Monitoring of indoor bioaerosol for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 in different hospital settings.

Background: Spore Trap is an environmental detection technology, already used in the field of allergology to monitor the presence and composition of potentially inspirable airborne micronic bioparticulate. This device is potentially suitable for environmental monitoring of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in hospital, as well as in other high-risk closed environments. The aim of the present study is to investigate the accuracy of the Spore Trap system in detecting SARS-CoV-2 in indoor bioaerosol of hospital rooms. Methods: The Spore Trap was placed in hospital rooms hosting patients with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection (n = 36) or, as a negative control, in rooms where patients with documented negativity to a Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction molecular test for SARS-CoV-2 were admitted (n = 10). The monitoring of the bioaerosol was carried on for 24 h. Collected samples were analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction. Results: The estimated sensitivity of the Spore Trap device for detecting SARS-CoV-2 in an indoor environment is 69.4% (95% C.I. 54.3-84.4%), with a specificity of 100%. Conclusion: The Spore Trap technology is effective in detecting airborne SARS-CoV-2 virus with excellent specificity and high sensitivity, when compared to previous reports. The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic scenario has suggested that indoor air quality control will be a priority in future public health management and will certainly need to include an environmental bio-investigation protocol.

The importance of being patient.

Patients are the only ones entitled of their own health. It derives that patients should be at the very center of the whole health care process and that health service should be done with and not to them. Unfortunately, too often patients are displaced or forgotten, although literature strongly suggests that benefit from their participation outweighs the drawbacks as they are an incredibly under-used resource both in research and in health care. Thus the challenges are for all the stakeholders involved, for professionals, National Health Services and patient associations to give the ways and tools for an active public involvement and participation, and for patient themselves to become expert and autonomous partners in health. The World Health Organization, through the program Patient Safety, has accepted this challenge, involving and training lay people to achieve a leader role in all the steps of health care, with a particular attention to safety, and to become able to speak up.

Double-blind evaluation of analgesic efficacy of orally administered diclofenac, nefopam, and acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) plus codeine in chronic cancer pain.

The analgesic efficacy and toxicity of oral diclofenac sodium 50 mg (q.i.d.) vs. nefopam 60 mg (q.i.d.) and a combination of 640 mg ASA and 40 mg codeine (q.i.d.) in cancer patients with moderate to severe chronic pain has been evaluated in a randomized double-blind study. Planned duration of treatment was 10 days. Pain intensity was evaluated by a visual analog scale. The length of patient participation in the trial, the patient's final global evaluation and the incidence of side effects were also evaluated. Ninety-nine patients were enrolled in the study. All treatments produced a statistically significant pain relief (P less than 0.01) without differences among groups but only 26 of 99 patients (26.3%) completed the planned treatment period. Mean time in the study was 4.65 days. Inefficacy and side effects were the main reasons for premature treatment interruption. Patients treated with nefopam had a significantly shorter period in the study than patients treated with the other 2 treatments. Adverse effects were slightly more frequent with the nefopam and ASA + codeine regimens. The 3 therapeutic regimens appear to be similar as to analgesic efficacy, but diclofenac presents the advantage of a slightly better safety profile than nefopam and the ASA + codeine combination.