Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

More than smell - COVID-19 is associated with severe impairment of smell, taste, and chemesthesis

Recent anecdotal and scientific reports have provided evidence of a link between COVID-19 and chemosensory impairments, such as anosmia. However, these reports have downplayed or failed to distinguish potential effects on taste, ignored chemesthesis, and generally lacked quantitative measurements. Here, we report the development, implementation, and initial results of a multilingual, international questionnaire to assess self-reported quantity and quality of perception in 3 distinct chemosensory modalities (smell, taste, and chemesthesis) before and during COVID-19. In the first 11 days after questionnaire launch, 4039 participants (2913 women, 1118 men, and 8 others, aged 19-79) reported a COVID-19 diagnosis either via laboratory tests or clinical assessment. Importantly, smell, taste, and chemesthetic function were each significantly reduced compared to their status before the disease. Difference scores (maximum possible change ±100) revealed a mean reduction of smell (-79.7 ± 28.7, mean ± standard deviation), taste (-69.0 ± 32.6), and chemesthetic (-37.3 ± 36.2) function during COVID-19. Qualitative changes in olfactory ability (parosmia and phantosmia) were relatively rare and correlated with smell loss. Importantly, perceived nasal obstruction did not account for smell loss. Furthermore, chemosensory impairments were similar between participants in the laboratory test and clinical assessment groups. These results show that COVID-19-associated chemosensory impairment is not limited to smell but also affects taste and chemesthesis. The multimodal impact of COVID-19 and the lack of perceived nasal obstruction suggest that severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus strain 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection may disrupt sensory-neural mechanisms. © 2020 The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved

Pore morphology in thermally-treated shales and its implication on CO₂ storage applications: A gas sorption, SEM, and small-angle scattering study

A combination of high-resolution imaging, low-pressure gas adsorption, and small-angle X-ray and neutron scattering quantifies changes in the pore characteristics of pulverized shale samples under oxic and anoxic environments up to 300 ℃. Clay-rich early-mature shales have a fair potential to generate hydrocarbons, the total organic carbon content of which lies within a range of 2.9 % to 7.4 %. High-resolution imaging indicates restructuring and coalescence of Type III kerogen-hosted pores due to oxic heating, which causes up to 580 % and 300 % increase in the surface area and pore volume of mesopores respectively. Similarly, up to 300 % and 1200 % increase in micropore surface area and pore volume is observed post oxic heating. However, during anoxic heating, bitumen mobilizes, leads to pore-blockage, and reduces the surface area and pore volume up to 45 % and 12 % respectively without any significant mass loss up to 350 °C. Between 400 and 550 °C, considerable loss in mass occurred due to breaking of organic matter, facilitated by the presence of siderite that caused up to 30 % loss in mass. The test conditions display starkly opposite effects in pores that have a width of < 100 nm when compared to the larger macropore domain, which has a pore width in the range of 100 to 700 nm as inferred from their small-angle X-ray (SAXS) and neutron (SANS) scattering behaviour, respectively. Despite the formation of new mesopores or the creation of new networks of pores with rougher surfaces, the fractal behavior of accessible mesopores in combusted shales minimally increase mesopore surface roughness. The pyrolyzed shales exhibit decreased mesopore surface roughness at higher temperatures, which indicates smoothening of pores due to pore blocking. Increase in pore volume and surface area due to oxic-heat treatment enhances the feasibility of long-term CO2 storage in shales.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Applied Geophysics and Petrophysic

Estimation of ⁹⁹Mo production rates from natural molybdenum in research reactors

Molybdenum-99 is one of the most important radionuclides for medical diagnostics. In 2015, the International Atomic Energy Agency organized a round-robin exercise where the participants measured and calculated specific saturation activities achievable for the 98Mo(n,γ)99Mo reaction. This reaction is of interest as a means to locally, and on a small scale, produce 99Mo from natural molybdenum. The current paper summarises a set of experimental results and reviews the methodology for calculating the corresponding saturation activities. Activation by epithermal neutrons and also epithermal neutron self-shielding are found to be of high importance in this case.RST/Applied Radiation & Isotope

The uses of norms

This chapter presents a variety of applications of norms. These applications include governance in sociotechnical systems, data licensing and data collection, understanding software development teams, requirements engineering, assurance, natural resource allocation, wireless grids, autonomous vehicles, serious games, and virtual worlds.Infrastructures, Systems and ServicesTechnology, Policy and Managemen

Post-anaesthesia pulmonary complications after use of muscle relaxants (POPULAR): a multicentre, prospective observational study

Background Results from retrospective studies suggest that use of neuromuscular blocking agents during general anaesthesia might be linked to postoperative pulmonary complications. We therefore aimed to assess whether the use of neuromuscular blocking agents is associated with postoperative pulmonary complications.Methods We did a multicentre, prospective observational cohort study. Patients were recruited from 211 hospitals in 28 European countries. We included patients (aged >= 18 years) who received general anaesthesia for any in-hospital procedure except cardiac surgery. Patient characteristics, surgical and anaesthetic details, and chart review at discharge were prospectively collected over 2 weeks. Additionally, each patient underwent postoperative physical examination within 3 days of surgery to check for adverse pulmonary events. The study outcome was the incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications from the end of surgery up to postoperative day 28. Logistic regression analyses were adjusted for surgical factors and patients' preoperative physical status, providing adjusted odds ratios (ORadj) and adjusted absolute risk reduction (ARR(adj)). This study is registered with ClinicalTrials. gov, number NCT01865513.Findings Between June 16, 2014, and April 29, 2015, data from 22 803 patients were collected. The use of neuromuscular blocking agents was associated with an increased incidence of postoperative pulmonary complications in patients who had undergone general anaesthesia (1658 [7.6%] of 21 694); ORadj 1.86, 95% CI 1.53-2.26; ARR(adj) -4.4%, 95% CI -5.5 to -3.2). Only 2.3% of high-risk surgical patients and those with adverse respiratory profiles were anaesthetised without neuromuscular blocking agents. The use of neuromuscular monitoring (ORadj 1.31, 95% CI 1.15-1.49; ARR(adj) -2.6%, 95% CI -3.9 to -1.4) and the administration of reversal agents (1.23, 1.07-1.41; -1.9%, -3.2 to -0.7) were not associated with a decreased risk of postoperative pulmonary complications. Neither the choice of sugammadex instead of neostigmine for reversal (ORadj 1.03, 95% CI 0.85-1 center dot 25; ARR(adj) -0.3%, 95% CI -2.4 to 1.5) nor extubation at a train-of-four ratio of 0.9 or more (1.03, 0.82-1.31; -0.4%, -3.5 to 2.2) was associated with better pulmonary outcomes.Interpretation We showed that the use of neuromuscular blocking drugs in general anaesthesia is associated with an increased risk of postoperative pulmonary complications. Anaesthetists must balance the potential benefits of neuromuscular blockade against the increased risk of postoperative pulmonary complications