BACKGROUND: Previous studies reported decreased volumes of acute stroke admissions during the COVID-19 pandemic. We aimed to examine whether aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) volumes demonstrated similar declines in our department. Furthermore, the impact of the pandemic on disease progression should be analyzed. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study in the neurosurgical department of the university hospital Frankfurt including patients with the diagnosis of aSAH during the first year of the COVID pandemic. One year cumulative volume for aSAH hospitalization procedures was compared to the year before (03/2020 C 02/2021 vs. 03/2019 C 02/2020) and the last 5 pre-COVID-pandemic years (2015-2020). All relevant patient characteristics concerning family history, disease history, clinical condition at admission, active/past COVID-infection, treatment management, complications, and outcome were analyzed. RESULTS: Compared to the 84 hospital admissions during the pre-pandemic years, the number of aSAH hospitalizations (n = 56) declined during the pandemic without reaching significance. No significant difference in the analyzed patient characteristics including clinical condition at onset, treatment, complications, and outcome, between 56 patients with aSAH admitted during the COVID pandemic and the treated patients in the last 5 years in the pre-COVID period were found. In our multivariable analysis, we detected young age (p < 0.05; OR 4.2) and no existence of early hydrocephalus (p < 0.05; OR 0.13) as important factors for a favorable outcome (mRS 0C2) after aSAH during the COVID pandemic. A past COVID-infection was detected in young patients suffering from aSAH (Age <50years, p < 0.05; OR 10.5) with an increased rate of cerebral vasospasm after aSAH onset (p < 0.05; OR 26). Nevertheless, past COVID-infection did not reach significance as a high-risk factor for unfavorable outcomes. CONCLUSION: There was a relative decrease in the number of patients with aSAH during the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the extremely different conditions of hospitalization, there was no impairing significant effect on the treatment and outcome of admitted patients with aSAH. A past COVID infection seemed to be an irrelevant limiting factor concerning favorable outcomes.

Bacteria of the genus Psychrobacter are known for their psychrophilic characteristics, being extremophilic organisms capable of surviving and reproducing in hostile environments of low temperature and high pressure. Among many of the genus characteristics, there is the ability to produce enzymes and molecules of industrial biotechnology importance, such as pigments and proteins related to heavy metal bioremediation. The bacterium strain Psychrobacter nivimaris LAMA 639 was isolated from sediments from the Walvis Ridge ocean crest at a depth of 4.400 m (33.40 S 2.35 E). It is a nonmotile, halotolerant, cream-colored gram-negative aerobic bacterium. Its cultivation was performed in marine agar plates and inoculated into test tubes with NaCl at an optimal temperature of 30 C and with shaking at 100 rpm. Genome extraction was performed with the DNeasy Blood & Tissue Kit (QIAGEN?). Sequencing was performed by Macrogen using the NovaSeq? 6000 platform (Illumina) applying the whole genome shotgun (WGS) method. Thereafter, 14.712.526 reads of 151 bp were generated, totaling 2.2 G bp with a GC content of 42.9%. Assembly and mapping were performed with a CLC Genomics Workbench. The best assembly considered was the one with the lowest number of contigs and the highest base length pair. The assemblies were evaluated using QUAST, and the best resulting variant was selected for annotation. Genome annotation was performed with RAST and PATRIC; the antiSMASH tool was used for secondary metabolites; NaPDoS was used for domains; and three-dimensional structural prediction of relevant proteins was performed using Phyre2. Annotation with ClassicRAST generated 2,891 coding sequences (CDSs) distributed in 402 subsystems. Annotation with PATRIC generated 2,896 coding sequences, among them 776 hypothetical proteins. The antiSMASH tool visualized a beta-lactone cluster in contig 06. In the search for natural products with NaPDoS, two ketosynthase domains were identified. The search for relevant proteins was performed using the AMFEP list as a criterion. From these data, 34 possible enzymes with biotechnological potential were found. Finally, the organism is presented as a new reference regarding the potential of deep-sea marine bacteria, demonstrating that, from the annotated and cured genome, it is possible to find in its genetic repertory products of interest for biotechnological applications.

The spike (S) protein of the recently emerged human Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) mediates infection by binding to the cellular receptor dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4). Here we mapped the receptor binding domain in the S protein to a 231-amino-acid fragment (residues 358 to 588) by evaluating the interaction of spike truncation variants with receptor-expressing cells and soluble DPP4. Antibodies to this domain--much less so those to the preceding N-terminal region--efficiently neutralize MERS-CoV infection.

The ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vector vaccine (Vaxzevria, AstraZeneca, Cambridge, UK) was developed at Oxford University and is considered safe for the administration in lactating mothers. Nevertheless, as a novel vaccine, there are gaps in the knowledge regarding possible adverse events in breastfeeding infants of vaccinated mothers. This case report provides first-time data on a possible delayed, cutaneous, adverse reaction in a breastfed, 16-month-old female infant after the first administration of the AstraZeneca vaccine to her 33-year-old mother. Even though, no clinical adverse effects were observed in the mother, her daughter had a 2-day rash in the lower extremities and face. The infants cutaneous rashes might be a coincidental event. However, all skin lesions were analogous to previous descriptions and photographs of dermatologic reactions, which resolved spontaneously with no medical intervention, in people who had been vaccinated with other COVID-19 vaccines. Our aim is that this short report contributes to the enhancement of parental awareness about the possibility of similar skin rashes in breastfed children when the mothers receive a vaccination and the importance of reporting those adverse reactions to the competent authorities.

Women undergoing breast reconstruction sometimes have unrealistic or unformed expectations regarding the reconstructive process and outcomes. The objectives of this study were to assess preoperative expectations in women undergoing mastectomy and initial breast reconstruction, provide expectations-based education, and evaluate satisfaction with education. Fifty-one women undergoing mastectomy and breast tissue expander placement participated in this study. At a preoperative education appointment, participants completed a questionnaire to determine whether their expectations were realistic, unrealistic, or unformed. A nurse practitioner reviewed the results and provided patient-centered, expectations-based education to modify expectations from unrealistic to realistic or to set expectations from unformed to realistic. Four to 6 weeks after surgery, a second questionnaire was provided to assess perceived satisfaction with education. Unrealistic and unformed expectations were identified related to complications, pain, scarring, sensation, symmetry, and aesthetic results. After receiving patient-centered, expectations-based preoperative education, participants agreed they had received the appropriate amount of information and felt well prepared for their surgery and recovery. Most participants reported they were aware of possible complications, had effective tools to manage their pain, and had received adequate information about scarring and sensation changes. Some participants continued to have unrealistic or unformed expectations related to aesthetic results. Women undergoing breast reconstruction often have unrealistic or unformed expectations before surgery. Identifying these expectations and proving expectations-based education resulted in satisfaction with information provided.

Introduction: Systematic reviews are routinely used to synthesize current science and evaluate the evidential strength and quality of resulting recommendations. For specific events, such as rare acute poisonings or preliminary reports of new drugs, we posit that case reports/studies and case series (human subjects research with no control group) may provide important evidence for systematic reviews. Our aim, therefore, is to present a protocol that uses rigorous selection criteria, to distinguish high quality case reports/studies and case series for inclusion in systematic reviews. Methods: This protocol will adapt the existing Navigation Guide methodology for specific inclusion of case studies. The usual procedure for systematic reviews will be followed. Case reports/studies and case series will be specified in the search strategy and included in separate sections. Data from these sources will be extracted and where possible, quantitatively synthesized. Criteria for integrating cases reports/studies and case series into the overall body of evidence are that these studies will need to be well-documented, scientifically rigorous, and follow ethical practices. The instructions and standards for evaluating risk of bias will be based on the Navigation Guide. The risk of bias, quality of evidence and the strength of recommendations will be assessed by two independent review teams that are blinded to each other. Conclusion: This is a protocol specified for systematic reviews that use case reports/studies and case series to evaluate the quality of evidence and strength of recommendations in disciplines like clinical toxicology, where case reports/studies are the norm.

BACKGROUND Laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (LDG) is a widely used minimally invasive surgery. Following LDG, Billroth-I (B-I) provides physiological reconstruction by preserving the duodenal passage but results in a high incidence of reflux esophagitis that decreases postoperative quality of life. Because of this, Roux-en-Y (R-Y) reconstruction is often considered the first choice after LDG. However, very few studies have investigated differences in physiological function between B-I and R-Y after LDG. We hypothesized that B-I would outperform R-Y in clinical and physiological outcomes, including nutrition parameters. METHODS We compared hemoglobin, ferritin, serum iron, Vitamin B12, 25(OH)-Vitamin D (V-D), body weight, and gastric emptying after LDG in patients with either B-I or R-Y reconstruction. RESULTS The levels of hemoglobin in the B-I group were significantly higher than that in the R-Y group at all time points later than 6 months postsurgery. The ferritin levels were significantly higher in the B-I group at all time points later than 9 months postsurgery. The concentration of serum V-D in the B-I group was significantly higher than that in the R-Y group at 1 year 6 months, 1 year 9 months, and 2 years after surgery. Gastric emptying in the R-Y group was significantly slower than in the B-I group. CONCLUSIONS Our data indicate that B-I leads to less postsurgical iron deficiency anemia and V-D deficiency compared with R-Y reconstruction. Furthermore, gastric emptying was preserved in B-I reconstruction compared with R-Y reconstruction. In conclusion, after LDG, B-I reconstruction seems to cause fewer nutritional complications than R-Y reconstruction.

All coronaviruses (CoVs) contain a macrodomain, also termed Mac1, in non-structural protein 3 (nsp3) which binds and hydrolyzes mono-ADP-ribose (MAR) covalently attached to proteins. Despite several reports demonstrating that Mac1 is a prominent virulence factor, there is still a limited understanding of its cellular roles during infection. Currently, most of the information regarding the role of CoV Mac1 during infection is based on a single point mutation of a highly conserved asparagine residue, which makes contact with the distal ribose of ADP-ribose. To determine if additional Mac1 activities contribute to CoV replication, we compared the replication of murine hepatitis virus (MHV) Mac1 mutants, D1329A and N1465A, to the previously mentioned asparagine mutant, N1347A. These residues contact the adenine and proximal ribose in ADP-ribose, respectively. N1465A had no effect on MHV replication or pathogenesis, while D1329A and N1347A both replicated poorly in bone-marrow derived macrophages (BMDMs), were inhibited by PARP enzymes, and were highly attenuated in vivo Interestingly, D1329A was also significantly more attenuated than N1347A in all cell lines tested. Conversely, D1329A retained some ability to block IFN-? transcript accumulation compared to N1347A, indicating that these mutations have different effects on Mac1 functions. Combining these two mutations resulted in a virus that was unrecoverable, suggesting that the combined activities of Mac1 may be essential for MHV replication. We conclude that Mac1 has multiple functions that promote the replication of MHV, and that these results provide further evidence that Mac1 could be a prominent target for anti-CoV therapeutics.IMPORTANCEIn the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, there has been a surge to better understand how CoVs replicate, and to identify potential therapeutic targets that could mitigate disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 and other prominent CoVs. The highly conserved macrodomain, also termed Mac1, is a small domain within non-structural protein 3. It has received significant attention as a potential drug target as previous studies demonstrated that it is essential for CoV pathogenesis in multiple animal models of infection. However, the functions of Mac1 during infection remain largely unknown. Here, using targeted mutations in different regions of Mac1, we found that Mac1 has multiple functions that promote the replication of MHV, a model CoV, and therefore is more important for MHV replication than previously appreciated. These results will help guide the discovery of these novel functions of Mac1 and the development of inhibitory compounds targeting this domain.

In Arizona, the expansion and elaboration of neoliberal educational policies over the past three decades in Arizona have placed public schools and the teaching profession in precarious positions. These challenges have been compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic. Within this turbulent context, a school district in partnership with a college of education created and implemented a demonstration school aimed at re-envisioning how students learn and how teachers work. We analyse how district leaders responded to competing interests and pressures from the political environment and constituents as they designed, implemented, and expand this reform. We conclude by assessing how the features of the demonstration school, Arizonas public schooling environment, and the uncertainties introduced by the pandemic provide affordances and challenges for the reforms likelihood of survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Educational Administration & History is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Both carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid artery stenting (CAS) are common treatments for carotid artery stenosis. Several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have compared CEA to CAS in the treatment of carotid artery stenosis. These studies have suggested that CAS is more strongly associated with periprocedural stroke; however, CEA is more strongly associated with myocardial infarction. Published long-term outcomes report that CAS and CEA are similar. A reduction in complications associated with CAS has also been demonstrated over time. The symptomatic status of the patient and history of previous CEA or cervical radiotherapy are significant factors when deciding between CEA or CAS. Numerous carotid artery stents are available, varying in material, shape and design but with minimal evidence comparing stent types. The role of cerebral protection devices is unclear. Dual antiplatelet therapy is typically prescribed to prevent in-stent thrombosis, and however, evidence comparing periprocedural and postprocedural antiplatelet therapy is scarce, resulting in inconsistent guidelines. Several RCTs are underway that will aim to clarify some of these uncertainties. In this review, we summarize the development of varying techniques of CAS and studies comparing CAS to CEA as treatment options for carotid artery stenosis.

The fortification of animal feed with enzymes in order to optimize feed utilization has become a standard for the meat production industry. A method for measuring levels of active enzymes that can be carried out quickly would ensure that feed has been supplemented with the appropriate amount of enzyme. Phytase is the most widely used feed enzyme and is routinely quantified with an activity assay in a limited number of specialized laboratories. As an alternative, we report here the development of a rapid and easy method to perform a quantitative assay for the phytase from Citrobacter braakii. The method is suitable for use at local sites with a minimum lab setup and will reduce delays and potential interferences due to improper sample storage and shipment. The new assay is based on a lateral flow immunoassay that utilizes magnetic immune-chromatographic test (MICT) technology to quantify the phytase content of a feed extract. After extraction of the phytase from the feed, the sample is simply diluted and added to a reaction tube containing a specific anti-phytase antibody coupled to superparamagnetic particles. The mixture is then applied on an assay cassette, where the formed particle-antibody-phytase complexes are captured by immobilized antibodies on a nitro-cellulose strip housed in a cassette. The cassette is placed in the MICT reader that measures the magnetic signal of the captured particles. Using the calibration information stored in the cassette barcode, the signal is converted to a phytase concentration, given as phytase activity (FYT) per kilogram of feed. The accuracy and robustness of the assay compared to the ISO phytase activity assay were demonstrated through a large validation study including real feed samples from different compositions and origins. The MICT assay is the first quantitative assay for feed enzymes that is fast, reliable, and simple to use outside of a specialized reference laboratory and that is suitable for use in place of the current ISO assay.

Summary Aims We undertook this study to define the incidence of toxigenic Clostridium difficile in our hospital and to characterise the isolates. Methods All unformed stool was tested for the presence of Toxin A (TcdA) and Toxin B (TcdB), and cultured for C. difficile. Culture filtrates were also tested for TcdA and TcdB. Detection of tcdA and tcdB genes was carried out for A2B+ strains by polymerase chain reaction (PCR).The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of metronidazole, vancomycin and clindamycin for all isolates were tested using the Etest. PCR ribotyping was carried out on all isolates. Results The incidence of Clostridium difficile associated disease (CDAD) was 3.2 cases per 1000 admissions or discharges and 53.8 cases per 100000 patient days. Most cases occurred in renal and haematology patients. CDAD was more common in patients aged over 50 years and of male gender. The Indian population was under-represented. Fourteen (11.8%) isolates were A-B+. All strains were susceptible to metronidazole but one strain showed intermediate resistance to vancomycin. Only 12.8% of the isolates were susceptible to clindamycin. Thirty-five isolates had PCR ribotype A, of which 29 (83%) had a clindamycin MIC >256mg/L. Thirty-three had PCR ribotype B, of which only one (3%) had a clindamycin MIC >256mg/L. The 14 A-B+ strains were all PCR ribotype C, and had a range of MICs for clindamycin from 2 to >256mg/L. Conclusions: The incidence of CDAD in our hospital is relatively low. Isolates remain susceptible to metronidazole and vancomycin.

In this paper, we examine the relationship between entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial passion. Despite the advancement of entrepreneurship education literature and the increasing focus on entrepreneurship education in business schools, we lack empirical exploration on how entrepreneurship education can impact students passion for founding new organizations. We hypothesize that students who take entrepreneurship classes would develop high levels of founding passion due to a great perception of skills and abilities that increase positive emotions and decrease negative emotions about the entrepreneurship process. Moreover, we draw on the literature on role models to suggest that students entrepreneurial family background (students whose immediate family members are entrepreneurs) strengthens the influence of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial passion. Utilizing survey data collected from 160 university students, we found that entrepreneurship education positively influences students founding passion and that this relationship is strengthened when students have entrepreneurs in their immediate family.

COVID\19 emerged in Wuhan, China, and began its worldwide journey. As the severity of the virus became known, the Chinese National Government mobilized resources, and their centralized management was critical to the containment of the epidemic. Healthcare agencies and providers were overwhelmed with patients, many of whom were critically ill and died. Nurses adapted to the work using personal protective equipment, but its initial scarcity contributed to stressful working conditions. Nurses in the United States can take several lessons from the experiences of their Chinese nurse colleagues, including the benefit of centralized management of the epidemic, the need for specialized treatment facilities, and the importance of a national stockpile of critical equipment and supplies. A fully funded United States Department of Health and Human Services Office of Pandemics and Emerging Threats is necessary. A nursing department within the office and a national mobilization plan to send nurses to support local efforts during a pandemic or other threat are likewise essential. Continuous training for nurses, especially caring for patients with infectious diseases in intensive care units, stress management, and how to comfort the dying, are also useful lessons.

An early detection tool for latent COVID-19 infections in oncology staff and patients is essential to prevent outbreaks in a cancer center. (1) Background: In this study, we developed and implemented two early detection tools for the radiotherapy area to identify COVID-19 cases opportunely. (2) Methods: Staff and patients answered a questionnaire (electronic and paper surveys, respectively) with clinical and epidemiological information. The data were collected through two online survey tools: Real-Time Tracking (R-Track) and Summary of Factors (S-Facts). Cut-off values were established according to the algorithm models. SARS-CoV-2 qRT-PCR tests confirmed the positive algorithms individuals. (3) Results: Oncology staff members (n = 142) were tested, and 14% (n = 20) were positives for the R-Track algorithm; 75% (n = 15) were qRT-PCR positive. The S-Facts Algorithm identified 7.75% (n = 11) positive oncology staff members, and 81.82% (n = 9) were qRT-PCR positive. Oncology patients (n = 369) were evaluated, and 1.36% (n = 5) were positive for the Algorithm used. The five patients (100%) were confirmed by qRT-PCR. (4) Conclusions: The proposed early detection tools have proved to be a low-cost and efficient tool in a country where qRT-PCR tests and vaccines are insufficient for the population.

Acyclic model, often depicted as a directed acyclic graph (DAG), has been widely employed to represent directional causal relations among collected nodes. In this article, we propose an efficient method to learn linear non-Gaussian DAG in high dimensional cases, where the noises can be of any continuous non-Gaussian distribution. This is in sharp contrast to most existing DAG learning methods assuming Gaussian noise with additional variance assumptions to attain exact DAG recovery. The proposed method leverages a novel concept of topological layer to facilitate the DAG learning. Particularly, we show that the topological layers can be exactly reconstructed in a bottom-up fashion, and the parent-child relations among nodes in each layer can also be consistently established. More importantly, the proposed method does not require the faithfulness or parental faithfulness assumption which has been widely assumed in the literature of DAG learning. Its advantage is also supported by the numerical comparison against some popular competitors in various simulated examples as well as a real application on the global spread of COVID-19.

The recent outbreak of COVID-19 has generated an enormous amount of Big Data. To date, the COVID-19 Open Research Dataset (CORD-19), lists a130,000 articles from the WHO COVID-19 database, PubMed Central, medRxiv, and bioRxiv, as collected by Semantic Scholar. According to LitCovid (11 August 2020), a40,300 COVID19-related articles are currently listed in PubMed. It has been shown in clinical settings that the analysis of past research results and the mining of available data can provide novel opportunities for the successful application of currently approved therapeutics and their combinations for the treatment of conditions caused by a novel SARS-CoV-2 infection. As such, effective responses to the pandemic require the development of efficient applications, methods and algorithms for data navigation, text-mining, clustering, classification, analysis, and reasoning. Thus, our COVID19 Drug Repository represents a modular platform for drug data navigation and analysis, with an emphasis on COVID-19-related information currently being reported. The COVID19 Drug Repository enables users to focus on different levels of complexity, starting from general information about (FDA-) approved drugs, PubMed references, clinical trials, recipes as well as the descriptions of molecular mechanisms of drugs' action. Our COVID19 drug repository provide a most updated world-wide collection of drugs that has been repurposed for COVID19 treatments around the world.

The enterprise of virulence management attempts to predict how social practices and other factors affect the evolution of parasite virulence. These predictions are often based on parasite optima or evolutionary equilibria derived from models of host-parasite dynamics. Yet even when such models accurately capture the parasite optima, newly invading parasites will typically not be at their optima. Here we show that parasite invasion of a host population can occur despite highly nonoptimal virulence. Fitness improvements soon after invasion may proceed through many steps with wide changes in virulence, because fitness depends on transmission as well as virulence, and transmission improvements can overwhelm nonoptimal virulence. This process is highly sensitive to mutation supply and the strength of selection. Importantly, the same invasion principle applies to the evolution of established parasites, whenever mutants arise that overcome host immunity/resistance. A host population may consequently experience repeated invasions of new parasite variants and possible large shifts in virulence as it evolves in an arms race with the parasite. An experimental study of phage lysis time and examples of mammalian viruses matching some of these characteristics are reviewed.

Although sensory input is continuous, information must be combined over time to guide action and cognition, leading to the proposal of temporal sampling windows. A number of studies have suggested that a 10-Hz sampling window might be involved in the "frame rate" of visual processing. To investigate this, we tested the ability of participants to localize and enumerate 1 or 2 visual flashes presented either at near-threshold or full-contrast intensities, while recording magnetoencephalography. The inter-stimulus interval (ISI) between the 2 flashes was varied across trials. Performance in distinguishing between 1 and 2 flashes was linked to the alpha frequency, both at the individual level and trial-by-trial. Participants with a higher resting-state alpha peak frequency showed the greatest improvement in performance as a function of ISI within a 100-ms time window, while those with slower alpha improved more when ISI exceeded 100 ms. On each trial, correct enumeration (1 vs. 2) performance was paired with faster pre-stimulus instantaneous alpha frequency. Our results suggest that visual sampling/processing speed, linked to peak alpha frequency, is both an individual trait and can vary in a state-dependent manner.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess the correlation between LUS Soldati proposed score and clinical presentation, course of disease and the possible need of ventilation support/intensive care. PATIENTS AND METHODS: All consecutive patients with laboratory confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection and hospitalized in two COVID Centers were enrolled. All patients performed blood gas analysis and lung ultrasound (LUS) at admission. The LUS acquisition was based on standard sequence of 14 peculiar anatomic landmarks with a score between 0-3 based on impairment of LUS picture. Total score was computed with their sum with a total score ranging 0 to 42, according to Soldati LUS score. We evaluated the course of hospitalization until either discharge or death, the ventilatory support and the transition in intensive care if needed. RESULTS: One hundred and fifty-six patients were included in the final analysis. Most of patients presented moderate-to-severe respiratory failure (FiO2 <20%, PaO2 <60 mmHg) and consequent recommendation to invasive mechanic ventilation (CPAP/NIV/OTI). The median ultrasound thoracic score was 28 (IQR 18-36) and most of patients could be ascertained either in a score 2 (40%) or score 3 pictures (24.4%). The bivariate correlation analysis displayed statistically significant and high positive correlations between the LUS score and the following parameters: ventilation (rho=0.481, p<0.001), lactates (rho=0.464, p<0.001), dyspnea (rho=0.398, p=0.001) mortality (rho=0.410, p=0.001). Conversely, P/F (rho= -0.663, p<0.001), pH (rho = -0.363, p=0.003) and pO2 (rho = -0.400 p=0.001) displayed significant negative correlations. CONCLUSIONS: LUS score improve the workflow and provide an optimal management both in early diagnosis and prognosis of COVID-19 related lung pathology.