Clinical and virological characteristics of hospitalised COVID-19 patients in a German tertiary care centre during the first wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: a prospective observational study.

Purpose: Adequate patient allocation is pivotal for optimal resource management in strained healthcare systems, and requires detailed knowledge of clinical and virological disease trajectories. The purpose of this work was to identify risk factors associated with need for invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV), to analyse viral kinetics in patients with and without IMV and to provide a comprehensive description of clinical course.

Methods: A cohort of 168 hospitalised adult COVID-19 patients enrolled in a prospective observational study at a large European tertiary care centre was analysed.

Tissue concentration of paraquat on day 32 after intoxication and failed bridge to transplantation by extracorporeal membrane oxygenation therapy.

Background: Paraquat is a highly toxic herbicide, which not only leads to acute organ damage, but also to pulmonary fibrosis. There are only anecdotal reports of rescue lung transplantation, as paraquat is stored and only slowly released from different tissues. Bridging the time to complete depletion of paraquat from the body could render this exceptional therapy strategy possible, but not much is known on the time interval after which transplantation can safely be performed.