COVID-19: Critical Care and Airway Management Issues

Among patients hospitalized with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), up to one-quarter require intensive care unit (ICU) admission. Profound hypoxemic respiratory failure from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS)... read more

Virus-Induced Changes of the Respiratory Tract Environment Promote Secondary Infections

Secondary bacterial infections enhance the disease burden of influenza infections substantially. Streptococcus pneumoniae (the pneumococcus) plays a major role in the synergism between bacterial and viral pathogens, which... read more

ICU-specific Virtual Reality for Psychological Recovery After ICU COVID-19 Treatment

A substantial number of ICU survivors are expected due to the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, who are at risk for psychological impairments, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression. We designed a COVID-19... read more

Prone Position in Intubated, Mechanically Ventilated COVID-19 Patients

During the COVID-19 pandemic, prone position has been widely adopted to treat mechanically ventilated patients with respiratory failure. The majority of patients improved their oxygenation during prone position, most likely... read more

Effects of Ventilatory Rescue Therapies on the Cerebral Oxygenation of COVID-19 Patients

A new study by Masimo published in Critical Care evaluated the impact of a variety of rescue therapies on the systemic and cerebral oxygenation of mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients suffering from acute respiratory... read more

Effect of intubation timing on clinical outcomes of critically ill patients with COVID-19

The synthesized evidence suggests that timing of intubation may have no effect on mortality and morbidity of critically ill patients with COVID-19. These results might justify a wait-and-see approach, which may lead to fewer... read more

Could Physical Therapy Interventions Be Adopted in the Management of Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19?

As part of COVID-19 consequences, it has been estimated that 5% of patients affected by this disease will require admission to the intensive care unit (ICU), and physical therapy techniques have been implemented in patients... read more

People with long-COVID at high risk of ongoing mental health issues

People living with long-COVID are at significant risk of experiencing depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to research published in the European Respiratory Journal. The research is one of the... read more

Drug Treatments for COVID-19

Corticosteroids and interleukin-6 inhibitors probably confer important benefits in patients with severe covid-19. Janus kinase inhibitors appear to have promising benefits, but certainty is low. Azithromycin, hydroxychloroquine,... read more

On Cytokines, Fluvoxamine and COVID-19

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, the role of ‘cytokine storm’ in patients with severe course was raised. Indeed, this triggered multiple investigations centred around calming excessive inflammation with pharmacotherapies... read more

COVID-19 vaccines effective for pregnant women, likely protect their babies too

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are extremely effective at protecting pregnant and lactating women against the virus, and likely provide protection for their babies as well, according to a study published March 25 in the American... read more

Vaccine-Induced Prothrombotic Immune Thrombocytopenia After AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccination

The United Kingdom, European Union, and Scandinavian countries have reported that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine appears to be associated with rare cases of serious blood clots, including blood clots in the brain. These... read more

NeuroRx Announced Completion of Data Analysis for COVID-19 Treatment Respiratory Failure

NeuroRx, Inc. announced completion of top line data analysis of the 60-day results in its phase 2b/3 clinical trial, conducted under FDA Fast Track Designation, of ZYESAMI™ (aviptadil acetate) for the treatment of critically-ill... read more

Effect of Helmet Noninvasive Ventilation vs. High-Flow Nasal Oxygen in Patients with COVID-19

Among patients with COVID-19 and moderate to severe hypoxemia, treatment with helmet noninvasive ventilation, compared with high-flow nasal oxygen, resulted in no significant difference in the number of days free of respiratory... read more

SARS-CoV Replication-transcription Complex Can Initiate RNA Synthesis

How viruses from the Coronaviridae family initiate viral RNA synthesis is unknown. Here we show that the SARS-CoV-1 and −2 Nidovirus RdRp-Associated Nucleotidyltransferase (NiRAN) domain on nsp12 uridylates the viral cofactor... read more

COVID-19 Infects Mouth Cells

Scientists have shown that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, can infect specific cells in the salivary gland in the mouth. The study by researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute, National Institutes of Health... read more

Correlation Between COVID-19 Mortality and Autoantibodies in Patients Treated with Corticosteroids

Auto-reactivity in COVID-19 is increasingly being recognized and may identify a group of patients with inflammation severe enough to result in loss of self-tolerance. Corticosteroids are potent anti-inflammatory agents and... read more

Can Ultrasound Predict Histologic Pattern of Lung Injury in COVID‑19 patient?

We have read with great interest the study by de Almeida Monteiro et al. recently published in Intensive Care Medicine, where authors studied the relationship between histopathological data and lung ultrasonographic (LUS)... read more

An overview of the current AstraZeneca vaccine situation in Europe

On Thursday, March 11, 2021, Denmark suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine (developed in collaboration with the University of Oxford) completely. Some other European countries followed suit. This prompted an investigation... read more

Increased risk of mortality in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern 202012/1

We started estimating the SARS-CoV-2 reproduction number in the UK using Public Health England data in March 2020, contributing to the Scientific Pandemic Influenza Modelling subgroup (SPI-M) weekly consensus estimates. In... read more

The Influence of Airflow Via High-Flow Nasal Cannula on Duration of Laryngeal Vestibule Closure

The purpose of this experimental study was to investigate the influence of airflow via high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) on the duration of laryngeal vestibule closure (dLVC) and Penetration-Aspiration Scale (PAS) scores. 29... read more

Outcomes and Risk Factors Associated with COVID-19 Infection of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

In this registry-based cross-sectional study, increased disability was independently associated with worse clinical severity including death from COVID-19. Other risk factors for worse outcomes included older age, Black race,... read more