Midterm Outcome of Early Pregnancy Versus Late Pregnancy After Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy.

BACKGROUND: Controversy regarding the timing of pregnancy and its implications is present in the literature. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the midterm outcome of weight loss in women who have undergone laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) followed by pregnancy at two different times. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 53 women who matched the inclusion criteria and included them in the analysis. Demographics and anthropometric measurements were collected. Women who conceived within 12 months of LSG were labeled as early group (EG), and who conceived after 12 months were noted as late group (LG). RESULTS: There were no differences between the groups regarding obesity-associated disease and number of pregnancies before. EG had higher weight (P = 0.0001) and body mass index (BMI) (P = 0.002) at LSG. The mean interval time for EG was 6.7 ± 3.2 months, and LG was 20 ± 5.2 months. Gestational weight gain (GWG) was lower in the EG (P = 0.001). There were no differences in the number of small for gestational age (SGA) births or gestational weight. In the first 2 years after LSG, LG had a higher percentage of total weight loss (%TWL) and percentage of body mass index loss (%EBMIL) (P < 0.0001). After 5 years of follow-up, %TWL (P = 0.4) and %EBMIL (P = 0.1) were not statistically significant between both groups. CONCLUSION: Conception within 12 months from LSG might hinder the weight loss process in the short term but have no significant effect over 5 years of follow-up.

Characterization of a thermostable, allosteric L-asparaginase from Anoxybacillus flavithermus.

L-asparaginase is an important enzyme with diverse applications in food industry and therapeutics. However, the enzyme currently employed in the treatment of leukaemias, comes with undesired L-glutaminase activity. A gene encoding 38 kDa L-asparaginase form Anoxybacillus flavithermus was cloned and expressed in Escherichia coli as a soluble and active enzyme. Heat treatment and Ni-affinity column chromatography provided highly purified enzyme possessing a specific activity of 165 units mg-1. The enzyme exhibited allosteric behaviour with a Hill coefficient of 1.60 and K0.5 of 25 mM with L-asparagine as specific substrate. No detectable activity was observed in the presence of D-asparagine, l-glutamine and d-glutamine. Purified AfASNase showed optimum activity at 60 °C and pH 7.0. The enzyme had ability to withstand up to 6 M urea and showed complete inactivation when treated with 1 M guanidine hydrochloride. Protein-Ligand docking and molecular dynamic simulations indicated that the regulatory site is formed by T262-T263-C265-G269-Thr294 and is located on a domain different from the one carrying the well-established active site. AfASNase is reported as first thermostable L-asparaginase with allosteric regulation. Hitherto, AfASNase presents the first characterization of recombinant L-asparaginase from the genus Anoxybacillus.