Gao X, et al. - Researchers examined apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage (AIM)/CD5L in 150 critically ill adults with sepsis for its value as a novel biomarker of morbidity and mortality. The role of AIM was also investigated as an outcome predictor in 51 pediatric patients with sepsis. They compared serum AIM levels on the day of ICU admission with survival status and organ dysfunction was done. A total of 60 adults from another medical center were evaluated for validation. The investigators noted significantly increased 28-day mortality among patients with sepsis with higher admission levels of AIM (> 543.66 ng/mL) vs those with lower AIM levels (≤ 543.66 ng/mL). Findings from the validation cohort confirmed the association between admission levels of AIM and 28-day mortality. In another cohort of pediatric patients with sepsis, AIM level association with 28-day mortality produced an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.82.