• Carstensen Benton posted an update 1 day, 5 hours ago

    1% XY proportion at ongoing pregnancy/delivery. Our models indicate a weaker association between blastocyst morphology parameters and sex proportion of babies in non-PGT-A cycles.

    Blastocyst features associated with a skewed sex proportion towards XY embryos, such as biopsy on day 5 and top quality TE, are also parameters used for selecting euploid embryos for SET. Therefore, our data suggest that morphology-based embryo selection represents a strong factor responsible for a skewed male sex proportion at birth in PGT-A cycles.

    Blastocyst features associated with a skewed sex proportion towards XY embryos, such as biopsy on day 5 and top quality TE, are also parameters used for selecting euploid embryos for SET. Therefore, our data suggest that morphology-based embryo selection represents a strong factor responsible for a skewed male sex proportion at birth in PGT-A cycles.Photosensitivity is a skin reaction disorder mediated by phototoxic and/or photoallergic mechanisms. The accumulation of porphyrins is generally considered to induce phototoxicity. ATP-binding cassette subfamily G member 2 (ABCG2) has been identified as a transporter of porphyrins and its common variants-p.Gln126Ter (rs72552713) and p.Gln141Lys (rs2231142)-reportedly decrease the function of porphyrin transport in vitro; however, the physiological importance of ABCG2 as a porphyrin transporter remains to be fully elucidated. We herein investigated whether ABCG2 dysfunction could lead to porphyrin accumulation and photosensitivity in Japanese subjects, and found it to be significantly correlated with erythrocyte protoporphyrin levels (P = 0.012). This appears to be the first clinical finding of ABCG2 dysfunction-associated protoporphyrin accumulation in humans. We divided the patients into a chronic actinic dermatosis (CAD) group and a non-CAD group. CAD was diagnosed based on the criteria of reduced minimal erythema doses to ultraviolet B (UVB) and/or ultraviolet A (UVA). The non-CAD group was composed of patients who exhibited normal reactions to UVB and UVA on phototesting, but had histories of recurrent erythema/papules on sun-exposed areas. Estimated ABCG2 function according to ABCG2 genotypes in the non-CAD group was significantly lower than in the general Japanese population (P = 0.045). In contrast, no difference was found in ABCG2 function between the CAD group and the general population, suggesting that ABCG2 dysfunction might be a genetic factor in non-CAD patients with clinical photosensitivity. In this context, genetic dysfunction of ABCG2 might be an overlooked pathological etiology of “photosensitivity of unknown cause.”Obesity increases surgical morbidity and mortality in open pancreaticoduodenectomy (OPD). Its influence on robotic pancreaticoduodenectomy (RPD) remains uncertain. This study aimed to investigate the impact of body mass index (BMI) on the early experience of RPD. Between June 2015 and April 2020, 68 consecutive RPDs were performed at the National Cheng Kung University Hospital. The patients were categorized as normal-weight (BMI  27.5 kg/m2) according to the definition of obesity in Asian people from the World Health Organization expert consultation. Preoperative characteristics, operative details, and postoperative outcomes were prospectively collected. The cumulative sum was used to assess the learning curves. The average age of the patients was 64.8 ± 11.7 years with an average BMI of 24.6 ± 3.7 kg/m2 (23 normal-weight, 29 overweight, and 16 obese patients). Eighteen patients were required to overcome the learning curve. The overall complication rate was 51.5%, and the major complication rate (Clavien grade ≥ III) was 19.1%. The normal-weight group showed the most favorable outcomes. The blood loss, major complication rate, peripancreatic fluid collection rate, and conversion rate were higher in the obese group than in the non-obese group. There were no differences in the operative time, clinically relevant postoperative pancreatic fistula, postoperative hemorrhage, delayed gastric emptying, bile leak, wound infection, reoperation, hospital stay, and readmission rate between the obese and non-obese groups. Multivariate analysis showed obesity as the only independent factor for major complications (OR 5.983, CI 1.394-25.682, p = 0.001), indicating that obesity should be considered as a surgical risk factor during the implementation of RPD.This study was designed to demonstrate non-inferiority of robot-assisted total pancreatectomy (RATP) to open total pancreatectomy (OPT) based on an intention-to-treat analysis, having occurrence of severe post-operative complications (SPC) as primary study endpoint. The two groups were matched (21) by propensity scores. Assuming a rate of SPC of 22.5% (non-inferiority margin 15%; α 0.05; β 0.20; power 80%), a total of 25 patients were required per group. During the study period (October 2008-December 2019), 209 patients received a total pancreatectomy. After application of exclusion and inclusion criteria, matched groups were extracted from an overall cohort of 132 patients (OPT 107; RATP 25). Before matching, the two groups were different with respect to prevalence of cardiac disease (24.3% versus 4.0%; p = 0.03), presence of jaundice (45.8% versus 12.0%; p = 0.002), presence of a biliary drainage (23.4% versus 0; p  = 0.004), history of weight loss (28.0% versus 8.0%; p = 0.04), and vein involvement (55.1% versus 28.0%) (p = 0.03). After matching, the two groups (OTP 50; RATP 25) were well balanced. PEG300 solubility dmso Regarding primary study endpoint, SPC developed in 13 patients (26.0%) after OTP and in 6 patients (24.0%) after RATP (p = 0.85). Regarding secondary study endpoints, RATP was associated with longer median operating times [475 (408.8-582.5) versus 585 min (525-637.5) p = 0.003]. After a median follow-up time of 23.7 months (10.4-71), overall survival time [22.6 (11.2-81.2) versus NA (27.3-NA) p = 0.006] and cancer-specific survival [22.6 (11.2-NA) versus NA (27.3-NA) p = 0.02] were improved in patients undergoing RATP. In carefully selected patients, robot-assisted total pancreatectomy is non-inferior to open total pancreatectomy regarding occurrence of severe post-operative complications.