• Greater than 300 single-gene defects have now been associated with specific immunodeficiencies, with new disorders continually being recognized. • Chronic granulomatous disease is the most frequently diagnosed phagocytic cell…
• Like all organisms, humans have evolved in concert with microbes that serve numerous physiologic and immune functions during normal development and homeostasis. • Critical illness in both children and…
Pearls • Cortisol is a key mediator of the stress response—influencing immunity, metabolism, and modulating the transcription of perhaps 25% of the entire genome. • Relative adrenal insufficiency and critical…
• Pediatric multiple-organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) represents the leading final pathway to death in children who suffer critical illness triggered by acute insults such as sepsis (leading cause of MODS),…
Pearls • Liver transplantation (LT) has become the standard of care for children with end-stage or metabolic liver disease, acute liver failure, and unresectable liver tumors, with most common indication…
Pearls • Workload and efficiency define the demands that disease imposes on the respiratory muscles and therefore are the relevant variables in the analysis of the mechanical function of the…
Pearls • The alimentary tract is responsible for mechanical and enzymatic degradation of nutrients, absorption of biochemical substrates, hormone regulation of substrate flow, separation of the external from internal environments,…
• So much reliance is placed on electronic monitoring of patients that physicians are often tempted to perform only a cursory examination or go days without laying hands on the…
• Emergence of resistant organisms is increasing in critically ill patients, requiring clinicians to use alternative drug and dosing strategies and to become familiar with institutional-specific resistance profiles. • Infectious…
