AI used to screen existing drugs, compounds for use against COVID-19
Editor's Note Exscientia (Oxford, UK) has announced a joint initiative with Diamond Light Source (Oxforshire, UK) and Calibr (La Jolla, California), a division ofย Scripps Research, to use its artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery platform to identify compounds that could become viable drugs for treatment of COVID-19, the April 2…
New algorithm for PPE use aims to protect OR teams from COVID-19 virus
Editor's Note In this study, researchers from Stanford University create an algorithm to protect OR teams who perform urgent and emergency surgical procedures from the coronavirus and rationally conserve the personal protective equipment (PPE) they wear. Incuded in the decision tree algorithm: Patients were triaged by severity of illness into…
CDC begins weekly COVID-19 surveillance report
Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) announced April 3 that it is modifying existing surveillance systems to track COVID-19 and will be posting weekly reports each Friday. The report, โCOVIDView,โ summarizes and interprets key indicators, including information related to COVID-19 outpatient visits, emergency department visits, hospitalizations,…
Early transmission dynamics in coronavirus-infected pneumonia patients
Editor's Note Human-to-human transmission of novel coronavirus (2019-nCOV)-infected pneumonia (NCIP) has been occurring among close contacts since the middle of December 2019, with the initial cases in Wuhan, China, and the epidemic has been gradually growing in recent weeks, this study finds. Researchers analyzed the first 425 patients with confirmed…
Case series of critically ill COVID-19 patients in Seattle
Editor's Note During the first 3 weeks of the COVID-19 outbreak in the Seattle area, the most common reasons for ICU admission were hypoxemic respiratory failure leading to mechanical ventilation and/or hypotension requiring vasopressor treatment, and mortality was high in these critically ill patients, this study finds. In this analysis…
Joint Commission issues statement on face masks from home
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on March 31 issued a statement saying it supports letting healthcare staff bring their own standard face masks or respirators from home when their facilities cannot provide access to protective equipment that is equivalent to their exposure risk, during the COVID-19 pandemic. In taking this…
ACS issues statement on PPE shortages
Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS) on April 2 issued a statement on shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE), including face masks, gowns, and respirators, during the COVID pandemic. ACS says it believes it is essential that surgeons, nurses, anesthesiologists, and other healthcare personnel speak freely, without fear…
Study: AI predicts which COVID-19 patients will develop severe respiratory disease
Editor's Note In this study, researchers from NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University, in partnership with Wenzhou Central Hospital and Cangnan Peopleโs Hospital in Wenzhou, China, developed an artificial intelligence (AI) framework that accurately predicted which patients newly infected with…
Hospitals redeploy surgical specialists to front lines to fight COVID-19
Editor's Note Specialists like cardiac and orthopedic surgical teams as well as anesthesiologists and cardiologists are being redeployed in hospitals to help treat the rising number of COVID-19 patients, the March 30 Modern Healthcare reports. What used to be the heart team at Manhattanโs Mount Sinai Morningside is now a…
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