Risk for SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Healthcare Workers,Turin, Italy

We measured severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 spike protein subunits S1/S2 antibodies by using capillary electrophoresis and a chemiluminescence immunoassay for 5,444 active healthcare workers in Italy. Seroprevalence was 6.9% and higher among participants having contact with patients. Seroconversion was not observed in 37/213 previously infected participants.     

Postoperative hyperamylasemia (POH) and acute pancreatitis after pancreatoduodenectomy (POAP): State of the art and systematic review

BackgroundPostoperative hyperamylasemia is a frequent finding after pancreatoduodenectomy, but its incidence and clinical implications have not yet been analyzed systematically. The aim of this review is to reappraise the concept of postoperative hyperamylasemia with postoperative acute pancreatitis, including its definition, interpretation, and correlation.MethodsOnline databases were used to search all available relevant literature published through June 2019. The following search terms were used: “pancreaticoduodenectomy,” “amylase,” and “pancreatitis.” Surgical series reporting data on postoperative hyperamylasemia or postoperative acute pancreatitis were selected and screened.ResultsAmong 379 screened studies, 39 papers were included and comprised data from a total of 9,220 patients. Postoperative hyperamylasemia was rarely defined in most of these series, and serum amylase values were measured at different cutoff levels and reported on different postoperative days. The actual levels of serum amylase activity and the representative cutoff levels required to reach a diagnosis of postoperative acute pancreatitis were markedly greater on the first postoperative days and tended to decrease over time. Most studies analyzing postoperative hyperamylasemia focused on its correlation with postoperative pancreatic fistula and other postoperative morbidities. The incidence of postoperative acute pancreatitis varied markedly between studies, with its definition completely lacking in 40% of the analyzed papers. A soft pancreatic parenchyma, a small pancreatic duct, and pathology differing from cancer or chronic pancreatitis were all predisposing factors to the development of postoperative hyperamylasemia.ConclusionPostoperative hyperamylasemia has been proposed as the biochemical expression of pancreatic parenchymal injury related to localized ischemia and inflammation of the pancreatic stump. Such phenomena, analogous to those associated with acute pancreatitis, could perhaps be renamed as postoperative acute pancreatitis from a clinical standpoint. Patients with postoperative acute pancreatitis experienced an increased rate of all postoperative complications, particularly postoperative pancreatic fistula. Taken together, the discrepancies among previous studies of postoperative hyperamylasemia and postoperative acute pancreatitis outlined in the present review may provide a basis for stronger evidence necessary for the development of universally accepted definitions for postoperative hyperamylasemia and postoperative acute pancreatitis.     

Association of Insulin Resistance and Higher Oncotype DX™ Recurrence Score

Annals of Surgical Oncology - Black women with breast cancer have a worse overall survival compared with White women; however, no difference in Oncotype DX? (ODX) recurrence scores has been...     

ASO Visual Abstract: Optimal Treatment of cT2N0 Esophageal Carcinoma—Is Upfront Surgery Really the Way?

Annals of Surgical Oncology -     

Pheromones and Same-Sex Sexual Behavior

Archives of Sexual Behavior -     

Immunological evidence of an early seroconversion to oncogenic Merkel cell polyomavirus in healthy children and young adults

Oncogenic Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) provokes a widespread and asymptomatic infection in humans. Herein, sera from healthy children and young adults (HC, n = 344) aged 0–20 years old were evaluated for anti-MCPyV immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgM antibodies employing a recently developed immunoassay. Serum MCPyV IgG data from healthy subjects (HS, n = 510) and elderlies (ES, n = 226), aged 21–65/66–100 years old, from our previous studies, were included. The anti-MCPyV IgG and IgM rates in HC sera were 40.7% and 29.7%, respectively. A lower prevalence of anti-MCPyV IgGs was found in HC aged 0–5 years old (13%) compared to 6–10 (52.3%), 11–15 (60.5%) and 16–20 years old (61.6%) cohorts. Age-stratified HCs exhibited similar anti-MCPyV IgM rates (27.9%–32.9%). Serological profiles indicated that anti-MCPyV IgGs and IgMs had low optical densities (ODs) during the first years of life, while IgM ODs appeared to decrease throughout young adulthood. A lower anti-MCPyV IgGs rate was found in HC (40.7%) than HS (61.8%) and ES (63.7%). Upon the 5-years range age-stratification, a lower anti-MCPyV IgGs rate was found in the younger HC cohort aged 0–5 years old compared to the remaining older HC/HS/ES cohorts (52.3%–72%). The younger HC cohort exhibited the lowest anti-MCPyV IgG ODs than the older cohorts. Low anti-MCPyV IgMs rates and ODs were found in the 21–25 (17.5%) and 26–30 (7.7%) years old cohorts. Our data indicate that, upon an early-in-life seroconversion, the seropositivity for oncogenic MCPyV peaks in late childhood/young adulthood and remains at high prevalence and relatively stable throughout life.     

Thermoresponsive Reversible Unimer Micelles of Amphiphilic Fluorinated Copolymers

Amphiphilic fluorinated copolymers PEGMAx-co-FAy and TEGMAx-co-FAy are prepared by activators regenerated by electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerization (ARGET-ATRP). All polymers present a reversible thermoresponsive lower critical solution temperature-type behavior, and a cloud point temperature (T_c) in the range of 30–60 °C strictly dependent on the length of the oxyethylene side chain, the content of the hydrophobic counits, and the concentration of the solution. Combined small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and dynamic light scattering measurements are used to study the self-assembly behavior in water, organic solvents (tetrahydrofuran [THF] and dimethylformamide [DMF]), and a fluorinated solvent (hexafluorobenzene [HFB]). SAXS confirms the formation of compact-globular single-chain self-folded unimer micelles in water below T_c, which generally presents small hydrodynamic diameters (D_h ≤ 8 nm) as a result of the folding of the hydrophobic perfluorohexylethyl acrylate counits. The copolymers are also able to form reverse unimer micelle in HFB. The copolymers are not able to self-assemble in unimer micelles in THF or DMF solutions, in which they adopt conventional random coil conformations.     

Postzygotic instability of the myotonic dystrophy p[AGC]n repeat supported by larger expansions in muscle and reduced amplifications in sperm

We have analysed the [AGC] expansion in leucocytes, muscle and sperm from 17 individuals affected by myotonic dystrophy (DM). Skeletal muscle showed a larger repeat number than leucocytes in the same patient. A similar degree of expansion was detected in differently affected muscles of a single patient. The germline mutation ( 350 repeats) was expanded in somatic cells of the progeny in all patients examined. Our results provide evidence of an early postzygotic instability of the [AGC] repeat in DM.