Publications by authors named "Pamela H Lai"

Objective: To determine if oxygen saturation (out-of-hospital SpO2), measured by New York City (NYC) 9-1-1 Emergency Medical Services (EMS), was an independent predictor of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in-hospital mortality and length of stay, after controlling for the competing risk of death. If so, out-of-hospital SpO2 could be useful for initial triage.

Methods: A population-based longitudinal study of adult patients transported by EMS to emergency departments (ED) between March 5 and April 30, 2020 (the NYC COVID-19 peak period).

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Objectives: To describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on New York City's (NYC) 9-1-1 emergency medical services (EMS) system and assess the efficacy of pandemic planning to meet increased demands.

Methods: Longitudinal analysis of NYC 9-1-1 EMS system call volumes, call-types, and response times during the COVID-19 peak-period (March 16-April 15, 2020) and post-surge period (April 16-May 31, 2020) compared with the same 2019 periods.

Results: EMS system received 30,469 more calls from March 16-April 15, 2020 compared with March 16-April 15, 2019 (161,815 vs 127,962;  < 0.

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Importance: Risk factors for out-of-hospital death due to novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are poorly defined. From March 1 to April 25, 2020, New York City, New York (NYC), reported 17 118 COVID-19-related deaths. On April 6, 2020, out-of-hospital cardiac arrests peaked at 305 cases, nearly a 10-fold increase from the prior year.

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Primary hepatocytes form spheroids under some culture conditions. These spheroids exhibit many tissue-like ultrastructures and retain many liver-specific functions over a long period of time. They are attractive for many applications employing liver cells.

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Bioartificial liver (BAL) devices employing xenogeneic hepatocytes are being developed as a temporary support of liver failure. For clinical applications, transporting such a device from the manufacturing site to the hospital is necessary. We investigated the effect of hypothermic treatment on the performance of the collagen-entrapment BAL device developed at the University of Minnesota.

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