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Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text., OBJECTIVES: To compare clinical characteristics and outcomes of children admitted to the PICU for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2–related illness with or without multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. The secondary objective was to identify explanatory factors associated with outcome of critical illness defined by a composite index of in-hospital mortality and organ system support requirement. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Thirty-eight PICUs within the Viral Infection and Respiratory Illness Universal Study registry from March 2020 to January 2021. PATIENTS: Children less than 18 years with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2–related illness with or without multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Of 394 patients, 171 (43.4%) had multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Children with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children were more likely younger (2–12 yr vs adolescents; p < 0.01), Black (35.6% vs 21.9%; p < 0.01), present with fever/abdominal pain than cough/dyspnea (p < 0.01), and less likely to have comorbidities (33.3% vs 61.9%; p < 0.01) compared with those without multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children. Inflammatory marker levels, use of inotropes/vasopressors, corticosteroids, and anticoagulants were higher in multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children patients (p < 0.01). Overall mortality was 3.8% (15/394), with no difference in the two groups. Diagnosis of multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children was associated with longer duration of hospitalization as compared to nonmultisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (7.5 d[interquartile range, 5–11] vs 5.3 d [interquartile range, 3–11 d]; p < 0.01). Critical illness occurred in 164 patients (41.6%) and was more common in patients with multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children compared with those without (55.6% vs 30.9%; p < 0.01). Multivariable analysis failed to show an association between critical illness and age, race, sex, greater than or equal to three signs and symptoms, or greater than or equal to two comorbidities among the multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children cohort. Among nonmultisystem inflammatory syndrome in children patients, the presence of greater than or equal to two comorbidities was associated with greater odds of critical illness (odds ratio 2.95 [95% CI, 1.61–5.40]; p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: This study delineates significant clinically relevant differences in presentation, explanatory factors, and outcomes among children admitted to PICU with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2–related illness stratified by multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children.

Objectives: Nosocomial infection/sepsis occurs in up to 40% of children requiring long-term intensive care. Zinc, selenium, glutamine, metoclopramide (a prolactin secretalogue), and/or whey protein supplementation have been effective in reducing infection and sepsis in other populations. We evaluated whether daily nutriceutical supplementation with zinc, selenium, glutamine, and metoclopramide, compared to whey protein, would reduce the occurrence of nosocomial infection/sepsis in this at-risk population. Design: Randomized, double-blinded, comparative effectiveness trial. Setting: Eight pediatric intensive care units in the National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network. Patients: Two hundred ninety-three long-term intensive care patients (age 1–17 yrs) expected to require >72 hrs of invasive care. Interventions: Patients were stratified according to immunocompromised status and center and then were randomly assigned to receive daily enteral zinc, selenium, glutamine, and intravenous metoclopramide (n 149), or daily enteral whey protein (n 144) and intravenous saline for up to 28 days of intensive care unit stay. The primary end point was time to development of nosocomial sepsis/infection. The analysis was intention to treat. Measurements and Main Results: There were no differences by assigned treatment in the overall population with respect to time until the first episode of nosocomial infection/sepsis (median whey protein 13.2 days vs. zinc, selenium, glutamine, and intravenous metoclopramide 12.1 days; p .29 by log-rank test) or the rate of nosocomial infection/sepsis (4.83/100 days whey protein vs. 4.99/100 days zinc, selenium, glutamine, and intravenous metoclopramide; p .81). Only 9% of the 293 subjects were immunocompromised and there was a reduction in rate of nosocomial infection/sepsis with zinc, selenium, glutamine, and intravenous metoclopramide in this immunocompromised group (6.09/ 100 days whey protein vs. 1.57/100 days zinc, selenium, glutamine, and intravenous metoclopramide; p .011). Conclusion: Compared with whey protein supplementation, zinc, selenium, glutamine, and intravenous metoclopramide conferred no advantage in the immune-competent population. Further evaluation of zinc, selenium, glutamine, and intravenous metoclopramide supplementation is warranted in the immunocompromised long-term pediatric intensive care unit patient. (Pediatr Crit Care Med 2012; 13:165–173)

To provide an updated overview of critical pertussis to the pediatric critical care community and describe a study of critical pertussis recently undertaken.The six sites, seven hospitals of the Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network, and 17 outside sites at academic medical centers with pediatric intensive care units.Despite high coverage for childhood vaccination, pertussis causes substantial morbidity and mortality in US children, especially among infants. In pediatric intensive care units, Bordetella pertussis is a community-acquired pathogen associated with critical illness and death. The incidence of medical and developmental sequelae in critical pertussis survivors remains unknown, and the appropriate strategies for treatment and support remain unclear. The Collaborative Pediatric Critical Care Research Network Critical Pertussis Study has begun to evaluate critical pertussis in a prospective cohort.Research is urgently needed to provide an evidence base that might optimize management for critical pertussis, a serious, disabling, and too often fatal illness for U.S. children and those in the developing world.

The Institute of Medicine calls for the use of clinical guidelines and practice parameters to promote "best practices" and to improve patient outcomes.2007 update of the 2002 American College of Critical Care Medicine Clinical Guidelines for Hemodynamic Support of Neonates and Children with Septic Shock.Society of Critical Care Medicine members with special interest in neonatal and pediatric septic shock were identified from general solicitation at the Society of Critical Care Medicine Educational and Scientific Symposia (2001-2006).The Pubmed/MEDLINE literature database (1966-2006) was searched using the keywords and phrases: sepsis, septicemia, septic shock, endotoxemia, persistent pulmonary hypertension, nitric oxide, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), and American College of Critical Care Medicine guidelines. Best practice centers that reported best outcomes were identified and their practices examined as models of care. Using a modified Delphi method, 30 experts graded new literature. Over 30 additional experts then reviewed the updated recommendations. The document was subsequently modified until there was greater than 90% expert consensus.The 2002 guidelines were widely disseminated, translated into Spanish and Portuguese, and incorporated into Society of Critical Care Medicine and AHA sanctioned recommendations. Centers that implemented the 2002 guidelines reported best practice outcomes (hospital mortality 1%-3% in previously healthy, and 7%-10% in chronically ill children). Early use of 2002 guidelines was associated with improved outcome in the community hospital emergency department (number needed to treat = 3.3) and tertiary pediatric intensive care setting (number needed to treat = 3.6); every hour that went by without guideline adherence was associated with a 1.4-fold increased mortality risk. The updated 2007 guidelines continue to recognize an increased likelihood that children with septic shock, compared with adults, require 1) proportionally larger quantities of fluid, 2) inotrope and vasodilator therapies, 3) hydrocortisone for absolute adrenal insufficiency, and 4) ECMO for refractory shock. The major new recommendation in the 2007 update is earlier use of inotrope support through peripheral access until central access is attained.The 2007 update continues to emphasize early use of age-specific therapies to attain time-sensitive goals, specifically recommending 1) first hour fluid resuscitation and inotrope therapy directed to goals of threshold heart rates, normal blood pressure, and capillary refillor=2 secs, and 2) subsequent intensive care unit hemodynamic support directed to goals of central venous oxygen saturation70% and cardiac index 3.3-6.0 L/min/m.

BACKGROUND: The 2009 pandemic influenza A (H1N1) (pH1N1) virus continues to circulate worldwide. Determining the roles of chronic conditions and bacterial coinfection in mortality is difficult because of the limited data for children with pH1N1-related critical illness. METHODS: We identified children ( RESULTS: Of 838 children with pH1N1 admitted to a PICU, the median age was 6 years, 58% were male, 70% had ≥1 chronic health condition, and 88.2% received oseltamivir (5.8% started before PICU admission). Most patients had respiratory failure with 564 (67.3%) receiving mechanical ventilation; 162 (19.3%) received vasopressors, and 75 (8.9%) died. Overall, 71 (8.5%) of the patients had a presumed diagnosis of early (within 72 hours after PICU admission) Staphylococcus aureus coinfection of the lung with 48% methicillin-resistant S aureus (MRSA). In multivariable analyses, preexisting neurologic conditions or immunosuppression, encephalitis (1.7% of cases), myocarditis (1.4% of cases), early presumed MRSA lung coinfection, and female gender were mortality risk factors. Among 251 previously healthy children, only early presumed MRSA coinfection of the lung (relative risk: 8 [95% confidence interval: 3.1–20.6]; P < .0001) remained a mortality risk factor. CONCLUSIONS: Children with preexisting neurologic conditions and immune compromise were at increased risk of pH1N1-associated death after PICU admission. Secondary complications of pH1N1, including myocarditis, encephalitis, and clinical diagnosis of early presumed MRSA coinfection of the lung, were mortality risk factors.

Despite implementation of CDC recommendations and bundled interventions for preventing catheter-associated blood stream infection, ventilator-associated pneumonia, or urinary catheter-associated infections, nosocomial infections and sepsis remain a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in critically ill children. Recent studies suggest that acquired critical illness stress-induced immune suppression (CRISIS) plays a role in the development of nosocomial infection and sepsis. This condition can be related to inadequate zinc, selenium, and glutamine levels, as well as hypoprolactinemia, leading to stress-induced lymphopenia, a predominant T(H)2 monocyte/macrophage state, and subsequent immune suppression. Prolonged immune dysfunction increases the likelihood of nosocomial infections associated with invasive devices. Although strategies to prevent common complications of critical illness are routinely employed (eg, prophylaxis for gastrointestinal bleeding, thrombophlebitis), no prophylactic strategy is used to prevent stress-induced immune suppression. This is the authors' rationale for the pediatric CRISIS prevention trial (NCT00395161), designed as a randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical investigation to determine if daily enteral supplementation with zinc, selenium, and glutamine as well as parenteral metoclopramide (a dopamine 2 receptor antagonist that reverses hypoprolactinemia) prolongs the time until onset of nosocomial infection or sepsis in critically ill children compared to enteral supplementation with whey protein. If effective, this combined nutritional and pharmacologic approach may lessen the excess morbidity and mortality as well as resource utilization associated with nosocomial infections and sepsis in this population. The authors present the design and analytic plan for the CRISIS prevention trial.

The case of a 13–year-old girl with Goodpasture syndrome is reported. The presentation at this age with only pulmonary hemorrhage is unusual among Goodpasture syndrome patients. The case illustrates well the diagnostic difficulties in Goodpasture syndrome. The choices of treatment modalities available for this disease and the results and risks of such treatment options are reviewed. A discussion and classification of diffuse pulmonary hemorrhage is presented. The case emphasizes that Goodpasture syndrome should be considered in the differential diagnosis of diffuse pulmonary hemorrhage in spite of a lack of renal abnormalities and that serum anti-glomerular basement membrane antibody testing can be of great help in confirming the diagnosis.

Delayed auditory feedback, masking and movement tracking techniques have been used to investigate the role of auditory feedback in speech production. The results of these experiments are not conclusive and questions still remain as to whether auditory feedback plays a role, when it plays a role and how it plays a role in speech production. In the present study it was hypothesized that if acoustic information concerning the articulatory positions relevant to vowel production is used in speech production, then altering vowel information would disrupt the movements to subsequent sounds in a C1V1C2V2 utterance. High‐speed cineradiography (150 fps) was used to monitor movements of the jaw, lips, and tongue. During their production of C1V1C2V2 utterances subjects received (1) normal auditory feedback; (2) feedback in which V1 was altered to another vowel; (3) high‐level masking noise. Displacements, velocities, and accelerations were calculated for articulatory movements to V1, C2, and V2 in each condition. The...