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Introduction and Objectives Viral infections have been described to increase the risk of decompensation in patients with cirrhosis. We aimed to determine the effect of SARS-CoV-2 infection on outcome of hospitalized patients with cirrhosis and to compare the performance of different prognostic models for predicting mortality. Patients We performed a prospective cohort study including 2211 hospitalized patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection from April 15, 2020 through October 1, 2020 in 38 Hospitals from 11 Latin American countries. We registered clinical and laboratory parameters of patients with and without cirrhosis. All patients were followed until discharge or death. We evaluated the prognostic performance of different scoring systems to predict mortality in patients with cirrhosis using ROC curves. Results Overall, 4.6%(CI 3.7-5.6) subjects had cirrhosis (n = 96). Baseline Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) class was assessed: CTP-A (23%), CTP-B (45%) and CTP-C (32%); median MELD-Na score was 19 (IQR 14-25). Mortality was 47% in patients with cirrhosis and 16% in patients without cirrhosis (P < .0001). Cirrhosis was independently associated with death [OR 3.1(CI 1.9-4.8); P < .0001], adjusted by age, gender, and body mass index >30. The areas under the ROC curves for performance evaluation in predicting 28-days mortality for Chronic Liver Failure Consortium (CLIF-C), North American Consortium for the Study of End-Stage Liver Disease (NACSELD), CTP score and MELD-Na were 0.85, 0.75, 0.69, 0.67; respectively (P < .0001). Conclusions SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with elevated mortality in patients with cirrhosis. CLIF-C had better performance in predicting mortality than NACSELD, CTP and MELD-Na in patients with cirrhosis and SARS-CoV-2 infection. Clinicaltrials.gov:NCT04358380.

We have attempted to elucidate the possible participation of serotonin as an etiological factor in pre-eclampsia. The transport of serotonin into vesicles from the maternal-facing brush border membrane was measured, as well as the metabolism induced by monoamine oxidase (MAO) in placental homogenate obtained from normal-term and severely pre-eclamptic placentas. Kinetic analysis of serotonin uptake by the placental brush border membrane of the syncytiotrophoblast between normally pregnant and severely pre-eclamptic subjects showed no significant difference (similar Vmax and Km values). However, the metabolism of serotonin was significantly higher in placental homogenate from normal pregnancies than in placentas from severely pre-eclamptic pregnancies. These findings suggest that the higher plasma-free serotonin levels observed in severe pre-eclampsia are mainly due to a reduction in MAO-A activity and not limited by the rate of serotonin uptake into the cells.

Attention given to this extended family with hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer has had a positive impact on the physician community in Uruguay, leading to the identification of additional families with hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer.