Multicenter study conducted in 15 hospitals including 101 COVID-19 pediatric inpatients aiming to describe associated gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations. GI symptoms were present in 57% and were the first manifestation in 14%. Adjusted by confounding factors, those with GI symptoms had higher risk of pediatric intensive care unit admission. GI symptoms are predictive of severity in COVID-19 children admitted to hospitals.

Background and aimsThe COVID-19 pandemic and its consequences represent a major challenge to the mental health and well-being of the general population. Building on previous work on the potential long-term benefits of psychedelics, we hypothesized that lifetime use of these drugs could be linked to better mental health indicators in the context of the ongoing pandemic.MethodsTwo anonymous online surveys were conducted between April and June 2020, including questions about lifetime experience with psychedelics and other psychoactive drugs, and psychometric scales designed to measure personality traits, anxiety, negative, and positive affect, well-being, and resilience. Principal component analysis was applied to divide the sample into groups of subjects based on their drug use reports.ResultsFive thousand six hundred eighteen participants (29.15 0.12 years, 71.97% female) completed both surveys and met the inclusion criteria, with 32.43% of the sample reporting at least one use of a psychedelic drug. Preliminary analyses showed that certain psychedelics were linked to improved mental health indicators, while other psychoactive drugs exhibited the opposite behavior. Lifetime psychedelic use was linked to increased openness and decreased conscientiousness, and to higher scores of positive affect. The reported number of past psychedelic experiences predicted higher scores of the secondary personality trait beta factor, which has been interpreted as a measure of plasticity. No significant associations between lifetime use of psychedelics and indicators of impaired mental health were observed.ConclusionWe did not find evidence of an association between lifetime use of psychedelics and poor mental health indicators. Conversely, experience with psychedelic drugs was linked to increased positive affect and to personality traits that favor resilience and stability in the light of the ongoing crisis.

Purpose Critical Care air transport has played an important role during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The goal of this manuscript is to analyze results and lessons learned from the evacuation of the first 100 COVID-19 patients transported between medical facilities in Chile. Materials and Methods We reviewed prospective data of patients who were referred for air transport between March 27th and July 09th, 2020. Results Of 115 referred patients, 100 were transported by air. All patients were intubated and mechanically ventilated. Hypertension, diabetes and obesity were the most commonly observed co-morbidities. Our service did not experience any major problems in patient care en route and, among the crew members. We did not observe any SARS COV-2 infections amongst our flight team members during the study period. Twelve (12%) patients died at their destination intensive care unit (ICU), while the remaining 88 patients (88%) returned to their primary hospitals after recovery. Conclusions Air transport of mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19 infection has been shown to be a safe way of transport, with no in-flight deaths and an in-hospital mortality of 12% which compares favorably with the in-hospital mortality of similar patients who did not undergo air transport.