Articles: sars-cov-2.
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Expert Opin Drug Deliv · Jul 2020
EditorialCan 3D printing of oral drugs help fight the current COVID-19 pandemic (and similar crisis in the future)?
The ongoing COVID-19 crisis has highlighted the importance of a robust drug supply chain which can be quickly and flexibly ramped up to produce life-saving drug treatments. 3D printing (3DP) of oral solid dosage forms (OSDF) could be a viable part of the emergency drug production response to support vulnerable patients in rural regions and other isolated locations. In the context of the current pandemic, the suitability of different 3DP technologies will depend on the physicochemical properties, unit dose strength and BCS classification of the repurposed drug compounds currently being trialed for COVID-19. Furthermore, the deployment strategy should focus on simplifying dosage forms and formulations, scaling down the size and complexity of the printing systems and real-time quality assurance via process analytical technologies (PAT).
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Clin. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. · Jul 2020
Diarrhea Is Associated With Prolonged Symptoms and Viral Carriage in Corona Virus Disease 2019.
We compared clinical, laboratory, radiological, and outcome features of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection (COVID-19) with pneumonia, with vs without diarrhea. ⋯ At a single center in Wuhan, China, 31% of patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia had diarrhea. A significantly higher proportion of patients with diarrhea have virus RNA in stool than patients without diarrhea. Elimination of SARS-CoV-2 from stool takes longer than elimination from the nose and throat.
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At the end of January 2020, a novel betacoronavirus, known as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, progressively spread in Italy. Patients with cancer are considered more prone to infections because of the immunosuppressive status due to both malignancy and anticancer treatments. From the first Italian government restrictions (23rd February), Modena Cancer Center adopted practical health vigilance recommendations to minimise the risk of exposure to the virus without overlooking cancer management. ⋯ The mortality rate of our patients with cancer was 22%, consistent with the data reported in the literature. In conclusion, following our practical health vigilance recommendations, physicians should be confident in maintaining life-saving anticancer treatment without exceedingly increasing the risk of nosocomial COVID-19 infection. The high rate of mortality suggested that all patients on active anticancer treatment with flu-like symptoms have to be carefully screened for COVID-19 infection.
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To show how to safely perform nasopharyngeal and/or oropharyngeal swabs for 2019-novel coronavirus. ⋯ This study demonstrates the technical feasibility of safely performing nasopharyngeal and/or oropharyngeal swabs for identification of SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA.
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Eur. J. Nucl. Med. Mol. Imaging · Jul 2020
FDG-PET/CT findings highly suspicious for COVID-19 in an Italian case series of asymptomatic patients.
To illustrate the [18F]FDG-PET/CT findings in patients affected by cancer with clinical diagnosis of Covid-19 METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the cases of patients who showed pulmonary involvement unrelated to cancer metastases on March 13 and 16 2020. We reviewed the scans, collected medical history, and exposure information. ⋯ The [18F]FDG-PET/CT can identify probable Covid-19 disease in the absence or before symptoms onset and can guide patient management. Nuclear medicine staff needs to be aware of the possibility of contact with patients affected by the SARS-CoV-2 infection even if they do not present any symptom. Therefore, safety measures need to be adopted for other patients and hospital staff in order to block the spread of infection.