Finneganhollis4706

Road traffic accidents claim many lives each year worldwide and cause significant disability among survivors. Resulting socioeconomic burden is severe in low- and middle-income countries. Global emphasis currently focuses on trauma education and prevention in addition to improving post-injury care. Sri Lankan government recently made compulsory legislation to improve the safety standards of imported motor vehicles. Such regulations would not directly protect vulnerable road users (VRUs) who form the main bulk of Sri Lankan and South Asian automobile trauma casualties. With the objective of reviewing the management outcome of automobile trauma in order to correlate the potential impact of new legislation on injury prevention, data of all admitted road traffic injury victims were audited for 2 months. Out of 473 eligible cases (332 (70.2%)-males; mean age 37.2 years), there were 14 (3%) fatalities. Of 459 (97%) survivors, 77 (16%) suffered major injuries. learn more Twelve out of 14 (85.7%) fatalities, 64 of 77 (83.1%) su higher impact on road traffic injury prevention, main emphasis has to be given to improve the safety standards of VRUs in developing countries.The earliest available evidence attributes the discovery of droplets as a mode of transmission of disease to Carl Flügge, a German bacteriologist, a contemporary of Emil Kocher, in 1897. This finding was instrumental in the development of the gauze mask introduced by Johann von Mikulicz Radecki in the same year. A surgical mask has become an indispensable tool in the armamentarium to fight the COVID 19 pandemic. Surgical masks which were once limited to the confines of healthcare setups are now donned by the members of the general public. It has become imperative that a healthcare worker selects the right kind of respiratory protective equipment to protect himself and his patients. The surgical mask has become essential, in a way, for survival.The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in complete stoppage of elective surgery in most countries, which has created a huge backlog of waiting patients. This invited editorial comments on the current challenge of restarting elective surgery during/after COVID-19 pandemic.Thoracic trauma severity score (TTSS) has been used to assess severity and risk of pulmonary complications in patients with chest trauma. The role of cytokines and biomarkers in patients with chest trauma and its association with TTSS is not well elucidated. The aim of the study was to assess the cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and TNF-α) and biomarkers (vWF, CC-16) in patients of thoracic trauma and correlate it with TTSS and patient's outcome. This was a prospective observational study. Serum and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples were collected from chest trauma patients. TTSS was calculated in all patients. Suitable controls for serum and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) sample were selected. The outcome parameters included patient discharge or death, duration of hospital, and intensive care unit (ICU) stay. Forty-three patients were included. There was no significant correlation between the measured cytokines and biomarkers and TTSS. The mean TTSS of patients who had a fatal outcome was significantly higher than the patients who recovered. Patients with a high TTSS score had a significant prolonged ICU stay. Patients with a prolonged hospital stay had lower values of CC-16. TTSS is a useful tool to predict severity of chest trauma and prolonged ICU stay. Lower levels of CC-16 in BAL fluid of chest trauma patients were associated with prolonged hospital stay suggestive of its protective role in the airway. Longer prospective studies are required to determine the role of cytokines and biomarkers in patients with thoracic trauma in predicting the patient's outcome.Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) typically presents with pulmonary symptoms. Extra-pulmonary symptomatology of COVID-19 has drawn significant attention. However, information about the incidence, course and outcomes of acute pancreatitis in these patients is still limited.Hungarian obstetrician Ignac Semmelweis (1818-1865) was one of the earliest clinical investigators of modern medical science. In nineteenth century Europe, puerperal fever (childbed fever) was a major clinical and public health problem with very high maternal mortality. It was thought to be caused by miasma, epidemicity, or the Will of Providence. Apart from bloodletting, there was no cure for it. Semmelweis cared for the childbed fever women during their illness, and when they died, he did autopsies on them. Astute clinical observations and logical reasoning goaded Semmelweis to suspect the role of "unholy" hands of "holy" physicians in the transmission of puerperal fever. He enforced a hand-washing policy for physicians. Those with unwashed hands were disallowed into labor room. The hand-washing practice for 1 year led to unprecedented decrease in maternal mortality. It enabled Semmelweis to establish a strong, specific, temporal causal association between unclean hands and puerperal fever. Although not accepted during his lifetime, this causal hypothesis contributed significantly to the understanding of etiopathophysiology of not only puerperal fever but also many other communicable diseases. Clinical hand washing, since then, has prevented millions of deaths of humankind. In the present times too, his idea of hand hygiene plays a central role in COVID-19 pandemic management. Authors present a brief account of life and work of this maverick genius, who was born "too early in the darkness." He is also called the "Father of infection control" and "Savior of mothers."A tribute is being paid to the Dr. Takuo Aoyagi who invented pulse oximetry to measure the oxygen saturation in the blood in 1974. The importance of pulse oximetry is felt more in this coronavirus pandemic. Takuo Aoyagi expired at Tokyo on 18 April 2020.The Indian sugar industry, a significant player in the national economy, has faced many challenges in the course of its journey. The threat posed by the growing pandemic novel corona virus (COVID-19), has been the most recent one and it is impacting sugar industry stakeholders and its integrated industries, not only in India, but all over the world. The entire value chain of the Indian sugar industry, viz., sugarcane, sugar, molasses, ethanol and their subsequent marketing and export, has been adversely affected from the spillover impacts. The major impacts of COVID-19 on Indian sugar industry are discussed.