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Query: UMLS:C0036690 (sepsis)
 59,461 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Urea Cycle Disorders (UCD) is an inborn error of urea synthesis in which ammonium and other nitrogenous precursors of urea accumulate leading to episodic coma and a high mortality rate. Therapy with peritoneal dialysis, essential amino acids or their nitrogen-free analogues has increased survival. The authors report 5 cases of urea cycle disorders, all of whom developed and were rescued from hyperammonemic coma. However, the eventual outcome was quite variable. Argininosuccinate lyase deficiency (ALD) Case 1. A 2 month old male infant, a product of a consanguineous marriage (Suphanburi province); developed poor feeding on day 7, lethargy, convulsion, hepatomegaly and respiratory alkalosis leading to respiratory failure and coma. Hyperammonemia, elevation of glutamic acid and argininosuccinic acid and its anhydrides confirmed the diagnosis of ALD. He is now 9 years old and severely retarded. Case 2. A male infant with history of lethargy, poor feeding on day 3, treated as sepsis and required respiratory support for 6 days; subsequently readmitted at age 2 weeks with vomitting, lethargy, seizure activity and hyperammonemia, and was treated by a local pediatrician in Songkhla province. There was a history of parental consanguinity and he was referred to Siriraj Hospital on day 64 with severe essential amino acid deficiency and acrodermatitis enteropathica with markedly elevated plasma citrulline level. In spite of aggressive treatment; the patient developed sepsis and he expired on day 78. Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTC) Case 3. An eleven-month-old male infant, the product of a non-consanguineous marriage, developed neonatal onset of hyperammonemia on day 5 after poor feeding, lethargy, hypothermia, seizure, apnea and coma. He was rescued from neonatal hyperammonemic coma on day 9 after aggressive treatment, but expired at eleven months of age after overwhelming sepsis. Case 4. A male infant, sibling of case 3 was referred to Siriraj Hospital on day 8 with hyperammonemia and coma. In spite of intensive genetic counseling given after the birth of their first child with OTC, the couple chose to have another baby without informing any physician. The baby developed vomiting and lethargy on day 2; subsequently hyperammonemia was noted. In spite of aggressive treatment given; hepatic dysfunction, renal failure and disseminated intravascular coagulation defects occurred on day 15. He expired on day 18 after parental permission for discontinuation of all treatment. Argininosuccinate synthetase deficiency (ASS) or Citrullinemia. Case 5. A seven week old female infant, the product of a consanguineous marriage and of Pakistani ethnic origin; developed intermittent vomiting from day 6. Initial diagnoses included ruminations, sepsis and pyloric stenosis for which she was operated on (day 30); however, vomiting continued; subsequently seizures, hyperammonemic coma developed and she was rescued from hyperammonemic coma within 30 hours. Significant elevations of citrulline and L-glutamine were demonstrated. She was discharged in excellent condition to her home in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates.
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PMID:Urea cycle disorders in Thai infants: a report of 5 cases. 1240 52

A 39-year-old man, who had splenectomy following abdominal trauma 30 years previously, admitted to our hospital with high fever, headache and convulsion on January 8, 2002. Examination of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) showed pleocytosis up to 10,000 cells/mm3 with polymorphonuclear cells dominant and elevated protein to 330 mg/dl and reduction of glucose to 15 mg/dl. Streptococcus pneumoniae was detected at the culture of CSF and blood. We diagnosed him as having pneumococcal meningitis as overwhelming postsplenectomy infection(OPSI) syndrome. After administration of carbapenem antibiotics, methylprednisolone (1,000 mg) and immunoglobulin, he survived without any complications. Splenectomized patients are likely to suffer from severe infections, such as sepsis and meningitis, which is called OPSI syndrome. The course is rapid, the clinical symptoms are serious, and the prognosis is very poor. It is important for splenectomized patients to receive the vaccine, antibiotic prophylaxis and seek medical attention at the earliest sign of minor infection.
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PMID:[A survival case of fluminant meningitis and multiple organ failure as overwhelming postsplenectomy infection (OPSI) syndrome]. 1272 10

Cerebral infarcts are an important cause of neonatal convulsions. We report the etiologic factors, and clinical and neuroradiologic findings of four full term neonates who presented with neonatal convulsions and had cerebral infarct. In our patients the risk factors for the cerebral infarct were perinatal asphyxia, sepsis, dehydration and catheter application. All had convulsions as the initial sign of infarct and had cranial imaging which revealed the definitive diagnosis. The patients underwent an extensive evaluation for hereditary causes of cerebral infarct that included anticoagulant factors (Proteins C and S, antithrombin III, antiphospholipid antibodies), factor V Leiden and prothrombin gene mutations, blood and urine amino acid and urine organic acid levels. The results were found to be within normal limits. In conclusion, neonatal convulsions can be the first sign of cerebral infarct. For this reason it seems preferable to include cranial imaging by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the work-up of cases with unexplained neonatal convulsions.
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PMID:Cerebral infarcts in full term neonates. 1292 2

E5564 is a structural analog of the Lipid A portion of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). E5564 has been tested in several in vitro and in vivo models and has demonstrated its effectiveness against LPS. It is intended to be an antagonist of LPS to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with sepsis syndrome. This study assessed the pharmacokinetics (PK) of E5564 in patients with impaired hepatic function. E5564 was administered via intermittent intravenous infusion every 12 hours for six times to 24 hepatic-impaired patients (12 each to Child-Pugh Classifications A and B) and 24 matching healthy volunteers. Plasma samples were analyzed by LC/MS/MS. A one-compartment model resulted in good and comparable fits for all volunteers. Regardless of liver disease state, none of the PK parameters compared (i.e., Cmax (0-12),tmax (0-12),CL,t1/2, Vss, AUC(0-12), AUC(0-last), AUC(0-infinity), C(ss,min), C(ss,max), and C(ss,av)) exhibited any difference between these two groups. This suggested that the exposure of E5564 in volunteers was independent of hepatic function. Thus, no dose adjustment is needed in patients with hepatic impairment classified as Child-Pugh A and B.
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PMID:Pharmacokinetics of E5564, a lipopolysaccharide antagonist, in patients with impaired hepatic function. 1461 72

After initial support with an intraaortic balloon pump, and since the introduction of cyclosporine for immunosuppression, five patients have undergone cardiac transplantation in our institution with good results. Not one of these patients died of sepsis in the immediate postoperative period. We report the clinical course of one such patient to show the advantage of cyclosporine immunosuppression and the value of circulatory support devices in patients awaiting suitable cardiac donors. A 22-year-old mother of two children was transferred to our institution with progressive cardiac failure. An intraaortic balloon (IABP) was inserted after she had become hypotensive, obtunded and acidotic, with severe congestive heart failure. However, she failed to improve and we performed a cardiac transplantation. After major problems with infections-a leading cause of death among cardiac transplant recipients-and episodes of convulsions that were controlled with Dilantin, along with other complications, she slowly but progressively improved and was discharged 7 weeks post-transplantation. She had one episode of allograft rejection, which was reversed with a short course of Solu Medrol. She is alive and well 18 months post-transplantation. In conclusion, cardiac transplantation in patients with sepsis can be expected to have a favorable outcome if cyclosporine is used for immunosuppression. When IABP or any other circulatory assist device is used as a bridge to cardiac transplantation, it is still possible to control infection in such patients, especially when cyclosporine is used as the major immunosuppressive.
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PMID:Cardiac transplantation in a patient with septicemia after prolonged intraaortic balloon pump support: implications for staged transplantation. 1522 27

Fever is a phylogenetically ancient host reaction to invading microorganisms and other noxious stimuli. Poikylothermic organisms can reach febrile temperatures by seeking a hot environment in response to a higher set point in their thermoregulatory center. Endothermic organisms produce febrile temperatures through endogenous heat production at the expenditure of a higher metabolic rate. Nevertheless, fever has been conserved during evolution through millennia, obviously because of its advantage for host defense. Despite of these arguments most doctors, nurses and patients treat fever with antipyretics. The role of fever for the recovery from low risk infections is marginal at best. A large study of ibuprofen in patients with severe sepsis could not establish a positive or negative role on the course or final outcome of the infection in an intensive care setting. These clinical observations seemingly contradict findings in severe experimental bacterial infections in rodents but it has to be taken into consideration that these animals, in contrast to patients, received no antibiotic treatment. In patients with influenza-like illnesses non-steroidal antirhumatics (NSAR) improve fever and wellbeing with little or no evidence for undesired side-effects. It therefore appears appropriate to treat patients with these and similar infections with NSAR. Antipyretic therapy in special patient groups such as brain injury victims, patients with cardiac or respiratory failure or dementia has not been established to be indicated to overcome a worsening of these organs to fail during infections. In children with a history of fever convulsions prevention or lowering of fever does not reduce recurrence. In patients with strokes it appears advisable however to use antipyretics in case of fever despite of a present lack of a proven beneficial effect. In conclusion symptomatic antipyretic therapy should be considered for low risk infections if patient suffering from fever. For more severe infections antipyretic therapy can be applied on an individual basis without too much hope to improve outcome or cause a severe worsening of prognosis.
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PMID:[Fever--useful or noxious symptom that should be treated?]. 1661 88

Heatstroke is a life-threatening illness characterized by an elevated core body temperature (>40 degrees C) and dysfunction of central nervous system, which results in delirium, convulsions, or coma. Despite adequate hypothermia or other care-therapy, heatstroke is often fatal. On the basis of our knowledge of the pathophysiology on heatstroke, we hypothesized that heatstroke is a form of hyperthermia associated with the acute physiological alterations, the cytotoxicity of heat, systemic inflammatory response, oxidative damage and attenuated heat-shock response leading to a syndrome of multi-organ dysfunction. In view of above-mentioned situation, the physiological factors underlying heatstroke and the corresponding possible therapeutic strategies to avert the complications of this disorder would be summarized in this review so as to provide some therapeutic guidelines for heatstroke. Heatstroke is a very complicated process. Acute physiological alterations, such as low arterial hypotension, intracranial hypertension, cerebral hypoperfusion, cerebral ischemia, and increased intracellular metabolism rate, occurred while exposed to a high ambient temperature. Hyperpyrexia caused cytotoxicity, resulting the degradation and aggregation of extensive intracellular proteins, influencing the change of membrane stability and fluidity, damaging the transmembrane transport of protein and the function of surface receptor, and inducing different cytoskeletal changes. Heatstroke resembles sepsis in many aspects, and endotoxemia and cytokines may be implicated in its pathogenesis. The concentration of interleukin-6 was positively correlated with the severity of heatstroke. The excessive accumulation of cytotoxic free radicals and oxidative damage may occur in the brain tissues during the genesis and development of heatstroke. The circulatory shock and cerebral ischemia resultant from heatstroke correlated closely with the free radicals (especially free radicals of peroxide and superoxide), the peroxidation of lipids, and low activity of antioxidase in the brain. Heat-shock proteins (Hsps) played a critical role during the process obtaining thermotolerance, therefore, protected from stress-induce cellular damage. Host factors or physiologically limiting factors, for instance, aging, existing illness, dehydration, deep insomnia, lack of acclimation to heat, inadequate physical fitness, and certain genetic polymorphisms were associated with a low level of Hsps expression and might favor the progression from heat stress to heatstroke. Some measures, such as molecular chaperonines, anti-inflammatory agents, antioxidant agents, and modulators of Hsps would be good for the patients with heatstroke.
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PMID:Pathophysiological factors underlying heatstroke. 1663 16

Concerning major causative organisms of purulent meningitis, i. e., Haemophilus influenzae and Streptococcus pneumoniae, a questionnaire was sent to medical institutions all over Japan with the aim of investigating the patient background factors, sequelae and causal relationship with the causative organisms. Responses from 84 institutions in various parts of Japan were summarized and the following conclusions were drawn. 1. The diagnostic names of 227 patients for whom the questionnaire could be recollected were as follows: Purulent meningitis 138 cases (patient under 15 years old; 134 cases); purulent meningitis and sepsis, 58 cases; sepsis, 28 cases; and others, 3 cases. The causative organisms for the patients with meningitis and meningitis + sepsis were as follows: Haemophilus influenzae, 132 patients; and Streptococcus pneumoniae, 44 patients. 2. With respect to age distribution among the patients with meningitis and those with meningitis + sepsis, the number of the patients of the age younger than 1 year old was more than twice larger than that of one-year-old patients. The percentage of the cases in which sequelae remained was 35.9% among the cases caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae and 13.4% among the cases caused by Haemophilus influenzae. A significant difference was observed between the bacterial strains (p=0.0025). 3. The major initial symptoms observed were high fever, vomiting, consciousness disorder, drowsiness and poor sucking. The percentage of the patients with remaining sequelae was significantly high among the patients who exhibited convulsion in the early stage after the onset. 4. As to the relationship with administration of dexamethasone, sequelae remained in 40.0% (10/25) of the patients who did not receive dexamethasone, and 17.3% (23/133) of the patients who received the drug. The percentage of the patients with remaining sequelae was significantly low among the patients who received dexamethasone (p=0.0043).
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PMID:[Analysis by questionnaire survey concerning example such as purulent meningitis and severe infectious diseases--relation among patient background factor, sequelae, and infecting organism]. 1691 2

Pulmonary arterial endarteritis is a rare event even in patients with congenital heart disease. In this paper, the authors report two cases of pulmonary endarteritis diagnosed at autopsy. The first was a 3-month-old male infant with absence of congenital heart defect (who had had neonatal sepsis). This patient presented with pneumonia and succumbed within 36 hours of hospital stay despite appropriate antimicrobial therapy and supportive management. The second patient was a 13-month-old male child with previously undiagnosed tetralogy of Fallot who had clinical presentation of acute meningitis with convulsions and succumbed within 12 hours of hospital stay despite adequate treatment. The main autopsy findings were chronic arteritis of the pulmonary trunk and right pulmonary artery in the former and rupture of the pulmonary trunk in the latter.
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PMID:Pulmonary endarteritis. 1720 48

We present a patient with Posterior Reversible Encephalopathy Syndrome (PRES). A 74-year-old woman was admitted with sepsis, which originated from erysipelas on her neck the following day. She developed respiratory obstruction due to oedema, septic shock, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), acute renal failure and atrial fibrillation. She responded well to treatment and improved rapidly, despite of her serious condition. When she had almost fully recovered after 15 days, her general condition worsened, and she developed confusion, blindness and pareses. MRI showed vasogenic oedema in the parietooccipital regions of the brain and in the cerebellum, consistent with PRES. PRES is a clinical and radiological diagnosis consisting of headache, confusion, cortical blindness, convulsions and sometimes pareses. MRI of the cerebrum with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) map are decisive to the diagnosis, and usually shows a characteristic bilateral vasogenic oedema in the parietooccipital region. This can distinguish PRES from brain infarction, which shows a cytotoxic oedema on MRI. We discuss our patient in the light of different conditions leading to PRES, possible pathophysiological factors and treatment options.
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PMID:[An old woman with sudden pareses and blindness]. 1735 25


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