Seasonality of bivalve larvae within a high Arctic fjord

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Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

Funder: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100013347Funder: Flemish Society for Critical Care NursesAbstract: Purpose: Intensive care unit (ICU) patients are particularly susceptible to developing pressure injuries. Epidemiologic data is however unavailable. We aimed to provide an international picture of the extent of pressure injuries and factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries in adult ICU patients. Methods: International 1-day point-prevalence study; follow-up for outcome assessment until hospital discharge (maximum 12 weeks). Factors associated with ICU-acquired pressure injury and hospital mortality were assessed by generalised linear mixed-effects regression analysis. Results: Data from 13,254 patients in 1117 ICUs (90 countries) revealed 6747 pressure injuries; 3997 (59.2%) were ICU-acquired. Overall prevalence was 26.6% (95% confidence interval [CI] 25.9–27.3). ICU-acquired prevalence was 16.2% (95% CI 15.6–16.8). Sacrum (37%) and heels (19.5%) were most affected. Factors independently associated with ICU-acquired pressure injuries were older age, male sex, being underweight, emergency surgery, higher Simplified Acute Physiology Score II, Braden score 3 days, comorbidities (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, immunodeficiency), organ support (renal replacement, mechanical ventilation on ICU admission), and being in a low or lower-middle income-economy. Gradually increasing associations with mortality were identified for increasing severity of pressure injury: stage I (odds ratio [OR] 1.5; 95% CI 1.2–1.8), stage II (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.4–1.9), and stage III or worse (OR 2.8; 95% CI 2.3–3.3). Conclusion: Pressure injuries are common in adult ICU patients. ICU-acquired pressure injuries are associated with mainly intrinsic factors and mortality. Optimal care standards, increased awareness, appropriate resource allocation, and further research into optimal prevention are pivotal to tackle this important patient safety threat

Correction to: Prevalence, associated factors and outcomes of pressure injuries in adult intensive care unit patients: the DecubICUs study

The original version of this article unfortunately contained a mistake

Paracrine interaction between thyrocytes and fibroblasts

Abstract. Cell free supernatants (conditioned medium) of isolated porcine thyroid follicles, stimulated with EGF (5 ng/ml) or TSH (1–1000 μU/ml), were tested for a mitogenic activity for fibroblasts. Whereas TSH-conditioned medium dose-dependently stimulated [3H]thymidine incorporation into DNA of fibroblasts, only a weak stimulation was found with EGF. However, when the changes in cell number were determined, a significant increase was only found with EGF-conditioned medium from thyroid follicles. The cause of this discrepancy is a dose-dependent stimulation of [3H]thymidine incorporation into fibroblasts by cAMP and thyroid hormones. Cyclic AMP, however, does not stimulate growth of fibroblasts. IGF I production is stimulated in fibroblasts by basal as well as EGF stimulated conditioned medium of thyroid follicles. In contrast, TSH-conditioned medium inhibited IGF I production in fibroblasts. Conditioned medium itself is free of detectable IGF I. As IGF I stimulates not only growth of fibroblasts, but also of thyrocytes, we conclude, that conditioned medium from thyrocytes stimulates IGF I production in fibroblasts, which itself stimulates fibroblast and thyrocyte growth.</jats:p