In order to explain the contribution of increase of endogenous catecholamines and exogenous administration of catecholamines to cardiac dysfunction in patients suffering from septic shock,we discussed the effects of application of catecholamines and heart,cardiac toxicity induced by catecholamines,septic shock sympathetic-adrenergic activation state and exogenous administration of catecholamines on the myocardium in sepsis.

Objective:To understand the early clinical characteristics and drug sensitivity results of children died of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) so as to guide the early clinical identification and treatment.Methods:The early clinical data and drug sensitivity result of children died of IPD in PICU of the Children′s Hospital, Zhengzhou University and Beijing Children′s Hospital, Capital Medical University from May 2015 to May 2019 were retrospectively analyzed.Results:A total of 18 children meeting the criteria were enrolled, including 6 males and 12 females.The median age was 1 year and 9 months (ranged from 2 months and 20 days to 6 years and 7 months), there were 2 cases(11.1%) > 5 years old, and 16 cases(88.9%)≤ 5 years old.There were 17(94.4%) children related to community acquired infection.Among 18 cases, the first symptom was intracranial infection in 10 cases (55.6%), bloodstream infection in 4 cases (22.2%), and pulmonary infection in 3 cases (16.7%). There were 5 cases complicated with virus infection at the same time.Auxiliary examination: all of the 18 cases had anemia and hypoalbuminemia, and 15 cases(93.8%) had HCO 3- reduction.White blood cells(WBC), platelets(PLT) and natural killer (NK) cell decreased in 7 cases (7/18 cases), 12 cases (12/18 cases) and 6 cases (5/16 cases), respectively, but C-reactive protein(CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), lactic acid concentration(LAC), D-dimer (D-Di), international normalized ratio (INR) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) were increased in 12 cases (12/18 cases), 14 cases (14/18 cases), 7 cases (7/17 cases), 14 cases (14/17 cases) and 9 cases (9/9 cases), respectively.Six children(33.3%) did not receive the treatment of sensitive antibiotics before admission.According to the drug sensitivity results: all the 18 strains had multiple-drug resistance(MDR), and the resistance rates of Penicillin, Erythromycin, Tetracycline, Clindamycin and Sulfamethoxazole were 22.2%, 100.0%, 100.0%, 100.0% and 94.4%, respectively, all the strains were sensitive to Vancomycin, Linezolid and Levofloxacin. Conclusions:Most of the children died of IPD in PICU are of community-acquired infection and less than 5 years old.Anemia and hypoalbuminemia are common in the dead children.The decreased in HCO 3- and increased PCT, LAC and D-Di in the early stage might be related to poor prognosis of patients.Most of the children died of IPD are infected with MDR strains.

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical characteristics and pathogenic gene in a Chinese pedigree affected with mitochondrial DNA depletion syndrome 8A (MTDPS8A). METHODS: Whole exome sequencing was carried out for the patient. Sanger sequencing was used to verify the results, and PolyPhen-2 and PROVEAN software were used to predict the impact of amino acid changes on the function of the protein. RESULTS: The patient, a two-month-old female, was admitted to the hospital for poor milk intake and poor mental response. Her clinical manifestations included feeding difficulty, shortness of breath and low muscle tone. Auxiliary laboratory test indicated that the infant was underdeveloped with abnormal liver, kidney, and heart functions accompanied by hyperlacticacidemia. She responded poorly to treatment and eventually died. Sequencing revealed that the child has carried compound heterozygous missense variants of the RRM2B gene, namely c.16delA (p.R6Gfs*22) and c.175G>C (p.A59P), which were respectively inherited from her father and mother, and both were newly discovered pathologic variants. CONCLUSION The c.16delA and c.175G>C compound heterozygous variants of the RRM2B gene probably underlay the pathogenesis of MTDPS8A. Above finding has strengthened the understanding of the clinical feature and genetic etiology of this disease and expanded the mutation spectrum of the RRM2B gene.
Cell Cycle Proteins ; Child ; China ; DNA, Mitochondrial/genetics* ; Female ; Genetic Testing ; Humans ; Infant ; Mutation ; Pedigree ; Ribonucleotide Reductases ; Whole Exome Sequencing

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of children with septic shock caused by invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPDs) in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU).Methods:The clinical data of children diagnosed as septic shock caused by IPDs and hospitalized in the intensive care unit (ICU) of Beijing Children′s Hospital, Capital Medical University and the PICU of Henan Children′s Hospital from January 2013 to August 2019 were retrospectively collected, and the clinical characteristics and prognosis of these patients were analyzed.Results:Twenty-one children were included, with a median age of 1.2 (0.75, 3.90) years old.The pediatric index of mortality 2 (PIM-2) at admitting was (23.3±29.6)%, and 6 cases had underlying diseases.Main sites of infection included blood flow (20 cases) and suppurative meningitis (15 cases). The drug sensitivity test was performed on 18 children, among who 9 cases were sensitive to Penicillin, 10 cases to Cefepime, 11 cases to Cefotaxime and 10 cases to Meropenem.All 18 patients were sensitive to Vancomycin and Linezolid.Seven cases and 13 cases were treated with sensitive antibiotics at the disease onset and before septic shock, respectively.In 21 cases whose lactic acid level was (6.1±4.6) mmol/L, the shock redress time of 10 cases was (10.9±10.1)h, and 13 cases (61.9%) died (14.6±12.2) hours after septic shock, among who 10 died of transforamed magna herniation.The PIM-2 score at admitting into PICU and the rate of intracranial hypertension crisis in the death group were significantly higher than those in the survival group [(37.1±30.3)% vs.(0.9±1.3)%, 69.9% (9/13 cases) vs.25.0% (2/8 cases)](all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in age and the utilization rate of effective antibiotics before septic shock between the two groups (all P<0.05). Four of the surviving 8 children had severe cerebral functional disability. Conclusions:Septic shock caused by IPD is more common in children under 5 years old, and the most common sites are blood flow and intracranial infection.It has high resistance rate against Cephalosporins and Carbopenem.Patients with purulent meningitis are easy to develop intracranial hypertension crisis, which has an extremely high mortality and morbidity, so it needs to be identified and treated early.

Objective:To investigate respiratory virus infection in children with septic shock in pediatric care units (PICU) in China and its influence on clinical outcomes.Methods:The clinical data of children with septic shock in children′s PICU from January 2018 to December 2019 in 10 Chinese hospitals were retrospectively collected. They were divided into the pre-COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 groups according to the onset of disease, and the characteristics and composition of respiratory virus in the 2 groups were compared. Matching age, malignant underlying diseases, bacteria, fungi and other viruses, a new database was generated using 1∶1 propensity score matching method. The children were divided into the respiratory virus group and non-respiratory virus group according to the presence or absence of respiratory virus infection; their clinical characteristics, diagnosis, and treatment were compared by t-test, rank sum test and Chi-square test. The correlation between respiratory virus infection and the clinical outcomes was analyzed by logistic regression. Results:A total of 1 247 children with septic shock were included in the study, of them 748 were male; the age was 37 (11, 105) months. In the pre-and post-COVID-19 groups, there were 530 and 717 cases of septic shock, respectively; the positive rate of respiratory virus was 14.9% (79 cases) and 9.8% (70 cases); the seasonal distribution of septic shock was 28.9% (153/530) and 25.9% (185/717) in autumn, and 30.3% (161/530) and 28.3% (203/717) in winter, respectively, and the corresponding positive rates of respiratory viruses were 19.6% (30/153) and 15.7% (29/185) in autumn, and 21.1% (34/161) and 15.3% (31/203) in winter, respectively. The positive rates of influenza virus and adenovirus in the post-COVID-19 group were lower than those in the pre-COVID-19 group (2.1% (15/717) vs. 7.5% (40/530), and 0.7% (5/717) vs. 3.2% (17/530), χ2=21.51 and 11.08, respectively; all P<0.05). Rhinovirus virus were higher than those in the pre-Covid-19 group (1.7% (12/717) vs. 0.2% (1/530), χ2=6.51, P=0.011). After propensity score matching, there were 147 cases in both the respiratory virus group and the non-respiratory virus group. Rate of respiratory failure, acute respiratory distress, rate of disseminated coagulation dysfunction, and immunoglobulin usage of the respiratory virus group were higher than those of non-respiratory virus group (77.6% (114/147) vs. 59.2% (87/147), 17.7% (26/147) vs. 4.1% (6/147), 15.6% (25/147) vs. 4.1% (7/147), and 35.4% (52/147) vs. 21.4% (32/147); χ2=11.07, 14.02, 11.06 and 6.67, all P<0.05); and PICU hospitalization of the former was longer than that of the later (7 (3, 16) vs. 3 (1, 7)d, Z=5.01, P<0.001). Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that the presence of respiratory viral infection was associated with respiratory failure, disseminated coagulation dysfunction, the use of mechanical ventilation, and the use of immunoglobulin and anti-respiratory viral drugs ( OR=2.42, 0.22, 0.25, 0.56 and 1.12, all P<0.05). Conclusions:The composition of respiratory virus infection in children with septic shock is different between pre and post-COVID-19. Respiratory viral infection is associated with organ dysfunction in children with septic shock. Decreasing respiratory viral infection through respiratory protection may improve the clinical outcome of these children.

Objective:To investigate the clinical features, pathogen composition, and prognosis of septic shock in pediatric intensive care units (PICU) in China.Methods:A multicenter retrospective cohort study. A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of children with septic shock from 10 hospitals in China between January 2018 and December 2021. The clinical features, pathogen composition, and outcomes were collected. Patients were categorized into malignant tumor and non-malignant tumor groups, as well as survival and mortality groups. T test, Mann Whitney U test or Chi square test were used respectively for comparing clinical characteristics and prognosis between 2 groups. Multiple Logistic regression was used to identify risk factors for mortality. Results:A total of 1 247 children with septic shock were included, with 748 males (59.9%) and the age of 3.1 (0.9, 8.8) years. The in-patient mortality rate was 23.2% (289 cases). The overall pathogen positive rate was 68.2% (851 cases), with 1 229 pathogens identified. Bacterial accounted for 61.4% (754 strains) and virus for 24.8% (305 strains). Among all bacterium, Gram negative bacteria constituted 64.2% (484 strains), with Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Enterobacter being the most common; Gram positive bacteria comprised 35.8% (270 strains), primarily Streptococcus and Staphylococcus species. Influenza virus (86 strains (28.2%)), Epstein-Barr virus (53 strains (17.4%)), and respiratory syncytial virus (46 strains (17.1%)) were the top three viruses. Children with malignant tumors were older and had higher pediatric risk of mortality (PRISM) Ⅲ score, paediatric sequential organ failure assessment (pSOFA) score (7.9 (4.3, 11.8) vs. 2.3 (0.8, 7.5) years old, 22 (16, 26) vs. 16 (10, 24) points, 10 (5, 14) vs. 8 (4, 12) points, Z=11.32, 0.87, 4.00, all P<0.05), and higher pathogen positive rate, and in-hospital mortality (77.7% (240/309) vs. 65.1% (611/938), 29.7% (92/309) vs. 21.0% (197/938), χ2=16.84, 10.04, both P<0.05) compared to the non-tumor group. In the death group, the score of PRISM Ⅲ, pSOFA (16 (22, 29) vs. 14 (10, 20) points, 8 (12, 15) vs. 6 (3, 9) points, Z=4.92, 11.88, both P<0.05) were all higher, and presence of neoplastic disease, positive rate of pathogen and proportion of invasive mechanical ventilation in death group were also all higher than those in survival group (29.7% (87/289) vs. 23.2% (222/958), 77.8% (225/289) vs. 65.4% (626/958), 73.7% (213/289) vs. 50.6% (485/958), χ2=5.72, 16.03, 49.98, all P<0.05). Multiple Logistic regression showed that PRISM Ⅲ, pSOFA, and malignant tumor were the independent risk factors for mortality ( OR=1.04, 1.09, 0.67, 95% CI 1.01-1.05, 1.04-1.12, 0.47-0.94, all P<0.05). Conclusions:Bacterial infection are predominant in pediatric septic shock, but viral infection are also significant. Children with malignancies are more severe and resource consumptive. The overall mortality rate for pediatric septic shock remains high, and mortality are associated with malignant tumor, PRISM Ⅲ and pSOFA scores.