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BACKGROUND Gas in the portal venous system, or hepatic portal venous gas, is a rare occurrence associated with ischemic colitis, inflammatory bowel disease, or any cause of bowel perforation, including from a necrotic tumor. This report presents the case of a 72-year-old man with diabetes who had carcinoma of the ileocecal region, sepsis due to Klebsiella pneumoniae, and hepatic portal venous gas. CASE REPORT A 72-year-old man with ileocecal cancer was admitted to our hospital for preoperative diabetes control. He developed a fever and septic shock, without abdominal symptoms or signs of peritoneal irritation. Klebsiella pneumoniae was detected in blood cultures. Abdominal ultrasonography showed hepatic portal venous gas, and a simple computed tomography scan revealed gas in the vasculature and hepatic portal vein in the lateral segment, which led us to believe that the ileocecal mass was the source of infection, and emergency surgery was performed. The patient was discharged from the hospital on postoperative day 34 with good progress despite dehydration due to high-output syndrome. CONCLUSIONS Sepsis due to necrosis of ileocecal cancer is often difficult to diagnose because it is not accompanied by abdominal symptoms, as in our case. However, abdominal ultrasound is useful because it allows for a broad evaluation. This report has demonstrated and highlighted that the findings of hepatic portal venous gas on imaging should be regarded seriously, requiring urgent investigation to identify the cause and commence treatment in cases of infection or sepsis.

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with intense pruritus. Dupilumab, an anti-IL-4 receptor alpha antibody, has been revealed to be highly effective against the symptoms of AD; however, dupilumab takes longer to improve facial dermatitis in some patients. We thus examined whether the cytokine profiles in AD lesions differ between different anatomical locations., Methods: Stratum corneum was collected by tape stripping from lesions of the forehead and abdomen of 24 patients with moderate to severe AD and at the same anatomical locations of 14 control subjects. These samples were then used to determine the expression profiles of Th1, Th2, and Th17 cytokines/chemokines by multiplex assay and immunocytochemistry., Results: We found that cytokines/chemokines in the stratum corneum differed in their expression between different anatomical areas in AD patients and also in healthy control subjects. The expression of Th1 and Th17 cytokines/chemokines such as IP-10, MIG, and IL-17 tended to be higher in the forehead than in the abdomen in the AD group. Regarding Th2 cytokines/chemokines, some (e.g., IL-13 and IL-33) were highly expressed in the abdomen, others (e.g., IL-4 and IL-31) were highly expressed in the forehead, and a third group (e.g., TARC and TSLP) did not differ significantly in their expression between the forehead and abdomen. These patterns of Th2 cytokines were almost identical in the stratum corneum of healthy individuals., Conclusions: Differences in cytokine/chemokine profiles in the stratum corneum between different anatomical areas might affect the responsiveness to AD treatment., (Copyright © 2024 Japanese Society of Allergology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: The recent guidelines from the European and American Hernia Societies recommend a continuous small-bite suturing technique with slowly absorbable sutures for fascial closure of midline abdominal wall incisions to reduce the incidence of wound complications, especially for incisional hernia. However, this is based on low-certainty evidence. We could not find any recommendations for skin closure. The wound closure technique is an important determinant of the risk of wound complications, and a comprehensive approach to prevent wound complications should be developed., Methods: We propose a single-institute, prospective, randomized, blinded-endpoint trial to assess the superiority of the combination of continuous suturing of the fascia without peritoneal closure and continuous suturing of the subcuticular tissue (study group) over that of interrupted suturing of the fascia together with the peritoneum and interrupted suturing of the subcuticular tissue (control group) for reducing the incidence of midline abdominal wall incision wound complications after elective gastroenterological surgery with a clean-contaminated wound. Permuted-block randomization with an allocation ratio of 1:1 and blocking will be used. We hypothesize that the study group will show a 50% reduction in the incidence of wound complications. The target number of cases is set at 284. The primary outcome is the incidence of wound complications, including incisional surgical site infection, hemorrhage, seroma, wound dehiscence within 30 days after surgery, and incisional hernia at approximately 1 year after surgery., Discussion: This trial will provide initial evidence on the ideal combination of fascial and skin closure for midline abdominal wall incision to reduce the incidence of overall postoperative wound complications after gastroenterological surgery with a clean-contaminated wound. This trial is expected to generate high-quality evidence that supports the current guidelines for the closure of abdominal wall incisions from the European and American Hernia Societies and to contribute to their next updates., Trial Registration: UMIN-CTR UMIN000048442. Registered on 1 August 2022. https://center6.umin.ac.jp/cgi-open-bin/ctr_e/ctr_view.cgi?recptno=R000055205., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: This study compared the clinical outcomes of men with Klinfelter syndrome based on karyotype., Methods: The authors analyzed the outcomes of microdissection testicular sperm extraction (micro-TESE) performed on 57 patients with Klinfelter syndrome (KS) at our clinic., Results: The average ages of the non-mosaic and mosaic KS groups were 32.2 ± 4.8 and 45.9 ± 13.1 years, respectively. The sperm retrieval rates of the non-mosaic and mosaic KS groups were 46.5% (20/43) and 50.0% (7/14), respectively. The fertilization rates after intracytoplasmic sperm injection did not significantly differ between the non-mosaic and mosaic KS groups. The mosaic KS group had higher cleavage and blastocyst development rates than the non-mosaic KS group (72.2% vs. 96.2% and 30.5% vs. 44.7%, respectively). The group using motile sperm had better outcomes than the group using immotile sperm. The embryo transfer outcomes of the non-mosaic and mosaic KS groups did not significantly differ (clinical pregnancy rate: 28.0% vs. 20.7%, miscarriage rate: 14.3% vs. 33.3%, production rate per transfer: 22.0% vs. 13.8%, and production rate per case: 58.8% vs. 57.1%)., Conclusions: Compared with the non-mosaic KS group, the mosaic KS group had significantly better intracytoplasmic sperm injection outcomes because of the higher utilization rate of motile sperm., Competing Interests: Koji Chiba is an Editorial Board member of Reproductive Medicine and Biology and a co‐author of this article. To minimize bias, he was excluded from all editorial decision‐making related to the acceptance of this article for publication., (© 2024 The Author(s). Reproductive Medicine and Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of Japan Society for Reproductive Medicine.)