In spite of normal contraction patterns, overall passage through the small intestine is significantly delayed in CF patients while upper small intestinal transit may be abnormally fast.

BackgroundData on small intestinal transit time in healthy children are lacking, and normal values for gastric emptying and colonic transit time are sparse. Conventional methods, including radiopaque markers, scintigraphy, and PillCam™ involve radiation or require the child to swallow a large pill. The minimally invasive, radiation-free Motility Tracking System-1 (MTS-1) has been introduced for description of gastrointestinal motility in adults. The aim of the study was to evaluate the MTS-1 for assessment of gastrointestinal transit times and motility patterns in healthy children.MethodsTwenty-one healthy children (nine girls), median age 10 (range 7–12) years were included. For evaluation with MTS-1, a small magnetic pill was ingested and tracked through the gastrointestinal tract by a matrix of 16 magnetic sensors placed behind a nonmagnetic bed. The children were investigated for 8 hours after swallowing the magnetic pill and again for 4 hours the following morning. After leaving the unit, each child came back after every bowel movement to determine if the pill had been expelled.ResultsNineteen children could swallow the pill. Characteristic contraction patterns were identified for the stomach (three per minute), small intestine (9–11 per minute), and colon (4–5 per minute). Median total gastrointestinal transit time was 37.7 (range 9.5–95.8) hours, median gastric emptying time was 37 (range 2–142) minutes, median small intestinal transit time was 302 (range 164 to >454) minutes, and median colorectal transit time was 38.1 (range 5.6–90.0) hours.ConclusionMTS-1 allows minimally invasive evaluation of gastrointestinal motility in children. Use of the method is, however, restricted by the nonambulatory setup.

Introduction: Hospital mortality among chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients receiving NIV for acute respiratory failure has shown to be significantly higher in clinical settings than in the randomized trials (RCTs) which clinical guidelines are based on. This may be due to the quality of care of NIV or patient selection. In daily clinical practice, we include patients with terminal pulmonary disease with a do-not-intubate (DNI) or a do-not-resuscitate (DNR) order with a high mortality risk compared to highly selected patients in RCTs. The aim of this study was to determine the role of patient selection for in-hospital mortality among patients receiving NIV for acute respiratory failure of COPD.Methods: We conducted a retrospective study including all patients receiving acute NIV due to acute respiratory failure at the respiratory wards in 2012–2013 at two hospitals in Greater Copenhagen.Results: Overall in-hospital mortality rate was 30%. In patients with a DNI/DNR order, mortality was 59% and in patients with no limitations in treatment 2%. Patients who fulfilled the exclusion criteria of the RCT by Plant et al. had a mortality of 41% compared to 25% in the remaining population.Conclusions: High overall in-hospital mortality reflects that patient selection in clinical practice is very different from RCT. Quality of acute NIV treatment seems acceptable in clinical practice for patients with less severe COPD and no limitations in treatment. Higher mortality in patients with DNI/DNR order may be due to inefficient NIV treatment for these patients with more severe COPD.

ACTIV-3/TICO Study Group* Background: Ensovibep (MP0420) is a designed ankyrin repeat protein, a novel class of engineered proteins, under investigation as a treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection.Objective: To investigate if ensovibep, in addition to remdesivir and other standard care, improves clinical outcomes among patients hospitalized with COVID-19 compared with standard care alone.

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