An automated, online triage tool developed by Penn Medicine categorized nearly every one of the patients who used it into a safe severity level, a new study shows. Published today in Applied Clinical Informatics, the study analyzing the COVID-19 Triage Tool found that just six patients of the 782 analyzed had symptoms that were more severe than what the system assessed. But even in those cases, clinicians working alongside the system were able to upgrade the patients’ assessment to the proper level of severity and attention.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Among the populations most significantly affected by COVID-19 are the elderly and patients with preexisting medical conditions including diabetes, hypertension, obesity, metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and chronic lung diseases like COPD and asthma.

Around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an increased demand for single-use plastics such as face masks, gloves, and face shields. The resulting waste, some of which ends up in rivers and oceans, is intensifying pressure on an already out-of-control global plastic problem. While many researchers suspect there will be a massive influx of COVID-related mismanaged plastic waste, a new study is the first to project the magnitude and fate of the waste in the oceans.

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) today announced its investigational novel COVID-19 oral antiviral candidate,PAXLOVID™, significantly reduced hospitalization and death, based on an interim analysis of the Phase 2/3 EPIC-HR (Evaluation of Protease Inhibition for COVID-19 in High-Risk Patients) randomized, double-blind study of non-hospitalized adult patients with COVID-19, who are at high risk of progressing to severe illness. The scheduled interim analysis showed an 89% reduction in risk of COVID-19-related hospitalization or death from any cause compared to placebo in patients treated within three days of symptom onset (primary endpoint); 0.8% of patients who received PAXLOVID™ were hospitalized through Day 28 following randomization (3/389 hospitalized with no deaths), compared to 7.0% of patients who received placebo and were hospitalized or died (27/385 hospitalized with 7 subsequent deaths).

The antiviral was found to be safe and effective following a stringent review of the available evidence. The antiviral Lagevrio (molnupiravir) is safe and effective at reducing the risk of hospitalisation and death in people with mild to moderate COVID-19 who are at increased risk of developing severe disease, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) announced today.

For the first time, researchers at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have successfully used a new X-ray method for respiratory diagnostics with patients. Dark-field X-rays visualize early changes in the alveolar structure caused by the lung disease COPD and require only one fiftieth of the radiation dose typically applied in X-ray computed tomography. This permits broad medical application in early detection and treatment follow-up of respiratory ailments.

Scientists temporarily attached a pig's kidney to a human body and watched it begin to work, a small step in the decades-long quest to one day use animal organs for life-saving transplants.

Pigs have been the most recent research focus to address the organ shortage, but among the hurdles: A sugar in pig cells, foreign to the human body, causes immediate organ rejection. The kidney for this experiment came from a gene-edited animal, engineered to eliminate that sugar and avoid an immune system attack.

Pittsburgh, Pa. (Ivanhoe Newswire)—With the COVID Delta variant fueling hospitalizations again, doctors are continuing to weigh the best treatments for seriously ill patients. A newly published study suggests that for some patients, a full dose of a blood thinner may improve their chances of avoiding a ventilator. Heparin

In current cardiac surgery practice, most operative procedures are performed on cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Additionally, even those surgical procedures planned as ´off-pump´ will at times utilize CPB as a backup if needed. The processes of initiating (´going on´) CPB, maintaining adequate perfusion and oxygenation during CPB (´on pump´), and terminating (´coming off´) CPB involve intricate balances between the cardiac surgical, perfusion, and anesthesia teams. Each of these stages presents the potential for catastrophe if not appropriately controlled and clear communication is not part of routine practice. While some may view the anesthetist´s role as extraneous while on CPB, Steven Bartels and Kathirvel Subramaniam (Pittsburgh/USA) focus on the anesthetist´s role and problems from the anesthetist´s perspective and within their realm regarding patients on CPB. The detailed review appeared in the new textbook "Extracorporeal Circulation in Theory and Practice" (edited by Rudolf Tschaut et al.).

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Business Psychology: What is a specific Indian perspective on leadership? Professor Dr. Subhash Sharma (Bangalore) answers in "Wirtschaftspsychologie" Nr. 3/2021:

The leader improves the managerial effectiveness in a self evolution model. "At level one is the selfish gene model, at level two it is self-interest, level three self-actualisation, level four is self-ethicalization and level five self-realisation. The idea of selfish gene rooted in biology, self-interest in economics, self-actualisation in psychology (Maslow´s idea), self-ethicalization in ethics literature - and self-realisation is rooted in spirituality.