Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0036690 (sepsis)
 59,461 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The efficacy of methylprednisolone (1 g daily or three days), which is effective in reversing transplant rejection, was assessed in a randomised controlled trial of 55 patients with severe acute alcoholic hepatitis, 34 of whom had encephalopathy. The clinical progress, frequency of bleeding and sepsis, and cause of death were similar in the treatment (27 patients) and control groups (28 patients). There was no significant difference in mortality rate between the two groups: 57% of the control group and 63% of the treatment group died during the study. Patients' survival depended on the presence of absence of the following features: encephalopathy, serum bilirubin concentration more than 340 micromol/l, serum creatinine concentration more than 250 micromol/l, and histological evidence of cirrhosis as well as severe acute alcoholic hepatitis.
 ...
PMID:Controlled trial of methylprednisolone therapy in severe acute alcoholic hepatitis. 703 99

More than 300 head injuries per year are evaluated by the neurotrauma team at the Maryland Institute of Emergency Medicine. Although most of the injuries follow motor vehicle accidents, a significant number also follow industrial accidents or acts of personal violence. Approximately 25% of patients with serious head injuries have associated episodes of sepsis--commonly because of other bodily injuries. We have identified a syndrome characterized by encephalopathy and/or accentuation of focal neurological dysfunction in head injury patients that presents during episodes of sepsis and that occurs in the absence of meningitis. Aggressive fever management alone does not reverse the encephalopathy. Neurodiagnostic studies reveal no focal changes. The intracranial pressure often remains normal or unchanged, and no improvement is evident after the empirical administration of standard doses f steroid or osmotic agents. The patient's neurological condition returns to base line once the sepsis has been eradicated. Ongoing investigations suggest an immunological basis for this abnormality.
 ...
PMID:Alterations in neurological function in head-injured patients experiencing major episodes of sepsis. 709 94

Among 103 patients with fulminant hepatic failure due to viral hepatitis, paracetamol overdose, or halothane anaesthesia, treated over a 2-year period, 23 had bacteraemia. Gram-positive organisms, mainly streptococci and Staphylococcus aureus, were isolated from 61% of patients. Escherichia coli, the main type of gram-negative organism isolated, was found in 26% of patients and was associated with a fatal outcome more often than gram-positive bacteria. The type of organism isolated was not related to the aetiology of the hepatic necrosis, the presence of renal failure, or the clinical outcome. In the 23 patients with bacteraemia the same organism was isolated from other sites of infection, including sputum in four, urine in two, and the central venous catheter and arteriovenous shunt in one. Bacteraemia usually occurred 3 days after admission or on average 2 days after clinical deterioration to grade IV encephalopathy had begun. In 11 patients, the infection had an adverse effect on their clinical course, in three patients being implicated as a cause of the encephalopathy. Although in four patients the development of infection after all signs of encephalopathy had cleared may have been a major factor in their death, two of these patients had evidence of severe sepsis, pneumococcal peritonitis, and renal abscesses from which Candida albicans was cultured. An awareness of infection as a complication both of the acute stage of the illness and during recovery is essential if early detection and treatment are to be effective.
 ...
PMID:Bacteraemia in patients with fulminant hepatic failure. 717 37

More than half of the cases of plague in the United States are diagnosed in children. In the 1970s, 105 cases were reported, a 350% increase over the 1960s. Plague should be considered in the differential diagnosis of children from the western United States who have sepsis, especially those with lymphadenopathy. Complications of plague include meningitis, metabolic encephalopathy, abscess, and pneumonia. With appropriate treatment, prompt clinical response usually occurs. Careful isolation and epidemiologic investigation are essential to prevent the spread of the disease.
 ...
PMID:Plague in a neonate. 723 65

We have recently encountered two instances of septicemia due to Fusobacterium necrophorum in adolescents. The presence of severe exudative pharyngitis in both patients pointed to the upper respiratory tract as the probable portal of entry. In one case, metastatic infection was manifested by multiple septic pulmonary emboli with associated pleural effusions. In the other case, diffuse encephalopathy and septic arthritis of the left shoulder and hip occurred. Unilateral neck pain, persistent bacteremia, and prolonged fever despite appropriate antibiotics were consistent with the presence of septic jugular thrombophlebitis in both patients. "Postanginal septicemia" caused by F necrophorum, described by Lemierre in the preantibiotic era, was undoubtedly the syndrome manifested by these patients. This condition, formerly uniformly fatal, can readily be diagnosed when anaerobic techniques are used for blood culture, but requires prolonged antibiotic therapy for cure.
 ...
PMID:Metastatic complications of Fusobacterium necrophorum sepsis. Two cases of Lemierre's postanginal septicemia. 736 98

Your recent lead article on toxic shock and tampons (November 1, p. 1161) prompts me to report a case of pelvic infection and staphylococcal septicemia 8 days after the insertion of a Lippes loop. Pelvic infection is a recognized complication of IUDs; although there have been 2 reports of endocarditis occurring in susceptible patients following the insertion of an IUD, septicemia is rare. A previously healthy 31-year old married woman had a loop inserted at a family planning clinic. 3 days later she developed sweating, vomiting, confusion, and cough and during the following 48 hours became disoriented with hallucinations. She was referred to the hospital with suspected encephalitis and on admission was febrile (38.8 degrees Celsius) and stuporose but responded to simple commands. Blood pressure was 95/60 mmHg but there were no other abnormal signs. Hemoglobin was 12.2 g/dl, white blood count 4.0x109/1 (80% neutrophils), erythrocyte sedimentation rate 70mm in the 1st hour; cerebrospinal fluid normal. Chest x-ray examination revealed patchy consolidation in the upper lobes of both lungs and an electroencephalogram showed bilateral nonspecific abnormality. 3 blood cultures taken on admission yielded penicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. She was treated with high-dose intravenous cloxacillin and 24 hours after starting the antibiotic had improved markedly and the IUD was removed. Culture from the coil and also from a high vaginal swab yielded Staph aureus with a similar antibiogram to that of the organism cultured from the blood. Subsequent recovery was uneventful, although repeat chest x-ray examination showed small abscess cavities in the upper lobes of both lungs. The patient was discharged 4 weeks after admission and serial chest radiographs have confirmed complete resolution of the pneumonia and abscesses. There is little doubt that this patients' septicemia with lung abscess formation and encephalopathy originated in the genital tract. The patient was both toxic and shocked but was different from patients with the recently described toxic shock syndrome in that her blood culture was positive for Staph aureus. The case provides another example of the importance of this organism as a cause of infection associated with the insertion of foreign bodies into or through the vagina.
 ...
PMID:Staphylococcal septicaemia after insertion of an intrauterine contraceptive device. 744 49

Patients with sepsis often manifest disorientation, somnolence, asterixis and coma, symptoms also seen in portasystemic encephalopathy. Altered plasma concentrations of the neutral amino acids and in creased blood-brain transport of these acids may play a role in portasystemic encephalopathy. Plasma amino acids and blood-brain barrier transport of neutral amino acids were investigated in a rat model of abdominal sepsis, cecal ligation and puncture. The blood-brain transport was studied by the technique of Oldendorf with carbon-14-amino acids 12 and 24 hours after the induction of sepsis. In similar groups of animals, isolation of brain capillaries was carried out by the technique of Hjelle and the capillaries were incubated with carbon-14-amino acids to study transport activity. Plasma and brain amino acids were deranged in a fashion similar to the derangements seen in portasystemic encephalopathy, with a decrease in plasma branched chain amino acids and an increase in most neutral amino acids in brain. The changes were most pronounced after 24 hours. The brain uptake of several neutral amino acids was increased in the septic rats, while the uptake of lysine, a basic amino acid, was normal. In the brain capillaries isolated from septic rats, tyrosine and leucine transport was also greater than in sham-operated animals. Elevated neutral amino acids may play a role in the encephalopathy encountered in septic patients similar to its role in patients with portasystemic encephalopathy, as similar mechanisms appear to be operating.
 ...
PMID:Blood-brain barrier derangement in sepsis: cause of septic encephalopathy? 745 18

We studied serum prolactin (PRL) in 28 newborn infants with acute encephalopathy. Six patients had electrographically confirmed seizures. Twenty-two patients comprised the nonictal group. In the seizure group, PRL was determined at the first onset of the seizure (baseline) and at 15 and 30 min postictal. In the nonseizure group, PRL was determined at the end of the EEG and 15 min later. EEGs were visually analyzed for the presence of seizures and background abnormality (normal or mildly, moderately, or markedly abnormal). Etiologic diagnoses included congenital heart disease (12), hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (4), sepsis (4), respiratory distress syndrome (5) meconium aspiration (1), and metabolic disease (2). Serum PRL was significantly higher (p < 0.05) at baseline and 15 min postictally in the patients with seizures than in the nonictal group. However, PRL levels 15 and 30 min postictally were not statistically different from baseline values. Baseline PRL correlated significantly (p < 0.001) with EEG background abnormality in both groups; therefore, patients with the most abnormal EEG backgrounds had higher levels of PRL than those with a relatively normal EEG background. We conclude that newborns with EEG-confirmed seizures, particularly if seizures are not associated with clinical signs, have high baseline serum PRL levels that do not increase significantly in the immediate postictal period. Serum PRL levels correlate with the severity of the brain insult as evaluated by EEG background. Further studies are needed to enhance our understanding of the dynamics of PRL secretion in newborns with seizures and acute encephalopathy.
 ...
PMID:Serum prolactin in neonates with seizures. 755 85

Critical illness neuropathy is a distinct form of polyneuropathy that develops as part of a syndrome often observed in critical care units consisting of septicemia with encephalopathy, respiratory failure with difficulty in weaning and an axonal degenerative polyneuropathy. Critical illness neuropathy (CIN) has been discussed in the recent neurological and critical care literature, but has not been discussed, to the best of our knowledge, in the rehabilitation literature. This article acquaints rehabilitation personnel with the methods used to diagnose CIN and differentiate it from other neuropathies and the impact that multidisciplinary rehabilitation may have on the outcome of this disorder. We found that with an appropriate history, and compatible physical findings, electrodiagnostic testing helped diagnose CIN and that intensive rehabilitation was advantageous in improving our patients conditions.
 ...
PMID:Critical illness neuropathy: diagnosis and management. 760 92

We reviewed retrospectively the clinical records, autopsy protocols and central nervous system tissue sections of 50 patients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation for end-stage liver disease between 12/83 and 8/93. The postoperative survival period ranged from hours (6), weeks (17), months (17), to years (10). All patients received immunosuppressive drugs from the immediate postoperative period to the time of their death (cyclosporine, steroids; occasionally azathioprine, OKT3, FK506). Nineteen patients had neurological manifestations (hepatic encephalopathy) prior to surgery. Post-transplant neurologic signs and symptoms included: hepatic encephalopathy/altered mental status (11), focal or generalized seizures (9) and stroke (2). In the majority of cases (37) the cause of death was septicemia and/or bleeding diathesis. The neuropathologic findings present in 36 patients could be classified into 3 distinct categories: metabolic disorders: hepatic/anoxic encephalopathy, central pontine myelinolysis (15); cerebrovascular disease: subarachnoid and/or intracerebral hemorrhage, bland or hemorrhagic infarction (23); and infection: bacterial meningitis/cerebritis, multifocal fungal microabscesses, presumptive viral meningitis/encephalomyelitis (10). In conclusion, 72% of 50 patients who came to autopsy after liver transplantation were found to have neuropathologic abnormalities; these abnormalities were predominantly infections and vascular diseases.
 ...
PMID:Neuropathology of liver transplantation. 760 96


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>