Determining Brain Death The Uniform Law Commission (ULC) created the Uniform Determination of Death Act (UDDA) in the United States in 1980, which was adopted by all 50 states. The UDDA defines death as either the irreversible cessation of circulatory and respiratory functions or the irreversible cessation of all functions of the entire brain, including the brainstem. While the loss of cardiorespiratory function has always been recognised as death, some view the de...

Research Nirmatrelvir and risk of hospital admission or death in adults with covid-19: emulation of a randomized target trial using electronic health records Yan Xie, Benjamin Bowe, Ziyad Al-Aly BMJ 2023; 381 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2022-073312 (Published 11 April 2023)Cite this as: BMJ 2023;381:e073312 Abstract Objective To estimate the effectiveness of nirmatrelvir, compared with no treatment, in reducing admission to hospital or death at 30...

Research Beverage consumption and mortality among adults with type 2 diabetes: prospective cohort study Chang Liu, Giovanni E Ferreira, Christina Abdel Shaheed, et al BMJ 2023; 381 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj-2022-073406 (Published 19 April 2023)Cite this as: BMJ 2023;381:e073406 Abstract Objective To investigate the intake of specific types of beverages in relation to mortality and cardiovascular disease (CVD) outcomes among adults with type 2 di...

Medical News & Perspectives  March 20, 2023 Highlights From the American College of Cardiology’s 2023 Scientific Session: the Ketogenic Diet and Cardiac Events, a Wearable Sensor to Predict Troponin Levels, Bempedoic Acid for Statin Intolerance, and More Melissa Suran JAMA. Published online March 20, 2023. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.0156 The annual conference of the American College of Cardiology and World Congress of Cardiology, held in early...

Drones Delivering Automated External Defibrillators Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA) is a dangerous condition with high mortality and poor health outcomes. According to the International Liaison Committee for Resuscitation (ILCOR), the global incidence of OHCA treated by emergency medical services (EMS) is 30.0-97.1 per 100,000 population, with discharge/30-day survival rates of 3.1-20.4% and good neurological outcomes of 2.8±18.2%. OHCA incidence in Europe is...

ORIGINAL ARTICLE Effect of Donor Sex on Recipient Mortality in Transfusion Michaël Chassé, Dean A. Fergusson, Alan Tinmouth, et al N Engl J Med 2023; 388:1386-1395DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2211523 Abstract BACKGROUND Conflicting observational evidence exists regarding the association between the sex of red-cell donors and mortality among transfusion recipients. Evidence to inform transfusion practice and policy is limited. METHODS In this multicenter, dou...

Medical News & Perspectives  April 5, 2023 It Takes an Average of 17 Years for Evidence to Change Practice—the Burgeoning Field of Implementation Science Seeks to Speed Things Up Rita Rubin JAMA. Published online April 5, 2023. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.4387 Colorectal cancer screening with an at-home stool test is more convenient than with a colonoscopy, but an abnormal result on the former still requires a follow-up with the latter. ...

Research Letter  April 6, 2023 Risk of Death in Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19 vs Seasonal Influenza in Fall-Winter 2022-2023 Yan Xie, Taeyoung Choi, Ziyad Al-Aly JAMA. Published online April 6, 2023. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.5348 In the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2 US studies suggested that people hospitalized for COVID-19 had nearly 5 times the risk of 30-day mortality compared with those hospitalized for seasonal influenza.1,2&n...

Remote Ischaemic Conditioning in Septic Shock Septic shock is one of the most severe complications of any infection. It affects millions of people each year. Studies show that in the U.S. and Europe, nearly 10% of patients admitted to the ICU have septic shock. Significant efforts have been made to recognise and treat septic shock early. Still, over 50% of patients die of septic shock within days or weeks after diagnosis. Thus, there is a need for new therapeutic a...

Research Letter  April 3, 2023 Sharing of Individual Patient-Level Data by Trialists of Randomized Clinical Trials of Pharmacological Treatments for COVID-19 Laura C. Esmail, Philipp Kapp, Rouba Assi, et al JAMA. Published online April 3, 2023. doi:10.1001/jama.2023.4590 Access to individual patient-level data (IPD) of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) increases the reproducibility of research, facilitates exploration of effect modifiers, and leve...