Introduction This statement was planned on 11 March 2020 to provide clinical guidance and aid staff preparation for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic in Australia and New Zealand. It has been widely endorsed by relevant specialty colleges and societies. Main recommendations Generic guidelines exist for the intubation of different patient groups, as do resources to facilitate airway rescue and transition to the “can't intubate, can't oxygenate” scenario. They should be followed where they do not contradict our specific recommendations for the COVID‐19 patient group. Consideration should be given to using a checklist that has been specifically modified for the COVID‐19 patient group. Early intubation should be considered to prevent the additional risk to staff of emergency intubation and to avoid prolonged use of high flow nasal oxygen or non‐invasive ventilation. Significant institutional preparation is required to optimise staff and patient safety in preparing for the airway management of the COVID‐19 patient group. The principles for airway management should be the same for all patients with COVID‐19 (asymptomatic, mild or critically unwell). Safe, simple, familiar, reliable and robust practices should be adopted for all episodes of airway management for patients with COVID‐19. Changes in management as a result of this statement Airway clinicians in Australia and New Zealand should now already be involved in regular intensive training for the airway management of the COVID‐19 patient group. This training should focus on the principles of early intervention, meticulous planning, vigilant infection control, efficient processes, clear communication and standardised practice.

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There is growing preclinical evidence for the involvement of glutamate in the behavioral actions of nicotine. The aim of this study, was to investigate the role of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors in the cognitive and subjective effects of smoking in humans. Sixty regular smokers took part in this double-blind placebo controlled study, that investigated the effect of the NMDA-antagonist memantine (40 mg) and the nicotinic-receptor antagonist mecamylamine (10 mg) on smoking-induced improvement in performance of a task of sustained attention and on smoking-induced changes in subjective effects and craving. Increases in subjective ratings of 'buzzed' following smoking were reversed by memantine, but not by mecamylamine. In contrast, improvement on a Rapid Visual Information Processing task by smoking was opposed by mecamylamine, but not by memantine. Smoking reduced craving for cigarettes, but neither drug altered this effect. Our results suggest that glutamatergic mechanisms may have differential involvement in the subjective and cognitive actions of smoking. Further investigations using different ligands are warranted to fully characterize the role of glutamate underlying the consequences of smoking behavior. Keywords: smoking; memantine; mecamylamine; subjective; craving; cognition INTRODUCTIONNicotine is known to have positively reinforcing, subjective and cognitive effects (Stolerman and Jarvis, 1995;Levin et al, 2006). In humans, some of the measurable subjective effects of nicotine include 'buzzed', 'dizzy', 'stimulated' (Perkins et al, 1999) while positive cognitive effects include improvements in attention (Wesnes and Warburton, 1984) and memory (Rusted et al, 1998). The neurobiological mechanisms underlying these actions of nicotine are complex, involving not only a direct action of nicotine at receptors for acetylcholine, but also changes in release of other neurotransmitters, such as dopamine and glutamate (Watkins et al, 2000).Neurochemical studies have demonstrated that, at concentrations achieved during smoking, nicotine can enhance the release and function of glutamate, through an action at presynaptic receptors (eg McGehee et al, 1995). Such studies have determined that nicotine can alter glutamate release in several different areas of the brain, including the ventral tegmental area (Schilstrom et al, 1998(Schilstrom et al, , 2000Fu et al, 2000;Mansvelder and McGehee, 2000) the nucleus accumbens (Fu et al, 2000;Reid et al, 2000) the pre-frontal cortex (Toth et al, 1993;Vidal, 1994;Gioanni et al, 1999;) and the hippocampus (Gray et al, 1996;Radcliffe et al, 1999). These are areas thought to be involved in mediating the subjective (Rosecrans and Meltzer, 1981;Shoaib and Stolerman, 1992;Miyata et al, 1999) rewarding (Corrigall et al, 1994;Stolerman, 1996;Schroeder et al, 2001) and cognitive actions of nicotine (Stolerman, 1996;Levin et al, 1999).There is also growing evidence from behavioral models to indicate a role for glutamate in neurobiological mechanisms underlying the actions of nicotine....

The suitability of a clay for studies of the absorption/adsorption of organic molecules by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy can be judged from EPR spectra. The binding of triethyl phosphate to a montmorillonite, low in paramagnetic metal ions, has been studied by solid-state 31P and 13C NMR spectroscopy; magic angle spinning NMR spectroscopy has been used to observe mobile phases within such solids. A number of mobile and immobile phases have been detected; one important mechanism in sorption probably involves coordination to the interlamellar cation. The results are discussed in terms of the utility of clays in a variety of applications.

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