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  • Strange Reeves posted an update 6 days, 22 hours ago

    Background Outbreaks of COVID-19 have been reported in nursing homes and assisted living facilities; however, the extent of asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection in this high-risk population remains unclear. Methods We conducted an investigation of the first known outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 at a skilled nursing facility (SNF) in Illinois on March 15, 2020 and followed residents for 30 days. We tested 126/127 residents for SARS-CoV-2 via RT-PCR and performed symptom assessments. We calculated the point prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 and assessed symptom onset over 30-day follow-up to determine 1) the proportion of cases who were symptomatic, pre-symptomatic, and asymptomatic and 2) incidence of symptoms among those who tested negative. We used the Kaplan-Meier method to determine the 30-day probability of death for cases. Results Of 126 residents tested, 33 had confirmed SARS-CoV-2 on March 15. Nineteen (58%) had symptoms at the time of testing, 1 (3%) developed symptoms over follow-up, and 13 (39%) remained asymptomatic. Thirty-five residents who tested negative on March 15 developed symptoms over follow-up; of these, 3 were re-tested and 2 were positive. The 30-day probability of death among cases was 29%. Conclusions SNFs are particularly vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2, and residents are at risk of severe outcomes. Attention must be paid to preventing outbreaks in these and other congregate care settings. Widespread testing and infection control are key to help prevent COVID-19 morbidity and mortality in these high-risk populations.Objective To determine the impact of a graphical information display on diagnosing circulatory shock. Materials and methods This was an experimental study comparing integrated and conventional information displays. Participants were intensivists or critical care fellows (experts) and first-year medical residents (novices). Results The integrated display was associated with higher performance (87% vs 82%; P less then .001), less time (2.9 vs 3.5 min; P = .008), and more accurate etiology (67% vs 54%; P = .048) compared to the conventional display. When stratified by experience, novice physicians using the integrated display had higher performance (86% vs 69%; P less then .001), less time (2.9 vs 3.7 min; P = .03), and more accurate etiology (65% vs 42%; P = .02); expert physicians using the integrated display had nonsignificantly improved performance (87% vs 82%; P = .09), time (2.9 vs 3.3; P = .28), and etiology (69% vs 67%; P = .81). Discussion The integrated display appeared to support efficient information processing, which resulted in more rapid and accurate circulatory shock diagnosis. Scriptaid in vivo Evidence more strongly supported a difference for novices, suggesting that graphical displays may help reduce expert-novice performance gaps.Accurate, rapid and selective reversed phase ultra-performance liquid chromatography method with UV detection has been established and validated for the synchronous determination of aceclofenac (ACE) and diacerin (DIA) in the occurrence of diclofenac sodium and rhein, their main degradation products, respectively. Chromatographic separation was accomplished using Inertsil C-18 column (50 × 2.1 mm i.d., 1.7 μm particle size) in isocratic mode, with mobile phase consisting of 20 mM ammonium acetate bufferacetonitrile in the ratio of 4258 (v/v), pH adjusted to 3.00 by using 10% acetic acid, the flow rate of 0.25 mL/min and UV detection was performed at 265 nm. The retention times were 2.00 +/- 0.24, 2.69 +/- 0.19, 4.00 +/- 0.23 and 5.24 +/- 0.25 min for DIA, rhein, ACE and diclofenac sodium, respectively. Excellent linearity was shown over a range of 1.0-150.0 μg/mL and 0.5-87.5 μg/mL with mean percentage recoveries of 98.87 ± 1.19 and 98.84 ± 1.08 for ACE and DIA, respectively. Parameters of precision and accuracy of the method meet the established criteria. The obtained RSD values were quite low and indicate good reproducibility of the method. Thus, the developed method can be used for the combined dosage form analysis and its chemical stability studies.Neuronal hyperexcitability has emerged as a potential biomarker of late-onset early-stage Alzheimer’s disease (LEAD). We hypothesize that the aging-related posterior cortical hyperexcitability anticipates the loss of excitability with the emergence of impairment in LEAD. To test this hypothesis, we compared the behavioral and neurophysiological responses of young and older (ON) normal adults, and LEAD patients during a visuospatial attentional control task. ONs show frontal cortical signal incoherence and posterior cortical hyper-responsiveness with preserved attentional control. LEADs lose the posterior hyper-responsiveness and fail in the attentional task. Our findings suggest that signal incoherence and cortical hyper-responsiveness in aging may contribute to the development of functional impairment in LEAD.Aims The COMPARE trial showed a small but significant beneficial effect of 3-year losartan treatment on aortic root dilatation rate in adults with Marfan syndrome (MFS). However, no significant effect was found on clinical endpoints, possibly due to a short follow-up period. The aim of the current study was therefore to investigate the long-term clinical outcomes after losartan treatment. Methods and results In the original COMPARE study (inclusion 2008-2009), adult patients with MFS (n = 233) were randomly allocated to either the angiotensin-II receptor blocker losartan® on top of regular treatment (β-blockers in 71% of the patients) or no additional medication. After the COMPARE trial period of 3 years, study subjects chose to continue their losartan medication or not. In a median follow-up period of 8 years, 75 patients continued losartan medication, whereas 78 patients, originally allocated to the control group, never used losartan after inclusion. No differences existed between baseline characteristics oelective aortic root replacement 10 vs. 13, P = 0.264; reoperation 1 vs. 2, P = 0.463; vascular graft implantations beyond the aortic root 0 vs. 3, P = 0.071; and composite endpoint 14 vs. 26, P = 0.019). These results remained similar when corrected for age and β-blocker use in a multivariate analysis. Conclusion These results suggest a clinical benefit of combined losartan and β-blocker treatment in patients with MFS.