Nicolas

It is important to realize that guidelines cannot always account for individual variation among patients. They are not intended to supplant physician judgment with respect to particular patients or special clinical situations. IDSA considers adherence to these guidelines to be voluntary, with the ultimate determination regarding their application to be made by the physician in the light of each patient's individual circumstances.

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with an increase in serum retinol; however, the underlying mechanisms of this disorder are poorly characterized. Here, we found that the alteration of hepatic metabolism induced the accumulation of serum retinol in 5/6 nephrectomy (5/6Nx) mice. The liver is the major organ responsible for retinol metabolism; accordingly, microarray analysis revealed that the hepatic expression of most CYP genes was changed in 5/6Nx mice. In addition, D-box-binding protein (DBP), which controls the expression of several CYP genes, was significantly decreased in these mice...

Heart failure is a common, costly, and debilitating syndrome that is associated with a highly complex drug regimen, a large number of comorbidities, and a large and often disparate number of healthcare providers. All of these factors conspire to increase the risk of heart failure exacerbation by direct myocardial toxicity, drug-drug interactions, or both. This scientific statement is designed to serve as a comprehensive and accessible source of drugs that may cause or exacerbate heart failure to assist healthcare providers in improving the quality of care for these patients...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to explore body fat independent effect of second generation antipsychotics (SGAs) on measures of glucose and adipokine homeostasis, and markers of inflammation. METHOD: Eight non-diabetic men with schizophrenia (age: 55±3years, BMI: 29.7±1.2kg/m(2)) on SGAs were studied after an overnight fast. DXA and single-cut CT of abdomen were respectively used for the assessment of total body and abdominal fat. Blood samples were collected for measurements of glucose, insulin, leptin, adiponectin, C-reactive protein (CRP), and TNF-α...

Hypertension management poses a major challenge to clinicians globally once non-drug (lifestyle) measures have failed to control blood pressure (BP). Although drug treatment strategies to lower BP are well described, poor control rates of hypertension, even in the first world, suggest that more needs to be done to surmount the problem. A major issue is non-adherence to antihypertensive drugs, which is caused in part by drug intolerance due to side effects. More effective antihypertensive drugs are therefore required which have excellent tolerability and safety profiles in addition to being efficacious...

Bacterial infection is common and accounts for major morbidity and mortality in cirrhosis. Patients with cirrhosis are immunocompromised and increased susceptibility to develop spontaneous bacterial infections, hospital-acquired infections, and a variety of infections from uncommon pathogens. Once infection develops, the excessive response of pro-inflammatory cytokines on a pre-existing hemodynamic dysfunction in cirrhosis further predispose the development of serious complications such as shock, acute-on-chronic liver failure, renal failure, and death...

Lupus is no longer an unknown chameleon of medicine. Significant progress has been made on unraveling the pathogenesis of lupus and lupus nephritis, and how to treat the disease. Here we provide an update on the pathophysiology of lupus and its related kidney disease, consider areas of controversy in disease management, and discuss the unmet needs of lupus nephritis and how to address these needs. We focus on rethinking how innovative therapies for lupus nephritis should be evaluated and evolving strategies to more efficiently mitigate irreversible nephron loss in patients with lupus nephritis...

Older adults with advanced chronic kidney disease (CKD) experience functional impairment that can complicate CKD management. Failure to recognize functional impairment may put these individuals at risk of further functional decline, nursing home placement, and missed opportunities for timely goals-of-care conversations. Routine geriatric assessment could be a useful tool for identifying older adults with CKD who are at risk of functional decline and provide contextual information to guide clinical decision-making...

Sepsis is aggravated by an inappropriate immune response to invading microorganisms, which occasionally leads to multiple organ failure. Several lines of evidence suggest that the ventricular myocardium is depressed during sepsis with features of diastolic dysfunction. Potential candidates responsible for septic cardiomyopathy include pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), cytokines, and nitric oxide. Extracellular histones and high-mobility group box 1 that function as endogenous damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) also contribute to the myocardial dysfunction associated with sepsis...

BACKGROUND: Although clozapine is the 'gold standard' for treatment-refractory schizophrenia, meta-analyses of clozapine for this condition are lacking. AIMS: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of clozapine treatment for people with treatment-refractory schizophrenia. METHOD: We searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's trial register, PubMed and EMBASE and hand-searched key papers for randomised controlled trials of clozapine for treatment-refractory schizophrenia...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship between walking speed (WS) maintained during a 1 km test and its improvement on hospitalisation in cardiac outpatients who were referred to an exercise-based secondary prevention programme. METHODS: Hospitalisation was assessed in 1791 patients 3 years after enrolment and related to the WS achieved during a 1 km walk at moderate intensity on a treadmill. Hospitalisation was also assessed during the fourth-to-sixth years as function of improvement in WS in 1111 participants who were re-evaluated 3 years after baseline...

IMPORTANCE: Marijuana use may alter ventral striatal response to reward, which might heighten susceptibility to substance use disorder. Longitudinal research is needed to determine the effects of marijuana use on neural function involved in reward response. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether marijuana use among young adults prospectively affects nucleus accumbens (NAcc) activation during reward anticipation. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: One hundred eight young adults were recruited from the Michigan Longitudinal Study, an ongoing study of youth at high risk for substance use disorder and a contrast sample of control families...

This article is one of ten reviews selected from the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency medicine 2016. Other selected articles can be found online at https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/annualupdate2016. Further information about the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine is available from https://www.springer.com/series/8901.

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No abstract text is available yet for this article.

BACKGROUND: Several interventions are available for management of obsessive-compulsive disorder in adults, but few studies have compared their relative efficacy in a single analysis. We aimed to simultaneously compare all available treatments using both direct and indirect data. METHODS: In this systematic review and network meta-analysis, we searched the two controlled trials registers maintained by the Cochrane Collaboration Common Mental Disorders group for trials published up to Feb 16, 2016...

Supraventricular arrhythmias are a frequent complication in adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD). The prevalence increases with time since surgery, complexity of the underlying defect, type of repair and older age at surgery. Arrhythmias are the most frequent reason for hospital admission and along with heart failure the leading cause of death. The arrhythmia-associated increase in morbidity and mortality makes their management a key task in patients with ACHD. Intra-atrial re-entry is the most frequent arrhythmia mechanism...

BACKGROUND: Limited data are available to guide the choice of a target for the systolic blood-pressure level when treating acute hypertensive response in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage. METHODS: We randomly assigned eligible participants with intracerebral hemorrhage (volume, <60 cm(3)) and a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score of 5 or more (on a scale from 3 to 15, with lower scores indicating worse condition) to a systolic blood-pressure target of 110 to 139 mm Hg (intensive treatment) or a target of 140 to 179 mm Hg (standard treatment) in order to test the superiority of intensive reduction of systolic blood pressure to standard reduction; intravenous nicardipine to lower blood pressure was administered within 4...

BACKGROUND: Decreased serum albumin level (SAL) was reported to be associated with increased risk of cardiovascular events and short term-mortality in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the association between SAL and long-term mortality in AMI hospital survivors. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of patients admitted in a tertiary medical center for AMI 2002-2012 and discharged alive. EXCLUSION CRITERIA: active infections, inflammatory diseases, significant liver or kidney failure, malignancy, ejection-fraction <20%, severe heart valvular-disease and missing SAL...

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate whether low glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), blood pressure (BP), and total cholesterol (TC) are associated with lower risk of all-cause mortality in very old individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus. DESIGN: Population-based cohort study. SETTING: Primary care database in the United Kingdom. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals aged 80 and older with type 2 diabetes mellitus (N = 25,966). MEASUREMENTS: Associations between baseline HbA1c, BP, and TC and all-cause mortality were evaluated in Cox proportional hazards models...