S evere acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is an RNA virus responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). 1,2 The virus enters cells via the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor, which is present in enterocytes in the ileum and colon. 3 Gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations include diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain, and the prevalence of GI symptoms varies greatly, with a range between 2% and 57%. 4 In addition, abnormal liver chemistries are reported commonly. 4 As a medical center at the forefront of the early epidemic in the United States, we seek to contribute to the growing body of literature that outlines the gastrointestinal and hepatic manifestations of COVID-19. Methods We performed a retrospective review of consecutive adult nonpregnant patients admitted to New York-Presbyterian Queens Hospital in Flushing, NY, for SARS-CoV-2 between March 14, 2020, and April 1, 2020 (Supplementary Methods). The Fisher exact, chi-square, and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used to compare groups, and a P value less than .05 was considered statistically significant. This study was approved by the New York-Presbyterian Queens Institutional Review Board.

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A survey was conducted with the participation of eight consultant general surgeons, two consultant urologists, four consultant orthopaedic surgeons and four surgical residents to find the incidence of accidental injuries to surgeons and their assistants during operations. Of the total of 2016 operations over a one year period there were 112 reported accidental injuries. These included 107 needle stick injuries, 4 knife cuts and 1 diathermy burn. We found that accidental injuries to surgeons during operations were inevitable.

Nanoparticles have gained huge attention in the last decade due to their applications in electronics, medicine, and environmental clean-up. Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) are widely used for the wastewater treatment due to their recyclable nature and easy manipulation by an external magnetic field. Here, in the present research work, iron oxide nanoparticles were synthesized by the sonochemical method by using precursors of ferrous sulfate and ferric chloride at 70 °C for one hour in an ultrasonicator. The synthesized iron oxide nanoparticles were characterized by diffraction light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), electron diffraction spectroscopy (EDS), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The FTIR analysis exhibits characteristic absorption bands of IONPs at 400–800 cm−1, while the Raman spectra showed three characteristic bands at 273, 675, and 1379 cm−1 for the synthesized IONPs. The XRD data revealed three major intensity peaks at two theta, 33°, 35°, and 64° which indicated the presence of maghemite and magnetite phase. The size of the spherical shaped IONPs was varying from 9–70 nm with an average size of 38.9 nm while the size of cuboidal shaped particle size was in microns. The purity of the synthesized IONPs was confirmed by the EDS attached to the FESEM, which clearly show sharp peaks for Fe and O, while the magnetic behavior of the IONPs was confirmed by the VSM measurement and the magnetization was 2.43 emu/g. The batch adsorption study of lead (Pb) and chromium (Cr) from 20% fly ash aqueous solutions was carried out by using 0.6 mg/100 mL IONPs, which exhibited maximum removal efficiency i.e., 97.96% and 82.8% for Pb2+ and Cr ions, respectively. The fly ash are being used in making cements, tiles, bricks, bio fertilizers etc., where the presence of fly ash is undesired property which has to be either removed or will be brought up to the value of acceptable level in the fly ash. Therefore, the synthesized IONPs, can be applied in the elimination of heavy metals and other undesired elements from fly ash with a short period of time. Moreover, the IONPs that have been used as a nanoadsorbent can be recovered from the reaction mixture by applying an external magnetic field that can be recycled and reused. Therefore, this study can be effective in all the fly ash-based industries for elimination of the undesired elements, while recyclability and reusable nature of IONPs will make the whole adsorption or elimination process much economical.

Background. The authors previously found p53 mutations in 24% of malignant thyroid tumors, representing a wide staging spectrum. Overexpression of MDM2, most often due to gene amplification, has ben suggested to be ab additional mechanism for abrogation of the p53 function. In the current study. MDM2 gene expression and amplification were examined in a randomly selected subset of these tumors to explore the possibility that wildtype p53 may be inactivated by complexing with MDM2 in specimens without p53 mutations. Methods. MDM2 gene expression and amplification were studied by Northern and Southern blot analysis, respectively. Twenty‐two thyroid tumors were included: 16 papillary carcinomas, 1 follicular carcinoma, 3 anaplastic carcinomas, and 2 multinodular goiters (adenomatousgoiters). Results. A two‐ to threefold increase in MDM2 expression in 4 of 20 thyroid carcinomas was found. It was noteworthy that all of these four samples harbored p53 mutations. The association between increased MDM2 expression and p53 mutation was statistically significant (P < 0.005). No evidence of MDM2 gene amplification or rearrangement accounting for such an increase in MDM2 expression was found. Conclusion. Genetic and/or environmental factors contributing to random p53 mutations also may cause increased MDM2 expression. Given the moderate increases in MDM2 expression without associated genetic alterations such as gene amplification and rearrangement, MDM2 may not play any significant role in the developmetn and progression of thyroid carcinoma. Cancer 1995; 76:314–8.