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We report the case of an unexpected massive haemolysis occurred early after mitral valve repair. Potential underlying causes have been investigated, with review of the literature. After mitral valve replacement, haemolysis disappeared and the patient recovered, returning to normal life after 12 months.

This is written so as to report the case of a 75-year-old male with a diagnosis of sigmoid adenocarcinoma accompanied by critical coronary artery disease and angina, which was subject to simultaneous surgical treatment. Was performed first an on – pump coronary artery revascularization and then a left colectomy. Our case suggests that performing an on-pump bypass in patient also with reduced ejection fraction procedure prior to cancer surgery can be a safe surgical in appropriately selected cases.

Aortic valve surgery in non-elderly patients represents a very challenging patient population. The younger the patient is at the point of aortic valve intervention, the longer their anticipated life expectancy will be, with longer exposure to valve-related complications and risk for re-operation. Although the latest international guidelines recommend aortic valve repair in patients with aortic valve insufficiency, what we see in the real world is that the vast majority of these aortic valves are replaced. However, current prosthetic valves has now been shown to lead to significant loss of life expectancy for non-elderly patients up to 50% for patients in their 40s undergoing mechanical aortic valve replacement. Bioprostheses carry an even worse long-term survival, with higher rates of re-intervention. The promise of trans-catheter valve-in-valve technology is accentuating the trend of bioprosthetic implantation in younger patients, without yet the appropriate evidence. In contrast, aortic valve repair has shown excellent outcomes in terms of quality of life, freedom from re-operation and freedom from major adverse valve-related events with similar life expectancy to general population as it is also found for the Ross procedure, the only available living valve substitute. We are at a time when the paradigm of aortic valve surgery needs to change for the better. To better serve our patients, we must acquire high quality real-world evidence from multiple centers globally - this is the vision of the AVIATOR registry and our common responsibility.

Ultraviolet (UV) monitoring is of great interest in the healthcare field to prevent excessive UV exposure risks. In the last years silicon carbide (SiC) has emerged as a suitable material for the fabrication of UV detectors. In this paper we propose a 4H-SiC Schottky photodiode with a continuous very thin Ni2Si layer operating at 0V, properly designed for UV radiation monitoring.

Pretransplant soluble CD30 (sCD30) is a predictor of kidney graft outcome. Its status as a predictor of heart transplant (HT) outcome has not been established. We have studied this question by assessing sCD30 levels and the number of (CCAT) n repeats of the microsatellite in the CD30 promoter region, which is able alone to repress gene transcription, in the sera of 83 HT patients and 77 of their donors. sCD30 was non-significantly increased in the patients, whereas there were no differences in the CD30 microsatellite allele frequencies. A negative correlation between the number of (CCAT) n and sCD30 levels was evident in the donors. Patients with pretransplant sCD30≤30 U/ml displayed a significantly better survival. In conclusion, sCD30 levels are predictive of HT outcome.