LAUSR

The first issue of Shock for 2019 starts the year with a bang with 4 articles listed as ‘‘Editor’s Choice’’ as well as outstanding additional articles addressing clinical and basic science aspects of shock, injury, inflammation, and sepsis. The first Editor’s Choice sets the theme for the other 3. Over the past several decades, significant advances in sepsis research have been vitally dependent on animal models. Although variations on the cecal ligation and puncture model have been considered to be the gold standard for clinically relevant models, these many variations can have a significant impact on the outcomes. In a special commentary, Remick et al. (1) makes the case that establishing a standardized model of sepsis that is agreed upon by the sepsis research community would enable more valid comparisons of results from multiple laboratories. While it is uncertain that a completely standardized single model is feasible or even desirable, a systematic consideration of factors such as anesthesia, fluid resuscitation, antibiotic use, etc., would surely serve the sepsis research community well. As a first step in this process, a Wiggers–Bernard Conference was held in Vienna in May 2017 to bring together experts in the field. Rather than attempt to define a single standardized model, this group proposes a set of guidelines (minimum quality threshold in preclinical sepsis studies) for preclinical sepsis models. The results of this conference appear in 3 articles (2–4) in this month’s issue which were also selected as Editor’s Choice articles. An executive summary of these articles appeared in the October issue of Shock (5). In the first article, Zingarelli et al. (2) provide recommendations for study design and humane endpoints. In their comprehensive review of the literature, these authors found consistency in the species (79% used mouse) only 9% defined humane endpoints. Recommendations include blinding, choice of follow-up monitoring to reflect clinical course and inclusion of biological variables and comorbidities as seen in clinical populations. Finally, they reiterate that the highest standards of humane treatment are essential. In the second article, Libert et al. (3) address the types of infections and organ dysfunction endpoints. They report that while the greatest number of studies surveyed used cecal ligation and puncture as a sepsis model, 40% used endotoxin injection. The recommendation was that infectious agents should duplicate as closely as possible, those seen in human sepsis. Endotoxinemia should not be considered to be an