Chemokine blockade: a new era in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis?

Blockade of chemokines or chemokine receptors is emerging as a new potential treatment for various immune-mediated conditions. This review focuses on the therapeutic potential in rheumatoid arthritis, based on studies in animal models and patients. Several knockout models as well as in vivo use of chemokine antagonists are discussed. Review of these data suggests that this approach might lead to novel therapeutic strategies in rheumatoid arthritis and other chronic inflammatory disorders

Reliability of computerized image analysis for the evaluation of serial synovial biopsies in randomized controlled trials in rheumatoid arthritis

Analysis of biomarkers in synovial tissue is increasingly used in the evaluation of new targeted therapies for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). This study determined the intrarater and inter-rater reliability of digital image analysis (DIA) of synovial biopsies from RA patients participating in clinical trials. Arthroscopic synovial biopsies were obtained before and after treatment from 19 RA patients participating in a randomized controlled trial with prednisolone. Immunohistochemistry was used to detect CD3(+ )T cells, CD38(+ )plasma cells and CD68(+ )macrophages. The mean change in positive cells per square millimetre for each marker was determined by different operators and at different times using DIA. Nonparametric tests were used to determine differences between observers and assessments, and to determine changes after treatment. The intraclass correlations (ICCs) were calculated to determine the intrarater and inter-rater reliability. Intrarater ICCs showed good reliability for measuring changes in T lymphocytes (R = 0.87), plasma cells (R = 0.62) and macrophages (R = 0.73). Analysis by Bland–Altman plots showed no systemic differences between measurements. The smallest detectable changes were calculated and their discriminatory power revealed good response in the prednisolone group compared with the placebo group. Similarly, inter-rater ICCs also revealed good reliability for measuring T lymphocytes (R = 0.68), plasma cells (R = 0.69) and macrophages (R = 0.72). All measurements identified the same cell types as changing significantly in the treated patients compared with the placebo group. The measurement of change in total positive cell numbers in synovial tissue can be determined reproducibly for various cell types by DIA in RA clinical trials

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

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

Pharmacokinetics of zanamivir in critically ill patients undergoing continuous venovenous hemofiltration

Background: Limited data exist for dosing of zanamivir in the setting of CVVH in the intensive care unit (ICU). Our objective is to report the pharmacokinetics and sieving coefficient (Sv) of zanamivir in patients receiving continuous venovenous hemofiltration (CVVH). Methods: In this prospective observational study, patients of ≥18 years admitted to the ICU with a life-threatening Influenza A or B infection, treated with zanamivir i.v. undergoing CVVH were included. Patients received a zanamivir loading dose of 600 mg i.v., 12 h later followed by maintenance dosages two times daily according to the treating physician. Per patient, nine CFT plasma and nine ultrafiltrate samples were drawn on day 2 of treatment and analysed with a validated HPLC-MS/MS method. Results: Four patients were included in the study. The zanamivir elimination half-life was prolonged with 5.6–9.9 h, compared to patients with normal renal function. A Sv of approximately 1.0 was identified, with unrestricted transport of zanamivir to the ultrafiltrate. Conclusions: Zanamivir is well cleared by CVVH. In absence of the possibility for therapeutic drug monitoring, the ultrafiltration rate seems as a good surrogate parameter to estimate the CLCVVH and may help guide the dosing of zanamivir

Workload scoring systems in the Intensive Care and their ability to quantify the need for nursing time: A systematic literature review

Introduction: The Intensive Care Unit is a resource intense service with a high nursing workload per patient resulting in a low ratio of patients per nurse. This review aims to identify existing scoring systems for measuring nursing workload on the Intensive Care and assess their validity and reliability to quantify the needed nursing time. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the literature indexed before 01/Mar/2018 in the bibliographic databases MEDLINE, Embase, and Cinahl. Full-text articles were selected and data on systems measuring nursing workload on the Intensive Care and translation of this workload into the amount of nursing time needed was extracted. Results: We included 71 articles identifying 34 different scoring systems of which 27 were included for further analysis as these described a translation of workload into nursing time needed. Almost all systems were developed with nurses. The validity of most scoring systems was evaluated by comparing them with another system (59%) or by using time measurements (26%). The most common way to translate workload-scores into nursing time needed was by categorizing the Nurse:Patient-ratios. Validation of the Nurse:Patient-ratios was mostly evaluated by comparing the results with other systems or with the actual planning and not with objective time measurements. Conclusion: Despite the large attention given to nursing workload systems for Intensive Care, only a few systems objectively evaluated the validity and reliability of measuring nursing workload with moderate results. The Nursing Activity Score system performed best. Poor methodology for the translation of workload scores into Nurse:Patient-ratio weakens the value of nursing workload scoring systems in daily Intensive Care practice