Mpox, also known as Monkeypox, is an infectious disease known to spread via direct contact and fomites, which poses a significant contagion risk in surgical settings and may increase the challenges already posed by COVID-19. Within the three years following the outbreak of Mpox, we conducted a review of the impact of Mpox on surgical practice. We searched Pubmed/Medline and Scopus, focusing on original studies and case reports in English or German. Our search terms included “Mpox”, “Monkeypox”, and “Surgery”. Out of 60 clinical or epidemiological studies, as well as expert opinions, brief reports, and pertinent literature reviews, eight were included after full-text assessment. We also incorporated two pertinent literature reviews, including a total of 10 papers, in this analysis. The main topics addressed by the literature are 1. manifestations of Mpox for surgical consideration or urgent management, for which it is important to consider whether a surgical approach is needed to address long-term Mpox-related lesions and 2. infection control in surgical settings, especially considering its impact on elective surgery and the well-being of healthcare workers. Mpox could affect surgical services and access to operating theaters. Unlike COVID-19, Mpox, compared to initial concerns, has not substantially compromised surgical delivery. However, limited reports exist on the surgical impact of Mpox. It is crucial to involve surgeons in Mpox diagnosis, educate surgical practitioners on its mimicry of common surgical conditions, enhance infection control during surgery, and ensure access to corrective surgery as a means of tackling the stigmatization associated with Mpox and sexually transmitted diseases in general.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an intricate disruption of the provision of healthcare worldwide. In Greece, as per March 2021, patient visits to the outpatient medical facilities have ceased due to the widely applied lockdowns and restrictions imposed by the government. Therefore, it has become increasingly hard to sustain the same quality of care to individuals with Diabetes mellitus (DM), a chronic and challenging condition affecting up to 10% of the Greek population.1 Medication-prescribed diabetes, in particular, concerns 720,764 individuals in the country. Emerging evidence regarding the interplay between COVID-19 and anti-diabetic medications has compelled healthcare professionals to reconsider the treatment of these individuals. Although they are at high risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2, at the same time they have limited or no access to healthcare due to the COVID-19 restrictions. This paper reflects on the authors’ relevant experience in the outpatient diabetes center of the hospital “Tzaneio” in the city of Piraeus, Greece during the trying times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Three Dimensional Printing (3D Printing) has been defined by ISO as “fabrication of objects through the deposition of a material using a print head, nozzle, or another printer technology”. 3D Printing has been trending in various disciplines from Science to Industry and Art. Being a tool of high precision and flexibility 3D Printing has been both recognized and challenged in the field of Medicinal Chemistry (MC). The purpose of this poster is to provide an overview of the current and prospective applications and of the debatable aspects of the intersection between 3D Printing and MC. This is a literature study. We have searched biomedical (Pubmed, Google Scholar) and tech – oriented (InTech) databases with key words (3D Printing, Medicinal Chemistry, considerations). We included studies authored in English or Greek and excluded studies declaring considerable conflict of interest. The concept 3D Printing has appeared back in 1984. It took about ten years to print the first 3D Printed placebo tablet through the DOS method. In the next two decades 3D Printing related research has focused on tissue engineering. Nonetheless after 2010 various novelties have been developed enabling manufacturers to produce non-placebo drugs in a wealth of forms including tablets (orodispersable, floating, multicompartment etc), insulin and implants. 3D Printing can be categorized under three major variants; Powder solidification, Liquid solidification and Extrusion based systems. It has been widely accepted that 3D Printing has the potential to revolutionize MC in terms of research and fabrication. Clinical trials can be considerably speeded up grace to the modifying properties of 3D Printing in pair with organ-in-a-chip technologies. Moreover pharmaceutical industry may be greatly altered given that 3D Printing will gradually enable single laboratories, pharmacists and potentially any trained individual to produce medication. The legibility of 3D Printing mediated clinical trials and the accessibility of 3D Printers are potential sources of controversy from a legal point of view.