Canadian Adaptive Platform Trial of Treatments for COVID in Community Settings (CanTreatCOVID): protocol for a randomised controlled adaptive platform trial of treatments for acute SARS-CoV-2 infection in community settings.

Introduction: SARS-CoV-2 is now endemic and expected to remain a health threat, with new variants continuing to emerge and the potential for vaccines to become less effective. While effective vaccines and natural immunity have significantly reduced hospitalisations and the need for critical care, outpatient treatment options remain limited, and real-world evidence on their clinical and cost-effectiveness is lacking. In this paper, we present the design of the Canadian Adaptive Platform Trial of Treatments for COVID in Community Settings (CanTreatCOVID).

Therapeutic-dose heparin combined with antiplatelets in noncritically ill patients with COVID-19: a secondary analysis of a multiplatform randomized controlled trial.

Background: Therapeutic-dose heparin improves outcomes in noncritically ill patients hospitalized for COVID-19. The effect of antiplatelet exposure in addition to therapeutic-dose heparin is unknown.

Objectives: To evaluate the effect of antiplatelet exposure in addition to therapeutic-dose heparin on survival without organ support.

Identifying heterogeneity of treatment effect for antibiotic duration in bloodstream infection: an exploratory post-hoc analysis of the BALANCE randomised clinical trial.

Background: The BALANCE trial demonstrated non-inferiority of 7 (vs 14) day antibiotic durations in patients with uncomplicated non- bacterial bloodstream infections (BSI). However, there may be patient subgroups who benefit from longer durations. We aimed to evaluate if bedside clinical decision rules could identify these subgroups.

Antibiotic Treatment for 7 versus 14 Days in Patients with Bloodstream Infections.

Background: Bloodstream infections are associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Early, appropriate antibiotic therapy is important, but the duration of treatment is uncertain.

Methods: In a multicenter, noninferiority trial, we randomly assigned hospitalized patients (including patients in the intensive care unit [ICU]) who had bloodstream infection to receive antibiotic treatment for 7 days or 14 days.

Supportive care strategies in myelodysplastic syndromes and acute myeloid leukemia in older adults: a national survey of Canadian hematologists.

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are severe myeloid disorders associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Because of patient and disease factors, many older adults are treated as outpatients with less-intensive therapy. Optimal supportive care strategies to minimize bleeding and infectious complications in this patient population have not been systematically evaluated.

The Adequacy of Current Legionnaires' Disease Diagnostic Practices in Capturing the Epidemiology of Clinically Relevant : A Scoping Review.

is an underdiagnosed and underreported etiology of pneumonia. serogroup 1 (LpSG1) is thought to be the most common pathogenic subgroup. This assumption is based on the frequent use of a urinary antigen test (UAT), only capable of diagnosing LpSG1.

Heparin Dose Intensity and Organ Support-Free Days in Patients Hospitalized for COVID-19.

Background: Clinical trials suggest that therapeutic-dose heparin may prevent critical illness and vascular complications due to COVID-19, but knowledge gaps exist regarding the efficacy of therapeutic heparin including its comparative effect relative to intermediate-dose anticoagulation.

Objectives: The authors performed 2 complementary secondary analyses of a completed randomized clinical trial: 1) a prespecified per-protocol analysis; and 2) an exploratory dose-based analysis to compare the effect of therapeutic-dose heparin with low- and intermediate-dose heparin.

Methods: Patients who received initial anticoagulation dosed consistently with randomization were included.

Nephrostomy Tube Versus Ureteral Stent for Obstructing Septic Calculi: A Nationwide Propensity Score-matched Analysis.

Background: Sepsis secondary to obstructive uropathy is a urological emergency that requires urgent decompression using placement of a percutaneous nephrostomy tube (PCN) or retrograde ureteric stent (RUS). Whether selection of PCN or RUS impacts mortality remains uncertain.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis using the 2006-2014 Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) of 34,009 patients with sepsis and obstructive uropathy who were treated with RUS or PCN.

Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Cardiac Society turnkey order set for surgical-site infection prevention: Proceedings from the American Association for Thoracic Surgery ERAS Conclave 2023.

Objectives: Surgical-site infections (SSIs) after cardiac surgery increase morbidity and mortality, consume health care resources, impair recovery, and diminish patients' quality of life. Numerous guidelines and expert consensus documents have been published to address the prevention and management of SSIs. Our objective is to integrate these documents into an order set that will facilitate the adoption and implementation of evidence-based best practices for preventing and managing SSIs after cardiac surgery.

Disparities in access to and timing of interventional therapies for pulmonary embolism across the United States.

Background: Interventional therapies (ITs) are an emerging treatment modality for pulmonary embolism (PE); however, the degree of racial, sex-based, and sociodemographic disparities in access and timing is unknown.

Objectives: To investigate barriers to access and timing of ITs for PE across the United States.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study utilizing the Nationwide Inpatient Sample from 2016-2020 included adult patients with PE.

Outcomes with severe pulmonary coccidioidomycosis and respiratory failure in the United States.

Background: Coccidioidomycosis is a fungal infection with presentations ranging from asymptomatic illness to severe pneumonia and respiratory failure. The outcomes of patients with severe pulmonary coccidioidomycosis requiring mechanical ventilation (MV) are not well understood.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort analysis utilizing the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) from 2006 to 2017.

Low-dose trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole for the treatment of pneumonia (LOW-TMP): protocol for a phase III randomised, placebo-controlled, dose-comparison trial.

Introduction: pneumonia (PJP) is an opportunistic infection of immunocompromised hosts with significant morbidity and mortality. The current standard of care, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole (TMP-SMX) at a dose of 15-20 mg/kg/day, is associated with serious adverse drug events (ADE) in 20%-60% of patients. ADEs include hypersensitivity reactions, drug-induced liver injury, cytopenias and renal failure, all of which can be treatment limiting.

Surgical Triage and Timing for Patients With Coronavirus Disease: A Guidance Statement from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to disrupt the provision of cardiac procedural services due to overwhelming interval surges in COVID-19 cases and the associated crisis of cardiac intervention deferment. Despite the availability of widespread testing, highly efficacious vaccines, and intensive public health efforts, the pandemic is entering its third year, where new severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2 variants have increased the likelihood that patients scheduled for a cardiac intervention will contract COVID-19 in the perioperative period. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Workforce on Critical Care, the STS Workforce on Adult Cardiac and Vascular Surgery, and the Canadian Society of Cardiac Surgeons have developed this document, endorsed by the STS and affirmed by the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions and the Canadian Association of Interventional Cardiology, to provide guidance for cardiac procedure deferment and intervention timing for preoperative patients diagnosed with COVID-19.

Perioperative Coronavirus Vaccination-Timing and Implications: A Guidance Document.

Cardiothoracic surgical patients are at risk of increased coronavirus disease severity. Several important factors influence the administration of the coronavirus disease vaccine in the perioperative period. This guidance statement outlines current information regarding vaccine types, summarizes recommendations regarding appropriate timing of administration, and provides information regarding side effects in the perioperative period for cardiac and thoracic surgical patients.

Therapeutic Anticoagulation with Heparin in Noncritically Ill Patients with Covid-19.

Background: Thrombosis and inflammation may contribute to the risk of death and complications among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). We hypothesized that therapeutic-dose anticoagulation may improve outcomes in noncritically ill patients who are hospitalized with Covid-19.

Methods: In this open-label, adaptive, multiplatform, controlled trial, we randomly assigned patients who were hospitalized with Covid-19 and who were not critically ill (which was defined as an absence of critical care-level organ support at enrollment) to receive pragmatically defined regimens of either therapeutic-dose anticoagulation with heparin or usual-care pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis.

Inguinal Ulceroglandular Tularemia Caused by Francisella tularensis Subspecies holarctica, Canada.

Tularemia is a zoonotic disease caused by the gram-negative coccobacillus Francisella tularensis, a Biosafety Level 3 pathogen and potential agent of bioterrorism. We describe 2 cases of perigenital ulcer disease caused by Francisella tularensis subspecies holarctica in Manitoba, Canada. These cases caused inadvertent exposure among laboratory personnel.

Decontamination of N95 masks for re-use employing 7 widely available sterilization methods.

The response to the COVID-19 epidemic is generating severe shortages of personal protective equipment around the world. In particular, the supply of N95 respirator masks has become severely depleted, with supplies having to be rationed and health care workers having to use masks for prolonged periods in many countries. We sought to test the ability of 7 different decontamination methods: autoclave treatment, ethylene oxide gassing (ETO), low temperature hydrogen peroxide gas plasma (LT-HPGP) treatment, vaporous hydrogen peroxide (VHP) exposure, peracetic acid dry fogging (PAF), ultraviolet C irradiation (UVCI) and moist heat (MH) treatment to decontaminate a variety of different N95 masks following experimental contamination with SARS-CoV-2 or vesicular stomatitis virus as a surrogate.

Safety of Hydroxychloroquine Among Outpatient Clinical Trial Participants for COVID-19.

Background: Use of hydroxychloroquine in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), especially in combination with azithromycin, has raised safety concerns. Here, we report safety data from 3 outpatient randomized clinical trials.

Methods: We conducted 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials investigating hydroxychloroquine as pre-exposure prophylaxis, postexposure prophylaxis, and early treatment for COVID-19 using an internet-based design.

Location of residence and mortality for patients diagnosed with Fournier's gangrene.

Introduction: Fournier's gangrene (FG) is a necrotizing infection of the genitalia. Time from to surgical intervention is a critical determinant of prognosis. We sought to investigate whether patients from rural locations have worse clinical outcomes given distance from a tertiary center.

Effect of Hydrocortisone on Mortality and Organ Support in Patients With Severe COVID-19: The REMAP-CAP COVID-19 Corticosteroid Domain Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Evidence regarding corticosteroid use for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is limited.

Objective: To determine whether hydrocortisone improves outcome for patients with severe COVID-19.

Design, Setting, And Participants: An ongoing adaptive platform trial testing multiple interventions within multiple therapeutic domains, for example, antiviral agents, corticosteroids, or immunoglobulin.