Acute respiratory disease syndrome

During winter 2014-15, England experienced severe strains on acute health services. We investigated whether syndromic surveillance could contribute to understanding of the unusually high level of healthcare needs. We compared trends for several respiratory syndromic indicators from that winter to historical baselines. Cumulative and mean incidence rates were compared by winter and age group. All-age influenza-like illness was at expected levels; however, severe asthma and pneumonia levels were above those expected...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The use of palliative care in AKI is not well described. We sought to better understand palliative care practice patterns for hospitalized patients with AKI requiring dialysis in the United States. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS, & MEASUREMENTS: Using the 2012 National Inpatient Sample, we identified patients with AKI and palliative care encounters using validated International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes...

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterized by uncontrolled extravasation of protein‑rich fluids, which is caused by disruption and dysfunction of the barrier of pulmonary endothelial cells (ECs). Visceral adipose tissue‑derived serine protease inhibitor (vaspin) is a novel adipokine with pleiotropic properties, which has been reported to exert beneficial effects against obesity‑associated systemic vascular diseases; however, its effects on ARDS remain unknown. In the present study, mice were subjected to systemic administration of adenoviral vector expressing vaspin (Ad‑vaspin) to examine its effects on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‑induced ARDS in vivo...

Malaria is a severe disease and kills over 400,000 people each year. Malarial complications are the main cause of death and include cerebral malaria and malaria-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (MA-ARDS). Despite antimalarial treatment, lethality rates of MA-ARDS are still between 20 and 80%. Patients develop pulmonary edema with hemorrhages and leukocyte extravasation in the lungs. The vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) and the placental growth factor (PlGF) are vascular permeability factors and may be involved in the disruption of the alveolar-capillary membrane, leading to alveolar edema...

BACKGROUND: The pilgrimage to Mecca and Karbala bring many Muslims to a confined area. Respiratory tract infections are the most common diseases transmitted during mass gatherings in Hajj, Umrah and Karbala. The aim of this study was to determine and compare the prevalence of Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) and influenza virus infections among Iranian general population and pilgrims with severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) returning from Mecca and Karbala during 2013-2016...

BACKGROUND: Lung epithelial cells express surfactant protein D (SP-D), a calcium-dependent lectin that plays an important role in antibody-independent pulmonary host defense. Previous studies have shown that it is found in the peripheral circulation in patients with pulmonary disease, likely because of translocation into the blood when lung epithelial barriers are disrupted by inflammation or acute injury. In adults, serum SP-D levels are biomarkers for the progression and severity of chronic lung disease...

Recent zoonotic outbreaks, such as Zika, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, and Ebola, have highlighted the need for rapid and accurate diagnostic assays that can be used to aid pathogen control. Q-fever is a zoonotic disease caused by the transmission of Coxiella burnetii that can cause serious illness in humans via aerosols and is considered a potential bioterrorism agent. However the existing assays are not suitable for the detection of this pathogen due to its low levels in real samples. We here describe a rapid bio-optical sensor for the accurate detection of Q fever and validate its clinical utility...

We conducted a retrospective study to compare clinical and laboratory findings between 1) severe influenza A and mild influenza A and 2) pandemic 2009 H1N1 (pdm09 A/H1) and seasonal H3N2 (A/H3) from 2009 to 2010. A total of 526 (mean age, 13.6 years; 447 pdm09 A/H1, 79 seasonal A/H3) patients were included, 41 (7.8%) with severe influenza (mean age, 28.1 years; 26 pdm09 A/H1, 15 seasonal A/H3). Influenza-associated complications were pneumonia (75.6%), meningoencephalitis (14.6%), acute kidney injury (14.6%), and acute respiratory distress syndrome (12...

Venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation is now an established treatment for acute respiratory distress syndrome. However, this treatment remains rare in octogenarians and is associated with poor outcomes. An 81-year-old man with a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heavy smoking underwent mitral and tricuspid valve repair and the Maze procedure for mitral and tricuspid regurgitation and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Although he was extubated the following day, his postoperative course was complicated with pneumonia followed by acute respiratory distress syndrome...

INTRODUCTION: The ailments afflicting the elderly population is a well-defined specialty of medicine. It calls for an immaculately designed health-care plan to treat diseases in geriatrics. For chronic illnesses such as diabetes mellitus (DM), coronary heart disease, and hypertension (HTN), they require proper management throughout the rest of patient's life. An integrated treatment pathway helps in treatment decision-making and improving standards of health care for the patient. CASE PRESENTATION: This case describes an exclusive clinical pharmacist-driven designing of an integrated treatment pathway for a post-coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) geriatric male patient with DM type I and HTN for the treatment of hypoglycemia and electrolyte imbalance...

Endothelial cells lining blood vessels regulate vascular barrier function, which controls the passage of plasma proteins and circulating cells across the endothelium. In most normal adult tissues, endothelial cells preserve basal vascular permeability at a low level, while they increase permeability in response to inflammation. Therefore, vascular permeability is tightly controlled by a number of extracellular stimuli and mediators to maintain tissue homeostasis. Accordingly, impaired regulation of endothelial permeability causes various diseases, including chronic inflammation, asthma, edema, sepsis, acute respiratory distress syndrome, anaphylaxis, tumor angiogenesis, and diabetic retinopathy...

Marijuana use has been increasing across the United States due to its legalization as both a medicinal and recreational product. A small number of case reports have described a pathological entity called vanishing lung syndrome (VLS), which is a rare bullous lung disease usually caused by tobacco smoking. Recent case reports have implicated marijuana in the development of VLS. We present a case of a 47-year-old man, who presented to our hospital with shortness of breath, fevers and a productive cough. On physical exam, he was tachypneic with audible stridor and absent right sided breath sounds...

Acute respiratory distress syndrome is a common cause of acute respiratory failure that is underdiagnosed both inside and outside of intensive care units. Progression to the most severe forms of the syndrome confers a mortality rate greater than 40% and is associated with often severe functional disability and psychological sequelae in survivors. While there are no disease-modifying pharmacotherapies for the syndrome, this progression may be prevented through the institution of quality improvement measures that minimise iatrogenic injury associated with acute severe illness...

Ricin, a plant-derived toxin originating from the seeds of Ricinus communis (castor beans), is one of the most lethal toxins known, particularly if inhaled. Ricin is considered a potential biological threat agent due to its high availability and ease of production. The clinical manifestation of pulmonary ricin intoxication in animal models is closely related to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), which involves pulmonary proinflammatory cytokine upregulation, massive neutrophil infiltration and severe edema...

Preeclampsia, eclampsia and HELLP syndrome are life-threatening hypertensive conditions and common causes of ICU admission among obstetric patients The diagnostic criteria of preeclampsia include: 1) systolic blood pressure (SBP) ≥140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure (DBP) ≥90 mmHg on two occasions at least 4 hours apart and 2) proteinuria ≥300 mg/day in a woman with a gestational age of >20 weeks with previously normal blood pressures. Eclampsia is defined as a convulsive episode or altered level of consciousness occurring in the setting of preeclampsia, provided that there is no other cause of seizures...

Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) is a potentially life-threatening complication of blood component transfusion. It is relatively underdiagnosed entity in neonates with scant literature. We report a case of TRALI in a preterm neonate developing acute respiratory distress within 6 h of blood product transfusion in the absence of preexisting lung disease. Prompt ventilator and supportive management were instituted. The baby showed clinical and radiological improvement within 12 h; however, he succumbed to death due to acute massive pulmonary hemorrhage 36 h later...

BACKGROUND: Effective countermeasures against emerging infectious diseases require an understanding of transmission rate and basic reproduction number (R0). The R0 for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is generally considered to be >1, whereas that for Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) is considered to be <1. However, this does not explain the large-scale outbreaks of MERS that occurred in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and South Korean hospitals. AIM: To estimate R0 in nosocomial outbrea ks of MERS...

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a clinical syndrome characterized by acute respiratory failure and is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Rhesus theta defensin-1 (RTD-1) is an antimicrobial peptide with immunomodulatory activity. As airway inflammation and neutrophil recruitment and activation are hallmarks of ALI, we evaluated the therapeutic efficacy of RTD-1 in pre-clinical models of the disease. We investigated the effect of RTD-1 on neutrophil chemotaxis and macrophage-driven pulmonary inflammation with human peripheral neutrophils and LPS-stimulated murine alveolar macrophage (MH-S) cells...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) has a high mortality rate of 35-46% depending on its severity. Animal models are crucial to better understand the pathophysiology of diseases, including ARDS. This study presents a feasible animal model of acute lung injury (ALI) using nebulized lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in a non-invasive approach, focusing on its short and long-term effects. METHODS: Mice received nebulized LPS or vehicle only (control group)...

Hexachloroethane (HC)/zinc chloride (ZnCl, smoke bomb) exposure in the military setting results in lung injury which is uncommon and has been rarely described in previous studies. The aim of this study is to investigate the correlation between the serum zinc in patients with HC/ZnCl smoke inhalation lung injury and disease severity. A total of 15 patients with HC/ZnCl-related conditions were recruited in this study. The serum zinc level and the pulmonary function tests and liver function tests including total lung capacity (TLC), forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory pressure in 1 second (FEV1), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate transaminase (AST) were analyzed...