Te practice of intensiv e care medicine is at the very forefro n o tf titratio o nf treatmen t and monitorin g response . Te substrat o ef this care is the critical l il yl patien t who ,by defnition, is at the limits of his or her physiologic reserve s. uch patients need immediate , aggressiv b eut balance d life-alterin in g terventio n ts o minimize the detrimenta a lspects of acut e illnes a snd hasten recover yT . reatmen t decision s and response to therap y are usuall y assessed by measures of physiologic function, such as assessed by cardio-respirato ry monitoring h . owever ,how one uses such informatio n is ofen unclea rand rarel y supported by prospectiv e clinica t lrial s. i n realit y t,he bedside clinicia n is force d to rely primaril y on physiologic principles in determinin g the best treatmen ts and response to therapy h . owever t , he physiologic foundatio p nresent in practicin p ghysician s is uneven and occasional s lu ypported more by habit or prior trainin g than science. a series of shor tpapers published in i ntensiv e c are Medicine since 2002 under the heading Physiologic notes attempts to capture the essence of the physiologic perspectives that underpin both our understanding of disease and response to therapy. T is present vol ume combines the complete list of these Physiologic notes up until February 2009 with t he associat ed review art icl es over t he same int erval t hat al so addressed t hese cent ral issues. Tis volume was created to address this fundamental unevenness in our understanding of applied physiolog y and underscor w e hat is known and how measures and monitorin g interac w tith organ system functio n and response to therap y Ti . s collectio o n f physiologic perspectives and reviews, written by some of the most respected experts in the feld, represen t an up-to-dat e and invaluab le compendium of practic ab ledside knowledg e essentia t lo the efectiv e deliver y of acut e care medicine . a lthoug h this text can be read from cover to cover t , he reader is encourage t do use this text as a reference source reading individua P lhysiologic n otes and Review articles as they pertain to specifc clinica il ssues.

Physiological Notes.- Intrinsic (or auto-) PEEP during controlled mechanical ventilation.- Intrinsic (or auto-) positive end-expiratory pressure during spontaneous or assisted ventilation.- Work of breathing.- Interpretation of airway pressure waveforms.- Measurement of respiratory system resistance during mechanical ventilation.- Understanding wasted/ineffective efforts in mechanically ventilated COPD patients using the Campbell diagram.- Dead space.- The multiple inert gas elimination technique (MIGET).- Alveolar ventilation and pulmonary blood flow: The VA/QT concept.- Mechanisms of hypoxemia.- Pulse oximetry.- Effects of body temperature on blood gases.- Venous oximetry.- Influence of FIO2 on the PaO2/FIO2 ratio.- Hypoxemia due to increased venous admixture: influence of cardiac output on oxygenation.- Pulmonary vascular resistance A meaningless variable?.- Pulmonary artery occlusion pressure.- Clinical significance of pulmonary artery occlusion pressure.- Pulmonary capillary pressure.- Ventricular interdependence: how does it impact on hemodynamic evaluation in clinical practice?.- Cyclic changes in arterial pressure during mechanical ventilation.- Lactic acidosis.- Defining acute renal failure: physiological principles.- Hypotension during intermittent hemodialysis: new insights into an old problem.- Intracranial pressure Part one: Historical overview and basic concepts.- Intracranial pressure Part two: Clinical applications and technology.- Neuromonitoring in the intensive care unit. Part I. Intracranial pressure and cerebral blood flow monitoring.- Neuromonitoring in the intensive care unit. Part II. Cerebral oxygenation monitoring and microdialysis.- Physiological Reviews.- Fluid responsiveness in mechanically ventilated patients: a review of indices used in intensive care.- Different techniques to measure intra-abdominal pressure (IAP): time for a critical re-appraisal.- Tissue capnometry: does the answer lie under the tongue?.- Noninvasive monitoring of peripheral perfusion.- Ultrasonographic examination of the venae cavae.- Passive leg raising.- Sleep in the intensive care unit.- Magnesium in critical illness: metabolism, assessment, and treatment.- Pulmonary endothelium in acute lung injury: from basic science to the critically ill.- Pulmonary and cardiac sequelae of subarachnoid haemorrhage: time for active management?.- Permissive hypercapnia #x2014; role in protective lung ventilatory strategies.- Right ventricular function and positive pressure ventilation in clinical practice: from hemodynamic subsets to respirator settings.- Acute right ventricular failure#x2014;from pathophysiology to new treatments.- Red blood cell rheology in sepsis.- Stress-hyperglycemia, insulin and immunomodulation in sepsis.- Hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction in critically ill patients with traumatic and nontraumatic brain injury.- Matching total body oxygen consumption and delivery: a crucial objective?.- Normalizing physiological variables in acute illness: five reasons for caution.- Interpretation of the echocardiographic pressure gradient across a pulmonary artery band in the setting of a univentricular heart.- Ventilator-induced diaphragm dysfunction: the clinical relevance of animal models.- Understanding organ dysfunction in hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.- Seminal Studies in Intensive Care.- Manipulating afterload for the treatment of acute heart failure.- Nosocomial pneumonia.- The introduction of positive endexpiratory pressure into mechanical ventilation: a retrospective.- Elastic pressure-volume curves in acute lung injuryand acute respiratory distress syndrome.- The concept of #x201C;baby lung#x201D;.- The effects of anesthesia and muscle paralysis on the respiratory system.- Diaphragmatic fatigue during sepsis and septic shock.- The use of severity scores in the intensive care unit.- Oxygen transportthe oxygen delivery controversy.- Organ dysfunction during sepsis.- Ventilator-induced lung injury:from the bench to the bedside.- Remembrance of weaning past: the seminal papers.- Interactions between respiration and systemic hemodynamics. Part I: basic concepts.- Interactions between respiration and systemic hemodynamics. Part II: practical implications in critical care.