Background Over a third of critical illness survivors suffer from mental health problems following hospitalization. Memories of delusional experiences are a major risk factor. In this project, ICU doulas delivered a unique positive suggestion intervention targeting the vulnerable time period during critical illness when these memories are formed. Methods Adult critically ill patients were recruited for this single-arm, prospective pilot study. These ICU patients received a positive suggestion intervention daily during their ICU stay in parallel with their medical treatment. The intervention was designed to be delivered over a minimum of two sessions. Feasibility was defined as intervention delivery on ≥ 70% of ICU days after patient enrollment. As a secondary analysis, psychometric questionnaires were compared to those of a historic control cohort of patients receiving standard care in the ICU using adjusted linear regression models. Results Of the 97 patients who received the intervention and were alive at the end of their ICU course, 54 were excluded from analyses mostly for having received only one session because of a short ICU length of stay of < 2 days, transitioning to comfort care or not wanting to answer the study questionnaires. Forty-three patients who completed 2 or more sessions of the positive therapeutic suggestion intervention provided by two trained ICU doulas received it for a median of 4 days (IQR 3, 5), with each session lasting for a median of 20 min (IQR 14, 25). The intervention was delivered on 71% of days, meeting our pre-determined feasibility goal. Compared to historical controls ( N  = 299), patients receiving the intervention had higher severity of illness and longer length of stay. When adjusted for baseline differences, patients both with and without mechanical ventilation who received the intervention scored lower on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)—Depression subscale. The intervention was also associated with reduced HADS-Anxiety subscale among ventilated patients. Conclusions Positive therapeutic suggestion delivered by ICU doulas is feasible in the ICU setting. A randomized trial is warranted to better delineate the role that positive suggestion and ICU doulas may play in ongoing interprofessional efforts to humanize critical care medicine. The study was registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03736954) on 03/14/2018 prior to the first patient enrollment https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03736954?cond=ICU+Doulas+Providing+Psychological+Support&draw=2&rank=1 .

Introduction: Perinatal asphyxia (PA) results in hypoxic damage to almost all organs, kidneys being most frequently (40%) affected. Objectives: was to determine the incidence of acute renal failure (ARF) in term neonates with PA and to correlate it with severity of hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE). Materials and methods: This prospective study of 54 term neonates with PA was performed in tertiary level neonatal intensive care unit at Pediatric Clinic Sarajevo from June 2014 to June 2016. The severe PA was defined as 5. minute Apgar score < 3 and moderate PA as 5. minute Apgar score 4-6. Criteria adopted for ARF were serum creatinine > 1.5 mg/dl (> 133 micromol/L) on 3rd day of life or urine output < 0.5 ml/kg/hr for > 6 hrs beyond 24 hrs of life. Results. Out of 54 neonates with PA, 22 (40.74%) had ARF. Most of them (63.6%) had non-oliguric ARF with mean renal output of 2.2 ± 0.5 ml/kg/h. Eight neonates (36.4%) had oliguric ARF with mean renal output of 0.35 ± 0.6 ml/kg/h. Most of the neonates with oliguric ARF (63.4%) had severe PAwhile in those with non-oliguric ARF moderate PA was predominant. ARF was highest in the neonates with HIE III (85.71 %) (Figure 1). This showed that as HIE stage progressed, more renal dysfunction was seen in asphyxiated babies and this difference in incidence was found statistically significant (p < 0.05). Conclusions. Neonates with severe PA had more frequent ARF and the predominant type of renal involvement was non oliguric. Neonates with HIE stage II and III had significantly higher incidence of ARF.

Diabetes mellitus type 1 is a chronic metabolic disorder, and its main characteristic is Hyperglycemia. It usually occurs in the early years because of the absolute or relative absence of the active insulin that is caused by the autoimmune disease of the beta cells of the pancreas. Despite the numerous researches and efforts of the scientists, the therapy for Diabetes type 1 is based on the substitution of insulin. Even though the principles of the therapy have not changed so much, still some important changes have occurred in the production and usage of insulin. Lately, the insulin pumps are more frequent in the therapy for Diabetes type 1. The functioning of the pump is based on the continuing delivery of insulin in a small dose ("the basal dose"), that keeps the level of glycemia in the blood constant. The increase of glycemia during the meal is reduced with the additional dose of insulin ("the bolus dose"). The use of the insulin pumps and the continuing glucose sensors has provided an easier and more efficient monitoring of the diabetes, a better metabolic control and a better life quality for the patient and his/her family. This work presents the way of automatic regulation of the basal dose of insulin through the synthesis of the functions of the insulin pump and the continuing glucose sensor. The aim is to give a contribution to the development of the controlling algorithm on the insulin pump for the automatic regulation of the glucose concentration in the blood. This could be a step further which is closer to the delivery of the dose of insulin that is really needed for the basic needs of the organism, and a significant contribution is given to the development of the artificial pancreas.