Emergency Surgery in a "No-Covid-19 Spoke Center" during the pandemic. One year of experience and a new organizational model.

Aim: We analysed our one-year surgical activity in a spoke 'COVID-19 free' centre during the pandemic in South Italy.

Material Of Study: From Feb 2020 to Feb 2021 we performed 800 operations (40% in emergency and 60% of major surgery). We applied restrictive measures for the access of patients in our department from 15/2/2020 after several cases of unclear fever.

Hepatitis C virus infection involves CD34(+) hematopoietic progenitor cells in hepatitis C virus chronic carriers.

Although hepatitis C virus (HCV) mainly affects hepatocytes, infection is widespread and involves immunologically privileged sites. Whether lymphoid cells represent further targets of early HCV infection, or whether other cells in the hematopoietic microenvironment may serve as a potential virus reservoir, is still unclear. We studied whether pluripotent hematopoietic CD34(+) cells support productive HCV infection and can be used to establish an in vitro infection system for HCV.

Clonal analysis of intrahepatic B cells from HCV-infected patients with and without mixed cryoglobulinemia.

Clonal rearrangements of Ig heavy chain (IgH) genes and hepatitis C virus (HCV) genomic sequences were assayed on intrahepatic B lymphocytes isolated from HCV chronically infected patients with and without type II mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC). Liver tissue samples from eight patients with and nine without MC were subjected to routine histologic studies, immunophenotyping, and genotypic analysis including IgH V-D-J region gene rearrangements by PCR. RT-PCR, signal amplification by branched DNA assay, and in situ hybridization technique were used to detect and quantitate HCV RNA genomic sequences in selected B cells purified from each tissue sample.

In situ simultaneous detection of hepatitis C virus RNA and hepatitis C virus-related antigens in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Background: The overwhelming evidence that chronic infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an important cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is based on epidemiologic, case-control, and cohort studies as well as laboratory investigations. To address better the pathogenesis of HCV infection at the single-cell level, the authors developed a specific reproducible method for the simultaneous detection of HCV specific sequences and antigens in liver tissue, using a combination of nonradioactive in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry.

Methods: After immunohistochemical staining of the liver sections for E2/NS-1, C22-3, C33c, C100-3, and NS-5 antigens with immunogold-silver technique, in situ hybridization was performed on the same sections using digoxigenin-labeled HCV 5' NonCoding specific probes.

Detection and distribution of hepatitis C virus-related proteins in lymph nodes of patients with type II mixed cryoglobulinemia and neoplastic or non-neoplastic lymphoproliferation.

The role of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in the pathogenesis of type II mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC) has been strongly emphasized in the last few years. Although MC is a benign lymphoproliferative disorder, the risk of overt B-cell malignancy greatly increases during its course. The occurrence of HCV infection in 10% to 30% of patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) suggests that this virus may have a role in the development of MC-associated B-cell malignancies.