Background: Peripheral intravenous catheters (PVCs) are widely used vascular access devices for infusion therapy; however, they are associated with relatively high failure rates. This study aimed to identify the incidence, risk factors and medical costs of PVC-induced complications in adult hospitalised adult patients in China. Methods: An observational, prospective study on 1069 patients lasting 5 months was conducted at a tertiary teaching hospital. Results: Infiltration ranked first among PVC complications with an incidence of 17.8%, followed by occlusion (10.8%) and phlebitis (10.5%). Most complications in phlebitis (88.4%) and infiltration (93.7%) were Grade 1. Catheters left in for over 96 h did not show a higher incidence of complications. Patients from the surgical department were more susceptible to infiltration, phlebitis and occlusion. The 26 gauge (Ga) catheters decreased the risk of phlebitis and occlusion, whereas 24Ga catheters increased infiltration rates. Infusing irritant drugs increased phlebitis and infiltration rates. The presence of comorbidities and non-use of needleless connectors were associated with occlusion. Compared with forearm insertion, the risk of occlusion nearly doubled with the dorsum of the hand insertion and the risk of infiltration tripled with antecubital fossa insertion. Medical treatment costs for PVC complications ranged from 0.3 to 140.0 CNY. Conclusions: Infiltration is the most common PVC-related adverse event. Clinically-indicated instead of routine replacement of catheters is safe. More efforts are warranted to improve nurses’ adherence to recent guidelines in terms of insertion site selection and needleless connector utilisation to reduce medical costs associated with catheter replacement.

ObjectiveThe pathogenesis of sepsis is complex, and the sepsis-induced systemic proinflammatory phase is one of the key drivers of organ failure and consequent mortality.Akkermansia muciniphila(AKK) is recognised as a functional probiotic strain that exerts beneficial effects on the progression of many diseases; however, whether AKK participates in sepsis pathogenesis is still unclear. Here, we evaluated the potential contribution of AKK to lethal sepsis development.DesignRelative abundance of gut microbial AKK in septic patients was evaluated. Cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) surgery and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) injection were employed to establish sepsis in mice. Non-targeted and targeted metabolomics analysis were used for metabolites analysis.ResultsWe first found that the relative abundance of gut microbial AKK in septic patients was significantly reduced compared with that in non-septic controls. Live AKK supplementation, as well as supplementation with its culture supernatant, remarkably reduced sepsis-induced mortality in sepsis models. Metabolomics analysis and germ-free mouse validation experiments revealed that live AKK was able to generate a novel tripeptide Arg-Lys-His (RKH). RKH exerted protective effects against sepsis-induced death and organ damage. Furthermore, RKH markedly reduced sepsis-induced inflammatory cell activation and proinflammatory factor overproduction. A mechanistic study revealed that RKH could directly bind to Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and block TLR4 signal transduction in immune cells. Finally, we validated the preventive effects of RKH against sepsis-induced systemic inflammation and organ damage in a piglet model.ConclusionWe revealed that a novel tripeptide, RKH, derived from live AKK, may act as a novel endogenous antagonist for TLR4. RKH may serve as a novel potential therapeutic approach to combat lethal sepsis after successfully translating its efficacy into clinical practice.

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