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After a three-year quarantine from the deadliest global pandemic of the last century, ASTES is organizing to gather all health professionals in Tirana, The 6th Albanian Congress of Trauma and Emergency Surgery (ACTES 2022) on 11-12 November 2022, with the topic Trauma & Emergency Surgery and not only...with the aim of providing high quality, the best standards, and the best results, for our patients ... ACTES 2022 is the largest event that ASTES (Albanian Society for Trauma and Emergency Surgery) has organized so far with 230 presentations, and 67 foreign lecturers with enviable geography, making it the largest national and wider scientific event. The scientific program is as strong as ever, thanks to the inclusiveness, where all the participants with a mix of foreign and local lecturers, select the best of the moment in medical science, innovation, and observation. The scientific committee has selected all the presentations so that the participants of each medical discipline will have something to learn, discuss, debate, and agree with updated methods, techniques, and protocols. I hope you will join us on Friday morning, and continue the journey of our two-day event together.

The prevalence of opioid abuse in the United States has been steadily increasing over the last several years among many major demographics, including pregnant women. Rise in prenatal opioid abuse has resulted in subsequent escalation of neonatal abstinence syndrome incidence, prompting the US Congress to pass the Protecting Our Infants Act of 2015. This act specifically calls for a critical review of current treatment options for prenatal opioid abuse which may ultimately lead to the development of better therapies and a decreased incidence of neonatal abstinence syndrome. Currently, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommends methadone, buprenorphine, or buprenorphine/naloxone in the treatment of prenatal opioid abuse. In this review, each maintenance therapy treatment option is discussed and compared revealing inconsistencies in postpartum retention rates, effects on fetal development, and availability to patients due to restrictions in health care coverage. Although each of these treatment options reduces opioid abuse and potential negative outcomes for the fetus, the shortcomings of these drugs highlight the overarching need for an improved standard of care. Drug developers and lawmakers should consider that affordability, coverage by health insurance, and success in retention rates substantially impacts the decision of the patient and healthcare provider regarding utilization of a particular opioid maintenance therapy.

We have previously carried out two genome-wide scans in samples of Finns ascertained for schizophrenia from national epidemiological registers. Here, we report data from a third genome scan in a nationwide Finnish schizophrenia study sample of 238 pedigrees with 591 affected individuals. Of the 238 pedigrees, 53 originated from a small internal isolate (IS) on the eastern border of Finland with a well established genealogical history and a small number of founders, who settled in the community 300 years ago. The total study sample of over 1200 individuals were genotyped, using 315 markers. In addition to the previously identified chromosome 1 locus, two new loci were identified on chromosomes 2q and 5q. The highest LOD scores were found in the IS families with marker D2S427 (Z(max) = 4.43) and in the families originating from the late settlement region with marker D5S414 (Z(max) = 3.56). In addition to 1q, 2q and 5q, some evidence for linkage emerged at 4q, 9q and Xp, the regions also suggested by our previous genome scans, whereas, in the nationwide study sample, the region at 7q failed to show further evidence of linkage. The chromosome 5q finding is of particular interest, since several other studies have also shown evidence for linkage in the vicinity of this locus.