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Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most common causes of death and disability worldwide. Stress ulcers are common in critically ill patients and can lead to life-threatening gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB). This study investigates the impact of predisposing factors on GIB and outcomes of TBI patients. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included TBI patients admitted between February 2019 and November 2021. Patients' demographic information and clinical characteristics were collected and divided into Post-TBI GIB and No-GIB groups. During clinical follow-up, the Glasgow Outcome Score (GOS) and mortality were assessed. The correlation between predisposing factors and GIB was investigated. Results: Out of 164 eligible patients, 66.5% were males, and the mean age was 31.38 ± 13.44 years. There was a higher rate of severe TBIs (p<0.001), intra-axial lesions (P=0.014), hypotension at admission (p<0.001), and concurrent coagulopathies (p<0.001) in the Post-TBI GIB group compared to the No-GIB group. In contrast, the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) level upon admission and discharge (p<0.001) and serum hemoglobin level at admission (p<0.001) were lower in the Post-TBI GIB group than in the other group. Moreover, primary GCS (P=0.017) and hypotension at admission (P=0.009), spinal injury (P=0.028), and intra-axial brain injury (P=0.018) were independently associated with GIB in TBI patients. Conclusion: Primary GCS and hypotension at admission, spinal injury, and intra-axial brain injury are independent predictors for GIB in TBI patients. The presence of GIB in TBI patients is associated with worse neurological outcomes as assessed by GOS at approximately 18 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of executive functioning and cognitive performance on individual experimentally induced pain perception during distractor tasks in an asymptomatic pain-free population. A total of 59 healthy pain-free subjects (59.3% women, mean age: 46.5 ± 24.7 years) completed a battery test that assessed execution functions (cognitive flexibility, working memory, mental inhibition), attention level, and psychological aspects (anxiety/depressive levels—HADS, pain catastrophizing—PCS, pain anxiety symptoms—PASS 20, sleep quality—PSQI) before conducting two n-back distraction tasks. Pain was experimentally induced with a thermal stimulus that was able to induce moderate pain (70/100 points) and applied to the non-dominant forearm. The thermal stimulus was applied before and during both (one-back and two-back) distraction tasks. The analyses consisted of separated repeated-measures ANOVA that considered the functioning on each test (cognitive flexibility, working memory, mental inhibition, selective attention) and controlled for sociodemographic and psychological aspects by comparing the pain intensity at the baseline and during the one-back and two-back distractor tasks. All ANOVAs found a significant effect of the distraction task, which indicates that the perceived pain intensity scores were lower during the one-back and two-back tasks (p < 0.001) as compared with the baseline. No interaction effect between the distractor tasks and working memory (p = 0.546), mental inhibition (p = 0.16), cognitive flexibility (p = 0.069), or selective attention (p = 0.105) was identified. The current study found that a distraction task decreased the perceived intensity of experimentally induced pain in asymptomatic pain-free individuals and that this effect was not related to executive function or attention levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objectives: In coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), elevated serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of systemic inflammation, are commonly observed. We aimed to investigate the associations between CRP test results and clinical characteristics in patients with COVID-19. Method: In this cross-sectional study, data from 399 patients with COVID-19 were collected through a census method. The patients were divided into a CRP-positive group (n=335) and a CRP-negative group (n=64). Demographical data, laboratory findings, clinical characteristics, and history of some underlying diseases were compared between the two groups. All analyses were carried out in SPSS (version 21). Results: The frequency of hypertension was 40.1% among the study population, 42.4 % among CRP-positive patients, and 28.1% among CRP-negative patients. Diabetes and heart disease were the most common comorbidities among the patients. Dyspnea (60.4%), fever (52.7%), fatigue (45.4%), and dry cough (40.1%) were the most commonly observed symptoms. The mean duration of hospitalization was 8.14±6.18 days, and the mean duration of intensive care unit stay was 9.09±9.41 days. Moreover, CRP positivity was significantly associated with hypertension, immunosuppressive therapy, and higher duration of hospitalization (p<0.05). Conclusion: Pre-existing hypertension, diabetes, and heart disease with the coincidence of some clinical symptoms are associated with higher levels of CRP in COVID-19 patients, which results in longer hospitalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]