Organ Dysfunction and Failure Following Brain Death Do Not Preclude Successful Donation.

BACKGROUND: Organ dysfunction is common after neurologic determination of death (NDD) but before organ collection. Reliable markers for graft success following transplant of these organs would be useful. We sought to determine the relationship between the donor after neurologic determination of death (DNDD) pathophysiology and successful organ donation. METHODS: Donor information was obtained through the local organ procurement organization. Donor demographics and clinical data points for cardiovascular, renal, respiratory, hepatic, hematological and neuroendocrine systems were reviewed 12 h before and 12 h after neurologic determination of death was declared. The worst values were utilized for analysis and generation of the organ-specific Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores. SOFA scores were calculated and used to quantify the degree of organ dysfunction. The NDD non-donors for a specific organ were used as a comparison control group. The control group refers to DNDD patients whose specific organs were not transplanted. Lack of use was mostly due to discard by the transplant team as a result of unsuitability of the organ caused by deterioration or possible donor-specific pathology. RESULTS: One hundred and five organ donors were analyzed. Mean age was 35.0 (± 13.6), 78.1% male, median GCS 3, interquartile range (IQR) 3-4 and median injury severity score 32 (IQR 25-43). Of the successful donors, organ-specific severe dysfunction (SOFA 3 or 4) occurred in 96, 27.5 and 3.3% of cardiac, lung and liver donors, respectively. There was no significant difference between the levels of organ dysfunction in donors versus non-donors except lung donors, in which the median lowest partial pressure of arterial oxygen-to-fraction of inspired oxygen (P/F) ratio in the non-donor was 194 (IQR 121.8-308.3) compared to the median lowest P/F ratio in the donor which was 287 (IQR 180-383.5), p = 0.02. In the recipients, graft failure 6 months after transplantation was reported in one kidney recipient (0.74%) (peak donor creatinine = 1 mg/dL) and in five pancreas recipients (11.4%). The median peak glucose of the pancreas donors in failed recipients was 178 mg/dL (IQR 157-213), whereas in the functioning recipients, the median glucose of their donors was not different (185 mg/dL, IQR 157-216), p = 0.394. CONCLUSION: Current measures of organ failure and dysfunction do not predict the success of organ donation. Successful donor management in the face of severe organ dysfunction and failure can result in lives saved.

Weight loss, exercise, or both and physical function in obese older adults.

BACKGROUND: Obesity exacerbates the age-related decline in physical function and causes frailty in older adults; however, the appropriate treatment for obese older adults is controversial. METHODS: In this 1-year, randomized, controlled trial, we evaluated the independent and combined effects of weight loss and exercise in 107 adults who were 65 years of age or older and obese. Participants were randomly assigned to a control group, a weight-management (diet) group, an exercise group, or a weight-management-plus-exercise (diet-exercise) group. The primary outcome was the change in score on the modified Physical Performance Test. Secondary outcomes included other measures of frailty, body composition, bone mineral density, specific physical functions, and quality of life. RESULTS: A total of 93 participants (87%) completed the study. In the intention-to-treat analysis, the score on the Physical Performance Test, in which higher scores indicate better physical status, increased more in the diet-exercise group than in the diet group or the exercise group (increases from baseline of 21% vs. 12% and 15%, respectively); the scores in all three of those groups increased more than the scores in the control group (in which the score increased by 1%) (P<0.001 for the between-group differences). Moreover, the peak oxygen consumption improved more in the diet-exercise group than in the diet group or the exercise group (increases of 17% vs. 10% and 8%, respectively; P<0.001); the score on the Functional Status Questionnaire, in which higher scores indicate better physical function, increased more in the diet-exercise group than in the diet group (increase of 10% vs. 4%, P<0.001). Body weight decreased by 10% in the diet group and by 9% in the diet-exercise group, but did not decrease in the exercise group or the control group (P<0.001). Lean body mass and bone mineral density at the hip decreased less in the diet-exercise group than in the diet group (reductions of 3% and 1%, respectively, in the diet-exercise group vs. reductions of 5% and 3%, respectively, in the diet group; P<0.05 for both comparisons). Strength, balance, and gait improved consistently in the diet-exercise group (P<0.05 for all comparisons). Adverse events included a small number of exercise-associated musculoskeletal injuries. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that a combination of weight loss and exercise provides greater improvement in physical function than either intervention alone. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00146107.).

The Effect of Telemedicine in Glycemic Control in Adult Patients with Diabetes during the COVID-19 Era-A Systematic Review.

Telemedicine can be an effective tool for managing chronic diseases. The disruption in traditional diabetes care resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic led to global interest in telemedicine. With this manuscript, we evaluated the use of telemedicine for the management of diabetes during the pandemic and its impact on glycemic control, focusing on retrospective and prospective studies which included adult, non-pregnant patients with diabetes. We evaluated whether there was an improvement in HbA1c, time in range (TIR), glucose management indicator (GMI), mean glucose values, hypoglycemic episodes, time below range (TBR), or hospitalizations for hypoglycemia/DKA, depending on the available information provided. This review article highlights the benefits of telemedicine during the global state of emergency, which altered the standard of healthcare delivery. Across the studies reported in this review, telemedicine was shown to be an effective tool for the management of diabetes, illustrating its potential to be the new standard of care. Although these improvements may be confounded by potential extraneous factors present during the pandemic, telemedicine was shown to positively impact glycemic control. Overall, this article highlights the benefits of telemedicine on glycemic control during the global state of emergency, which altered the standard of care. With the rollback of COVID-19 restrictions, and a return to the office, this article emphasizes the necessity to study how telemedicine can be best utilized for diabetes management when compared to the traditional standard of care.

Blood Transfusion Indicators Following Trauma in the Non-Massively Bleeding Patient.

BACKGROUND: Establishing transfusion guidelines during trauma resuscitation is challenging. Our objective was to evaluate indications for transfusion in trauma patients who emergently received ≤2 units of red blood cells (RBC) during the first hour of resuscitation. METHODS: A single center retrospective study included non-massively bleeding trauma patients stratified into 2 groups: 1) with a clinical indication for transfusion and 2) with no indication for transfusion. Admission vital signs (VS), injury severity score (ISS), shock index, and laboratory values were compared between the two groups using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. RESULTS: Among 111 non-massively bleeding trauma patients, 40 presented no indication for transfusion. All patients presented similar ISS and VS. The 71 patients presenting with an indication for transfusion had higher bicarbonate (22.6 vs 20.8) and lower lactate levels (4.7 v 6.6) (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Lactate and bicarbonate blood levels may be potential indicators for RBC transfusion need during trauma resuscitation in non-massively bleeding patients.

Automated continuous vital signs predict use of uncrossed matched blood and massive transfusion following trauma.

BACKGROUND: Recognizing the use of uncross-matched packed red blood cells (UnXRBCs) or predicting the need for massive transfusion (MT) in injured patients with hemorrhagic shock can be challenging.A validated predictive model could accelerate decision making regarding transfusion. METHODS: Three transfusion outcomes were evaluated in adult trauma patients admitted to a Level I trauma center during a 4-year period (2009-2012): use of UnXRBC, use of greater than 4 U of packed red blood cells within 4 hours (MT1), and use of equal to or greater than 10 U of packed red blood cells within 24 hours (MT2). Vital sign (VS) features including heart rate, systolic blood pressure, and shock index (heart rate / systolic blood pressure) were calculated for 5, 10, and 15 minutes after admission. Five models were then constructed. Model 1 used preadmission VS, Model 2 used admission VS, and Models 3, 4, and 5 used continuous VS features after admission over 5, 10, and 15 minutes, respectively, to predict the use of UnXRBC, MT1, and MT2. Models were evaluated for their predictive performance via area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value. RESULTS: Ten thousand six hundred thirty-six patients with more than 5 million continuous VS data points during the first 15 minutes after admission were analyzed. Model using preadmission and admission VS had similar ability to predict UnXRBC, MT1, or MT2. Compared with these two models, predictive ability was significantly improved as duration of VS monitoring increased. Continuous VS for 5 minutes had ROCs of 0.83 (confidence interval [CI], 0.83-0.84), 0.85 (CI, 0.84-0.86), and 0.86 (CI, 0.85-0.88) to predict UnXRBC, MT1, and MT2, respectively. Similarly, continuous VS for 10 minutes had a ROCs of 0.86 (CI, 0.85--0.86), 0.87 (CI, 0.86-0.88), and 0.88 (CI, 0.87-0.90) to predict UnXRBC, MT1, and MT2, respectively. Continuous VS for 15 minutes achieved the highest ROCs of 0.87 (CI, 0.87-0.88), 0.89 (CI, 0.88-0.90), and 0.91 (CI, 0.91-0.92) to predict UnXRBC, MT1, and MT2, respectively. CONCLUSION: Models using continuous VS collected after admission improve prediction for the use of UnXRBC or MT in patients with hemorrhagic shock. Decision models derived from automated continuous VS in comparison with single prehospital and admission VS identify the use of emergency blood use and can direct earlier blood product administration, potentially saving lives. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic study, level III.

Exercise training in obese older adults prevents increase in bone turnover and attenuates decrease in hip bone mineral density induced by weight loss despite decline in bone-active hormones.

Weight loss therapy to improve health in obese older adults is controversial because it causes further bone loss. Therefore, it is recommended that weight loss therapy should include an intervention such as exercise training (ET) to minimize bone loss. The purpose of this study was to determine the independent and combined effects of weight loss and ET on bone metabolism in relation to bone mineral density (BMD) in obese older adults. One-hundred-seven older (age >65 years) obese (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 30 kg/m(2) ) adults were randomly assigned to a control group, diet group, exercise group, and diet-exercise group for 1 year. Body weight decreased in the diet (-9.6%) and diet-exercise (-9.4%) groups, not in the exercise (-1%) and control (-0.2%) groups (between-group p < 0.001). However, despite comparable weight loss, bone loss at the total hip was relatively less in the diet-exercise group (-1.1%) than in the diet group (-2.6%), whereas BMD increased in the exercise group (1.5%) (between-group p < 0.001). Serum C-terminal telopeptide (CTX) and osteocalcin concentrations increased in the diet group (31% and 24%, respectively), whereas they decreased in the exercise group (-13% and -15%, respectively) (between-group p < 0.001). In contrast, similar to the control group, serum CTX and osteocalcin concentrations did not change in the diet-exercise group. Serum procollagen propeptide concentrations decreased in the exercise group (-15%) compared with the diet group (9%) (p = 0.04). Serum leptin and estradiol concentrations decreased in the diet (-25% and -15%, respectively) and diet-exercise (-38% and -13%, respectively) groups, not in the exercise and control groups (between-group p = 0.001). Multivariate analyses revealed that changes in lean body mass (ß = 0.33), serum osteocalcin (ß = -0.24), and one-repetition maximum (1-RM) strength (ß = 0.23) were independent predictors of changes in hip BMD (all p < 0.05). In conclusion, the addition of ET to weight loss therapy among obese older adults prevents weight loss-induced increase in bone turnover and attenuates weight loss-induced reduction in hip BMD despite weight loss-induced decrease in bone-active hormones.