Lockdown Without Loss? A Natural Experiment of Net Payoffs from COVID-19 Lockdowns.

Lacking a federal policy to control the spread of COVID-19, state governors ordered lockdowns and mask mandates, at different times, generating a massive natural experiment. The authors exploit this natural experiment to address four issues: (1) Were lockdowns effective in reducing infections? (2) What were the costs to consumers? (3) Did lockdowns increase (signaling effect) or reduce (substitution effect) consumers' mask adoption? (4) Did governors' decisions depend on medical science or nonmedical drivers? Analyses via difference-in-differences and generalized synthetic control methods indicate that lockdowns causally reduced infections. Although lockdowns reduced infections by 480 per million consumers per day (equivalent to a reduction of 56%), they reduced customer satisfaction by 2.

Emergency out-of-hours catheter ablation for ventricular arrhythmia storm: a UK and Australian experience.

Aims: There are limited data on emergency catheter ablation (CA) for ventricular arrhythmia (VA) storm. We describe the feasibility and safety of performing emergency CA in an out-of-hours setting for VA storm refractory to medical therapy at 2 tertiary hospitals.

Methods And Results: Twenty-five consecutive patients underwent out-of-hours (5pm-8am [weekday] or Friday 5pm-Monday 8am [weekend]) CA for VA storm refractory to anti-arrhythmic drugs and sedation.

Predicting Patients With Troponin Positive Chest Pain and Unobstructed Coronary Arteries With Electrocardiogram, Troponin Kinetics and GRACE Score.

Background: Troponin positive chest-pain with unobstructed coronary arteries (TPCP-UCA), occurs in 6% of cases of patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Whilst TPCP-UCA patients are known to be younger with less cardiovascular risk factors when compared to obstructive coronary disease (MICAD), no validated methods exist to reliably delineate these two conditions prior to coronary angiography.

Methods: We analysed 142 patients with MICAD and 127 patients with TPCP-UCA from 2015 to 2019.

Remote magnetic navigation compared to contemporary manual techniques for the catheter ablation of ventricular arrhythmias in structural heart disease.

Background: There are limited data comparing remote magnetic navigation (RMN) to contemporary techniques of manual-guided ventricular arrhythmia (VA) catheter ablation.

Objectives: We compared acute and long-term outcomes of VA ablation guided by either RMN or contemporary manual techniques in patients with structural heart disease.

Methods: From 2010-2019, 192 consecutive patients, with ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) or non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) underwent catheter ablation for sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT) or premature ventricular complexes (PVCs), using either RMN (n = 60) or manual (n = 132) guided techniques.

Nodal metastasis size predicts disease-free survival in cutaneous head and neck squamous cell carcinoma involving the parotid but not cervical nodes.

Background: The 8th edition American Joint Committee on Cancer nodal (N) staging of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (cSCCHN) is largely based on lymph node metastasis size, despite conflicting data in the literature. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic significance of largest node size in cSCCHN.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of 94 patients undergoing curative-intent treatment for nodal cSCCHN with surgery ± radiotherapy at Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, Australia was conducted.

Number of nodal metastases and prognosis in metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Background: Existing prognostic systems for metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (cSCCHN) do not discriminate between the number of involved nodes beyond single versus multiple. This study aimed to determine if the number of metastatic lymph nodes is an independent prognostic factor in metastatic cSCCHN and whether it provides additional prognostic information to the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) staging.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed 101 patients undergoing curative intent treatment for metastatic cSCCHN to parotid and/or neck nodes by surgery +/- radiotherapy at Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, Australia.

A critical analysis of the prognostic performance of the 8th edition American Joint Committee on Cancer staging for metastatic cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Background: The 8th edition AJCC staging of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (cSCCHN) incorporated extranodal extension (ENE) for the first time. This study compared the prognostic performance of the 7th and 8th edition staging for cSCCHN with nodal metastases.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of 96 patients with metastatic cSCCHN, comparing the ability of staging systems to predict disease-specific and overall survival (OS) using the proportion of variation explained and Harrell's C-index.