Plasma from septic shock patients induces loss of muscle protein

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Strategies to optimize respiratory muscle function in ICU patients

Respiratory muscle dysfunction may develop rapidly in critically ill ventilated patients and is associated with increased morbidity, length of intensive care unit stay, costs, and mortality. This review briefly discusses the pathophysiology of respiratory muscle dysfunction in intensive care unit patients and then focuses on strategies that prevent the development of muscle weakness or, if weakness has developed, how respiratory muscle function may be improved. We propose a simple strategy for how these can be implemented in clinical care

Risk of perioperative thyroid storm in hyperthyroid patients

Background: Thyroid storm is a feared complication in patients with hyperthyroidism undergoing surgery. We assessed the risk of thyroid storm for different preoperative treatment options for patients with primary hyperthyroidism undergoing surgery. Methods: Pubmed, EMBASE, and The Cochrane Library were searched systematically for all studies reporting on adult hyperthyroid patients undergoing elective surgery under general anaesthesia. Selected studies were categorised based on preoperative treatment: no treatment, antithyroid medication (thionamides), iodine, β-blocking medication, or a combination thereof. Treatment effect, that is restoring euthyroidism, was extracted from the publications if available. Risk of bias was assessed using the Risk of Bias in Non-randomised Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I) or the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool for randomised studies. Results: The search yielded 7009 articles, of which 26 studies published between 1975 and 2020 were selected for critical appraisal. All studies had moderate to critical risk of bias, mainly attributable to risk of confounding, classification of intervention status, and definition of the outcome. All studies reported on thyroidectomy patients. We found no randomised studies comparing the risk of thyroid storm between treated and untreated patients. Cases of thyroid storm were reported in all treatment groups with incidences described ranging from 0% to 14%. Conclusion: Evidence assessing the risk of perioperative thyroid storm is of insufficient quality. Given the seriousness of this complication and the impossibility of identifying patients at increased risk, preoperative treatment of these patients remains warranted

Titin And Diaphragm Dysfunction In Mechanically Ventilated Rats

PURPOSE: Diaphragm weakness induced by mechanical ventilation may contribute to difficult weaning from the ventilator. For optimal force generation the muscle proteins myosin and titin are indispensable. The present study investigated if myosin and titin loss or dysfunction are involved in mechanical ventilation-induced diaphragm weakness. METHODS: Male Wistar rats were either assigned to a control group (n = 10) or submitted to 18 h of mechanical ventilation (MV, n = 10). At the end of the experiment, diaphragm and soleus muscle were excised for functional and biochemical analysis. RESULTS: Maximal specific active force generation of muscle fibers isolated from the diaphragm of MV rats was lower than controls (128 ± 9 vs. 165 ± 13 mN/mm(2), p = 0.02) and was accompanied by a proportional reduction of myosin heavy chain concentration in these fibers. Passive force generation upon stretch was significantly reduced in diaphragm fibers from MV rats by ca. 35%. Yet, titin content was not significantly different between control and MV diaphragm. In vitro pre-incubation with phosphatase-1 decreased passive force generation upon stretch in diaphragm fibers from control, but not from MV rats. Mechanical ventilation did not affect active or passive force generation in the soleus muscle. CONCLUSIONS: Mechanical ventilation leads to impaired diaphragm fiber active force-generating capacity and passive force generation upon stretch. Loss of myosin contributes to reduced active force generation, whereas reduced passive force generation is likely to result from a decreased phosphorylation status of titin. These impairments were not discernable in the soleus muscle of 18 h mechanically ventilated rats. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00134-012-2504-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users