Rabbit Anti-Human PIM2 monoclonal antibody, clone 6I77M62

Purpose: To assess the value of Presepsin and Pentraxin3 measurement in critically ill children. Materials and methods: Prospective observational study conducted on 80 children admitted into Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) and 80 healthy controls. Patients were evaluated for presence of sepsis. Pediatric Risk of Mortality (PRISM) and Pediatric Index of Mortality (PIM2) were calculated. Serum Presepsin and Pentraxin3 were measured within 24 h of admission. Results: Presepsin and Pentraxin3 were significantly higher among the whole patient cohort and among septic patients compared with controls (p < 0.001) but no difference was found between septic and non-septic patients. Pentraxin3, but not Presepsin, was significantly higher among non-survivors compared with survivors (p = 0.048) and was correlated with PIM2. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis revealed that Pentraxin3 had an AUC of 0.631 for prediction of mortality which was comparable to that of PRISM and PIM2. Presepsin was associated with a higher rate of mechanical ventilation and longer PICU stay. Conclusions: Presepsin and Pentraxin3 are acute phase proteins potentially useful for monitoring critically ill children and diagnosing sepsis. Pentraxin3 is associated with mortality but modestly discriminates survivors from non-survivors. Presepsin is associated with certain indicators of disease severity. Larger studies are certainly required. (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier Inc.

Status asthmaticus is a frequent cause of admission to a pediatric intensive care unit (ICU). Children requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation for respiratory failure during these exacerbations comprise the most severely ill population of this cohort. The purpose of this study was to use a large multicenter database to determine the incidence of respiratory failure in children with acute asthma and to characterize clinical predictors associated with its occurrence. We conducted a retrospective data analysis of pediatric asthmatic patients included in the Virtual PICU Systems (VPS) database between January 2007 and December 2008. Patients requiring mechanical ventilation with cuffed or uncuffed nasotracheal or orotracheal tubes were characterized as having respiratory failure. Three thousand three hundred eighteen children were admitted with status asthmaticus during this study period, of which 201 (6.1%) had respiratory failure. There were no differences in age, male gender, or BMI between those with and those without respiratory failure. However, African-American children were significantly more likely to be intubated for status asthmaticus (OR 1.4; 95% CI 1.0-1.9; P=0.03) compared with the children of other races/ethnicities. Children with respiratory failure had significantly longer ICU lengths of stay, higher pediatric index of mortality (PIM2) scores, and higher pediatric risk of mortality (PRISM III) scores than children without respiratory failure. While respiratory failure occurs infrequently in children with status asthmaticus, it is associated with substantial hospitalization burden. In this large multicenter cohort, respiratory failure was not associated with age, gender, or obesity. However, African-American children were significantly more likely to be intubated for status asthmaticus.