Caliber-persistent labial artery: report of 3 cases

The caliber-persistent labial artery is a vascular anomaly in which a primary arterial branch penetrates into the submucosal tissue without reduction in diameter. Most lesions are benign and do not require treatment, except for complications and/or on patient demands. In this way, noninvasive diagnostic tools are preferred such as high-resolution and color Doppler ultrasonography which allow direct observation of the lesion, assessing its exact location and diameter at every axis, as well as the blood flow velocity. An excisional biopsy of these lesions or even their surgical extirpation could have a fatal outcome with profuse bleeding.     

Efficacia delle misure volte a contenere la diffusione del virus Sars-Cov-2 negli ambienti di lavoro: un’indagine in nove aziende con sede nella regione Veneto

«Effectiveness of the measures aimed at containing Sars-cov-2 virus spreading in work settings: a survey in companies based in the Veneto region of Italy».Introduction:During the Sars-Cov-2 pandemic, occupational health physicians worked to respond to different needs of workers, employers, and health authorities. In collaboration with the Prevention Department of the Veneto region of Italy, a survey was promoted in nine manufacturing companies in the province of Padua, to investigate the prevalence of asymptomatic SarsCov-2 virus and the immunological status of 1,267 workers.Scope:The study was aimed at verifying the effectiveness of measures to contain the virus spread among workers in the workplace as required by the agreement between the social partners signed on March 14, 2020.Methods:The survey was carried out at workplaces by trained health physicians and almost all company workers enrolled on a voluntary basis. Each worker was tested for viral RNA using nasopharyngeal swab and for IgM and IgG antibodies by drawing venous or capillary blood, according to the availability of tests at that difficult period.Results:Swab-positive workers were 0.3%, and subjects with positive serological tests were 1.6% of the total workers examined.Discussion:The diagnostic test is based on the search for viral RNA through nasopharyngeal swab. To evaluate the immunological status of workers the CLIA or Elisa quantitative serological test should be preferred. Measures to contain the virus spreading at the workplace seem to be effective, as working settings do not entail any additional risk of SarsCov-2 infection.Key words: COVID-19, epidemiology, prevention at workplace     

Patterns in metabolite profile are associated with risk of more aggressive prostate cancer: A prospective study of 3,057 matched case–control sets from EPIC

Metabolomics may reveal novel insights into the etiology of prostate cancer, for which few risk factors are established. We investigated the association between patterns in baseline plasma metabolite profile and subsequent prostate cancer risk, using data from 3,057 matched case–control sets from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC). We measured 119 metabolite concentrations in plasma samples, collected on average 9.4 years before diagnosis, by mass spectrometry (AbsoluteIDQ p180 Kit, Biocrates Life Sciences AG). Metabolite patterns were identified using treelet transform, a statistical method for identification of groups of correlated metabolites. Associations of metabolite patterns with prostate cancer risk (OR_1SD) were estimated by conditional logistic regression. Supplementary analyses were conducted for metabolite patterns derived using principal component analysis and for individual metabolites. Men with metabolite profiles characterized by higher concentrations of either phosphatidylcholines or hydroxysphingomyelins (OR_1SD = 0.77, 95% confidence interval 0.66–0.89), acylcarnitines C18:1 and C18:2, glutamate, ornithine and taurine (OR_1SD = 0.72, 0.57–0.90), or lysophosphatidylcholines (OR_1SD = 0.81, 0.69–0.95) had lower risk of advanced stage prostate cancer at diagnosis, with no evidence of heterogeneity by follow-up time. Similar associations were observed for the two former patterns with aggressive disease risk (the more aggressive subset of advanced stage), while the latter pattern was inversely related to risk of prostate cancer death (OR_1SD = 0.77, 0.61–0.96). No associations were observed for prostate cancer overall or less aggressive tumor subtypes. In conclusion, metabolite patterns may be related to lower risk of more aggressive prostate tumors and prostate cancer death, and might be relevant to etiology of advanced stage prostate cancer.     

Comparison between X-ray-hysterosalpingography and 3 Tesla magnetic resonance-hysterosalpingography in the assessment of the tubal patency in the cause of female infertility

Objectives

XR-hysterosalpingography currently represents the gold standard for tubal pathology evaluation. Magnetic resonance-HSG is an innovative technique. With our study, we aim to comprehend if and how MR-HSG, compared to traditional XR-HSG, could give us this additional information in the diagnostic/therapeutic process.

Materials and methods

This study included 19 patients between 30 and 42 years old (average age 37.7) affected by infertility. Patients underwent contextually both XR-HSG and MR-HSG, using a single catheterization. The dynamic MR-HSG exam consisted a MR sequence during contrast administration through the cervical catheter.

Results

Both XR-HSG and MR-HSG documented that 15 of the 19 patients had bilateral tubal patency, while four patients had monolateral tubal patency. However, MR-HSG allowed us to diagnose additional findings:

• Two active endometriosis foci in adnexal localization and a condition of adenomyosis

• A unicornuate uterus malformation

• A submucous uterine myoma near the tubal ostium

• A decrease of the ovarian reserve in a patient

So MR-HSG could potentially detect in 10/19 (52%) women the cause of their infertility, compared to 4/19 (21%) detected with XR-HSG and about 30% of women would have resulted as false negatives if we only used XR-HSG.

Finally, with a questionnaire, we demonstrated that MR-HSG is less painful than XR-HSG.

Conclusions

These data thus confirm that XR-HSG and MR-HSG present the same diagnostic of assessing tubal patency. We also demonstrated that MR-HSG is able to detect further collateral findings that could likewise be a possible therapeutic target and it could possibly become the new gold standard in female infertility diagnostics.