ABSTRACT
Background: The incidence of tracheostomy insertion in pediatric patients has increased over the last few decades. Tracheostomized pediatric patients need daily, meticulous care by qualified nurses to minimize severe, avoidable complications. Adequately trained nurses facilitate patients' stability, accelerate weaning from the ventilator, and reduce potential tracheostomy dislodgement. Methods: A cross-sectional, retrospective cohort survey was conducted in September 2021, using an electronic version of a self-questionnaire, to assess nurses' knowledge and comfort level regarding tracheostomy care of pediatric patients at the International Extended Care Center in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Statistical analysis of the accrued data was performed using the SPSS 21.0 software package and a P-value <0.05 calculated by t-Test, was considered significant. Results: Among 43 nurses included in the study, 14 (32.6%) were very comfortable taking care of tracheostomized patients, 13 (30.2%) were comfortable, and 16 (37.2%) were uncomfortable. Regarding knowledge, three main aspects of tracheostomy care were correctly answered (%) by all the nurses: knowledge of routine tracheal care (55%), tracheal care skills (11.6%), and tracheal emergency care (2.3%). The study showed a significant positive correlation between nurses' comfort level with tracheal care and academic degree, duration of pediatric experience, completion of more than one life support course, and attendance at the annual local tracheostomy care competency learning program (TCCLP; all P <0.05). Conclusion: Deficits exist in nurses' knowledge of tracheostomy care. Improved knowledge garnered through repetitive participation in tracheostomy competency programs and life support courses correlate with greater comfort and more than 5 years of pediatric experience. Nurses' deficits in emergency care knowledge and skills should be addressed through a structured educational program and a simulation, hands-on based TCCLP course, irrespective of comfort level with tracheostomy care.
ABSTRACT
The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) is usually less severe and less prevalent in the pediatric population. Children with preexisting conditions such as neuromuscular impairments and chronic lung disease are more susceptible to COVID-19 and may incur several complications with a poor outcome. We present a case report of a 3-year-old-female with generalized hypotonia and respiratory failure due to spinal muscular atrophy who tested positive for COVID-19 and developed multisystem inflammatory syndrome that was treated with intravenous immunoglobulin and tocilizumab and subsequently died. The report highlights the importance of close surveillance, the use of protective measures during hospital visits, early testing, and diagnosis of COVID-19 in children with neurological disorders.
ABSTRACT
Calcium ions play key roles as structural components in biomineralization and as a second messenger in signaling pathways. We have introduced a de novo designed calcium-binding site into the framework of a non-calcium-binding protein, domain 1 of CD2. The resulting protein selectively binds calcium over magnesium with calcium-binding affinity comparable to that of natural extracellular calcium-binding proteins (K(d) of 50 microM). This experiment is the first successful metalloprotein design that has a high coordination number (seven) metal-binding site constructed into a beta-sheet protein. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of designing a single calcium-binding site into a host protein, taking into account only local properties of a calcium-binding site obtained by a survey of natural calcium-binding proteins and chelators. The resulting site exhibits strong metal selectivity, suggesting that it should now be feasible to understand and manipulate signaling processes by designing novel calcium-modulated proteins with specifically desired functions and to affect their stability.
