Decontamination and Reuse of N95 Filtering Facepiece Respirators: Where Do We Stand?

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic created an extraordinary demand for N95 and similarly rated filtering facepiece respirators (FFR) that remains unmet due to limited stock, production constraints, and logistics. Interest in decontamination and reuse of FFR, a product class designed for single use in health care settings, has undergone a parallel surge due to shortages. A worthwhile decontamination method must provide effective inactivation of the targeted pathogen(s), and preserve particle filtration, mask fit, and safety for a subsequent user.

Designing and testing a computer-based screening system for transfusion-related acute lung injury.

Computer-based systems can detect underreported adverse events. We hypothesized that a system could be designed to detect potential or unreported cases of transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI). We developed and tested a computer screening system using retrospective computer blood gas data after transfusions during a 45-day period at a tertiary care academic hospital.

Preliminary results of fetal cardiac bypass in nonhuman primates.

Objective: Fetal cardiac surgery has potential benefits for treatment of some congenital heart defects. However, placental dysfunction as a result of fetal bypass, fetal stress, and fetal exposure to external milieu needs to be overcome to optimize the outcomes of fetal cardiac bypass. In this study we evaluated the technical feasibility of cardiac bypass in the nonhuman primate fetus and the efficacy of different anesthetic approaches.