment in the intensive care unit or operating room is less well established and may vary significantly.

19 Apr 2006

Scientists gauge pain in premature babies

Scientists at UCL (University College London) have measured responses to pain in the brains of premature babies and have shown that they are likely to experience ‘true’ pain rather than simply displaying reflex reactions.

6 Apr 2006

Drug trial disaster will discourage future volunteers

According to the British government agency responsible for medical safety, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), no evidence has been found to suggest there were any problems with the manufacturing of a drug which left six volunteers seriously ill.

6 Apr 2006

First artificial heart implant on the East Coast

A cardiac surgery team at Virginia Commonwealth University's Pauley Heart Center has performed the first artificial heart implant on the East Coast. The CardioWest temporary Total Artificial Heart, or TAH-t, is the only total artificial heart approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

6 Apr 2006

Thermal injury induced insulin resistance is associated with the renin-angiotensin system

Researchers have found a way to prevent insulin resistance in burn-injured rats, a finding that, while still quite preliminary, could eventually save burn victims' lives and speed their recovery.

6 Apr 2006

Nrf2 gene findings may offer therapeutic potential for sepsis treatment

Disruption of a single gene, Nrf2, plays a critical role in regulating the body's innate immune response to sepsis and septic shock, according to a study by a research team led by Shyam Biswal, PhD, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

4 Apr 2006

Jordan's first case of bird flu, courtesy of Egypt

The Egyptian Government says a failure to comply with instructions is the probable cause of the recurrence of avian influenza among humans there.

3 Apr 2006

Intensive care innovations win Microsoft award

An academic team which includes key researchers from the Universities of Manchester and Hull has taken both first and second prizes, in a nationwide innovation competition run by Microsoft.

From The University of Manchester 28 Mar 2006

Drug trial nightmare - two still critically ill

In the drug trial nightmare which has left six men very ill in a London Hospital two remain in intensive care and are not expected to make any early improvement, according to their doctor Ganesh Suntharalingham, Northwick Park Hospital's Clinical Director of Intensive Care.

17 Mar 2006

Drug trial goes wrong and six end up intensive care

After taking part in a clinical trial of a new drug six men are now seriously ill in a north London hospital in the UK.

15 Mar 2006

Hospitalized schizophrenics more likely to have complications

A Johns Hopkins study of more than 1,700 patients with schizophrenia hospitalized for medical or surgical care unrelated to their mental disorder shows they are at least twice as likely as similar patients without schizophrenia to suffer dangerous and expensive adverse events.

15 Mar 2006

Researchers test system at Cleveland-area hospitals that address family decision-making

A growing population of chronically critically ill (CCI) patients use approximately half of all hospital intensive care unit (ICU) resources at a cost of an estimated $50 billion annually. In turn, health care providers pass those costs onto the consumer.

13 Mar 2006

GenoMed awarded second patent, for avoiding dialysis in acute kidney failure

GenoMed announced today that it received its second patent (US Patent #6,998,404) for the "Treatment or prevention of acute renal failure." Acute kidney failure usually happens when a patient gets dehydrated.

1 Mar 2006

Premature babies pre-disposed to psychiatric problems in teens

According to British researchers, being born very premature can affect a child's personality into adulthood.

28 Feb 2006

Common practice of prescribing H2 blockers to treat acid reflux in premature infants should be discontinued

Researchers in an NIH network have found that premature infants given a common class of non-prescription drugs used to treat acid reflux are slightly more likely to develop a potentially fatal bowel disorder than are infants who are not treated with the drugs

24 Feb 2006

Telemetry captures stroke patients' cardiac problems

To detect "silent" or new cardiac abnormalities, all patients hospitalized for stroke should receive continuous cardiac rhythm monitoring (telemetry) for at least the first 24 hours after the stroke is detected, according to a Loyola University Health System study presented at the American Stroke Association's International Stroke Conference 2006.

24 Feb 2006

Research highlights importance of detecting anthrax early

When spores sent through the mail in 2001 caused 11 people to contract anthrax - ultimately killing five of them - infectious disease specialists noted that the death rate was substantially lower than the historical mortality rate, which approached 100 percent.

24 Feb 2006

New molecular target for potential drugs to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome

Researchers at the University of Virginia Health System have identified a molecular target, or receptor, for potential drugs to treat acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), a sudden and life-threatening failure of the lung.

23 Feb 2006

Pfizer receives FDA approval for Eraxis to treat candidemia

Pfizer said today that Eraxis (anidulafungin) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat candidemia, a potentially life-threatening bloodstream infection. Candidemia is the most deadly of the common hospital-acquired bloodstream infections, with a mortality rate of approximately 40 percent.

21 Feb 2006