Convalescent plasma in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised controlled, open-label, platform trial

SummaryBackground Azithromycin has been proposed as a treatment for COVID-19 on the basis of its immunomodulatoryactions. We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of azithromycin in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19.Methods In this randomised, controlled, open-label, adaptive platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19Therapy [RECOVERY]), several possible treatments were compared with usual care in patients admitted to hospitalwith COVID-19 in the UK. The trial is underway at 176 hospitals in the UK. Eligible and consenting patients wererandomly allocated to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus azithromycin 500 mg once perday by mouth or intravenously for 10 days or until discharge (or allocation to one of the other RECOVERY treatmentgroups). Patients were assigned via web-based simple (unstratified) randomisation with allocation concealment andwere twice as likely to be randomly assigned to usual care than to any of the active treatment groups. Participants andlocal study staff were not masked to the allocated treatment, but all others involved in the trial were masked to theoutcome data during the trial. The primary outcome was 28-day all-cause mortality, assessed in the intention-to-treatpopulation. The trial is registered with ISRCTN, 50189673, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04381936.Findings Between April 7 and Nov 27, 2020, of 16 442 patients enrolled in the RECOVERY trial, 9433 (57%) wereeligible and 7763 were included in the assessment of azithromycin. The mean age of these study participants was65·3 years (SD 15·7) and approximately a third were women (2944 [38%] of 7763). 2582 patients were randomlyallocated to receive azithromycin and 5181 patients were randomly allocated to usual care alone. Overall,561 (22%) patients allocated to azithromycin and 1162 (22%) patients allocated to usual care died within 28 days(rate ratio 0·97, 95% CI 0·87–1·07; p=0·50). No significant difference was seen in duration of hospital stay (median10 days [IQR 5 to >28] vs 11 days [5 to >28]) or the proportion of patients discharged from hospital alive within 28 days(rate ratio 1·04, 95% CI 0·98–1·10; p=0·19). Among those not on invasive mechanical ventilation at baseline, nosignificant difference was seen in the proportion meeting the composite endpoint of invasive mechanical ventilationor death (risk ratio 0·95, 95% CI 0·87–1·03; p=0·24).Interpretation In patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19, azithromycin did not improve survival or otherprespecified clinical outcomes. Azithromycin use in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 should be restrictedto patients in whom there is a clear antimicrobial indication

SUBKAVYA: KATHYA KE VIBHINNA AYAM (POETRY OF SURDAS-DIFFERENT DIMENSIONS OF POETIC CONTENT)

HINDICUSATDEPARTMENT OF HINDI Cochin University of Science and Technolog

Exploring the photocatalytic potential of copper iodide thin films deposited via multiple spray technique

This study explores the optimization of deposition parameters for CuI thin films, and investigates their potential application as photocatalysts. γ-CuI thin films were grown on glass substrate using the nebulized spray method at different substrate temperatures. Structural, morphological, and optical studies of the films were carried out. The substrate temperature was found to have a profound influence in determining the aforesaid properties of the films. As seen from scanning electron micrographs, the morphology of the films varied from discontinuous to uniform, and then to being agglomerated, when substrate temperature was increased from 50 °C to 175 °C. At the same time, it was observed from x-ray diffraction studies that films with better crystallite size was formed at lower temperatures. To obtain films with good crystallinity as well as continuous morphology, multiple spraying was carried out which involve repeating the deposition process manifold on the same substrate. Systematic characterization showed that multiple spraying at low temperatures resulted in uniform films with good crystallinity. The photocatalytic activity of single, double and triple sprayed CuI thin films prepared by nebulized spray method under visible light irradiation was also investigated. All of the films exhibited photocatalytic activity in the visible spectral region, with the triple-sprayed CuI thin film exhibiting the greatest efficiency in the photocatalytic degradation of Methylene blue