Outcomes of Clostridioides difficile infection in acute heart failure hospitalizations: insights from the National Inpatient Database.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) patients are at a greater risk for nosocomial infections due to their higher prevalence of comorbidities, readmission rates, and prolonged hospital stays. Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) remains a common nosocomial infection in hospitalized patients. AIM: To identify patients with a diagnosis of acute HF and stratified based on the presence of CDI, using the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from 2016 to 2020. METHODS: Adjusted odds ratios (aOR) of in-hospital outcomes were calculated, and a propensity-matched analysis was performed. FINDINGS: Of 536,595 acute HF hospitalizations in this timeframe, 3030 were also diagnosed with CDI (0.56%). Patients with acute HF and CDI had significantly higher in-hospital mortality (adjusted odds ratio: (aOR): 1.91), cardiac arrest (aOR: 1.66), and use of mechanical circulatory support (MCS) (aOR 2.42). In propensity-matched analysis, in-hospital mortality (13.71 vs 8.44%; P=0.005), septic shock (7.54 vs 3.33%; P=0.002), and use of MCS (7.19 vs 3.68%; P=0.009) were significantly higher in HF patients with CDI than without. Coexisting neurological disease (aOR: 3.74) and liver disease (aOR: 2.97) showed the strongest association as independent predictors of mortality. HF patients with CDI had longer hospital stays (14.45 ± 19.40 vs 5.44 ± 7.10 days; P<0.0001) and higher inflation-adjusted total hospital costs ($186,225 ± 376,485 vs $60,740 ± 153,992; P<0.001) compared to those without CDI. CONCLUSION: The occurrence of concomitant CDI in patients admitted with acute HF exacerbation is associated with worse in-hospital outcomes and deaths as well as longer hospitalizations and greater financial cost.

Familiarity and pronounceability of nouns and names.

Ratings of familiarity and pronounceability were obtained from a random sample of 199 surnames (selected from over 80,000 entries in the Purdue University phone book) and 199 nouns (from the Kucera-Francis, 1967, word database). The distributions of ratings for nouns versus names are substantially different: Nouns were rated as more familiar and easier to pronounce than surnames. Frequency and familiarity were more closely related in the proper name pool than the word pool, although both correlations were modest. Ratings of familiarity and pronounceability were highly related for both groups. A production experiment showed that rated pronounceability was highly related to the time taken to produce a name. These data confirm the common belief that there are differences in the statistical and distributional properties of words as compared to proper names. The value of using frequency and the ratings of familiarity and pronounceability for predicting variations in actual pronunciations of words and names are discussed.

Prevention of hypertension during trans-sphenoidal surgery--the effect of bilateral maxillary nerve block with local anaesthetics.

BACKGROUND: Severe cardiovascular responses are known to occur during trans-sphenoidal excision of the pituitary gland despite adequate depth of anaesthesia. This study was undertaken to evaluate the effects of bilateral maxillary nerve block with local anaesthetics on the cardiovascular responses to various stimuli during this procedure. METHODS: In a group of 32 patients, 5-10 ml of a mixture of bupivacaine 0.5% and lignocaine 2% (1:1) was injected in the pterygopalatine fossa after induction of general anaesthesia. Seven control group patients did not receive any nerve block. In all the patients, general anaesthesia was induced with thiopentone and maintained with nitrous oxide-oxygen, pentazocine, boluses of thiopentone and halothane. Pancuronium was used for neuromuscular blockade. RESULTS: In both the groups, maximum hypertension occurred on opening the blades of the bivalve nasal speculum. In the study group, hypertensive response was significantly less following nasal infiltration with adrenaline containing solution (10.26% increase vs. 23.08% in the control group, P < 0.05), nasal dissection (2.82% vs. 9.45%, P < 0.01) and on application of the nasal speculum (14.93% vs. 35.16%, P < 0.01). The effect on heart rate response was not significant. CONCLUSION: The described technique is a useful adjunct to general anaesthesia for suppressing the haemodynamic responses during trans-sphenoidal surgery.

Advantages of bupivacaine over lignocaine in maxillary nerve and sphenopalatine ganglion block.

Using Bupivacaine as local anaesthetic to block bilateral maxillary nerve and sphenopalatine ganglion for transsphenoidal excision for pituitary tumours, a prospective study in a series of 10 patients was carried out. This paper presents advantages of Bupivacaine over lignocaine block.

Effect of temporary vascular occulsion during surgery of cerebral aneurysms.

Temporary vascular occulsion during surgery for cerebral aneurysms has been slow to gain acceptance as an elective procedure. This study presents the outcome in 115 cases in whom temporary vascular occulsion was needed during aneurysmal surgery. Elective temporary clipping was used in 55 cases and emergency temporary vascular occulsion was performed in 60 cases. Judicious use of temporary clips did not increase the overall morbidity or mortality. Rescue temporary clipping as an emergency measure inthe face of intraoperative rupture has a deleterious effect as against elective use on the immediate as well as long term outcome of the patient. Use of elective temporary clipping in conjunction with adequate cerebral protective measures in advocated indifficult cases to facilitate definitive clipping of the aneurysm in order to improve the overall outcome.