Articles: disease.
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COVID-19 is a novel respiratory disease leading to high rates of acute respiratory failure requiring hospital admission. It is unclear if specific patient populations such as lung transplant patients are at higher risk for COVID-19. ⋯ Efforts to ensure the safety of wait-listed patients, transplant recipients, and healthcare workers are underway. Recommendations for the care of lung transplant patients during the COVID-19 pandemic are discussed and will likely change as the pandemic evolves.
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Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a pulmonary vascular disease characterized by pulmonary arterial remodeling and vasoconstriction leading to elevated pulmonary artery pressure and, ultimately, right heart failure. So far, few cases of COVID-19 disease in patients with PH have been reported. ⋯ In addition, PH is a rare disease, and because testing is not universal, we could be underestimating the number of cases. Other hypothetical factors to consider are the underlying pathophysiology of PH and the medications used to treat PH and their implications in COVID-19.
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People with Parkinson's disease (PwP) are at higher risk of developing malnutrition. Several factors have been suggested to be involved including motor symptoms, non-motor symptoms, and treatment-related complications. ⋯ The main factor associated with nutritional status was severity of the motor symptoms as assessed by the MDS-UPDRS Part III. Non-motor symptoms and treatment-related complications were not associated with malnutrition.
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The pandemic character of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) requires strategy changes designed to guarantee the safety of patients and health-care professionals. We are greatly concerned by the limitations in the operation of pulmonary function test (PFT) laboratories, since there is a high risk of disease progression in patients with chronic pulmonary diseases, and we are now faced by the influx of a new group of individuals in the recovery phase of post-COVID-19-syndrome that requires evaluation and follow-up of their respiratory function. ⋯ We present the safety and hygiene measures that must be adopted in laboratories or centers where PFT is conducted in adults and/or children. These recommendations answer the following questions: which PFT is most recommended in subjects that have recovered from COVID-19; what quality control and safety measures should PFT laboratories implement during this pandemic? And how should we approach non-COVID-19 patients requiring PFT?
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In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous countries worldwide declared national states of emergency and implemented interventions to minimise the risk of transmission among the public. Evidence was needed to inform strategies for limiting COVID-19 transmission on public transport. On 20 March 2020, we searched MEDLINE, CENTRAL, Web of Science and the World Health Organization's database of 'Global research on coronavirus disease (COVID-19)' to conduct a rapid review on interventions that reduce viral transmission on public ground transport. ⋯ These studies suggest an increased risk of viral transmission with public transportation use that may be reduced with improved ventilation. International and national guidelines suggest the following strategies: keep the public informed, stay at home when sick, and minimise public transport use. Where use is unavoidable, environmental control, respiratory etiquette and hand hygiene are recommended, while a risk-based approach needs to guide the use of non-medical masks.