Background In December 2019, a novel coronavirus was identified as the cause of many pneumonia cases in China and eventually declared as a pandemic as the virus spread globally. Few reports were published on the outcome of surgical procedures in diagnosed COVID-19 patients and even fewer on the surgical outcomes of asymptomatic undiagnosed COVID-19 surgical patients. We aimed to review all published data regarding surgical outcomes of preoperatively asymptomatic untested coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Methods This report is a review on the perioperative period in COVID-19 patients who were preoperatively asymptomatic and not tested for COVID-19. Searches were conducted in PubMed April 4th, 2020. All publications, of any design, were considered for inclusion. Results Four reports were identified through our literature search, comprising 64 COVID-19 carriers, of them 51 were diagnosed only in the postoperative period. Synthesis of these reports, concerning the postoperative outcomes of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 during the perioperative period, suggested a 14/51 (27.5%) postoperative mortality rate and severe mostly pulmonic complications, as well as medical staff exposure and transmission. Conclusions COVID-19 may have potential hazardous implications on the perioperative course. Our review presents results of unacceptable mortality rate and a high rate of severe complications. These observations warrant further well-designed studies, yet we believe it is time for a global consideration of sampling all asymptomatic patients before surgical treatment.

High glucosylceramide synthase (GCS) activity is one factor contributing to multidrug resistance (MDR) in breast cancer. Enforced GCS overexpression has been shown to disrupt ceramide-induced apoptosis and to confer resistance to doxorubicin. To examine whether GCS is a target for cancer therapy, we have designed and tested the effects of antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotides (ODNs) to GCS on gene expression and chemosensitivity in multidrug-resistant cancer cells. Here, we demonstrate that antisense GCS (

Treatment with ozone prevents intestinal mucosal damage, stimulates cell proliferation and inhibits programmed cell death following intestinal IR in a rat.

Purpose: Bisphosphonates are used for treatment or prevention of osteoporosis and of bone metastases. The use of oral bisphosphonates was suggested to be associated with reduced risk of developing breast cancer, and their positive influence on breast cancer survival was only demonstrated with third-generation bisphosphonates. We studied the association of use of oral bisphosphonates after breast cancer diagnosis on overall and breast cancer survival.Experimental Design: A nested case-control analysis was performed using data from the population-based Breast Cancer in Northern Israel Study (BCINIS). Participants were postmenopausal women with newly diagnosed breast cancer insured by Clalit. Use of second-generation bisphosphonates (alendronate and/or risedronate) was identified using computerized prescription records. The analysis was restricted to women who did not use bisphosphonates prior to diagnosis.Results: In a cohort of 3,731 postmenopausal women with breast cancer, followed up for an average of 70 months, there were 799 cases of death which were matched to 15,915 control periods of living breast cancer cases. Use of bisphosphonates after diagnosis for at least 18 months was significantly more common among survivors than among their matched controls who died, adjusted for tumor stage/grade (overall survival: OR ¼ 0.63, 0.41-0.96, P ¼ 0.03; breast cancer-specific survival: OR ¼ 0.28, 0.09-0.91, P ¼ 0.035). A similar advantageous effect, but statistically underpowered, was found in estrogen receptor (ER)-positive, ERnegative, and HER2neu-positive tumors.Conclusions: The use of oral bisphosphonates, by postmenopausal, probably osteoporotic, women initiated after diagnosis of breast cancer was associated with a significant improvement in overall and breast-specific odds of survival.

Treatment with taurine prevents gut mucosal damage and inhibits intestinal epithelial cell apoptosis following intestinal IR in a rat.