http://ccforum.com/content/14/1/R5/comments The latest comments on the article 'Effects of a fish oil containing lipid emulsion on plasma phospholipid fatty acids, inflammatory markers, and clinical outcomes in septic patients: a randomized, controlled clinical trial' 2010-02-12T09:12:23Z http://ccforum.com/content/14/1/R5/comments#392664 <p>This is a great paper. <br/> <br/>Related to their finding is that vitamin D reduces the risk of septis/septicemia, in part through induction of cathelicidin and defensins, which have antibiotic and antiendotoxin properties, in part through shifting cytokine production from proinflammatory to less or non-inflammatory ones. A similar benefit was recently reported for pneumonia following A/H1N1 pandemic influenza infection in the United States in 1918-19. <br/> <br/>Thus, the combination of fish oil and vitamin D could go a long way towards reducing the incidence and death of people from sepsis/septicemia. It might be worthwhile to consider giving those entering the hospital for operations 50,000 IU of vitamin D each of several days prior to or shortly after the operation if they are thought to have low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. <br/> <br/>References <br/>Grant WB. Solar ultraviolet-B irradiance and vitamin D may reduce the risk of septicemia. Dermato-Endocrinology. 2009;1(1):37-42. <br/>http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/dermatoendocrinology/article/7250/ <br/> <br/>Grant WB, Giovannucci D. The possible roles of solar ultraviolet-B radiation and vitamin D in reducing case-fatality rates from the 1918&#8211;1919 influenza pandemic in the United States. Dermato-Endocrinology 2009;1(4): 215-9. <br/>http://www.landesbioscience.com/journals/29/article/9063/ <br/> <br/>Jeng L, Yamshchikov AV, Judd SE, Blumberg HM, Martin GS, Ziegler TR, Tangpricha V. Alterations in vitamin D status and anti-microbial peptide levels in patients in the intensive care unit with sepsis. J Transl Med. 2009 Apr 23;7:28. <br/> <br/>Mookherjee N, Hancock RE. Cationic host defence peptides: innate immune regulatory peptides as a novel approach for treating infections. Cell Mol Life Sci. 2007 Apr;64(7-8):922-33. <br/> <br/>Mookherjee N, Rehaume LM, Hancock RE. Cathelicidins and functional analogues as antisepsis molecules. Expert Opin Ther Targets. 2007 Aug;11(8):993-1004. Review. <br/></p> William B. Grant 2010-02-12T09:12:23Z http://ccforum.com/content/14/1/R5 Barbosa et al. Critical Care 14 R5 Tue Jan 19 00:00:00 GMT 2010