Plos One
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There is global shortage of Personal Protective Equipment due to COVID-19 pandemic. N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators (N95-FFRs) provide respiratory protection against respiratory pathogens including SARS-CoV-2. There is scant literature on reprocessing methods which can enable reuse of N95-FFRs. ⋯ PROSPERO, PROSPERO ID: CRD42020189684, (https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php?ID=CRD42020189684).
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The purpose is to assess the ability of low-dose CT (LDCT) to determine lung involvement in SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia and to describe a COVID19-LDCT severity score. ⋯ COVID19-LDCT score did correlate with NEWS. It was significantly different in the clinical low-risk and high-risk groups. Further work is needed to validate the COVID19-LDCT score against patient prognosis.
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Many studies have shown that Staphylococcus aureus is a leading cause of both community onset and hospital onset bloodstream infections. However, relatively little is known about the occurrence and outcome of S. aureus bacteremia in sub-Saharan Africa. A previous report indicated that S. aureus accounts for 16% of community onset and 6% of hospital onset bloodstream infections at Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi (AKUHN). Data about the etiology of S. aureus bacteremia in sub-Saharan Africa will help optimize recognition and treatment. This study was performed in order to understand the etiologies and risk factors for S. aureus bacteremia in a sub-Saharan location. ⋯ Invasive vascular devices were associated with a substantial portion of cases of S. aureus bacteremia and provide an important target for infection control efforts.
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Factors associated with place of death inform policies with respect to allocating end-of-life care resources and tailoring supportive measures. ⋯ We found key sociodemographic and clinical factors associated with non-hospital deaths in cancer patients. More can be done to enable patients to die in the community and with dignity rather than in a hospital.
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The outbreak of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) in Wuhan have affected more than 250 countries and regions worldwide. However, most of the clinical studies have been focused on Wuhan, and little is known about the disease outside of Wuhan in China. In this retrospective cohort study, we report the early clinical features of 80 patients with COVID-19 admitted to the hospital in Beijing. ⋯ The systolic blood pressure (median, 130 mmHg vs 120 mmHg) was higher and the oxygen saturation (median, 98.3% vs 92.0%) was significantly lower in severe patients than nonsevere patients. In addition, myoglobin (median, 56.0 ng/mL vs 35.0 ng/mL), troponin I (median, 0.02 pg/mL vs 0.01 pg/mL), C-reactive protein (median, 69.7 mg/L vs 12.9 mg/L) and neutrophils (median, 3.3×109/L vs 2.2×109/L) were significantly increased, while lymphocytes (median, 0.8×109/L vs 1.2×109/L), albumin (mean, 32.8 g/L vs 36.8 g/L) and the creatinine clearance rate (median, 91.2 vs 108.2 ml/min/1.73m2) were significantly decreased among severe patients. Our study revealed that older patients with high levels of C-reactive protein, myoglobin, troponin I, and neutrophil and high systolic blood pressure as well as low levels of lymphocytes, and albumin and a low creatinine clearance rate and oxygen saturation were more likely to have severe disease.