A retrospective review was performed on patients who underwent LAGB removal with concomitant LSG at King Saud University in Saudi Arabia between September 2007 and April 2012. Patient body mass index (BMI), percentage of excess weight loss (%EWL), duration of operation, length of hospital stay, complications after LSG, and indications for revisional surgery were all reviewed and compared to those of patients who underwent LSG as a primary procedure.

Fifty-six patients (70 % female) underwent conversion of LAGB

to LSG concomitantly, and 128 (66 % female) patients underwent primary LSG surgery. The revisional and primary LSG patients had this website similar preoperative ages (mean age 33.5 +/- 10.7 vs. 33.6 +/- 9.0 years, respectively; p = 0.43). However, revisional patients had a significantly lower BMI at the time of surgery (44.4 +/- 7.0 kg/m(2) vs. 47.9 +/- 8.2; p < 0.01). Absolute BMI postoperative reduction at 24 months was 14.33 points in the revision

group and 18.98 points in the primary LSG group; similar %EWL was achieved by both groups at 24 months postoperatively (80.1 vs. 84.6 %). Complications appeared in two (5.5 %) revisional patients and in nine (7.0 %) primary LSG patients. No mortalities occurred in either group.

Conversion of LAGB by means of concomitant LSG is a safe and efficient procedure and achieves similar outcomes as primary LSG surgery alone.”
“Humans and other living organisms are exposed to a variety of chemical pollutants that are released into the environment as a consequence of anthropogenic activities. Environmental pollutants are incorporated into the organism by different routes and can then be stored selleck chemicals and distributed in different tissues, which leads selleck to an internal concentration that can induce different alterations, adverse effects and/or diseases. Control measures should be taken to avoid these effects and human biomonitoring is a very useful tool that can contribute to this aim. Human biomonitoring

uses different matrices to measure the target chemicals depending on the chemical, the amount of matrix necessary for the analysis and the detection limit (LOD) of the analytical technique. Blood is the ideal matrix for most chemicals due to its contact with the whole organism and its equilibrium with organs and tissues where chemicals are stored. However, it has an important disadvantage of being an invasive matrix. The development of new methodology and modern analytical techniques has allowed the use of other matrices that are less or non-invasive, such as saliva, urine, meconium, nails, hair, and semen or breast milk. The presence of a chemical in these matrices reflects an exposure, but correlations between levels in non-invasive matrices and blood must be established to ensure that these levels are related to the total body burden. The development of new biomarkers that are measurable in these matrices will improve non-invasive biomonitoring.