Evaluation of nutritional status in pediatric intensive care unit patients: the results of a multicenter, prospective study in Turkey

IntroductionMalnutrition is defined as a pathological condition arising from deficient or imbalanced intake of nutritional elements. Factors such as increasing metabolic demands during the disease course in the hospitalized patients and inadequate calorie intake increase the risk of malnutrition. The aim of the present study is to evaluate nutritional status of patients admitted to pediatric intensive care units (PICU) in Turkey, examine the effect of nutrition on the treatment process and draw attention to the need for regulating nutritional support of patients while continuing existing therapies.Material and MethodIn this prospective multicenter study, the data was collected over a period of one month from PICUs participating in the PICU Nutrition Study Group in Turkey. Anthropometric data of the patients, calorie intake, 90-day mortality, need for mechanical ventilation, length of hospital stay and length of stay in intensive care unit were recorded and the relationship between these parameters was examined.ResultsOf the 614 patients included in the study, malnutrition was detected in 45.4% of the patients. Enteral feeding was initiated in 40.6% (n = 249) of the patients at day one upon admission to the intensive care unit. In the first 48 h, 86.82% (n = 533) of the patients achieved the target calorie intake, and 81.65% (n = 307) of the 376 patients remaining in the intensive care unit achieved the target calorie intake at the end of one week. The risk of mortality decreased with increasing upper mid-arm circumference and triceps skin fold thickness Z-score (OR = 0.871/0.894; p = 0.027/0.024). The risk of mortality was 2.723 times higher in patients who did not achieve the target calorie intake at first 48 h (p = 0.006) and the risk was 3.829 times higher in patients who did not achieve the target calorie intake at the end of one week (p = 0.001). The risk of mortality decreased with increasing triceps skin fold thickness Z-score (OR = 0.894; p = 0.024).ConclusionTimely and appropriate nutritional support in critically ill patients favorably affects the clinical course. The results of the present study suggest that mortality rate is higher in patients who fail to achieve the target calorie intake at first 48 h and day seven of admission to the intensive care unit. The risk of mortality decreases with increasing triceps skin fold thickness Z-score

Real-time prefetching and buffer management for parallel multimedia I/O systems

Continuous media servers are increasingly used to support a number of application domains, e.g., entertainment industry, library information systems, educational applications etc. Objects of continuous media data type are large in size and their retrieval and display are subject to real-time constraints. Servers are required to accommodate these objects and ensure their continuous display. In this thesis, we introduce a model for resource scheduling of a video storage server delivering continuous media VBR video data with real-time requirements. The video streams are assumed to be stored in CDL format and distributed across multiple disks. Within a server-network-client model, our framework translates the requirements imposed by video and resource availability into constraints on prefetching in the real-time domain. We present a novel algorithm RT-OPT for optimally prefetching blocks into the server buffer. We show that if the schedule created by RT-OPT fails to meet the deadline of any block, then no feasible schedule is possible for the same buffer size, data placement and single-disk scheduling policy. Simulations with MPEG traces show that RT-OPT achieves high scalability by dynamically multiplexing the buffer among different clients and disks optimally. The number of clients supported is shown to be uniformly superior to intuitive but suboptimal algorithms like GREED-EDF that aggressively keep the disks busy fetching in order of deadlines

On The Design And Performance Analysis Of Low-Correlation Compact Space-Multimode Diversity Stacked Microstrip Antenna Arrays For Mimo-Ofdm Wlans Over Statistically-Clustered Indoor Radio Channels

The support of high spectral efficiency MIMO spatial-multiplexing communication in OFDM-based WLAN systems conforming to IEEE 802.11n standard requires the design and use of compact antennas and arrays with low correlation ports. For this purpose, compact space-multimode diversity provisioning stacked circular multimode microstrip patch antenna arrays (SCP-ULA) are proposed in this paper and their performance in terms of spatial and modal correlations, ergodic spectral efficiencies as well as compactness with respect to antenna arrays formed of vertically-oriented center-fed dipole elements (DP-ULA) and dominant-mode operating circular microstrip patch antennas (CPULA) are presented. The lower spatial and modal correlations and the consequent higher spectral efficiency of SCP-ULA with ML detection over statistically-clustered Kronecker-based spatially-correlated NLOS Ricean fading channels with respect to DP-ULA and CPULA at significantly lower antenna and array sizes represents SCP-ULA as a promising solution for deployment in terminals, modems and access points of next-generation high-speed 802.11n MIMO-OFDM WLAN systems.WoSScopu

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome in Children

Acute lung injury (ALI) and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) are an important challenge for pediatric intensive care units. These disorders are characterized by a significant inflammatory response to a local (pulmonary) or remote (systemic) insult resulting in injury to alveolar epithelial and endothelial barriers of the lung, acute inflammation and protein rich pulmonary edema. The reported rates in children vary from 8.5 to 16 cases/1000 pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) admissions. The pathological features of ARDS are described as passing through three overlapping phases-an inflammatory or exudative phase (0-7 days), a proliferative phase (7-21 days) and lastly a fibrotic phase. The treatment of ARDS rests on good supportive care and control of initiating cause. Ventilatory modes and nursing interventions to optimize patient outcomes are identified. The goal of ventilating patients with ALI/ARDS should be to maintain adequate gas exchange. Lung protective mechanical ventilation with optimal lung recruitment is the mainstay of supportive therapy. This can be achieved by use of optimum PEEP, low tidal volume and appropriate FiO2. New therapeutic modalities refer to corticosteroid, high frequency ventilation, inhaled nitric oxide, prone positioning and surfactant treatment. Well-designed follow up studies are needed. [Archives Medical Review Journal 2009; 18(4.000): 241-259

New Crosslinked Hyaluronan Gel, Intrauterine Device, or Both for the Prevention of Intrauterine Adhesions

Background and Objectives: To compare the efficacy of 3 different techniques for prevention of adhesion reformation after hysteroscopic adhesiolysis in patients with moderate-to-severe intrauterine adhesions. Short-term assisted reproductive outcomes were also compared. Study Design: Total of 72 cases were randomized to Lippes loop intrauterine device (IUD) only, IUD plus a new crosslinked hyaluronan (NCH) gel, or NCH gel only following hysteroscopic adhesiolysis. All cases received hormonal therapy and a second hysteroscopy was carried out. Endometrial thickness values were measured using transvaginal ultrasonography and American Fertility Society adhesion scores were noted during first and second hysteroscopy in all groups. Reproductive outcomes were also compared for those who received in vitro fertilization treatment. Results: Transvaginal ultrasonography revealed significantly better endometrial thickness in the IUD+NCH (7.5 mm) and NCH-only groups (6.5 mm) than the IUD-only group (5 mm) (P < .001). All groups revealed enhanced but comparable American Fertility Society adhesion scores on second-look hysteroscopy. A total of 37 patients received in vitro fertilization treatment after surgical management of adhesions. Ongoing pregnancy rates after in vitro fertilization were 27\%, 40\%, and 36\% in IUD, IUD+NCH, and NCH groups, respectively. However, the difference between the groups did not reach statistically significant difference. Conclusion: All interventions are of similar efficacy in the prevention of adhesion reformation after hysteroscopic adhesiolysis for moderate to severe intrauterine adhesions. However, better endometrial thickness values were observed in those who received NCH gel either alone or in combination with IUD. Assisted reproductive outcomes of both groups were comparable for ongoing pregnancy rates

Critically ill children with pandemic influenza (H1N1) in pediatric intensive care units in Turkey

WOS: 000299073000003PubMed ID: 21263368Objectives: To outline the epidemiologic features, clinical presentation, clinical courses, and outcomes in critically ill children with pandemic influenza in pediatric intensive care units. Design: Retrospective, observational, multicenter study. Setting: Thirteen tertiary pediatric intensive care units in Turkey. Patients: Eighty-three children with confirmed infection attributable to pandemic influenza detected by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay between November 1 and December 31, 2009 who were admitted to critical care units. Interventions: None. Measurements and Main Results: During a 2-month period, 532 children were hospitalized with pandemic influenza and 83 (15.6%) needed critical care. For the 83 patients requiring critical care, the median age was 42 (range, 2-204) months, with 24 (28.9%) and 48 (57.8%) of patients younger than 2 and 5 yrs, respectively. Twenty (24.1%) patients had no underlying illness, but 63 (75.9%) children had an underlying chronic illness. Indications for admission to the pediatric intensive care unit were respiratory failure in 66 (79.5%), neurologic deterioration in six (7.2%), and gastrointestinal symptoms in five (6.0%) patients. Acute lung injury was diagnosed in 23 (27.7%), acute respiratory distress syndrome was diagnosed in 34 (41%), and 51 (61.4%) patients were mechanically ventilated. Oseltamivir was used in 80 (96%) patients. The mortality rate for children with pandemic influenza 2009 was 30.1% compared to an overall mortality rate of 13.7% (p = .0016) among pediatric intensive care unit patients without pandemic influenza during the study period. Also, the mortality rate was 31.7% in patients with comorbidities and 25.0% in previously healthy children (p = .567). The cause of death was primary pandemic influenza infection in 16 (64%), nosocomial infection in four (16%), and primary disease progression in five (20%) patients. The odds ratio for respiratory failure was 14.7 (95% confidence interval, 1.85-111.11), and odds ratio for mechanical ventilation was 27.7 (95% confidence interval, 0.003-200). Conclusions: Severe disease and high mortality rates were seen in children with pandemic influenza. Death attributable to pandemic influenza occurred in all age groups of children with or without underlying illness. Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome is associated with increased mortality, and death is frequently secondary to severe lung infection caused by pandemic influenza. (Pediatr Crit Care Med 2012; 13:e11-e17