Viral and immunologic evaluation of smokers with severe COVID-19.

Smoking negatively affects B cell function and immunoglobulin levels, but it is unclear if this immune dysfunction contributes to the risk of severe COVID-19 in smokers. We evaluated binding IgM, IgA and IgG antibodies to spike and receptor binding domain antigens, and used a pseudovirus assay to quantify neutralization titers in a set of 27 patients with severe COVID-19. We found no significant differences between binding and neutralization antibody responses for people with a smoking history and people who never smoked.

Fixed Wing Tactical Aircraft for Air Medical Evacuation in Sahel.

Objective: The medical support of military operations over a 5 million km area in the Sahel-Saharan strip has justified the use of a medical fixed wing aircraft. Two CASA CN 235 aircraft currently perform medical evacuation (medevac) from the point of injury to forward surgical structures and then to the international airport before strategic medevac to France.

Methods: A retrospective observational study including all flights performed from January 2013 to December 2017 by the medical CASA located in Mali.

[Medical particularities during prolonged demanding activity in a tropical forest. Experience of the tropical forest training center (French Guyana)].

A tropical forest is a hostile environment for humans. The military physician supporting these immersion activities must cope with varied clinical situations with limited resources to reduce operational unavailability. This article reports a prospective cross-sectional epidemiologic study conducted from January to May 2012, observing the daily activity at sick call during the rainy season at the tropical forest training center (CEFE) advanced jungle commando training, located in French Guyana.

[Cardiac damage due to scorpion envenomation: case involving atrial flutter].

The purpose of this report is to describe a case of scorpion envenomation observed in northern Chad in a 24-year-old-man with no medical history. The victim rapidly developed supraventricular arrhythmia due to catecholaminergic storm induced by the neurotoxic activity of the venom. Cardiomyopathy that can lead to fatal acute heart failure is a risk after scorpion envenomation.

Study on risk factors and their association with subclinical mastitis in lactating dairy cows in Trinidad.

A cross-sectional study was conducted on dairy farms in eight milking centres in Trinidad to determine the prevalence of risk factors for mastitis and to assess their relationship to occurrence of subclinical mastitis. The California mastitis test (CMT) was used to determine the prevalence of subclinical mastitis by estimating the somatic cell counts in bulk and composite milk. Of a total of 177 dairy farms studied, 121 (68.