Efficacy of therapeutic plasma exchange in the treatment of Penn class 3 and 4 cytokine release syndrome complicating COVID-19

Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) is a potentially severe complication of COVID-19 most commonly resulting in respiratory failure. The study was designed to determine the efficacy of therapeutic plasma exchange (TPE) in improving oxygenation and in reducing the cytokine load in a critically ill subset of patients. All patients demonstrated significant reductions in CRP, IL-6, and IL-10, and TNFα. In the majority of patients with Penn class 3 and 4 CRS complicating COVID-19, TPE demonstrated an imp

Airborne spread of infectious SARS-CoV-Moving forward using lessons from SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV

An increasing body of data reports the detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in the air. This does not correlate to the presence of infectious viruses, thus not evaluating the risk for airborne COVID-19. Temperatures ranging from 20 °C to 25 °C and relative humidity ranging from 40% to 50% were reported to have a protective effect on viral viability. Further studies are needed to investigate the extent of aerosol transmission of SARS-CoV-2 as this would have important implications for public health and in

Effectiveness, safety, and acceptability of medical abortion at home versus in the clinic: a systematic review and meta-analysis in response to COVID-19

Home-based medical abortion is defined as abortion where mifepristone, misoprostol, or both medications are taken at home. 19 studies were included with 11 576 women seeking abortion up to 9 weeks gestation. Neither the RCTs nor the found any difference between home-based and clinic-based administration of medical abortion. This evidence should be used to expand women's abortion options and ensure access to abortion for women during COVID-19 and beyond.

Nucleic acid amplification tests on respiratory samples for the diagnosis of coronavirus infections: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Management and control of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) rely on reliable diagnostic testing. Evaluation of diagnostic test accuracy of nucleic acid amplification tests for the diagnosis of coronavirus infections. On average 10% of patients with coronavirus infections might be missed with sequencing. Real-time RT-PCR and tests targeting the N or S gene or more than one gene showed higher sensitivity. Variables affecting sensitivity and specificity can be used for test selection and developm

Maternal clinical characteristics and perinatal outcomes among pregnant women with coronavirus disease 2019. A systematic review

Maternal and perinatal outcomes in COVID-19-positive pregnant women. The study looked for articles in all languages on the SARS-CoV-2 infection in pregnant women. In 322 infected pregnant women, the most frequent maternal comorbidity was obesity (24.2%) Thirty patients (10.3%) with COVID-19-related complications required intensive care. Maternal clinical characteristics of COVID-19-positive pregnant women include frequently fever and cough. Iatrogenic preterm birth is the main adverse obstetric

Evaluation of the Truvian Easy Check COVID-19 IgM/IgG Lateral Flow Device for Rapid Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Antibody Detection

Serologic assays have become increasingly available for surveillance through the Food and Drug Administration emergency use authorization in the ongoing COVID-19 global pandemic. Easy Check device was analytically evaluated and its performance was compared with the Roche Elecsys anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody. The Easy Check device is a simple, reliable, and rapid test for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity.

Ravaging SARS-CoV-2: rudimentary diagnosis and puzzling immunological responses

In December 2019, the first COVID-19 case, caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was reported in Wuhan, China.

False negative rate of COVID-19 PCR testing: a discordant testing analysis

COVID-19 is diagnosed via detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA using real time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (rtRT-PCR) Performance of many Sars-Cov-2 rtRT- PCR assays is not entirely known due to the lack of a gold standard.

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