How is the semen quality of sexually active men following recovery from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection?
Twenty-five percent of the men with recent SARS-Cov-2 ...infections and proven healing were oligo-crypto-azoospermic, despite the absence of virus RNA in semen.
The presence of SARS-CoV-2 in human semen and its role in virus contagion and semen quality after recovery from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is still unclear. So far, studies evaluating semen quality and the occurrence of SARS-CoV-2 in semen of infected or proven recovered men are scarce and included a limited number of participants.
A prospective cross-sectional study on 43 sexually active men who were known to have recovered from SARS-CoV2 was performed. Four biological fluid samples, namely saliva, pre-ejaculation urine, semen, and post-ejaculation urine, were tested for the SARS-CoV-2 genome. Female partners were retested if any specimen was found to be SARS-CoV-2 positive. Routine semen analysis and quantification of semen leukocytes and interleukin-8 (IL-8) levels were performed.
Questionnaires including International Index of Erectile Function and Male Sexual Health Questionnaire Short Form were administered to all subjects. The occurrence of virus RNA was evaluated in all the biological fluids collected by RT-PCR. Semen parameters were evaluated according to the World Health Organization manual edition V. Semen IL-8 levels were evaluated by a two-step ELISA method.
After recovery from COVID-19, 25% of the men studied were oligo-crypto-azoospermic. Of the 11 men with semen impairment, 8 were azoospermic and 3 were oligospermic. A total of 33 patients (76.7%) showed pathological levels of IL-8 in semen. Oligo-crypto-azoospermia was significantly related to COVID-19 severity (P < 0.001). Three patients (7%) tested positive for at least one sample (one saliva; one pre-ejaculation urine; one semen and one post-ejaculation urine), so the next day new nasopharyngeal swabs were collected. The results from these three patients and their partners were all negative for SARS-CoV-2.
Although crypto-azoospermia was found in a high percentage of men who had recovered from COVID-19, clearly exceeding the percentage found in the general population, the previous semen quality of these men was unknown nor is it known whether a recovery of testicular function was occurring. The low number of enrolled patients may limit the statistical power of study.
SARS-CoV-2 can be detected in saliva, urine, and semen in a small percentage of men who recovered from COVID-19. One-quarter of men who recovered from COVID-19 demonstrated oligo-crypto-azoospermia indicating that an assessment of semen quality should be recommended for men of reproductive age who are affected by COVID-19.
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Abstract Background The prevalence of urolithiasis and its risk factors such as obesity and diabetes have increased over time. Objective Determine the future cost and prevalence of kidney stones ...using current and projected estimates for stones, obesity, diabetes, and population rates. Design, setting, and participants The stone prevalence in 2000 was estimated from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1988–1994 and 2007–2010. The cost per percentage prevalence of stones in 2000, calculated using Urologic Diseases in America Project data, was used to estimate the annual cost of stones in 2030, adjusting for inflation and increases in population, stone prevalence, obesity and diabetes rates. Outcome measurements and statistical analysis The primary outcome was prevalence and cost of stones in 2030. The secondary outcomes were the impact of obesity and diabetes on these values, calculated using odds ratios for stones by body mass index and diabetes status. Results and limitations The annual cost of stone disease in 2000, adjusted for inflation to 2014 US dollars, was approximately $2.81 billion. After accounting for increases in population and stone prevalence from 2000, the estimated cost of stones in 2007 in 2014 US dollars was $3.79 billion. Future population growth alone would increase the cost of stone disease by $780 million in 2030. Based on projected estimates for 2030, obesity will independently increase stone prevalence by 0.36%, with an annual cost increase of $157 million. Diabetes will independently increase stone prevalence by 0.72%, associated with a cost increase of $308 million annually by 2030. NHANES data, however, capture patient self-assessment rather than medical diagnosis, which is a potential bias. Conclusions The rising prevalence of obesity and diabetes, together with population growth, is projected to contribute to dramatic increases in the cost of urolithiasis, with an additional $1.24 billion/yr estimated by 2030. Patient summary Obesity, diabetes, and population rates will contribute to an estimated $1.24 billion/yr increase in the cost of kidney stones by 2030.
In a good example of translational research, investigators who had initially demonstrated a role for insulin-like growth factor I in the pathogenesis of thyroid eye disease showed that an antibody to ...the receptor (teprotumumab) produced a meaningful improvement in 83% of patients.
In this trial, overweight and obese adolescents were assigned to a 1-year intervention to decrease consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages or not; there was 1 year of additional follow-up without ...intervention. BMI increased less in the intervention group at 1 year but not at 2 years.
The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages among adolescents
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has increased in tandem with the prevalence of pediatric obesity in the United States,
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suggesting a causal relationship. At present, a substantial proportion of high-school students habitually consume sugar-sweetened beverages, including carbonated soda, sports drinks, energy drinks, and highly sweetened coffees and teas.
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Sugar-sweetened beverages are the leading source of added sugar in the diet of a wide range of racial and ethnic groups.
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According to nationally representative data, overweight and obese adolescents obtain more than 300 kcal per day from these products, amounting to an average of 15% of their total daily . . .
The Amazonian rainforest is arguably the most species-rich terrestrial ecosystem in the world, yet the timing of the origin and evolutionary causes of this diversity are a matter of debate. We review ...the geologic and phylogenetic evidence from Amazonia and compare it with uplift records from the Andes. This uplift and its effect on regional climate fundamentally changed the Amazonian landscape by reconfiguring drainage patterns and creating a vast influx of sediments into the basin. On this "Andean" substrate, a region-wide edaphic mosaic developed that became extremely rich in species, particularly in Western Amazonia. We show that Andean uplift was crucial for the evolution of Amazonian landscapes and ecosystems, and that current biodiversity patterns are rooted deep in the pre-Quaternary.
Continents are unique to Earth and played a role in coevolution of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and biosphere. Debate exists, however, regarding continent formation and the onset of subduction-driven ...plate tectonics. We present Ca isotope and trace-element data from modern and ancient (4.0 to 2.8 Ga) granitoids and phase equilibrium models indicating that Ca isotope fractionations are dominantly controlled by geothermal gradients. The results require gradients of 500-750 °C/GPa, as found in modern (hot) subduction-zones and consistent with the operation of subduction throughout the Archaean. Two granitoids from the Nuvvuagittuq Supracrustal Belt, Canada, however, cannot be explained through magmatic processes. Their isotopic signatures were likely inherited from carbonate sediments. These samples (> 3.8 Ga) predate the oldest known carbonates preserved in the rock record and confirm that carbonate precipitation in Eoarchaean oceans provided an important sink for atmospheric CO
. Our results suggest that subduction-driven plate tectonic processes started prior to ~3.8 Ga.
Chron's Disease is a chronic inflammatory intestinal disease, first described at the beginning of the last century. The disease is characterized by the alternation of periods of flares and remissions ...influenced by a complex pathogenesis in which inflammation plays a key role. Crohn's disease evolution is mediated by a complex alteration of the inflammatory response which is characterized by alterations of the innate immunity of the intestinal mucosa barrier together with a remodeling of the extracellular matrix through the expression of metalloproteins and increased adhesion molecules expression, such as MAcCAM-1. This reshaped microenvironment enhances leucocytes migration in the sites of inflammation, promoting a T
1 response, through the production of cytokines such as IL-12 and TNF-α. IL-12 itself and IL-23 have been targeted for the medical treatment of CD. Giving the limited success of medical therapies, the treatment of the disease is invariably surgical. This review will highlight the role of inflammation in CD and describe the surgical approaches for the prevention of the almost inevitable recurrence.
•Zircon O-Hf isotopes and high-precision U-Pb zircon dating on a mafic to felsic suite of plutonic and volcanic samples.•Source vs. Path contamination naturally exposed along a 750 km N-S paleo-arc ...axis in the Famatinian arc, Argentina.•Sediment subduction alters the isotopic composition of source arc magmas during a major continent-forming magmatic event.
Since the onset of plate tectonics, continents have evolved through a balance between crustal growth, reworking, and recycling at convergent plate margins. The term “reworking” involves the re-insertion of crustal material into pre-existing crustal volumes, while crustal growth and recycling respectively represent gains from and losses to the mantle. Reworking that occurs in the mantle wedge (“source” contamination from slab material) or within the upper plate (“path” contamination), will have contrasting effects on crustal evolution. However, due to limited access to deep crustal and mantle rocks, quantifying source vs. path contamination remains challenging. Based on the 4-dimensional record of the fossil (Ordovician) Famatinian continental arc (Argentina), we demonstrate that source contamination plays a dominant role in imprinting mafic to granitic rocks with crustal oxygen-hafnium (O-Hf) isotopic compositions. We argue that source contamination at convergent plate margins significantly increased the diversity of O-Hf isotopic signatures of continents over geologic time. Our interpretation implies that crustal evolution models attributing this isotopic diversity dominantly to intra-crustal reworking may be over-simplistic and may underestimate continental growth in the last 2.5 billion years.
We compute the non-thermal emissions produced by relativistic particles accelerated by the shocks driven by the active galactic nucleus (AGN) in NGC 1068, and we compare the model predictions with ...the observed γ-ray and radio spectra. The former is produced by pion decay, inverse Compton scattering, and bremsstrahlung, while the latter is produced by synchrotron radiation. We derive the γ-ray and radio emissions by assuming the standard acceleration theory, and we discuss how our results compare with those corresponding to other commonly assumed sources of γ-ray and radio emissions, like supernova remnants (SNR) or AGN jets. We find that the AGN-driven shocks observed in the circumnuclear molecular disk of NGC 1068 provide a contribution to the γ-ray emission comparable to that provided by the starburst activity when standard particle acceleration efficiencies are assumed, while the shocks can yield the whole γ-ray emission only when the parameters describing the acceleration efficiency and the proton coupling with the molecular gas are tuned to values larger than those assumed in standard, SNR-driven shocks. We discuss the range of acceleration efficiencies (for protons and electrons) and of proton calorimetric fractions required to account for the observed γ-ray emission in the AGN outflow model. We further compare the neutrino flux expected in our model with constraints from current experiments, and we provide predictions for the detections by the upcoming KM3NeT neutrino telescope. This analysis strongly motivates observations of NGC 1068 at ≳TeV energies with current and future Cherenkov telescopes in order to gain insight into the nature of the γ-rays source.
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