001). Furthermore, the median values of Edi-sigh significantly increased as postmenstrual weeks increased (16.9 µV at 26 weeks to 25.4 µV at 35 weeks, P less then .001). There were no significant changes in the median values of Edi peak and Edi minimum at each week. Conclusions The amplitude and frequency of neural sigh in extremely preterm infants increase with the number of postmenstrual weeks.One of the most consistent abnormal haemostatic laboratory markers in COVID‐19 is raised D‐dimers. Increased D‐dimers have also been observed in several studies published in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis to have prognostic implications.1,2 But some of the perplexing questions in this regard are what may be the reasons for such marked elevation in D‐dimers and may it have any ‘useful’ purpose apart from prognostication?We have recently read the article by Chaung et al.,1 describing a case of SARS‐CoV‐2 and HCoV‐HKU1 coinfection. The HCoV‐HKU1 is also a member of the Betacoronavirus. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Objective The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has triggered a rapidly-expanding global pandemic in which patients exhibit a wide spectrum of disease severity. Given the high prevalence of obesity in the United States, we hypothesized that the presence of obesity may play a role in the clinical course of COVID-19 patients. Methods This is a retrospective review of adult patients admitted with confirmed SARS-CoV-2. Demographics, clinical characteristics, laboratory data, and clinical outcomes were abstracted. BMI (kg/m2 ) was analyzed with regard to a composite outcome of ICU admission or death, and intubation rate. Results 770 patients were included (61% male, mean age 63.5 yrs). Obese patients were more likely to present with fever, cough and shortness of breath. Obesity was also associated with a significantly higher rate of ICU admission or death (RR = 1.58, p = 0.002) even after adjusting for age, race and troponin level. Conclusions Obese patients had an increased risk of critical illness leading to ICU admission or death compared to normal weight individuals. This study confirms that obesity is a major risk factor for COVID-19 disease severity, significantly impacting disease presentation and critical care requirements.Somatostatin (SST) analogues have aroused the interest of scientists for years. This group of compounds is used in the diagnosis and treatment of neuroendocrine tumors. However, new molecules useful as radiopharmaceuticals in targeted therapy are still searched for. Bicyclic peptides seem to be very interesting in this context. These molecules are associated with beneficial properties. In this work, we present studies on the binding ability of the bicyclic analogue of somatostatin toward copper(II) ions which could potentially be a chelator for copper radionuclides. The research is focused on the analysis of Cu(II) interactions with the metal binding cycle of the ligand and the influence of the receptor binding site on the coordination process. This is a novelty in comparison to the SST analogues used in medicine, where a metal ion is coordinated by a chelator and connected with a bioactive molecule by the linker. In this work we present the first coordination study for bicyclic ligand. Obtained results showed that the complexes with only imidazole donors are characterized by significantly higher stability in comparison to the other peptides.We have recently published in the Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis the presence of lupus anticoagulant (LAC) at high frequency in Covid-19 patients (Harzallah et al.1 ). Bowles et al.2 and Helms et al.3 have confirmed these results in new publications. Tang4 has reported discordant data. He has found that very few tested covid-19 patients had positive LAC in a small series (n=12). Bowles et al. have found that LAC were positive in 91% of patients (n=34) with high activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT).The aim was to analyze the morphology of normal human macula densa (MD), evaluate the cells that may be responsible for its turnover, and collect quantitative data. Of four samples of normal human renal tissue, two were embedded in resin to measure the longitudinal extension and examine the ultrastructure of the MD, the other two were embedded in paraffin to study apoptosis and cell proliferation. The MD is composed of a monolayer tissue about 40 μm long, which includes 35-40 cells arranged in overlapping rows. Ultrastructurally, MD cells show two polarized portions an apical end, with sensory features, and a basolateral aspect, with paracrine function. MD cells are connected apically by tight junctions, with/without adherens junctions, which form a barrier between the distal tubule lumen and the interstitium. Cells in degeneration, often associated to macrophages, and undifferentiated cells were found in the MD and adjacent distal tubule. A filamentous mat previously described in proximal tubule scattered tubular cells (STCs) was detected in the basal cytoplasm in undifferentiated cells. The tissue was consistently negative for the proliferation marker Ki67 and for the apoptotic markers caspase-3 and caspase-9. This work confirms our earlier morphological findings and provides new data i) MD cells display both apical adherens and tight junctions, the latter forming a tubulo-mesangial barrier; ii) the MD is a monolayer made up of about 40 cells arranged in rows; iii) the simultaneous presence of degenerating (8-13%) and undifferentiated (4-13%) cells reminiscent of STCs suggests a non-negligible cell turnover. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.Introduction To evaluate the clinical and dosimetric parameters that increase the risk of radiation pneumonitis (RP) in locally advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients treated with concomitant chemoradiotherapy of nationwide multicentric data analysis.  https://www.selleckchem.com/products/blu-285.html  Methods All data of 268 patients who underwent definitive chemoradiotherapy were retrospectively collected from eight institutes participating in this study. Patient, tumor and treatment-related factors and dosimetric parameters were analyzed for grade ≥2 RP. The toxicity scoring system of The Radiation Therapy Oncology Group used for grading the severity of pneumonitis. A relationship with the risk of RP with potential predictive factors were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analyses. A recursive partition analysis (RPA) was applied to stratify patients according to the risk of developing RP. Results There were 90 (33.6%) patients who had grade ≥2 RP. The median time to pneumonitis after treatment was 4 months (range1-6 months). In univariate analysis, diabetes mellitus (DM), use of cisplatin/etoposide, total and daily radiotherapy (RT) fraction dose, the planning target volume (PTV) size, mean lung dose, V5, V10 and RT technique were associated with the development of pneumonitis.