A Randomized Trial of Nafamostat for Covid-19.

BACKGROUND: Nafamostat mesylate is a potent in vitro antiviral agent that inhibits the host transmembrane protease serine 2 enzyme used by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 for cell entry. METHODS: This open-label, pragmatic, randomized clinical trial in Australia, New Zealand, and Nepal included noncritically ill hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19). Participants were randomly assigned to usual care or usual care plus nafamostat.

Anticoagulation Strategies in Non-Critically Ill Patients with Covid-19.

BACKGROUND: Optimal thromboprophylaxis for hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) is uncertain. METHODS: In an open-label, adaptive platform trial, we randomly assigned hospitalized adults with Covid-19 to low-dose low-molecular-weight heparin thromboprophylaxis or intermediate-dose or low-dose plus aspirin. In response to external evidence, the aspirin intervention was discontinued and a therapeutic-dose arm added.

Association between convalescent plasma treatment and mortality in COVID-19: a collaborative systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials.

Background: Convalescent plasma has been widely used to treat COVID-19 and is under investigation in numerous randomized clinical trials, but results are publicly available only for a small number of trials. The objective of this study was to assess the benefits of convalescent plasma treatment compared to placebo or no treatment and all-cause mortality in patients with COVID-19, using data from all available randomized clinical trials, including unpublished and ongoing trials (Open Science Framework, https://doi.org/10.

Use of tuberculin skin test, chest radiograph and interferon-gamma release assay to select migrants for treatment of latent tuberculosis.

Australian guidelines recommend the tuberculin skin test (TST) as the preferred test for latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) with interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) as a supplemental test to improve specificity. For many years the chest radiograph has been used to interpret a TST in the 5-9 mm range. The chest radiograph is known to predict subsequent reactivation of tuberculosis (TB).

Changes in protein abundance are observed in bacterial isolates from a natural host.

Bacterial proteomic studies frequently use strains cultured in synthetic liquid media over many generations. It is uncertain whether bacterial proteins expressed under these conditions will be the same as the repertoire found in natural environments, or when bacteria are infecting a host organism. Thus, genomic and proteomic characterization of bacteria derived from the host environment in comparison to reference strains grown in the lab, should aid understanding of pathogenesis.

Smoking bans in secure psychiatric hospitals and prisons.

The proposal of complete smoking bans in closed institutions, such as prisons and psychiatric hospitals, creates a tension between individual "rights" and the health of all members of that community. Smokers in closed institutions generally smoke more, suffer more health consequences and are less likely to quit than smokers in other settings. Complete smoking bans do not cause an increase in behavioural problems, nor do bans cause worsening of mental illness or quality of life.

Proteomic characterization of a natural host-pathogen interaction: repertoire of in vivo expressed bacterial and host surface-associated proteins.

Interactions between a host and a bacterial pathogen are mediated by cross-talk between molecules present on, or secreted by, pathogens and host binding-molecules. Identifying proteins involved at this interface would provide substantial insights into this interaction. Although numerous studies have examined in vitro models of infection at the level of transcriptional change and proteomic profiling, there is virtually no information available on naturally occurring host-pathogen interactions in vivo.