Correction to: Two years later: Is the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic still having an impact on emergency surgery? An international cross-sectional survey among WSES members

Background: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is still ongoing and a major challenge for health care services worldwide. In the first WSES COVID-19 emergency surgery survey, a strong negative impact on emergency surgery (ES) had been described already early in the pandemic situation. However, the knowledge is limited about current effects of the pandemic on patient flow through emergency rooms, daily routine and decision making in ES as well as their changes over time during the last two pandemic years. This second WSES COVID-19 emergency surgery survey investigates the impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on ES during the course of the pandemic. Methods: A web survey had been distributed to medical specialists in ES during a four-week period from January 2022, investigating the impact of the pandemic on patients and septic diseases both requiring ES, structural problems due to the pandemic and time-to-intervention in ES routine. Results: 367 collaborators from 59 countries responded to the survey. The majority indicated that the pandemic still significantly impacts on treatment and outcome of surgical emergency patients (83.1% and 78.5%, respectively). As reasons, the collaborators reported decreased case load in ES (44.7%), but patients presenting with more prolonged and severe diseases, especially concerning perforated appendicitis (62.1%) and diverticulitis (57.5%). Otherwise, approximately 50% of the participants still observe a delay in time-to-intervention in ES compared with the situation before the pandemic. Relevant causes leading to enlarged time-to-intervention in ES during the pandemic are persistent problems with in-hospital logistics, lacks in medical staff as well as operating room and intensive care capacities during the pandemic. This leads not only to the need for triage or transferring of ES patients to other hospitals, reported by 64.0% and 48.8% of the collaborators, respectively, but also to paradigm shifts in treatment modalities to non-operative approaches reported by 67.3% of the participants, especially in uncomplicated appendicitis, cholecystitis and multiple-recurrent diverticulitis. Conclusions: The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic still significantly impacts on care and outcome of patients in ES. Well-known problems with in-hospital logistics are not sufficiently resolved by now; however, medical staff shortages and reduced capacities have been dramatically aggravated over last two pandemic years

THE ROLES OF ATOMIC OXYGEN AND NITRIC OXIDE IN LOW TEMPERATURE PLASMAS

Author Institution: M.A. Chaszeyka Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics Laboratory, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210.Nitric oxide, NO, and oxygen, O, concentrations have been experimentally measured using one-photon and two-photon laser induced fluorescence, respectively, as a function of time after a nanosecond pulsed plasma discharge. The relative behavior of these two species is fundamentally different than that predicted using the extended Zeldovich Mechanism. A plasma chemistry kinetic model sensitivity analysis has been conducted to determine the dominate reactions involved. The spectra, concentrations, and kinetic modeling predictions will be discussed

PURE ROTATIONAL CARS THERMOMETRY IN NANOSECOND PULSE BURST AIR AND HYDROGEN-AIR PLASMAS

Author Institution: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Ohio State University, 201 W. 19th Ave., Columbus OH, 43210Pure rotational Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) is used to study low temperature plasma kinetics and ignition in a repetitively pulsed nanosecond discharge in air and hydrogen-air at stoichiometric and fuel lean conditions at 40 Torr pressure. Air and hydrogen-air mixtures are excited by a burst of high-voltage nanosecond pulses at a 40 kHz pulse repetition rate and 10 Hz burst repetition rate. The number of pulses within the burst has been varied from a few pulses to 1,000 pulses. These temperature measurements are then compared to a hydrogen-air plasma chemistry model which includes nonequilibrium plasma processes and low temperature hydrogen-air chemistry. Sensitivity analysis shows that generation of radicals by the nanosecond discharge is critical to low temperature plasma chemical fuel oxidation and associated heat release. With phi = 1.0 and phi = 0.5, a distinct maximum in temperature with respect to discharge burst duration is observed, as predicted by the code, indicative of ignition occurring