Insights from examination of hearts from adults dying suddenly to the understanding of congenital cardiac malformations

Congenital heart disease is a rare but important finding in adults who experience sudden death. Examination of the congenitally malformed heart has historically been considered esoteric and best left to those with expertise. The Cardiac Risk in the Young cardiovascular pathology laboratory based at St George's University of London has now received over 6,000 cases. Of these, 21 congenitally malformed hearts were retained for research and educational purposes. Hearts were assessed using sequential segmental analysis, and causes of death were adjudicated based on thorough macroscopic examination and histology. Congenital malformations that were encountered included atrial septal defects, ventricular septal defects, tetralogy of Fallot, and transposition of the great arteries in both its regular and congenitally corrected variants. Findings also included hearts with mirror-imaged and isomeric atrial appendages. Direct causes of death included myocardial fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, and hemorrhage. A small but notable proportion did not reveal a substrate for arrhythmia, raising the question of whether the terminal event was due to the congenital heart disease itself, or an underlying channelopathy. Here, we demonstrate the value of simple sequential segmental analysis in describing and categorizing the cases, with the concept of the “morphological method” serving to identify the distinguishing features of the cardiac components. Clin. Anat. 33:394–404, 2020. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Pharmacy in transition: A work sampling study of community pharmacists using smartphone technology

Introduction

The nature of community pharmacy is changing, shifting from the preparation and distribution of medicines to the provision of cognitive pharmaceutical services (CPS); however, often the provision of traditional services leaves little time for innovative services. This study investigated the time community pharmacists spend on the tasks and activities of daily practice and to what extent they are able to implement CPS-related services in daily practice.

Low-dose hydrocortisone in patients with COVID-19 and severe hypoxia (COVID STEROID) trial—Protocol and statistical analysis plan

Introduction

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 has caused a pandemic of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) with many patients developing hypoxic respiratory failure. Corticosteroids reduce the time on mechanical ventilation, length of stay in the intensive care unit and potentially also mortality in similar patient populations. However, corticosteroids have undesirable effects, including longer time to viral clearance. Clinical equipoise on the use of corticosteroids for COVID-19 exists.

Methods

The COVID STEROID trial is an international, randomised, stratified, blinded clinical trial. We will allocate 1000 adult patients with COVID-19 receiving ≥10 L/min of oxygen or on mechanical ventilation to intravenous hydrocortisone 200 mg daily vs placebo (0.9% saline) for 7 days. The primary outcome is days alive without life support (ie mechanical ventilation, circulatory support, and renal replacement therapy) at day 28. Secondary outcomes are serious adverse reactions at day 14; days alive without life support at day 90; days alive and out of hospital at day 90; all-cause mortality at day 28, day 90, and 1 year; and health-related quality of life at 1 year. We will conduct the statistical analyses according to this protocol, including interim analyses for every 250 patients followed for 28 days. The primary outcome will be compared using the Kryger Jensen and Lange test in the intention to treat population and reported as differences in means and medians with 95% confidence intervals.

Discussion

The COVID STEROID trial will provide important evidence to guide the use of corticosteroids in COVID-19 and severe hypoxia.

     

Comparison of the practicability of ultrasound and spiral computed tomography in the diagnosis of colon cancer: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background:Colon cancer is a common malignant tumor of the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, a clear diagnosis is particularly important for the treatment of colon cancer. Ultrasound and spiral computed tomography (CT) can both be used in the diagnosis, but each has its own advantages and disadvantages, which could cause confusion in clinical choice. The purpose of this study was to systematically evaluate the practicability of spiral CT and ultrasound in the diagnosis of colon cancer.Methods:A systematic search was performed by retrieving on English databases (PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library) and Chinese databases (CNKI, Wanfang, Weipu [VIP], CBM). Besides, manually search for Google and Baidu academic of diagnostic experimental study of ultrasound and spiral CT in the diagnosis of Colon Cancer. The retrieval time limit was from the establishment of the database to October 2020. Two researchers independently extracted and evaluated the quality of the data in the included study. A meta-analysis was performed using Meta Disc1.4 and RevMan5.3 software.Results:Sensitivity, specificity, positive Likelihood ratio, negative likelihood ratio, and diagnostic odds ratio were used to determine the diagnostic efficacy of ultrasonography and helical CT in colorectal cancer.Conclusions:This study will compare the practicability of CT and ultrasound in the diagnosis of colon cancer and provide reliable evidence-based basis for clinicians to choose the appropriate or best evidence-based basis.Ethics and dissemination:The private information from individuals will not be published. This systematic review also will not involve endangering participant rights. Ethical approval is not required. The results may be published in a peer-reviewed journal or disseminated in relevant conferences.OSF Registration number:DOI 10.17605/OSF.IO/WAJHQ     

Revisiting the Hydrogen Storage Behavior of the Na-O-H System

Solid-state reactions between sodium hydride and sodium hydroxide are unusual among hydride-hydroxide systems since hydrogen can be stored reversibly. In order to understand the relationship between hydrogen uptake/release properties and phase/structure evolution, the dehydrogenation and hydrogenation behavior of the Na-O-H system has been investigated in detail both ex- and in-situ. Simultaneous thermogravimetric-differential thermal analysis coupled to mass spectrometry (TG-DTA-MS) experiments of NaH-NaOH composites reveal two principal features: Firstly, an H₂ desorption event occurring between 240 and 380 °C and secondly an additional endothermic process at around 170 °C with no associated weight change. In-situ high-resolution synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction showed that NaOH appears to form a solid solution with NaH yielding a new cubic complex hydride phase below 200 °C. The Na-H-OH phase persists up to the maximum temperature of the in-situ diffraction experiment shortly before dehydrogenation occurs. The present work suggests that not only is the inter-phase synergic interaction of protic hydrogen (in NaOH) and hydridic hydrogen (in NaH) important in the dehydrogenation mechanism, but that also an intra-phase H^δ+… H^δ– interaction may be a crucial step in the desorption process.