Negative effect of lockdown on juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients

Clinical Rheumatology - The aim of this study is to evaluate a possible negative action of lockdown, during the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic, in the...     

Neonatal seizures as onset of Inborn Errors of Metabolism (IEMs): from diagnosis to treatment. A systematic review

Metabolic Brain Disease - Neonatal seizures (NS) occur in the first 28 days of life; they represent an important emergency that requires a rapid diagnostic work-up to start a prompt...     

Benefits of minimally invasive surgery in the treatment of gastric cancer

We read with great interest the article that retrospectively analyzed 814 patients with primary gastric cancer, who underwent minimally invasive R0 gastrectomy between 2009 and 2014 by grouping them in laparoscopic vs robotic procedures. The results of the study highlighted that age, American Society of Anesthesiologists status, gastrectomy type and pathological T and N status were the main prognostic factors of minimally invasive gastrectomy and showed how the robotic approach may improve long-term outcomes of advanced gastric cancer. According to most of the current literature, robotic surgery is associated with a statistically longer operating time when compared to open and laparoscopic surgery; however, looking at the adequacy of resection, defined by negative surgical margins and number of lymph nodes removed, it seems that robotic surgery gives better results in terms of the 5-year overall survival and recurrence-free survival. The robotic approach to gastric cancer surgery aims to overcome the difficulties and technical limitations of laparoscopy in major surgery. The three-dimensional vision, articulation of the instruments and good ergonomics for the surgeon allow for accurate and precise movements which facilitate the complex steps of surgery such as lymph node dissection, esophagus-jejunal anastomosis packaging and reproducing the technical accuracy of open surgery. If the literature, as well as the analyzed study, offers us countless data regarding the short-term oncological results of robotic surgery in the treatment of gastric cancer, satisfactory data on long-term follow-up are lacking, so future studies are necessary.     

Perceptions About Local ART Adherence Norms and Personal Adherence Behavior Among Adults Living with HIV in Rural Uganda

AIDS and Behavior - Although misperceived norms often drive personal health behaviors, we do not know about this phenomenon in the context of antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence. We conducted a...     

Point-of-care assays for autoantibodies to thyroid peroxidase and to thyroglobulin.

Point-of-care (POC) assays for autoantibodies to thyroid peroxidase (TPOAb) and to thyroglobulin (TgAb) are described. Both assays are based on the ability of autoantibodies in test samples (whole blood, plasma, or sera) to inhibit the binding of monoclonal antibodies to TPO or to Tg. The assays require no special equipment and give results in 10 minutes. Analysis of samples from healthy blood donors (n = 80), patients with autoimmune thyroid disease (n = 97) and nonthyroid autoimmune diseases (n = 20) showed that results with the POC tests compared well to those obtained by agglutination assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The reference immunoprecipitation assays (IPA) based on 125I-labeled TPO or Tg were more sensitive than the POC tests particularly in the case of TgAb measurements. However, no samples were found positive by POC test and negative by IPA emphasizing the high specificity of the POC assays. Our results suggest that POC testing for TPOAb and TgAb with assays such as those we describe could be useful in certain situations. These include prediction of postpartum thyroiditis and the development of interferon-alpha-related thyroid disease.