This book is open access under a CC BY 4.0 license. It constitutes a unique source of knowledge and guidance for all healthcare workers who care for patients with sepsis and septic shock in resource-limited settings. More than eighty percent of the worldwide deaths related to sepsis occur in resource-limited settings in low and middle-income countries. Current international sepsis guidelines cannot be implemented without adaptations towards these settings, mainly because of the difference in local resources and a different spectrum of infectious diseases causing sepsis. This prompted members of the Global Intensive Care working group of the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine (ESICM) and the Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit (MORU, Bangkok, Thailand) - among which the Editors - to develop with an international group of experts a comprehensive set of recommendations for the management of sepsis in resource-limited settings. Recommendations are based on both current scientific evidence and clinical experience of clinicians working in resource-limited settings. The book includes an overview chapter outlining the current challenges and future directions of sepsis management as well as general recommendations on the structure and organization of intensive care services in resource-limited settings. Specific recommendations on the recognition and management of patients with sepsis and septic shock in these settings are grouped into seven chapters. The book provides evidence-based practical guidance for doctors in low and middle income countries treating patients with sepsis, and highlights areas for further research and discussion. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

Wetenschappelijk onderzoek speelt een onmiskenbare rol in de vooruitgang van de intensivecaregeneeskunde. In klinisch intensivecareonderzoek zijn randomized controlled trials zinvol, maar zij hebben soms beperkte waarde door het multifactoriële karakter van de ingewikkelde pathologie van intensivecarepatiënten. Klinische studies dienen vooral groot genoeg te zijn om tot betrouwbare uitspraken te kunnen komen. Dierexperimenteel intensivecareonderzoek, dat veel klinisch onderzoek kan initiëren, zou om deze reden zoveel mogelijk gebruik moeten maken van multi-hit modellen, modellen die lijken op de complexe situatie van intensivecarepatiënten. Intensivecaregeneeskunde is overal nodig, ook in arme landen. Intensivecaregeneeskunde in arme landen verschilt in essentie niet van die in westerse landen, maar zij vereist wel aanpassingen aan de lokale omstandigheden. Net als in westerse landen is wetenschappelijk onderzoek daar een onmisbaar onderdeel van intensivecaregeneeskunde.

Front Lines of Thoracic Surgery collects up-to-date contributions on some of the most debated topics in today's clinical practice of cardiac, aortic, and general thoracic surgery,and anesthesia as viewed by authors personally involved in their evolution. The strong and genuine enthusiasm of the authors was clearly perceptible in all their contributions and I'm sure that will further stimulate the reader to understand their messages. Moreover, the strict adhesion of the authors' original observations and findings to the evidence base proves that facts are the best guarantee of scientific value. This is not a standard textbook where the whole discipline is organically presented, but authors' contributions are simply listed in their pertaining subclasses of Thoracic Surgery. I'm sure that this original and very promising editorial format which has and free availability at its core further increases this book's value and it will be of interest to healthcare professionals and scientists dedicated to this field.