Plasma procalcitonin may be an early predictor of liver injury in acetaminophen poisoning: A prospective cohort study.

Background And Aims: Acetaminophen is a common cause of poisoning and liver injury worldwide; however, patient stratification is suboptimal. We aimed to assess the contribution of admission plasma procalcitonin concentration (PCT) to better identify acetaminophen-poisoned patients likely to develop liver injury.

Methods: We conducted a prospective observational cohort study including all acetaminophen-poisoned patients requiring N-acetylcysteine admitted in a toxicological intensive care unit between 2012 and 2017.

Placental growth factor level in plasma predicts COVID-19 severity and in-hospital mortality.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease associated with vascular inflammation and endothelial injury.

Objectives: To correlate circulating angiogenic markers vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A), placental growth factor (PlGF), and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2) to in-hospital mortality in COVID-19 adult patients.

Methods: Consecutive ambulatory and hospitalized patients with COVID-19 infection were enrolled.

Circulating Von Willebrand factor and high molecular weight multimers as markers of endothelial injury predict COVID-19 in-hospital mortality.

Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a respiratory disease associated with endotheliitis and microthrombosis.

Objectives: To correlate endothelial dysfunction to in-hospital mortality in a bi-centric cohort of COVID-19 adult patients.

Methods: Consecutive ambulatory and hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled.

Predictive Factor for COVID-19 Worsening: Insights for High-Sensitivity Troponin and D-Dimer and Correlation With Right Ventricular Afterload.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with cardiovascular complications and coagulation disorders. To explore clinical and biological parameters of COVID-19 patients with hospitalization criteria that could predict referral to intensive care unit (ICU). Analyzing the clinical and biological profiles of COVID-19 patients at admission.

Anti-parietal cell autoimmunity is associated with an accelerated decline of lung function in IPF patients.

Background: Autoantibodies against lung epithelial antigens are often detected in patients with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). Anti-Parietal Cell Antibodies (APCA) target the H+/K+ATPase (proton pump). APCA prevalence and lung H+/K+ATPase expression was never studied in IPF patients.

Improving cannulation time for extracorporeal life support in refractory cardiac arrest of presumed cardiac cause - Comparison of two percutaneous cannulation techniques in the catheterization laboratory in a center without on-site cardiovascular surgery.

Background: Cardiac arrest (CA) without return of spontaneous circulation can be treated with veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (vaECMO) implemented surgically or percutaneously. We performed a study assessing time for vaECMO percutaneous cannulation in the catheterization laboratory.

Methods: Single-centre retrospective study in a University hospital without on-site cardiovascular surgery, including patients aged >18 receiving vaECMO for out- or in-hospital refractory CA of presumed cardiac cause between 2010 and 2016, cannulated by interventional cardiologists.

Dewetting of low-viscosity films at solid/liquid interfaces.

We report new experimental results on the dewetting of a mercury film (A) intercalated between a glass slab and an external nonmiscible liquid phase (B) under conditions of a large equilibrium contact angle. The viscosity of the external phase, ηB, was varied over 7 orders of magnitude. We observe a transition between two regimes of dewetting at a threshold viscosity of η(B)* ≈ (ρ(A)e|S̃|)(1/2), where ρ(A) is the mercury density, e is the film thickness, and |S̃| is the effective spreading coefficient.

Competitive adsorption of neutral comb polymers and sodium dodecyl sulfate at the air/water interface.

The interfacial behavior of aqueous solutions of four different neutral polymers in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) has been investigated by surface tension measurements and ellipsometry. The polymers comprised linear poly(ethylene oxide) with low and high molecular masses (10(3) and 10(6) Dalton (Da), respectively), and two high molecular mass methacrylate-based comb polymers containing poly(ethylene oxide) side chains. The adsorption isotherms of SDS, determined by Gibbs analysis of surface tension data, are nearly the same in the presence of the high molecular mass linear polymer and the comb polymers.

Competitive adsorption of sodium dodecyl sulfate and polyethylene oxide at the air/water interface.

The interfacial and bulk behavior of the aqueous solutions of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and polyethylene oxide (PEO) was investigated by surface tension measurements in the presence of excess NaBr. The Gibbs analysis demonstrated that the surfactant nearly completely displaces the polymer from the surface even below the cac. Furthermore, the adsorbed amount of SDS revealed universal features in the presence of PEO above M(PEO)=8x10(3), i.