Search

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is associated with high mortality among transplant recipients. Comparative data that define humoral responses to the Oxford-AstraZeneca (AZ) and BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccines are limited.We recruited 920 kidney transplant patients receiving at least 1 dose of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 vaccine, excluding patients with virus pre-exposure. Serological status was determined with the COVID-SeroKlir ELISA (Kantaro-EKF Diagnostics). Patients with a corrected antibody level of0.7 AU/mL were considered seronegative.Four hundred ninety-five AZ and 141 Pfizer patients had a sample analyzed after first dose and 593 after second dose (346 AZ versus 247 Pfizer). After first dose, 25.7% of patients seroconverted (26.6% AZ, 22.8% Pfizer). After second dose, 148 (42.8%) of AZ seroconverted compared with 130 (52.6%) of Pfizer (P = 0.02; hazard ratio, 1.48; 95% confidence interval, 1.07-2.06). When negative responders were excluded, Pfizer patients were shown to have significantly higher response than AZ patients (median 2.6 versus 1.78 AU/mL, P = 0.005).Patients on mycophenolate had a reduced seroconversion rate (42.2% versus 61.4%; P0.001; hazard ratio, 2.17) and reduced antibody levels (0.47 versus 1.22 AU/mL, P = 0.001), and this effect was dose dependent (P = 0.05). Prednisolone reduced the seroconversion from 58.2% to 43.6% (P = 0.03) among Pfizer but not AZ recipients. Regression analysis showed that antibody levels were reduced by older age (P = 0.002), mycophenolate (P0.001), AZ vaccine (versus Pfizer, P = 0.001), and male gender (P = 0.02). Sixteen of 17 serious postvaccine infections occurred to patients who did not seroconvert.Both seroconversion and antibody levels are lower in AZ compared with Pfizer vaccinated recipients following 2 vaccine doses. Mycophenolate was associated with lower antibody responses in a dose-dependent manner. Serious postvaccine infections occurred among seronegative recipients.

Background Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery is an important treatment for obesity and it's related diseases, however internal herniation and small bowel obstruction from mesenteric defects can lead to reoperation in 10–16% of patients. This can be early ( Our objective was to systematically review and analyse pooled data from all studies, evaluating the impact of routine closure of mesenteric defects on the incidence of internal hernia in laparoscopic antecolic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) surgery for obesity. Secondary endpoints for analysis included the incidence of early and late small bowel obstruction (SBO), need for reoperation, bleeding, anastomotic leak, marginal ulceration and weight loss. Methods Ovid, MEDLINE, EMBASE and Cochrane databases were searched on 13 September 2021 using a combination of MeSH and non-MeSH terms, including ‘gastric bypass’, ‘mesenteric defect’, ‘hernia’, and ‘small bowel obstruction’. Studies comparing closure with non-closure of mesenteric defects were included. Two researchers independently examined titles, then abstracts, and finally, full text articles. Disagreements were arbitrated with the senior author. Fixed- or random-effect models were used, as appropriate. Results have been reported with 95% confidence intervals and I-squared indices to assess uniformity among results for each outcome measured. Results Seventeen studies met the criteria and were included, including two randomised trials. A total of 61,220 patients were included with follow-up ranging from 24–120 months. In the closure group the incidence of all types of internal hernia was lower (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.19, 0.26), SBO beyond 30 days was less frequent (OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.44,0.52), and the reoperation rate was lower (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.19,0.26). The incidence of SBO within 30 days was higher in the closure group (OR 1.34, CI 1.07,1.68). Conclusions This new pooled analysis updates previous meta-analyses, adding data from eight additional studies and almost 45,000 additional patients. This provides firm evidence that routine closure of mesenteric defects during laparoscopic gastric bypass reduces rates of internal herniation and SBO beyond the post-operative period. Closure of the mesenteric defects should be standard practice in RYGB. A higher incidence of early SBO was notable in the closure group, postulated by some studies as attributable to technical factors, including kinking of the jejunal anastomosis and bleeding. This must be considered when closing defects.

We read with great interest Bellini et al.'s (1) article on restructuring education after the COVID-19 pandemic and found it both insightful and thought-provoking. The authors provide an accurate insight into the impact COVID-19 has had on education and training. With face-to-face sessions now becoming more and more limited, the pandemic has been quite a 'shock' and led to major disruption to the education system for medical students and post-graduate trainees.