ARDS is severe form of respiratory failure with significant impact on the morbidity and mortality of critical care patients. Epidemiological data are crucial for evaluating the efficacy of therapeutic interventions, designing studies, and optimizing resource distribution. The goal of this review is to present general aspects of mortality data published over the past decades. A systematic search of the MEDLINE/PubMed was performed. The articles were divided according to their methodology, type of reported mortality, and time. The main outcome was mortality. Extracted data included study duration, number of patients, and number of centers. The mortality trends and current mortality were calculated for subgroups consisting of in-hospital, ICU, 28/30-d, and 60-d mortality over 3 time periods (A, before 1995; B, 1995–2000; C, after 2000). The retrospectivity and prospectivity were also taken into account. Moreover, we present the most recent mortality rates since 2010. One hundred seventy-seven articles were included in the final analysis. General mortality rates ranged from 11 to 87% in studies including subjects with ARDS of all etiologies (mixed group). Linear regression revealed that the study design (28/30-d or 60-d) significantly influenced the mortality rate. Reported mortality rates were higher in prospective studies, such as randomized controlled trials and prospective observational studies compared with retrospective observational studies. Mortality rates exhibited a linear decrease in relation to time period ( P < .001). The number of centers showed a significant negative correlation with mortality rates. The prospective observational studies did not have consistently higher mortality rates compared with randomized controlled trials. The mortality trends over 3 time periods (before 1995, 1995–2000, and after 2000) yielded variable results in general ARDS populations. However, a mortality decrease was present mostly in prospective studies. Since 2010, the overall rates of in-hospital, ICU, and 28/30-d and 60-d mortality were 45, 38, 30, and 32%, respectively.

Delirium is an acute brain dysfunction and a frequent complication in critically ill patients. When present it significantly worsens the prognosis of patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of delirium and risk factors for delirium in a mixed group of trauma, medical and surgical ICU patients. A prospective observational study was conducted in one of the six-bed Intensive Care Units of the University Hospital Ostrava in the Czech Republic during a 12-month period. We evaluated the incidence of delirium and its predisposing and precipitating risk factors. All patients were assessed daily using the Confusion Assessment Method for the ICU (CAM-ICU). Of the total of 332 patients with a median APACHE II (the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation) score of 12, who were evaluated for delirium, 48 could not be assessed using CAM-ICU (47 due to prolonged coma, 1 due to language barriers). The incidence of delirium was 26.1%, with trauma and medical patients being more likely to develop delirium than surgical patients. Risk of delirium was significantly associated with age ≥ 65 years, and alcohol abuse in their anamnesis, with APACHE II score on admission, and with the use of sedatives and/or vasopressors. Delirious patients who remained in the ICU for a prolonged period showed a greater need for ventilator support and had a greater ICU-mortality.

Understanding the impact of the changing proportion of land-use patterns on species diversity is a critical issue in conservation biology, and odonates are good bioindicators of these environmental changes. Some freshwater ecosystems that have been modified due to human activities can serve as important secondary habitats for odonate assemblages; however, the majority of studies addressing the value of secondary habitats in industrial and urban areas for adult dragonfly diversity have been limited to the local scale, and the value of such habitats for gamma diversity is still unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between human transformations of land use/land cover and dragonfly diversity. We interpolated the information based on dragonfly occurrence per grid cell and land cover data, indicating naturalness and degradation in 677 grid cells in the Czech Republic. Species richness did not correspond to habitat naturalness, but the occurrence of endangered species was significantly positively correlated with increasing naturalness; thus, habitat degradation and/or the level of naturalness significantly affected species composition, while species richness remained unchanged. Threatened species that occur predominantly in natural areas and threatened species with a dominant occurrence in degraded squares were also separated, which indicated that the conservation of the latter should be prioritised.

Background: Major abdominal surgery (MAS) is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. The main objective of our study was to evaluate the predictive value of heart-rate variability (HRV) concerning development of postoperative complications in patients undergoing MAS. The secondary objectives were to identify the relationship of HRV and use of vasoactive drugs during anesthesia, intensive care unit length of stay (ICU-LOS), and hospital length of stay (H-LOS). Patients and methods: Sixty-five patients scheduled for elective MAS were enrolled in a prospective, single-center, observational study. HRV was measured by spectral analysis (SA) preoperatively during orthostatic load. Patients were divided according to cardiac autonomic reactivity (CAR; n=23) and non-cardiac autonomic reactivity (NCAR; n=30). Results: The final analysis included 53 patients. No significant difference was observed between the two groups regarding type of surgery, use of minimally invasive techniques or epidural catheter, duration of surgery and anesthesia, or the amount of fluid administered intraoperatively. The NCAR group had significantly greater intraoperative blood loss than the CAR group (541.7±541.9 mL vs 269.6±174.3 mL, p<0.05). In the NCAR group, vasoactive drugs were used during anesthesia more frequently (n=21 vs n=4; p<0.001), and more patients had at least one postoperative complication compared to the CAR group (n=19 vs n=4; p<0.01). Furthermore, the NCAR group had more serious complications (Clavien–Dindo ≥ Grade III n=6 vs n=0; p<0.05) and a greater number of complications than the CAR group (n=57 vs n=5; p<0.001). Significant differences were found for two specific subgroups of complications: hypotension requiring vasoactive drugs (NCAR: n=10 vs CAR: n=0; p<0.01) and ileus (NCAR: n=11 vs CAR: n=2; p<0.05). Moreover, significant differences were found in the ICU-LOS (NCAR: 5.7±3.5 days vs CAR: 2.6±0.7 days; p<0.0001) and H-LOS (NCAR: 12.2±5.6 days vs CAR: 7.2±1.7 days; p<0.0001). Conclusion: Preoperative HRV assessment during orthostatic load is objective and useful for identifying patients with low autonomic physiological reserves and high risk of poor post­operative course.