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Background: The aim of the study was to investigate the clinical outcomes and rate of virus detection in neonates born to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-positive mothers. Methods: This prospective study included neonates born to SARS-CoV-2-positive mothers, documenting their viral polymerase chain reaction results and clinical outcomes. Results: Of the 130 neonates born to 122 SARS-CoV-2-positive mothers, 12% tested positive. Most (62%) neonates were delivered via cesarean section at an average gestational age of 36 weeks, with a birth weight of 2,900 g. Only 38% neonates required admission. SARS-CoV-2-positive infants were born at a significantly lower gestational age; had a significantly lower birth weight; and had significantly higher admission rates, surfactant therapy, and bradycardia than SARS-CoV-2-negative infants. There was no significant difference in mortality rates. Conclusion: This study documents perinatal transmission of SARS-CoV-2. It reports for the first time the occurrence of neonatal bradycardia as a complication of maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection. Despite that, neonates born to SARS-CoV-2-positive mothers had relatively good short-term outcomes. J Clin Med Res. 2021;13(8):420-424 doi: https://doi.org/10.14740/jocmr4578

Abdominal pain is a common cause of emergency department visits. It often poses a diagnostic challenge for physicians given the broad spectrum of its possible medical and surgical etiologies. We report the case of a 32-year-old man who presented to the emergency department with a complaint of lower abdominal pain for one week. Abdominal examination revealed suprapubic mass and tenderness. Laboratory investigation revealed elevated leukocyte count and inflammatory markers. An abdominal ultrasound examination showed a collection with poorly defined borders. Additionally, CT demonstrated a soft tissue mass adjacent to the anterior abdominal wall with an upward track to the umbilicus, conferring the diagnosis of a urachal abscess. The patient underwent successful management of the abscess with surgical excision. This case highlights the importance for clinicians to be aware of congenital urachal anomalies since early recognition of the urachal cyst is essential to determine the proper surgical management.

Purpose Several studies have demonstrated the diagnostic yield of medical thoracoscopy (pleuroscopy) in making the diagnosis of malignant pleural effusion (MPE). No previous studies, however, have reported long-term outcomes for patients undergoing diagnostic pleuroscopy in whom no malignancy was demonstrated either with cytologic examination of pleural fluid or pathologic examination of thoracoscope-guided pleural biopsies. We report the results of long-term follow-up (at least 3 y) of patients with the diagnosis of nonmalignant pleural effusions (NMPEs) after pleuroscopy. Methods One hundred and nineteen patients underwent the procedure between 1994 and 2003 at Lahey Clinic. We report a retrospective review of 25 of those patients diagnosed with NMPE after diagnostic pleuroscopy. All 25 patients underwent thoracoscopic pleural biopsy and cytologic examination of the effusion. Outcomes were assessed using review of the medical records, appointment scheduler, social security death index, and/or telephone conversation with primary care providers. Results Mean age±SD was 68 years (range, 34 to 87 y). Median survival time was estimated at 114 months. Concomitant illness was also evaluated: 40% (n=10) diabetes, 64% (n=16) coronary artery disease, 40% (n=10) congestive heart failure, 20% (n=5) liver disease, 20% (n=5) renal disease, and 36% (n=9) pulmonary disease. Final diagnoses after pleuroscopy most commonly included chronic pleuritis (n=7) and pleural plaques (n=5). Survival was found at 1 year to be 88% (22/25), 3 years 80% (20/25), and 5 years 74.7% (19/25). None of the 25 patients developed subsequent MPE. Conclusions Patients with NMPE after pleuroscopy have a favorable prognosis and are unlikely to be subsequently diagnosed with an MPE.

This prospective study investigated the important epidemiologic aspects of Clostridium difficile infections (CDIs) among Jordanian adult hospitalized patients. A total of 300 stool specimens were investigated using culture and polymerase chain reaction methods for detection of C difficile, its toxins, and fluoroquinolone resistance. C difficile-positive cultures were found in 13.7% of the patients, and 73% of the isolates carried tcdA and/or tcdB toxin genes, and all C difficile isolates were negative for binary toxin. The isolates showed moderate level of resistance to both ciprofloxacin and levofloxacin, whereas metronidazole and vancomycin were highly susceptible. This study indicates the need for early detection of CDIs and prevention of its severe disease in hospitalized patients.

A 42-year-old woman was hospitalized with fever and hypoxemia. The workup for fever was unrevealing. A computed tomographic scan of the chest showed centrilobular, small, nodular opacities throughout both the lung fields. A flexible bronchoscopy with transbronchial biopsy was performed. Pathology specimens consisted of intravascular foreign material with birefringent properties suggestive of microcrystalline cellulose. It was later determined that the patient was self-injecting herself with crushed pill fragments through a tunneled central venous catheter. The central venous catheter was removed and fever resolved.

International audience; Heavy ions having interesting properties as Bragg's peak require an important energy in order to attain a deep tumor. At intermediate and relativist energies, fragmentation reactions occur throughout their path and produce fragments lighter than the projectile. Consequently, the product fragments give a residual dose beyond the Bragg peak. For these reasons, the interesting ions in radiotherapy of cancer converge toward heavy - light ions (C - Ne). Moreover, for a better treatment safety, it is envisaged also to use beta((+)) transmitting radioactive ion beams. This allows to provide the picture of the really irradiated volume by using a positon camera. In this context, our works essentially is concentrated on production rates and cross sections calculations for nucleus products in the fragmentation of ((12))C at 95 MeV/u and ((13))C at 75 MeV/u.

IPNO-DRE 96-18; An ongoing program is developed using the GANIL facilities in order to determine the experimental yields for secondary beams produced through projectile fragmentation. In this work, an experimental systematics for all the isotope detected in the peripheral collisions of 95 MeV/u 36Ar ions with various targets covering a wide range of atomic numbers (Be, Ni, Ta) is presented. A short comparison with the theoretical perdictions given by two usual numeric codes (LISE and INTENSITY) is also given.

Background A case-control study was conducted to identify the possible risk factors for acute respiratory failure in patients undergoing bronchoscopy. We also aimed to estimate the financial costs incurred in the care of high-risk patients. Methods All hypoxic respiratory complications that occurred during bronchoscopy between January 2005 and March 2009 were reviewed. Mild hypoxia was defined as the need for up to 6 L of nasal cannula, moderate hypoxia as requiring up to 100% nonrebreather face mask, and severe hypoxia requiring intubation and mechanical ventilation to maintain pulse oximetry above 90%. The Wilcoxon 2-sample test was used to compare continuous groups. Categorical variables were assessed using χ(2), Fischer exact, and Kruskal-Wallis tests. We calculated the cost of medical care for patients admitted to the intensive care unit after bronchoscopy. Results During our study period, 26 patients were reported to have hypoxia with bronchoscopy. The mean age for our study group was 66.1 years, and body mass index 26.1 kg/m(2) (SD, 7.6). The study group's mean albumin was 2.9 g/dL (SD, 0.6) compared with 3.3 g/dL (SD, 0.7, P=0.0019), the study group's hematocrit was 32.4% (SD, 5.7) compared with 37.9% (SD, 5.5, P=0.0241), the study group's forced expiratory volume to forced vital capacity ratio ratio was 65.0 (SD, 15.8) compared with 78.0 (SD, 18.8, P=0.0133), and the study group's forced expiratory volume was 59.5% compared with 71.2% (P=0.0606). The study group's mean pCO(2) was 53.7 mm Hg (SD, 18.6). Six patients required intensive care unit admission after bronchoscopy and the total cost of care for this group was $80,353. Conclusions Prescreening of selected patients may reduce respiratory failure and possibly the total cost of medical care.