Operative approach to intestinal malrotation encountered during laparoscopic gastric bypass.

Congenital anomalies of midgut rotation are uncommon with a 0.2-0.5% incidence. Intestinal malrotation (IM) presents a unique challenge in bariatric surgery during laparoscopic gastric bypass (LRYGB), and familiarity with alternatives allows for safe laparoscopic intervention. IM was encountered in 5 of 1183 (0.4%) patients undergoing surgery. Once IM was suspected, a standardized approach was applied: rightward shift of ports, confirmation of IM by the absence of the ligament of Treitz, identification of the duodenojejunal junction, lysis of Ladd's bands, mirror-image construction of the Roux limb and construction of the gastrojejunal anastomosis. Forty percent were male, age 33 ± 8 years, with body mass index 50 kg/m2 (37-75 kg/m2). IM was identified preoperatively in two patients (40%). All operations were completed laparoscopically. Despite the finding of IM, successful laparoscopic completion of gastric bypass can be anticipated if the surgeon has an understanding of the anatomic alterations and a strategy for intraoperative management.

Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Atrial Tissue of Patients Developing Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation.

BACKGROUND: Mitochondria are the major site of cellular oxidation. Metabolism and oxidative stress have been implicated as possible mechanisms for postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) after cardiac operations. Establishing the precise nature of mitochondrial dysfunction as an etiologic factor for oxidative stress-related cell death and apoptosis could further the understanding of POAF. To establish this relationship, mitochondrial function was studied in patients undergoing cardiac operations that developed POAF and compared it with patients without POAF. METHODS: Right atrial tissue and serum samples were collected from 85 patients before and after cardiopulmonary bypass. Microarray analysis (36 patients) and RNA sequencing (5 patients) were performed on serum and atrial tissues, respectively, for identifying significantly altered genes in patients who developed POAF. On the basis of these results, Western blot was performed in 52 patients for the genes that were most altered, and functional pathways were established. RESULTS: POAF developed in 30.6% (n = 26) of patients. Serum microarray showed significant fold changes in the expression of 49 genes involved in inflammatory response, oxidative stress, apoptosis, and amyloidosis (p < 0.05) in the POAF group. Similarly, RNA sequencing demonstrated an increased expression of genes associated with inflammatory response, fatty acid metabolism, and apoptosis in the POAF group (false discovery rate > 0.05). Immunoblotting showed a significant increase in TNFAIP6 (tumor necrosis factor, α-induced protein 6; p = 0.02) and transforming growth factor-ß (p = 0.04) after cardiopulmonary bypass in the POAF group. There was a significant decrease in PGC-1α (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-γ coactivator-1α; p = 0.002) and CPT1 (carnitine palmitoyltransferase I; p < 0.0005) in the POAF group after cardiopulmonary bypass. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with patients without POAF, those with POAF demonstrated mitochondrial dysfunction at various levels that are suitable for potential pharmacotherapy.

Thalassemia and premarital screening: potential for implementation of a screening program among young people in Pakistan.

Pakistan has a high prevalence of ß-thalassemia (ß-thal) but lacks a screening program for its prevention. This questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was conducted in six randomly chosen non medical universities to assess the students' knowledge of ß-thal and premarital screening, and their attitude towards such a program. Comparison was made between the respondents' attitude towards premarital screening before and after providing them some information regarding the disease. Only 54.5% (207) of 380 students had heard of ß-thal, with a mean knowledge score of 13.0 ± 4.4 out of 27 questions. Most respondents were aware of the concept of premarital screening. Out of 207 students, 60.4% wanted to know if they were carriers, 69.1% wanted to know their spouse's carrier status and 59.4% wanted premarital screening to be made mandatory in Pakistan. These figures increased to 72.5, 78.3 and 67.6%, respectively after provision of written information (p values: 0.03, 0.02, and 0.01, respectively). The positive attitude towards premarital screening with low background knowledge of the disease highlights the need of a mass awareness campaign and subsequent implementation of a premarital screening program.

Strong BCL2 expression in Burkitt lymphoma is not uncommon in adults.

BACKGROUND: The distinction between Burkitt lymphoma (BL) and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is not always easy, so much so that the WHO 2008 Blue Book has incorporated a provisional category of "B-cell lymphoma, unclassifiable with features intermediate between DLBCL and BL." One of the immunohistochemical (IHC) markers used at times to differentiate between the two is IHC expression of BCL2, which was initially believed to be consistently negative in BL. Later it was recognized that weak BCL2 expression is still compatible with the diagnosis of BL. To verify or otherwise this current view this study was undertaken. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrieved 39 confirmed cases of BL, in both children and adults. All these cases had typical morphology, IHC profile, and Mib-1 index that are typical of BL. All these cases were then stained with a monoclonal antibody against BCL2 oncoprotein, using 2-step Envision system. RESULTS: Out of 39 cases, 31 cases (79.4%) were completely negative for BCL2, whereas 5 (12.8%) were weak focal positive. However, another 4 (10.2%) cases did show strong diffuse cytoplasmic staining for BCL2. Fluorescent in-Situ hybridization (FISH) for t(14:18) was optimally done on 6 out of 9 cases. All these 4 cases were from adults with 3 out of 4 arising in the parotid region. Two out of 4 cases also showed t(8:14) on FISH. CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that contrary to the common belief, strong BCL2 IHC expression is possible in typical BL in adults and cannot be absolutely relied upon to distinguish between BL and DLBCL.