Robotics can decrease the rate of post-operative ventral hernia: a single centre retrospective cohort study.

Midline incision for extra-corporeal anastomosis is common with traditional laparoscopic right hemicolectomy. Incisional hernias develop in up to 20% of these patients within a year adding considerable morbidity and healthcare costs. Robotic assisted surgery (RAS) improves technical ease of intra-corporeal anastomosis, preventing midline extraction but its benefit over laparoscopy remains debated.

The flavivirus polymerase as a target for drug discovery.

Flaviviruses are emerging pathogens of increasingly important public health concern in the world. For most flaviviruses such as dengue virus (DENV) and West Nile virus (WNV) neither vaccine nor antiviral treatment is available. The viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) non-structural protein 5 (NS5) has no equivalent in the host cell and is essential for viral replication.

Rectal augmentation: short- and mid-term evaluation of a novel procedure for severe fecal urgency with associated incontinence.

Background: Rectal augmentation (RA) with or without electrically stimulated gracilis neosphincter (ESGN) was developed to address the physiologic and anatomic abnormalities present in a subset of patients with incapacitating fecal urgency and associated urge fecal incontinence (UFI). This study evaluated the short- and medium-term clinical and physiologic results.

Methods: Eleven patients with fecal urgency and UFI underwent RA, 6 with concomitant ESGN formation.