COVID-19 among workers of a comprehensive cancer centre between first and second epidemic waves (2020): a seroprevalence study in Catalonia, Spain.

OBJECTIVES: Patients with cancer are at higher risk for severe COVID-19 infection. COVID-19 surveillance of workers in oncological centres is crucial to assess infection burden and prevent transmission. We estimate the SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among healthcare workers (HCWs) of a comprehensive cancer centre in Catalonia, Spain, and analyse its association with sociodemographic characteristics, exposure factors and behaviours. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study (21 May 2020-26 June 2020). SETTING: A comprehensive cancer centre (Institut Català d'Oncologia) in Catalonia, Spain. PARTICIPANTS: All HCWs (N=1969) were invited to complete an online self-administered epidemiological survey and provide a blood sample for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies detection. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURE: Prevalence (%) and 95% CIs of seropositivity together with adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) and 95% CI were estimated. RESULTS: A total of 1266 HCWs filled the survey (participation rate: 64.0%) and 1238 underwent serological testing (97.8%). The median age was 43.7 years (p25-p75: 34.8-51.0 years), 76.0% were female, 52.0% were nursing or medical staff and 79.0% worked on-site during the pandemic period. SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence was 8.9% (95% CI 7.44% to 10.63%), with no differences by age and sex. No significant differences in terms of seroprevalence were observed between onsite workers and teleworkers. Seropositivity was associated with living with a person with COVID-19 (aPR 3.86, 95% CI 2.49 to 5.98). Among on-site workers, seropositive participants were twofold more likely to be nursing or medical staff. Nursing and medical staff working in a COVID-19 area showed a higher seroprevalence than other staff (aPR 2.45, 95% CI 1.08 to 5.52). CONCLUSIONS: At the end of the first wave of the pandemic in Spain, SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence among Institut Català d'Oncologia HCW was lower than the reported in other Spanish hospitals. The main risk factors were sharing household with infected people and contact with COVID-19 patients and colleagues. Strengthening preventive measures and health education among HCW is fundamental.

No differences between conservative and surgical management of acromioclavicular joint osteoarthritis: a scoping review.

PURPOSE: To conduct a scoping review to clarify the management of acromioclavicular joint osteoarthritis, as well as to identify any existing gaps in the current knowledge. METHODS: Studies were identified by electronic databases (Ovid, Pubmed) from their inception up to April 2nd, 2020. All studies reporting functional outcomes after conservative or surgical treatment of acromioclavicular joint osteoarthritis, either primary or secondary to trauma or distal clavicle osteolysis, were included. Following data were extracted: authors, year of publication, study design (prospective or retrospective), LOE, number of shoulders treated conservatively or surgically, patients' age, OA classification, type of conservative treatment, surgical approach, surgical technique, functional outcomes, complications, revisions, and length of follow-up. Descriptive statistics was used. Quality appraisal was assessed through the Cochrane risk of bias tool for LOE I/II studies, while the MINORS checklist was used for LOE III/IV studies. RESULTS: Nineteen studies were included for a total of 861 shoulders. Mean age of participants was 48.5 ± 7.4 years. Mean follow-up was 43.8 ± 29.9 months. Four studies reported functional results after conservative treatment, whereas 15 studies were focused on surgical management. No studies directly compared conservative and surgical treatment. Seven studies reported a surgical approach after failure of previous conservative treatment. All studies reported functional improvement and pain relief. Complication rate was low. Overall methodological quality of included studies was very low. CONCLUSION: Conservative and surgical treatments are both effective in acromioclavicular joint osteoarthritis management. However, available data did not allow to establish the superiority of one technique over another. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV.

Treatment of unstable knee osteochondritis dissecans in the young adult: results and limitations of surgical strategies-The advantages of allografts to address an osteochondral challenge.

Joint surface incongruence resulting from osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) alters the articular physiologic congruence, increasing the contact stress on adjacent joint surfaces and accelerating wear and the cascade of joint degeneration. Accordingly, the restoration of articular surface integrity is of major importance, especially in young adults where, in lesions left untreated or following simple fragment excision, early osteoarthritis can be anticipated. Therefore, the treatment algorithm in unstable knee OCD of the young adult foresees surgical options to restore the articular surface. Several procedures have been proposed, including refixation of the detached fragment bone marrow stimulation, osteochondral autograft implantation, fresh osteochondral allograft transplantation, and cell-based or cell-free regenerative techniques. The aim of this review was to summarize the evidence for these surgical strategies, reporting their results and limitations. The overall evidence documents positive results for each of the assorted surgical procedures applied to treat unstable OCD, thus indicating support for their selected use to treat osteochondral defects paying particular attention to their specific indications for the lesion characteristics. The fixation of a good quality fragment should be pursued as a first option, while unfixable small lesions may benefit from autografts. For large lesions, available cell-based or cell-free osteochondral scaffold are a feasible solution but with limitation in terms of regenerated tissue quality. In this light, fresh allografts may offer articular surface restoration with viable physiologic osteochondral tissue providing a predictably successful outcome, and therefore they may currently represent the most suitable option to treat unstable irreparable OCD lesion in young adults. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: V.

Peripheral nerve regeneration after experimental section in ovine radial and tibial nerves using synthetic nerve grafts, including expanded bone marrow mesenchymal cells: morphological and neurophysiological results.

The standard treatment of peripherical nerve injuries with substance gap is to introduce the nerve free extremes in a biodegradable tube which, as a biocamera, allows the continuity of the nerve, promote the neuroconduction and save the lesion from the surrounding fibrosis. However, this procedure has not any direct effect on the neuroregeneration nor to resolve high severe lesions. The mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) can derivate "in vitro" in different lineages, including Schwann cells. Different studies have shown MSC can promote the nerve regeneration in rodents, dogs and primates. Moving to the human clinical application requires the procedure standardization, including the optimal cell dose which we have to use. In the sheep model animal we performed a study of 1 cm. nerve section-ressection and repair with a Neurolac™ biocamera, in whose gap we applied between 30 to 50×10(6) MSC from cancellous bone, all of them selected and cultured with GMP procedures. The results were compared with controls (saline serum ± platelet-rich plasma). We used radial nerve (sensitive) and tibial nerve (motor) from 7 sheep. In the first step we performed the surgical lesion and bone marrow aspiration, and in 3 weeks we performed the surgical repair. 3 sheep were sacrificed in 3 months, and 4 sheep in 6 months. In all surgeries we performed a neurophysiological register. When we obtained the tissue samples, we performed an histological, immunohistiquimical and morphometrical study. The recovery percentage was defined comparing the axonal density from the proximal and distal lesion margins. The 3 months samples results were wrong. In 6 months samples results we observed a significative myelined nervous fibers and conduction increasing, in front of controls, both radial and tibial nerves. These results suggest the MSC application in biodegradable scaffold in nerve injuries promotes good results in terms of regeneration and functional recovery.

Treatment of knee osteoarthritis with autologous mesenchymal stem cells: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis is the most prevalent joint disease and a frequent cause of joint pain, functional loss, and disability. Osteoarthritis often becomes chronic, and conventional treatments have demonstrated only modest clinical benefits without lesion reversal. Cell-based therapies have shown encouraging results in both animal studies and a few human case reports. We designed a pilot study to assess the feasibility and safety of osteoarthritis treatment with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) in humans and to obtain early efficacy information for this treatment. METHODS: Twelve patients with chronic knee pain unresponsive to conservative treatments and radiologic evidence of osteoarthritis were treated with autologous expanded bone marrow MSCs by intra-articular injection (40×10 cells). Clinical outcomes were followed for 1 year and included evaluations of pain, disability, and quality of life. Articular cartilage quality was assessed by quantitative magnetic resonance imaging T2 mapping. RESULTS: Feasibility and safety were confirmed, and strong indications of clinical efficacy were identified. Patients exhibited rapid and progressive improvement of algofunctional indices that approached 65% to 78% by 1 year. This outcome compares favorably with the results of conventional treatments. Additionally, quantification of cartilage quality by T2 relaxation measurements demonstrated a highly significant decrease of poor cartilage areas (on average, 27%), with improvement of cartilage quality in 11 of the 12 patients. CONCLUSIONS: MSC therapy may be a valid alternative treatment for chronic knee osteoarthritis. The intervention is simple, does not require hospitalization or surgery, provides pain relief, and significantly improves cartilage quality.

Distribution of human papillomavirus types in women from Valencia, Spain, with abnormal cytology.

OBJECTIVE: To determine human papillomavirus (HPV) types among cervical smears using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and to contribute to the knowledge of human papillomavirus genotype distribution and prevalence of oncogenic types in cervical lesions in Spain. STUDY DESIGN: Consensus PCR and direct s quencing of PCR products (DNA HPV typing) were used in a retrospective study to determinate the type or types of HPVon 974 cytology smears of women with abnormal cytology results. RESULTS: Of 974 smears, 79.8% were high-risk (H-R) HPVs, 19.7% low-risk (L-R) HPVs, 4.6% indeterminate-risk (I-R) HPVs, considering both single and multiple infections. Multiple infections were detected in 4.7% of the cytologies. We detected 40 different HPV types: 17 H-R (HPV26 not detected), 10 L-R (HPVs 40 and HPV 61 not detected) and 13 I-R. The highest percentage of H-R HPV was found in those women with a cytologic high grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) (87.4%). HPV 16 was the most frequent genotype. CONCLUSION: There was a significantly her prevalence rate of H-R HPV in HSIL than in low grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL) and atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASC-US) (p < 0.01). HPV 16 (39.5%) was the most frequent genotype, with a significantly higher prevalence rate of this type in HSIL than in LSIL and ASC-US (p < 0.05 and p < 0.001, respectively). The study of the distribution of HPV and the presence of oncogenic HPV types in our population is important to assess the cost effectiveness of the current vaccines.

Intraosseous intraneural perineurioma: report of a case with morphological, immunohistochemical and FISH study.

We report a case of an intramandibular intraneural perineurioma developed in the left dentary nerve. This tumour is rare and shows a typical histological, immunohistochemical and ultrastructural appearance: concentric whorls of perineurial cells EMA+ and PS100- around nerve fibers. This tumour must be distinguished from extraneural or soft tissue perineurioma, also composed of perineurial cells, with distinct clinical presentation and histological appearance, and from localized hypertrophic neuropathy, a reactive process frequently identified with intraneural perineurioma. Cytogenetic evidence for the neoplastic nature of this tumour is also presented in this report.

Perineurioma intraneural de presentación intramandibular. Estudio histológico, inmunohistoquímico y citogenético / Intraosseous intraneural perineurioma: report of a case with morphological, immunohistochemical and fish study

Presentamos el caso de un perineurioma intraneural del nervio dentario, de localización intramandibular. Se trata de un tumor poco frecuente del que se ha discutido su origen neoplásico o reactivo: La localización intraósea en región de cabeza y cuello es excepcional. Definimos las características histológicas e inmunohistoquímicas de este tumor, estableciendo el diagnóstico diferencial con la variedad extraneural de perineurioma, con otros tumores de la vaina del nervio periférico más frecuentes en esta localización y con la neuropatía hipertrófica localizada, entidad reactiva con la cual se ha identificado a veces. Mediante la hibridización in situ con inmunofluorescencia se confirma el origen neoplásico del perineurioma (AU)

Genetic imbalances in progressed B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia and transformed large-cell lymphoma (Richter's syndrome).

Chromosomal imbalances were examined by comparative genomic hybridization in 30 cases of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at diagnosis, in sequential samples from 17 of these patients, and in 6 large B-cell lymphomas transformed from CLL [Richter's syndrome (RS)] with no available previous sample. The most common imbalances in CLL at diagnosis were gains in chromosome 12 (30%), and losses in chromosomes 13 (17%), 17p (17%), 8p (7%), 11q (7%), and 14q (7%). The analysis of sequential samples showed an increased number of chromosomal imbalances in 6 of 10 (60%) patients with clinical progression and in 2 patients with stable stage C disease. No karyotypic evolution was observed in four cases with stable stage A disease and in one RS clonally unrelated to the previous CLL. Gains of 2pter, and 7pter, and losses of 8p, 11q, and 17p were recurrent alterations associated with karyotype progression. RS showed a higher number of gains, losses, total alterations, and losses of 8p and chromosome 9 than CLL at diagnosis. 17p losses were associated with p53 gene mutations and with a significantly higher number of chromosomal imbalances than tumors with normal chromosome 17 profile. However, no relationship was observed between 9p deletions and p16(INK4a) gene alterations. Losses of 17p and an increased number of losses at diagnosis were significantly associated with a shorter survival. These findings indicate that CLL has frequent chromosomal imbalances, which may increase during the progression of the disease and transformation into large cell lymphoma. Genetic alterations detected by comparative genomic hybridization may also be of prognostic significance.