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Background Teaching medical ultrasound has increased in popularity in medical schools with hands-on workshops as an essential part of teaching. However, the lockdown due to COVID-19 kept medical schools from conducting these workshops. Objective The aim of this paper is to describe an alternative method used by our medical school to allow our students to acquire the essential psychomotor skills to produce ultrasound images. Methods Our students took online ultrasound courses. Consequently, they had to practice ultrasound exercises on a virtual simulator, using the mouse of their computer to control a simulated transducer. Our team measured the precision reached at the completion of simulation exercises. Before and after completion of the courses and simulator’s exercises, students had to complete a questionnaire dedicated to psychomotor skills. A general evaluation questionnaire was also submitted. Results A total of 193 students returned the precourse questionnaire. A total of 184 performed all the simulator exercises and 181 answered the postcourse questionnaire. Of the 180 general evaluation questionnaires that were sent out, 136 (76%) were returned. The average precourse score was 4.23 (SD 2.14). After exercising, the average postcourse score was 6.36 (SD 1.82), with a significant improvement (P<.001). The postcourse score was related to the accuracy with which the simulator exercises were performed (Spearman rho 0.2664; P<.001). Nearly two-thirds (n=84, 62.6%) of the students said they enjoyed working on the simulator. A total of 79 (58.0%) students felt that they had achieved the course’s objective of reproducing ultrasound images. Inadequate connection speed had been a problem for 40.2% (n=54) of students. Conclusions The integration of an online simulator for the practical learning of ultrasound in remote learning situations has allowed for substantial acquisitions in the psychomotor field of ultrasound diagnosis. Despite the absence of workshops, the students were able to learn and practice how to handle an ultrasound probe to reproduce standard images. This study enhances the value of online programs in medical education, even for practical skills.

Background Inappropriate antibiotics use in lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI) is a major contributor to resistance. We aimed to design an algorithm based on clinical signs and host biomarkers to identify bacterial community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) among patients with LRTI. Methods Participants with LRTI were selected in a prospective cohort of febrile (≥ 38 °C) adults presenting to outpatient clinics in Dar es Salaam. Participants underwent chest X-ray, multiplex PCR for respiratory pathogens, and measurements of 13 biomarkers. We evaluated the predictive accuracy of clinical signs and biomarkers using logistic regression and classification and regression tree analysis. Results Of 110 patients with LRTI, 17 had bacterial CAP. Procalcitonin (PCT), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and soluble triggering receptor expressed by myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1) showed an excellent predictive accuracy to identify bacterial CAP (AUROC 0.88, 95%CI 0.78–0.98; 0.84, 0.72–0.99; 0.83, 0.74–0.92, respectively). Combining respiratory rate with PCT or IL-6 significantly improved the model compared to respiratory rate alone (p = 0.006, p = 0.033, respectively). An algorithm with respiratory rate (≥ 32/min) and PCT (≥ 0.25 μg/L) had 94% sensitivity and 82% specificity. Conclusions PCT, IL-6 and sTREM-1 had an excellent predictive accuracy in differentiating bacterial CAP from other LRTIs. An algorithm combining respiratory rate and PCT displayed even better performance in this sub-Sahara African setting.

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This study demonstrates that a heterogeneous ultrasound appearance of the fetal lungs can be detected in utero in the most severe cases. This aspect suggests an already significant compression of the fetal bronchial tree by the dilated arteries that may have prognostic implications.

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