Efficacy of endoscopic gastrojejunal bypass in obese Yucatan pigs: a comparative animal study.

BACKGROUND: Natural orifice transluminal endoscopy surgery (NOTES) gastrojejunal anastomosis (GJA) with duodenal exclusion (DE) could be used as a less invasive alternative to surgical gastric bypass. The aim of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of both methods for bariatric purpose. METHODS: This was a prospective, experimental and comparative study on 27 obese living pigs, comparing 4 groups: GJA alone (group 1, G1), GJA + DE (group 2, G2), surgical gastric bypass (group 3, G3), control group (group 4, G4). GJA was endoscopically performed, using NOTES technic and LAMS, while DE was performed surgically for limb length selection. Animals were followed for 3 months. Primary outcome included technical success and weight change, while secondary endpoints included the rate of perioperative mortality and morbidity, histological anastomosis analysis and biological analysis. RESULTS: Technical success was 100% in each intervention group. No death related to endoscopic procedures occurred in the endoscopic groups, while early mortality (< 1 month) was 57,1% in the surgical group, all due to anastomotic dehiscence. At 3 months, compared to baseline, mean weight change was + 3,1% in G1 (p = 0,46); -14,9% in G2 (p = 0,17); +5,6% in G3 (p = 0,38) and + 25% in G4 (p = 0,029). Histopathological analysis of endoscopic GJA showed complete fusion of different layers without leak or abscess. CONCLUSIONS: Endoscopic GJA with DE provides the efficacy of bypass on weight control in an animal model. Next steps consist of the development of devices to perform exclusively endoscopically limb length selection and DE.

Evidence for a radiation belt around a brown dwarf.

Ultracool dwarfs (UCDs) are a category of astronomical objects that includes brown dwarfs and very-low-mass stars. Radio observations of UCDs have measured their brightness as a function of time (light curves) and spectral energy distributions, providing insight into their magnetic fields. We present spatially resolved radio observations of the brown dwarf LSR J1835+3259 using very-long-baseline interferometry showing extended radio emission. The detected morphology is consistent with the presence of a radiation belt. Comparison with models indicates that the radiation belt contains energetic particles confined by magnetic mirroring. We contend that radio-emitting UCDs have dipole-ordered magnetic fields with radiation belt-like morphologies and aurorae that are similar to those of Jupiter.

Motorized spiral enteroscopy: effectiveness when used for new indications.

Background and study aims: Motorized spiral enteroscopy is proven to be effective in antegrade and retrograde enteroscopy. Nevertheless, little is known about its use in less common indications. The aim of this study was to identify new indications for the motorized spiral enteroscope. Methods: Monocentric retrospective analysis of 115 patients who underwent enteroscopy using PSF-1 motorized spiral enteroscope between January 2020 and December 2022. Results: A total of 115 patients underwent PSF-1 enteroscopy. 44 (38%) were antegrade procedures and 24 (21%) were retrograde procedures in patients with normal gastrointestinal anatomy with conventional enteroscopy indications. The remaining 47 (41%) patients underwent PSF-1 procedures for secondary less conventional indications: n=25 (22%) enteroscopy-assisted ERCP, n=8 (7%) endoscopy of the excluded stomach after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, n=7 (6%) retrograde enteroscopy after previous incomplete conventional colonoscopy and n=7 (6%) antegrade panenteroscopy of the entire small bowel. In this group of secondary indications, technical success rate was significantly lower (72.5%) as compared to technical success rates in the conventional groups (98-100%, p<0.001 Chi-square). Minor adverse events occurred in 17/115 patients (15%), all treated conservatively (AGREE I and II). Conclusion: This study demonstrates the capabilities of PSF-1 motorized spiral enteroscope for secondary indications. PSF-1 is useful to complete colonoscopy in case of long redundant colon, to reach the excluded stomach after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, to perform unidirectional pan-enteroscopy and to perform ERCP in patients with surgically altered anatomy. However, technical success rates are lower as compared to conventional antegrade and retrograde enteroscopy procedures, with only minor adverse events.

How to track and register adverse events and incidents related to gastrointestinal endoscopy.

Background and study aims: Gastrointestinal endoscopic procedures have evolved significantly in the last sixty years revolutionising the approach to the diagnostic and therapeutic spheres of medicine. Despite the advantages of using natural orifices to the bowel, adverse events (AE) may occur following endoscopy. Systematic AE registration is an objective in every realm of quality medicine. Despite the obvious advantage as a quality indicator, tracking endoscopy-related AE is not evident. The current study aimed at tracking all AE of all endoscopic procedures during a 3-month period. The three methods used were voluntary reporting by the endoscopist and by the patient in parallel with retrospective data analysis of patients' electronic medical records to allow capture of all AE and comparison of the three methods. Patients and methods: During a 3-month period endoscopists and patients were requested to report any possible AE. At the end of the period, a systematic review of all patient files was performed to track all AE related to the endoscopic procedure or the endoscopyrelated anaesthesia. In total 2668 endoscopic procedures were reviewed. Results: The total AE rate was 1.95%. Only half (51.9%) of all AE were voluntarily reported by endoscopists, the other half were extracted from the electronic medical record. There were no patient-reported AE. Although the majority (66.7%) of unreported AE were mild, these findings illustrate that voluntary AE reporting is unreliable. However, the retrospective tracking process proved to be difficult and time-consuming. Conclusions: The current study highlighted that systematic registration of all endoscopy-related AE is feasible, but challenging because of multiple hurdles. More practical methods are warranted to obtain reliable and long-term data as part of endoscopy quality measures.

[Alexithimia: psychosomatic structure or transcultural trait?]. / Alessitimia: struttura psicosomatica o tratto transculturale?

The these put forward by Marty and Sifneos on the one hand and by Cremerius on the other regarding "psichosomatic structure" have been compared in 66 patients suffering from idiopathic cephalea. Of these, 49 were suffering from migraine and 17 from musculotensive cephalea. The conclusion was that the alexithimic trait is related to the sociocultural level of the patients, not to their clinical picture.