Background Since SARS‐CoV‐2 infection was first identified in December 2019, the novel coronavirus‐induced pneumonia COVID‐19 spread rapidly and triggered a global pandemic. Recent bioinformatics evidence suggests that angiotensin converting enzyme 2—the main cell entry target of SARS‐CoV‐2—is predominantly enriched in spermatogonia, Leydig and Sertoli cells, which suggests the potential vulnerability of the male reproductive system to SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. Objectives To identify SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA in seminal plasma and to determine semen characteristics from male patients in the acute and recovery phases of infection. Methods From February 26 to April 2, 2020, 23 male patients with COVID‐19 were recruited. The clinical characteristics, laboratory findings and chest computed tomography scans of all patients were recorded in detail. We also investigated semen characteristics and the viral RNA load in semen from these patients in the acute and recovery phases of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection using approved methods. Results The age range of the 23 patients was 20–62 years. All patients tested negative for SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA in semen specimens. Among them, the virus had been cleared in 11 patients, as they tested negative. The remaining 12 patients tested negative for SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA in semen samples, but were positive in sputum and fecal specimens. The median interval from diagnosis to providing semen samples was 32 days, when total sperm counts, total motile sperm counts and sperm morphology of the patients were within normal ranges. Discussion and Conclusion In this cohort of patients with a recent infection or recovering from COVID‐19, there was no SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA detected in semen samples, which indicates the unlikely possibility of sexual transmission through semen at about 1 month after first detection.

The presence of a transanal tube is effective and safe in decreasing the rate of clinically significant anastomotic leaks and in mitigating the clinical consequences of leakage after anterior resection for rectal cancer with the technique of total mesorectal excision and double-staple anastomosis. The potential benefits of transanal tube placement are multifactorial, including drainage, reduction of endoluminal pressure, and promotion of gastrointestinal motility. Obesity and poor gastrointestinal electromyogram on POD 3 are independent risk factors for anastomotic leakage in patients with low anastomosis.

Background: Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are non-protein coding transcripts longer than 200 nucleotides in length. They drive many important cancer phenotypes through their interactions with other cellular macromolecules including DNA, RNA and protein. Recent studies have identified numerous lncRNAs active in colorectal cancer (CRC). The lncRNA small nucleolar RNA host gene 6 (SNHG6) has been reported to have an oncogenic role in multiple cancers. However, the biological role and mechanism of SNHG6 in the tumorigenesis of CRC has not been reported in-deep.Methods: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database and GEO database were used to identify SNHG6 expression in different human cancers and explore the relationship between SNHG6 expression and patient prognosis using Kaplan-Meier method analysis. SNHG6 expression in 77 pairs of clinical CRC tissues and different CRC cell lines were analyzed by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). A CCK-8 assay was used to assess cell proliferation, transwell assay to detect the cell metastasis, and tumor growth was investigated with a nude mice model in vivo. Whether UPF1 and ZEB1 are downstream targets of SNHG6 was verified by bioinformatics target gene prediction, qRT-PCR and western blot.Results: TCGA data showed that SNHG6 was significantly upregulated in colorectal cancer samples in comparison with healthy data samples (P < 0.01). CRC patients with high levels of SNHG6 had a significantly shorter overall survival than those with low levels of SNHG6 (P = 0.0162). qRT-PCR confirmed that the expression of SNHG6 was significantly upregulated in CRC tissues and cell lines. Upregulation of SNHG6 expression induced RKO and HCT116 cell proliferation as well as RKO cell metastasis, while downregulation of SNHG6 expression supressed the proliferation and metastasis of RKO cells and tumor growth in vivo. UPF1 was upregulated and ZEB1 was decreased when SNHG6 knockdown, regulating the TGF-β/Smad pathway and inducing EMT respectively.Conclusions: SNHG6 may play an oncogenic role in CRC cells by activating TGF-β/Smad signaling pathway via targeting of UPF1 and inducing EMT via regulating ZEB1. This could be a prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for CRC.