Pneumonia caused by SARS-COV-2: diagnosis and treatment in outpatient settings

The aim of the study was identifying the features of infection in the site, clinical course of the disease, amount and frequency of patient examinations, family doctor communications and treatment of patients with pneumonia caused by SARS-Cov2. Materials and methods. We examined 23 families of 2–6 members (a total of 78), among them 41 patients with SARS-COV-2 pneumonia. The amount of patient examination (PCR, plain X-ray and CT of the thoracic cavity, coagulogram, blood oxygen saturation) and treatment extent (antibacterial, anticoagulant and oxygen therapy) were considered. Results. The contagiousness of the disease in the families of patients was from 33 % to 100%. The thoracic CT overuse: 73.3 % repeated, 33.0 % triple. Family doctors monitored the treatment only in 14.6 % of cases. The antibacterial therapy administration was 2 times more often than necessary; the treatment was changed by patients themselves or their acquaintances. A hospitalization was offered to patients with a decreased blood oxygen saturation of 92 % and below (29.3 %), and only 2 patients agreed to it. In a lack of treatment efficacy, the patients used respiratory fluoroquinolones (levofloxacin, moxifloxacin), meropenem, linezolid, amikacin, which are among the main drugs for the treatment of resistant tuberculosis. Extensive misuse of antibacterial drugs unnecessarily will result in an alarming increase in antibiotic-resistant infections after the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusions. Pneumonia caused by SARS-COV-2 is a highly contagious disease in a family cluster (33–100 %). Routine administration of antibacterial drugs (especially levofloxacin, moxifloxanemine, meropenem, linezolid, amikacin) for patients with suspected SARS-COV-2 pneumonia by thoracic CT or PCR-confirmed without proven need is not only unnecessary, but even dangerous due to the potential increase in resistance to these drugs, which are the primary in the treatment of resistant tuberculosis. The anamnesis of the disease, oxyhemometry and coagulogram are of great importance when examining a patient with this pathology

Spectral and luminescent properties of ZnO–SiO2 core–shell nanoparticles with size-selected ZnO cores

Deposition of silica shells onto ZnO nanoparticles (NPs) in dimethyl sulfoxide was found to be an efficient tool for terminating the growth of ZnO NPs during thermal treatment and producing stable core–shell ZnO NPs with core sizes of 3.5–5.8 nm. The core–shell ZnO–SiO2 NPs emit two photoluminescence (PL) bands centred at [similar]370 and [similar]550 nm originating from the direct radiative electron–hole recombination and defect-mediated electron–hole recombination, respectively. An increase of the ZnO NP size from 3.5 to 5.8 nm is accompanied by a decrease of the intensity of the defect PL band and growth of its radiative life-time from 0.78 to 1.49 μs. FTIR spectroscopy reveals no size dependence of the FTIR-active spectral features of ZnO–SiO2 NPs in the ZnO core size range of 3.5–5.8 nm, while in the Raman spectra a shift of the LO frequency from 577 cm−1 for the 3.5 nm ZnO core to 573 cm−1 for the 5.8 nm core is observed, which can indicate a larger compressive stress in smaller ZnO cores induced by the SiO2 shell. Simultaneous hydrolysis of zinc(II) acetate and tetraethyl orthosilicate also results in the formation of ZnO–SiO2 NPs with the ZnO core size varying from 3.1 to 3.8 nm. However, unlike the case of the SiO2 shell deposition onto the pre-formed ZnO NPs, individual core–shell NPs are not formed but loosely aggregated constellations of ZnO–SiO2 NPs with a size of 20–30 nm are. The variation of the synthetic procedures in the latter method proposed here allows the size of both the ZnO core and SiO2 host particles to be tuned.Dieser Beitrag ist aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich