INTRODUCTION Septic shock is a major life-threatening condition in critically ill patients and it is well known that early recognition of septic shock and expedient initiation of appropriate treatment improves patient outcome. Unfortunately, to date no single compound has shown sufficient sensitivity and specificity to be used as a routine biomarker for early diagnosis and prognosis of septic s...

INTRODUCTION The potent endogenous antimicrobial peptide human beta-defensin 2 (hBD2) is a crucial mediator of innate immunity. In addition to direct antimicrobial properties, different effects on immune cells have been described. In contrast to the well-documented epithelial beta-defensin actions in local infections, little is known about the leukocyte-released hBD2 in systemic infectious diso...

OBJECTIVES To determine the current mortality rates for pediatric patients with septic shock and the frequency and outcome of associated multiple organ system failure. DESIGN Retrospective chart review. SETTING Multidisciplinary pediatric intensive care unit. PATIENTS Children age 1 month to 21 yrs admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit from January 1, 1998, to December 31, 1999, w...

UNLABELLED It is unclear whether practice-related aspects of antimicrobial therapy contribute to the high mortality from septic shock among patients with cirrhosis. We examined the relationship between aspects of initial empiric antimicrobial therapy and mortality in patients with cirrhosis and septic shock. This was a nested cohort study within a large retrospective database of septic shock fr...

OBJECTIVE Because Lyme and septic arthritis may present similarly, we sought to identify children with knee monoarthritis at low risk for septic arthritis who may not require arthrocentesis. METHODS We performed a retrospective study of children with knee monoarthritis presenting to 1 of 2 pediatric centers, both located in Lyme disease-endemic areas. Septic arthritis was defined by a positiv...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Failure to recognize and to appropriately treat septic arthritis results in substantial morbidity rates. This study compared the demographic characteristics, risk factors, and outcomes of patients with community-onset septic arthritis due to Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. METHODS The medical charts of 51 adults with culture-proven community-onset septic arthr...

In this retrospective study we assessed the frequency of hypogammaglobulinemia in 708 patients with SIRS, severe sepsis and septic shock. We evaluated the relationship between hypogammaglobulinemia IgG, IgM and 28 day mortality. Total of 708 patients and 1,513 samples were analyzed. In the three subgroups we investigated, patients met the criteria of SIRS, severe sepsis and septic shock. IgG hy...

INTRODUCTION Thioredoxin (TRX) is assumed to be beneficial in acute inflammatory diseases because of its potent antioxidant properties and an inhibitory effect on neutrophil evasion into sites of inflammation. OBJECTIVE To compare plasma levels of thioredoxin in septic patients and to investigate the role of thioredoxin in a polymicrobial septic mouse model. DESIGN AND INTERVENTIONS A combi...

Sepsis causes brain dysfunction. Because neurotransmission requires high ascorbate and low dehydroascorbic acid (DHAA) concentrations in brain extracellular fluid, the effect of septic insult on ascorbate recycling (i.e., uptake and reduction of DHAA) and export was investigated in primary rat and mouse astrocytes. DHAA raised intracellular ascorbate to physiological levels but extracellular as...

BACKGROUND Septic thrombophlebitis increases patient morbidity and mortality following metastatic infections, pulmonary emboli, and/or septic shock. Central venous catheter (CVC) removal for occult septic thrombophlebitis challenges current strategy in neutropenic patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS We prospectively evaluated infection-related mortality in 100 acute leukemia patients, with CVC-rel...