1.Analysis of road traffic accidents involving standing electric scooters reported in newspapers in Italy
Tommaso SCQUIZZATO ; Lorenzo GAMBERINI ; Federica STELLA ; Andrea PAOLI ; Arianna GAZZATO ; Alessandro FORTI ; Federico SEMERARO
Clinical and Experimental Emergency Medicine 2022;9(1):36-40
Objective:
As the use of electric scooters increased in Italy in the last years, we aimed to estimate the burden of accidents caused by this micro-mobility vehicle and identify characteristics, severity, and type of injuries.
Methods:
We conducted a case series analysis of news reports about electric scooter crashes occurring in Italy from January 1, 2019 to September 30, 2020. Events were included when a road traffic accident involved an electric scooter and caused damages or injuries to the driver or others.
Results:
We identified 96 road accidents involving electric scooters in Italy. The mean age of patients was 30 ± 16 years, and 79% (n = 71/90) were male. Of the 96 patients, only two (2%) were driving an electric scooter with a helmet, and three (3%) were driving while intoxicated. In 68% (n = 62/94) of cases, the incident was caused by a collision with another vehicle or a pedestrian, and 30% (n = 18/96) were transported with life-threatening injuries to the emergency department. In 15% (n = 14/96), the emergency medical service physician was dispatched to the scene. Head trauma was the most common injury (60%, n = 32/53). Patients who had life-threatening conditions were more likely to have head trauma than those who did not (82% [n = 9/11] vs. 55% [n = 23/42], P = 0.10). Polytrauma was significantly more common in patients with life-threatening conditions than in patients with no life-threatening conditions (36% [n = 4/11] vs. 5% [n = 2/42], P < 0.01). Fifteen percent of patients (n = 12/81) were admitted to the intensive care unit; only one death was reported.
Conclusion
Road traffic accidents involving electric scooters often result in serious injuries, including head trauma and polytrauma, necessitating the involvement of an emergency medical service physician and intensive care unit admission in a non-negligible percentage of instances.
2.Inhibin B: are modified ranges needed for orchiectomised testicular cancer patients?
Alessandra PETROZZI ; Francesco PALLOTTI ; Marianna PELLONI ; Antonella ANZUINI ; Antonio Francesco RADICIONI ; Andrea LENZI ; Donatella PAOLI ; Francesco LOMBARDO
Asian Journal of Andrology 2019;21(4):332-336
Inhibin B is a gonadal hormone that downregulates the pituitary production of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH). In recent years, inhibin B has proved to be an excellent marker of spermatogenesis and even a predictive factor for the recovery of fertility in patients undergoing orchiectomy and antineoplastic treatments. We propose to study inhibin B levels in orchiectomised testicular cancer patients, in order to identify a minimum value representative of normal semen quality. This retrospective study evaluates hormonal and semen parameters of 290 normozoospermic patients attending the Laboratory of Seminology - Sperm Bank "Loredana Gandini" (Rome, Italy) for cryopreservation of seminal fluid following a diagnosis of testicular cancer (TC group) and 117 healthy, normozoospermic men as a control group (CTR group). The percentile distribution of gonadotropin and inhibin B values in the TC and CTR groups was analyzed. There was a statistically significant difference between the two groups in the levels of all hormones (P ≤ 0.001) and in all semen parameters (P < 0.05). About 20% of TC patients revealed inhibin B levels below the 5th percentile of CTR group, despite normozoospermia, and 31.4% had normal spermatogenesis in the presence of FSH values >95th percentile of CTR group. Orchiectomised patients for testicular cancer presented inhibin B levels lower than healthy patients, despite normozoospermia. Our study revealed the poor sensitivity of the current inhibin B reference range when applied to monorchidic patients, suggesting the need to establish more representative ranges to enable more appropriate counseling in relation to the patient's new endocrine condition.
Adult
;
Gonadotropins/blood*
;
Humans
;
Inhibins/blood*
;
Male
;
Orchiectomy
;
Reference Values
;
Testicular Neoplasms/surgery*
;
Testosterone/blood*
;
Young Adult

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