Reference jitter values from concentric needle electrode recordings were developed from signals of defined quality while seeking to avoid creating supernormal values.

ABO blood groups is a cheap and affordable test that can be immediately retrieved from COVID-19 patients at the diagnosis. There is increasing evidence that non-O blood groups have both higher susceptibility and higher severity of COVID-19 infections. The reason behind such relationship seems elusive. Regarding susceptibility, Non-O individuals have Anti-A antibodies which can prevent viral entry across ACE-2 receptors, moreover, Non-O individuals are at higher risk of autoimmunity, hypercoagulable state, and dysbiosis resulting in an augmented tendency for vascular inflammatory sequelae of COVID-19. We can conclude, on the diagnostic level, that ABO blood groups can be potentially used for risk stratification of affected COVID-19 patients, to anticipate the deterioration of patients at higher risk for complications. On a therapeutic level, plasma from normal O blood group individuals might potentially replace the use of convalescent serum for the treatment of COVID-19.

Background Despite women undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) having a higher rate of adverse outcomes than men, data evaluating prognostic risk scores, especially in elderly women, remains scarce. This study was conducted to validate the predictive value of Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) risk score in elderly female patients. Materials and methods This was a retrospective analysis of elderly (>65 years) female patients who underwent PPCI for ST-elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) from October 2016 to September 2018. Patients’ demographic details and elements of TIMI risk score including age, co-morbidities, Killip classification; weight, anterior MI and total ischemic time were extracted from hospital records. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality and post-discharge mortality reported on telephonic follow-up. Results A total of 404 elderly women with a median age of 70 years were included. The mean TIMI score was 5.25±1.45 with 40.3% (163) patients of TIMI score > 5. In-hospital mortality rate was 6.4% (26) and was found to be associated with TIMI score (p<0.001). The in-hospital mortality rate increased from 3.1% at TIMI score of 0–4 to 34.6% at the score of 8. On follow-up (16.43±7.40 months) of 211 (55.8%) patients, the overall mortality rate was 20.3%, and this was also associated with TIMI score (p<0.001). The mortality rate increased from 5.6% at the score of 0–4 to 54.5% at the score of 8. The predictive values (area under the curve) of TIMI risk score for in-hospital and post-discharge mortality were 0.709 (95% CI 0.591–0.827; p <0.001) and 0.689 (95% CI 0.608–0.770; p <0.001), respectively. Conclusion Increased adverse outcomes were observed with higher TIMI risk score for in hospital and post-discharge follow-up. Therefore, the prognostic TIMI risk score is a robust tool in predicting both in-hospital as well as post-discharge mortality in elderly females.