Increased microvascular permeability is a central hallmark of inflammation and the basis of edematous tissue injury in many acute and chronic pathological conditions, including ischemia-reperfusion injury, sepsis, and acute respiratory distress syndrome.1–4 Increased microvascular leakage may occur in any region of the vasculature, but it is most familiar in the microvasculature, especially the...

r p e LL SURGERY PERFORMED on the heart or on the great vessels will inevitably lead to bleeding of varying magniude. It is routine practice in cardiac surgery to use different ethods to minimize blood loss or to recycle the blood, thereby educing the volume discarded. The practice of cardiotomy uction was introduced early in cardiac surgery as a means of eturning the blood collected in the sur...

In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis on the need for daily spontaneous breathing trial (SBT) assessment and performance of SBTs where indicated.1 The implementation of the ABCDE bundle (awakening, spontaneous breathing trial, coordinated efforts between health professionals, standardized delirium assessment, early mobilization) to improve liberation from the ventilator has prom...

We read with great interest the report by Murray et al.' We have analyzed 3 1 posttransplantation lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLDs; 18 renal and 13 heartheart-lung cases) for bcl-2, EpsteinBarr virus-latent membrane protein (EBV-LMP), EBNA-l, and EBNA-2.2.5 We used the same antibodies as Murray et al.' All cases were EBV-LMP-l -positive. In more than 90% of cases, 80% of the neoplastic popu...

For more than 30 years transthoracic external cardioversion has been an established method for the restoration of sinus rhythm in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation. It was first described by Lown in 19631. Though the success rate for external cardioversion ranges from 60-90 %2-4, there is reduced efficacy in those patients with a high body-mass index and an increased transthoracic di...

In a Perspective paper in Acta Paediatrica, Xu argues that the pressure on paediatric respiratory departments Chinese hospitals decreased early 2020 because children were wearing face masks during COVID-19 pandemic.1 He concluded doctors and parents should ask to wear whenever there was high incidence of infections, including COVID-19. I feel challenge those statements. Most countries seem have...

Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4), an essential cofactor for diverse cellular processes, is present in almost every cell or tissue of higher organisms. BH4 has well-defined functions in terms of enzymatic activities (BH4 is a crucial cofactor for the aromatic amino acid hydroxylases and all isoforms of nitric oxide synthase [NOS]) but has other less-defined functions in cells. BH4 is a growth or prolif...

Prorenin, the precursor of renin, exists in circulating blood at concentrations that are 5 to 10 higher than those of renin. For many years, prorenin was considered to be an inactive form of renin with no physiological role. Then, in the mid-80s of the last century, Luetscher et al reported that the levels of circulating prorenin (but not renin) are increased in diabetic subjects.1 Subsequent s...

Because proper interpretation of pulmonary function tests (PFTs) depends critically on the predicted normal values, the availability of new reference values, such as those from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES)1 or the Health Survey for England,2 poses important challenges and evaluative opportunities for investigators/authors, respiratory care clinicians, and pulmon...

CHRONIC SLEEPWALKING IS AN ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR SEEN PREDOMINANTLY IN CHILDREN AND IN YOUNG ADULTS EFFECTING 2.5% OF THE GENERAL population 15 years and older of the United Kingdom.1 Hypersynchronous slow delta (HSD) has been recognized as present in recordings of sleepwalkers since 1965.2 It significance has been questioned as different authors have reported variable times of incidence preceding ...