The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical effects of dexamethasone administration in patients with mild to moderate acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The study included 50 patients who were randomly assigned to the dexamethasone group or control group. Dexamethasone was administered at a dose of 20 mg/day from day 1–5 and then at 10 mg/day from day 6–10. The need for invasive mechanical ventilation, death rate, duration of clinical improvement, length of hospital stay, and radiological changes in the computed tomography scan were assessed. The results revealed that 92% and 96% of patients in the dexamethasone and control groups, respectively, required noninvasive ventilation (P = 0.500). Among them, 52% and 44% of patients in the dexamethasone and control groups, respectively, required invasive mechanical ventilation (P = 0.389). At the end of the study, 64% of patients in the dexamethasone group and 60% of patients in the control group died (P = 0.500); the remaining patients were discharged from the hospital during the 28-day follow-up period. The median length of hospital stay was 11 days in the dexamethasone group and 6 days in the control group (P = 0.036) and the median length of hospital stay was 7 days in the dexamethasone group and 3 days in the control group (P < 0.001). No significant differences were observed in the other outcomes. This study showed that corticosteroid administration had no clinical benefit in patients with COVID-19-induced mild to moderate ARDS.

Laryngeal mask ventilation maintains better oxygenation and haemodynamic stability and ensures physicians' and patients' satisfaction regarding ease of use, airway access and fewer complications compared to rigid bronchoscopy. Therefore, LMA can be introduced as a reliable alternative for ventilation during interventional airway procedures.

Background:A report of the activities of countries worldwide for six main policies to control tobacco use is published once every 2 years by the World Health Organization (WHO). Our objective was to perform a quantitative analysis for it in countries and regions to make a simple view of its programs.Methods:This was a cross-sectional study by filling out a validated checklist from the 2015 WHO Report (MPOWER). All ten MPOWER measures got scores and were entered independently by two individuals and a third party compared the values.Results:Fifteen countries, which acquired the highest scores (85% of total 37), included Panama and Turkey with 35, Brazil and Uruguay with 34, Ireland, United Kingdom, Iran, Brunei, Argentina, and Costa Rica with 33, and Australia, Nepal, Thailand, Canada, and Mauritius with 32 points.Conclusions:Comparison of scores of different countries in this respect can be beneficial since it creates a challenge for the health policymakers to find weakness of the tobacco control programs to work on it.

Telemedicine is useful in monitoring patients, and in particular those, such as lung transplant recipients, suffering from chronic illnesses. This prospective cohort study was conducted on 15 lung transplant recipients. The patients provided physicians with data from spirometry as well as their clinical respiratory symptoms via SMS messages. In cases where spirometry results or clinical symptoms required follow-up, the monitoring physician contacted the patient according to guidelines and gave appropriate instructions. Qualitative assessment of satisfaction showed that the sense of increased support from medical staff was rated highest (92.9%). Telespirometry is an efficient method of monitoring lung transplant recipients which leads to patient satisfaction, compliance, adherence to study and sense of security. Nevertheless, for optimal implementation of this method, thorough training of both medical staff and patients is required.