Infectious complications are observed in 40-70% of all patients with severe acute pancreatitis. Infections are associated with a significant increase in mortality rates.

Vascular pericytes are an important cellular component in the tumor microenvironment, however, their role in supporting cancer invasion is poorly understood. We hypothesized that PDGF-BB could be involved in the transition of human retinal pericytes (HRPC) in cancer-activated fibroblasts (CAF), induced by the 92.1 uveal melanoma (UM) cell line. In our model system, HRPC were conditioned by co-culturing with 92.1UM for 6 days (cHRPC), in the presence or absence of imatinib, to block PDGF receptor-β (PDGFRβ). The effects of the treatments were tested by wound healing assay, proliferation assay, RT-PCR, high-content screening, Western blot analysis, and invasion assay. Results showed profound changes in cHRPC shape, with increased proliferation and motility, reduction of NG2 and increase of TGF-β1, α-SMA, vimentin, and FSP-1 protein levels, modulation of PDGF isoform mRNA levels, phospho-PDGFRβ, and PDGFRβ, as well as phospho-STAT3 increases. A reduction of IL-1β and IFNγ and an increase in TNFα, IL10, and TGF-β1, CXCL11, CCL18, and VEGF mRNA in cHRPC were found. Imatinib was effective in preventing all the 92.1UM-induced changes. Moreover, cHRPC elicited a significant increase of 92.1UM cell invasion and active MMP9 protein levels. Our data suggest that retinal microvascular pericytes could promote 92.1UM growth through the acquisition of the CAF phenotype.

Acute colonic diverticulitis (ACD) is the most common complication of diverticular disease and represents an abdominal emergency. It includes a variety of conditions, extending from localized diverticular inflammation to fecal peritonitis, hence the importance of an accurate diagnosis. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CE-CT) plays a pivotal role in the diagnosis due to its high sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and interobserver agreement. In fact, CE-CT allows alternative diagnoses to be excluded, the inflamed diverticulum to be localized, and complications to be identified. Imaging findings have been reviewed, dividing them into bowel and extra-intestinal wall findings. Moreover, CE-CT allows staging of the disease; the most used classifications of ACD severity are Hinchey’s modified and WSES classifications. Differential diagnoses include colon carcinoma, epiploic appendagitis, ischemic colitis, appendicitis, infectious enterocolitis, and inflammatory bowel disease. We propose a structured reporting template to standardize the terminology and improve communication between specialists involved in patient care.

Background: Nerve identification is recommended in inguinal hernia repair to reduce or avoid postoperative pain. The aim of this prospective observational study was to identify nerve prevalence and find a correlation between neuroanatomy and chronic neuropathic postoperative inguinal pain (CPIP) after 6 months.Material: A total of 115 patients, who underwent inguinal hernia mesh repair (Lichtenstein tension-free mesh repair) between July 2018 and January 2019, were included in this prospective observational study. The mean age and BMI respectively resulted 64 years and 25.8 with minimal inverse distribution of BMI with respect to age. Most of the hernias were direct (59.1%) and of medium dimension (47.8%). Furthermore, these patients were undergoing Dermatome Mapping Test in preoperatively and postoperatively 6 months evaluation.Results: Identification rates of the iliohypogastric (IH), ilioinguinal (II) and genitofemoral (GF) nerves were 72.2%, 82.6% and 48.7% respectively. In the analysis of nerve prevalence according to BMI, the IH was statistically significant higher in patients with BMI < 25 than BMI ≥ 25 P (< 0.05). After inguinal hernia mesh repair, 8 patients (6.9%) had chronic postoperative neuropathic inguinal pain after 6 months. The CPIP prevailed at II/GF dermatome. The relation between the identification/neurectomy of the II nerve and chronic postoperative inguinal pain after 6 months was not significant (P = 0.542).Conclusion: The anatomy of inguinal nerve is very heterogeneous and for this reason an accurate knowledge of these variations is needed during the open mesh repair of inguinal hernias. The new results of our analysis is the statistically significant higher IH nerve prevalence in patients with BMI < 25; probably the identification of inguinal nerve is more complex in obese patients. In the chronic postoperative inguinal pain, the II nerve may have a predominant role in determining postoperative long-term symptoms. Dermatome Mapping Test in an easy and safe method for preoperative and postoperative 6 months evaluation of groin pain. The most important evidence of our analysis is that the prevalence of chronic pain is higher when the nerves were not identified.