BACKGROUND: During the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, medical resources have often been limited to emergency surgeries. This study aimed to evaluate our experience with delayed surgery for acute type A aortic dissections (ATAADs).
METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted on 33 patients who underwent surgery for ATAADs between January 2020 and December 2021. The patients were divided into two groups: patients treated within 12 h of arrival (E group; N = 21) and those treated > 12 h after arrival (D group; N = 12) with strict antihypertensive therapy until surgery.
RESULTS: The plasma fibrinogen levels on arrival were lower in the D group than in the E group (174.3 ± 109.1 vs 293.4 ± 165.4, p = 0.038). The time to surgery from symptom onset was longer in the D group than in the E group (4 ± 1 h vs. 86 ± 108 h, p < 0.001). There was one case (3%) of mortality and seven cases (21%) of cerebral infarctions in the E group. There was no significant difference in the intraoperative data and quantity of blood transfused between the two groups.
CONCLUSIONS: Thus, delayed surgery for ATAAD with appropriate preoperative management may be an alternative surgical strategy in the COVID-19 era.

Enoxaparin is a hydrophilic drug with obesity having little effect on its apparent volume of distribution, therefore patients with obesity receiving standard 1 mg/kg dosing may be at a higher risk of supratherapeutic dosing. Conversely, dose reducing patients with obesity could place already at risk patients at higher risk of a thrombotic event. Data and recommendations are variable for the most appropriate weight-based dose of therapeutic enoxaparin in obese patients, particularly those a weight > 100 kg or a body mass index (BMI) ≥ 40 kg/m2. The purpose of this systematic review was to globally evaluate these data to surmise optimal dosing recommendations for patients with obesity. A systematic review of English language studies was conducted and identified articles via Pubmed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) searches. Studies were included if they reported therapeutic enoxaparin use in adult patients with a BMI ≥ 40 kg/m2 or body weight > 100 kg and the percentage of patients achieving a therapeutic anti-Xa based on a weight-based dose or the weight-based dose required to produce a therapeutic anti-Xa level. Therapeutic attainment of anti-Xa levels were assessed across enoxaparin weight-based dosing categories including a very low dose group: < 0.75 mg/kg, low dose group: 0.75-0.85 mg/kg, and standard dose group: ≥ 0.95 mg/kg. Rates of bleeding and thrombosis were also evaluated. A total of eight studies were included. For anti-Xa level assessment, 682 patients were included. A total of 62% of anti-Xa levels were therapeutic in the very low dose group, 66% in the low dose group, and 42% in the standard dose group. Overall rates of total bleeding and thrombosis were assessed in 798 patients. A total of 29 bleedings (3.6%) occurred, and 27 reported a relationship to dose. Most bleedings, 85.2% (n = 23/27), occurred with doses in the standard dose group (≥ 0.95 mg/kg). Thrombosis occurred in 5 patients (0.6%). Utilization of a reduced weight-based dosing strategy for therapeutic enoxaparin in obese patients may increase the percentage of patients with a therapeutic anti-Xa level.

Antithrombin (AT) deficiency increases the risk for venous thromboembolism, therefore, a highly sensitive assay to identify this condition is crucial. The aim of this paper was to perform a meta-analysis comparing AT activities measured by different AT activity assays in patients with heparin binding site AT deficiency. In addition, the diagnostic sensitivity of selected assays was compared depending on the available data. An extensive literature search was performed considering results with publication date up to July 10, 2021. Seven relevant English-language observational studies, comparing AT activity measured by different AT activity assays in Caucasian Europeans with either the AT Budapest III or AT Padua I mutation were included in meta-analyses. There was no significant difference in AT activity between Labexpert and Innovance in patients with AT Budapest III (P = 0.567) and AT Padua I (P = 0.265), while AT activity determined by HemosIL was significantly higher compared to Innovance for both mutations (AT Budapest III: P < 0.001; AT Padua I: P < 0.001). These results are in line with the results of comparison of diagnostic sensitivity. In patients with AT Budapest III, the AT activity was also higher when measured with Berichrom compared to Innovance (P = 0.002), however, the results of comparison of diagnostic sensitivity across studies were variable. No significant difference (P = 0.117) in AT activity as well as diagnostic sensitivity was observed between Sta-Stachrom and Innovance. The results of our study suggest that Innovance, Labexpert and Sta-Stachrom are the most sensitive activity assays for detection of AT Budapest III and AT Padua I, whereas HemosIL showed considerably lower sensitivity for these two variants. As revealed in our study, the diagnostic sensitivity of AT activity assays to type II heparin binding site AT deficiency is different, and in some assays mutation dependent.

Vaccine coverage remains inequitable globally. Many systematic reviews have looked at the effectiveness of strategies to improve vaccine uptake; however, these reviews frequently lack data from low and middle-income countries (LMICs), where evidence of cost-effective strategies is most valuable. This is partly because reviews often exclude non-randomised, observational or unpublished evaluations that are common in LMICs. Many reviews also exclude multicomponent interventions due to challenges isolating the effect of each component. A comprehensive mapping of multicomponent interventions implemented in LMICs would increase the visibility of studies excluded from systematic reviews and improve comparability of future evaluations by providing guidance for researchers on evaluation frameworks. This scoping review aims to identify, compare and summarise the properties and evaluation methods of multicomponent interventions to improve uptake of routine childhood vaccines in LMICs, and to assess the strengths and limitations of evaluation frameworks applied.
This review will be conducted using the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses Extension for Scoping Reviews guidelines. We will search the following databases: MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, Cochrane, Eldis and Global Health (CAB Direct), Global Index Medicus, 3ie Portal, Google Scholar, COnnecting REpositories, and reference lists. One author will screen titles and abstracts and extract data from included articles using a pretested data extraction template. Uncertainties will be resolved through discussion with another author. Only studies published in English will be included for full review. We will assess the practicability, applicability, sensitivity and specificity of the evaluation frameworks used and present results using descriptive statistics, summary tables and charts.
Ethics approval is not required. The review will be submitted as part of a doctoral thesis, presented at conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals.
https://osf.io/7r84g.

BACKGROUND: Cirrhosis causes significant coagulopathy. Traditional coagulation tests may not accurately measure coagulopathy in well-compensated patients with cirrhosis. Viscoelastic tests are functional tests that may better assess coagulopathy in cirrhotic patients.
METHODS: We searched PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar, and grey literature using terms meaning viscoelastic testing and cirrhosis. After reviewing over 500 titles and abstracts, 40 full-text papers met inclusion criteria.
RESULTS: Twenty-two papers found viscoelastic testing was a better indicator of baseline coagulation than traditional testing in cirrhosis. Nineteen additional papers evaluated the utility of peri-procedural viscoelastic testing and found they led to a reduction in blood product administration without increasing risk of hemorrhage, thrombotic events, or other complications.
CONCLUSIONS: The usage of viscoelastic testing in patients with cirrhosis allows for better assessment of coagulopathy, resulting in improved outcomes. Educating physicians to optimize care of this high-risk group is necessary to further improve their treatment.

Primary hemostatic disorders such as thrombocytopenia and thrombocytopathia are commonly encountered in small animal practice. The key stages of primary hemostasis include platelet adhesion, activation, and aggregation. Understanding the interaction between tissues, platelets, and signaling molecules not only helps clinicians comprehend clot formation but also better recognize thrombocytopathias. Although congenital thrombocytopathia is rare, commercially available platelet function tests allow veterinarians to narrow differentials in many clinical settings. Thrombocytopenia can be easily diagnosed in any clinical setting. In this paper, we review the current understanding of primary hemostasis in veterinary medicine, including the clinical presentation and available diagnostics to identify platelet abnormalities.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is a life-support technique used to treat cardiac and pulmonary failure, including severe cases of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) involving acute respiratory distress syndrome. Blood clot formation in the circuit is one of the most common complications in ECMO, having potentially harmful and even fatal consequences. It is therefore essential to regularly monitor for clots within the circuit and take appropriate measures to prevent or treat them. A review of the various methods used by hospital units for detecting blood clots is presented. The benefits and limitations of each method are discussed, specifically concerning detecting blood clots in the oxygenator, as it is concluded that this is the most critical and challenging ECMO component to assess. We investigate the feasibility of solutions proposed in the surrounding literature and explore two areas that hold promise for future research: the analysis of small-scale pressure fluctuations in the circuit, and real-time imaging of the oxygenator. It is concluded that the current methods of detecting blood clots cannot reliably predict clot volume, and their inability to predict clot location puts patients at risk of thromboembolism. It is posited that a more in-depth analysis of pressure readings using machine learning could better provide this information, and that purpose-built imaging could allow for accurate, real-time clotting analysis in ECMO components.

Prematurity is the leading cause of perinatal mortality and the morbidity among children under the age of 5. The prevalence of preterm birth is between 5 and 18% worldwide. Approximately 30% of preterm deliveries occur as a consequence of fetal or maternal infections. Bacterial vaginosis can increase the risk of ascending infections. However, there is no recommendation or protocol for screening of abnormal vaginal flora. The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the effectiveness of routine screening of abnormal vaginal flora during pregnancy care. We conducted our systematic search in the following databases: MEDLINE via PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library. Studies reporting on pregnant women with no symptoms of bacterial vaginosis were included in our analysis if they provided data on the outcome of their pregnancy. The intervention group went through screening of abnormal vaginal flora in addition to routine pregnancy care. Odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was used as effect size measure. From each study the total number of patients and number of events was extracted in both the intervention and control arm to calculate OR. Altogether we included 13 trials with 143,534 patients. The screening methods were Gram stain, pH screening, pH self-screening and pH screening combined with Gram stain. Regular screening of vaginal flora compared to no screening significantly reduces the odds of preterm birth before 37 weeks (8.98% vs 9.42%; OR 0.71, CI 0.57-0.87), birthweight under 2500 g (6.53% vs 7.24%; OR 0.64, CI 0.50-0.81), preterm birth before 32 weeks (1.35% vs 2.03%; OR 0.51, CI 0.31-0.85) and birthweight under 1000 g (0.86% vs 2.2%; OR 0.33, CI 0.19-0.57). In conclusion, the routine screening of abnormal vaginal flora might prevent preterm birth, extreme preterm birth, low birthweight deliveries and very low birthweight deliveries. Further research is needed to assess the problem more accurately.

Viscoelastic testing including thromboelastography (TEG) and rotational thromboelastometry (ROTEM) has gained increasing popularity across many medical fields in recent years. As TEG/ROTEM testing uses whole blood sample and evaluates interactions between cellular components i.e., platelets, red blood cells and the clotting factors, these evaluations are uniquely capable of assessing coagulation in an in-vitro environment, resembling native conditions unlike those of conventual clotting tests (CCTs). While viscoelastic based protocols and applications are more commonplace in hepatic and cardiac surgery and trauma scenarios, results have attracted the attention of additional disciplines including microsurgery. TEG/ROTEM tests, with their ability to assess real-time risk of excessive bleeding or thrombosis, may be useful in the monitoring of microsurgery patients who may be at an increased risk for flap failure. The following review of TEG/ROTEM testing focuses on the most common applications of these coagulation tests and the evidence that does or does not support such uses. A systematic review and meta-analysis of the current application of TEG/ROTEM in microsurgery is reported along with an emphasis on the future that it might hold for the field.

D-dimer containing species are soluble fibrin degradation products derived from plasmin-mediated degradation of cross-linked fibrin, i.e., \'D-dimer\'. D-dimer can hence be considered a biomarker of in vivo activation of both coagulation and fibrinolysis, the leading clinical application in daily practice of which is ruling out venous thromboembolism (VTE). D-dimer has been further evaluated for assessing the risk of VTE recurrence and helping define optimal duration of anticoagulation treatment in VTE, for diagnosing disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), and for screening those at enhanced risk of VTE. D-dimer assays should however be performed as intended by regulatory agencies, as their use outside these indications might make them a laboratory-developed test (LDT). This narrative review is aimed at: (1) reviewing the definition of D-dimer, (2) discussing preanalytical variables affecting D-dimer measurement, (3) reviewing and comparing the assays performance and some postanalytical variables (e.g., different units and age-adjusted cutoffs), and (4) discussing the interest of D-dimer measurement across different clinical settings, including pregnancy, cancer, and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).