TNF and Sepsis: Serum concentrations of TNF-α are elevated in sepsis (Waage et al. 1989; Casey et al. 1993), and animal models of sepsis (Michie et al. 1988), and a correlation between plasma concentrations of TNF-α and myocardial dysfunction has been established (Vincent et al. 1992; Herbertson et al. 1995; Kumar et al. 1996; Forfia et al. 1998).