Background Sniffer dogs are able to detect certain chemical particles and are suggest to be capable of helping diagnose some medical conditions and complications, such as colorectal cancer, melanoma, bladder cancer, and even critical states such as hypoglycemia in diabetic patients. With the global spread of COVID-19 throughout the world and the need to have a real-time screening of the population, especially in crowded places, this study aimed to investigate the applicability of sniffer dogs to carry out such a task. Methods Firstly, three male and female dogs from German shepherd (Saray), German black (Kuzhi) and Labrador (Marco) breeds had been intensively trained throughout the classical conditioning method for 7 weeks. They were introduced to human specimens obtained from the throat and pharyngeal secretions of participants who were already reported positive or negative for SARS-COV-2 infection be RT-PCR. Each dog underwent the conditioning process for almost 1000 times. In the meantime another similar condition process was conducted on clothes and masks of COVID-19 patient using another three male and female dogs from Labrador (Lexi), Border gypsy (Sami), and Golden retriever (Zhico) breeds. In verification test for the first three dogs, 80 pharyngeal secretion samples consisting of 26 positive and 54 negative samples from different medical centers who underwent RT-PCR test were in a single-blind method. In the second verification test for the other three dogs, masks and clothes of 50 RT-PCR positive and 70 RT-PCR negative cases from different medical center were used. Results In verification test using pharyngeal secretion, the sniffer dogs’ detection capability was associated with a 65% of sensitivity and 89% of specificity and they amanged to identify 17 out of the 26 positive and 48 out of the 54 true negative samples. In the next verification test using patients’ face masks and clothes, 43 out of the 50 positive samples were correctly identified by the dogs. Moreover, out of the 70 negative samples, 65 samples were correctly found to be negative. The sensitivity of this test was as high as 86% and its specificity was 92.9%. In addition, the positive and negative predictive values were 89.6 and 90.3%, respectively. Conclusion Dogs are capable of being trained to identify COVID-19 cases by sniffing their odour, so they can be used as a reliable tool in limited screening.
Background: Covid-19 is now global concern and widely spread to the world due to high mortality among the nations we tried to evaluate the efficacy of methylprednisolone pulse in COVID-19 patients with severe respiratory failure.Methods: This study was phase2, double-blind, randomized, clinical trial in adults with COVID-19 (aged ≥18 years old) admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) of *. Patients with intermediate or severe COVID-19 with PaO2/FiO2 less than 300 and progressive disease unresponsive to standard treatments admitted to ICU. Patients were randomly allocated in either control or investigation group. The control group received recommended regimen for COVID-19. The investigation group received the recommended regimen plus Methylprednisolone (1000mg/day for three days) and oral prednisolone 1mg/kg with tapering of dose within ten days. Results: A total of 29 ICU patients with intermediate or severe COVID-19 pneumonia recruited in this study. Fourteen patients (4 female, ten male) allocated in the investigation group, and 15 patients (6 female, nine male) assigned to the control group. The participant’s average age was 64.03±13.545 (case: 61.07±12.83, control: 66.80±14.03). The patients with methylprednisolone pulse had significantly higher systolic (P=0.018) and diastolic (P=0.001) blood pressure, meanwhile, the Glasgow coma scale (GCS) of methylprednisolone group was considerably (P<0.001) higher, and by the improvement in SpO2 of methylprednisolone group none of these patients needed mechanical ventilation.Conclusion: This study demonstrated methylprednisolone pulse in COVID-19 severe respiratory failure dramatically improves the clinical condition of patients including, GCS, and SpO2 of patients.Clinical Trial Registration Number: IRCT20200406046963N1
Background: Sniffer dogs have been shown to detect certain chemical particles and to help diagnose many diseases and complications, such as colorectal cancer, melanoma, bladder cancer, and even dangerous states such as hypoglycemia in DM-1 patients. With the spread of COVID-19 throughout the world and the need to have a real-time screening of the population, especially in crowded places, this study aimed to investigate the applicability of these sniffer dogs.Methods: This study was done in two phases. In the first step, three dogs (including one German shepherd, one German black, one Labrador) were intensively trained by the classical conditioning method for seven weeks. Human specimens were obtained from the throat culture and pharyngeal secretions of both definitely positive and negative COVID-19 participants. During the first seven weeks, each dog underwent the conditioning process for averagely 1000 times. In the verification process, 80 pharyngeal secretion samples consisting of 26 positive samples of hospitalized patients and 54 negative samples of hospitalized patients for other medical reasons were provided to the training team in a single-blind manner. The verification test was done using three dogs (Lexi, Sami, and Kozhi). Another similar conditioning process was done using COVID-19 patients’ clothes and masks and the verification test was done using 50 positive and 70 negative samples by three other trained dogs (one Labrador, one Border gypsy, and one Golden retriever). Results: In the pharyngeal secretions verification test, the sniffer dogs showed 65% sensitivity and 89% specificity. In this process, they could identify 17 out of the 26 true positive samples and 48 out of the 54 true negative samples. According to the results, the positive predictive value and negative predictive value for this experiment were 74% and 84%, respectively. In the next verification test for the patients’ face masks and clothes, 43 out of the 50 positive samples were correctly identified by the dogs. Moreover, out of the 70 negative samples, 65 samples were correctly found to be negative by the canines. The sensitivity of this method was as high as 86% and its specificity was 92.9%. In addition, the positive and negative predictive values were 89.6% and 90.3%, respectively.Conclusion: Dogs are capable of being trained as the identifier of people with COVID-19 by detecting their odor and can be used as a reliable tool in limited screening.
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