Background Since SARS‐CoV‐2 infection was first identified in December 2019, the novel coronavirus‐induced pneumonia COVID‐19 spread rapidly and triggered a global pandemic. Recent bioinformatics evidence suggests that angiotensin converting enzyme 2—the main cell entry target of SARS‐CoV‐2—is predominantly enriched in spermatogonia, Leydig and Sertoli cells, which suggests the potential vulnerability of the male reproductive system to SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. Objectives To identify SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA in seminal plasma and to determine semen characteristics from male patients in the acute and recovery phases of infection. Methods From February 26 to April 2, 2020, 23 male patients with COVID‐19 were recruited. The clinical characteristics, laboratory findings and chest computed tomography scans of all patients were recorded in detail. We also investigated semen characteristics and the viral RNA load in semen from these patients in the acute and recovery phases of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection using approved methods. Results The age range of the 23 patients was 20–62 years. All patients tested negative for SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA in semen specimens. Among them, the virus had been cleared in 11 patients, as they tested negative. The remaining 12 patients tested negative for SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA in semen samples, but were positive in sputum and fecal specimens. The median interval from diagnosis to providing semen samples was 32 days, when total sperm counts, total motile sperm counts and sperm morphology of the patients were within normal ranges. Discussion and Conclusion In this cohort of patients with a recent infection or recovering from COVID‐19, there was no SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA detected in semen samples, which indicates the unlikely possibility of sexual transmission through semen at about 1 month after first detection.

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Carbetocin has been associated with a similar low incidence of adverse effects to oxytocin and at least as effective as syntometrine and may become an alternative uterotonic agent for the prevention of postpartum hemorrhage. Further studies should be conducted to determine the safety and efficacy profile of carbetocin in women with cardiac disorders and to analyze the cost-effectiveness and minimum effective dose of carbetocin.

The present study aims to clarify whether hyaluronan binding protein 1 (HABP1/p32/C1QBP) is an indicator of peritoneal and lymph node metastasis in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), which to the authors' knowledge is not previously reported by others. Western blot analysis demonstrated that HABP1 was highly overexpressed in most metastatic lesions. Of 89 patients whose primary tumors showed high HABP1 expression on immunohistochemical staining, 85 (95.5%) presented peritoneal metastases and 43 (48.3%) had lymph node metastases. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that HABP1 overexpression correlated with peritoneal dissemination and lymph node metastasis in EOC. The specificity and positive predictive value of HABP1 staining were shown to be better for peritoneal metastasis, while the negative and sensitivity predictive value of HABP1 staining were better for lymph node metastasis. The odds ratio of high versus low staining for peritoneal spread was 9.236 (95% confidence interval (CI), 2.705, 19.316), and that for lymph node metastasis was 8.614 (95% CI, 2.507, 21.039). Furthermore, HABP1 protein may potentially be used alone or in combination with other markers as a predictive marker of EOC patients with lymph node metastasis and/or peritoneal dissemination.