OTSC is an effective and safe therapeutic option for severe acute GI bleeding when conventional endoscopic treatment modalities fail.

Repeat HPV testing limits the effect of subjectivity of cytology interpretation on overall referral and sensitivity. These will change only slightly when replacing cytology with another test if the interval to HPV repeat remains unchanged.

Background and study aims  Endoscopic treatment is the mainstay approach for gastrointestinal bleeding, in either upper (UGIB) or lower (LGIB) tract. The over-the-scope clip (OTSC) may overcome limitations of standard clips or thermocoagulation in high-risk bleeding lesions. We evaluate the main clinically relevant outcomes following endoscopic hemostasis with OTSC in high-risk lesions and/or patients. Patients and methods  This was a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected databases including all patients with UGIB and LGIB who underwent OTCS placement as first-line treatment in eleven tertiary endoscopic referral centers. Technical success, primary hemostasis, rebleeding, blood transfusion, hospital stay, and hemorrhage-related mortality rates were evaluated. Results  Data from 286 patients, with either UGIB (N = 214) or LGIB (N = 72) were available. Overall, 112 patients (39.2 %) were receiving antithrombotic therapy. Technical success and primary hemostasis rates were 97.9 % and 96.4 %, respectively. Early rebleeding occurred in 4.4 %, more frequently in those on antithrombotic therapy, and no late rebleeding was observed. Following a successful primary haemostasis, only 5.2 % patients needed blood transfusions, and the median hospital stay was 4 days (range: 3 – 11). Eighteen patients with either technical failure (N = 6) or rebleeding (N = 12) underwent radiological or surgical approaches. Overall, bleeding-related deaths occurred in 5 (1.7 %) patients, including 3 patients with technical procedural failure, and 2 in the rebleeding group.  Conclusions  Data from our large, multicenter study show that OTSC placement is an effective first-line treatment for hemostasis in high-risk patients and/or lesions both in upper and lower gastrointestinal tract.

Background:The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had a huge impact on healthcare systems, resulting in many routine diagnostic procedures either being halted or postponed. Aims: To evaluate whether the diagnoses of colorectal, gastric and pancreatic cancers have been impacted by the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Italy. Methods: A survey designed to collect the number of histologically-proven diagnoses of the three cancers in gastroenterology services across Italy from January 1 to October 31 in 2017-2020. Non-parametric ANOVA for repeated measurements was applied to compare distributions by years and macro-areas. Results: Compared to 2019, in 2020 gastric cancer diagnoses decreased by 15.9%, CRC by 11.9% and pancreatic by 9.9%. CRC distributions showed significant differences between all years, stomach cancer be-

The biological effects of interferon (IFN)-The major signal transduction pathway initiated by interferon (IFN)-␥ has been elucidated by a series of elegant biochemical and genetic studies. Binding of IFN-␥ to its receptor induces dimerization of the receptor chains, bringing together JAK kinases 1 and 2 that are activated by transphosphorylation. Activated JAK-1 and -2 then phosphorylate tyrosine residues within the cytoplasmic domains of the receptor subunits, which act as a docking site for a latent cytoplasmic protein, termed signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT-1). Phosphorylation of a C-terminal tyrosine (Y701) in STAT-1 facilitates interaction with the SH2 domain of a second STAT-1 molecule, mediating dimerization. STAT-1 can also be phosphorylated on a single serine residue (Ser-727) at the carboxy end of the molecule.