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Summary: This reprint contains original research and review chapters concerning the latest advancements in various topics related to pediatric fractures. Topics include fractures of the face, clavicle, shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist, pelvis, femur, and tibia; special considerations focus on osteogenesis imperfecta patients; and consideration is also given to general pediatric fracture topics, such as the influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, mortality after pediatric trauma, the effects of NSAID and electronic cigarette use, and chapters on epidemiology and physical activity.

Summary: Minimally invasive surgery has become a common term in visceral as well as gynecologic surgery. It has almost evolved into its own surgical speciality over the past 20 years. Today, being firmly established in every subspeciality of visceral surgery, it is now no longer a distinct skillset, but a fixed part of the armamentarium of surgical options available. In every indication, the advantages of a minimally invasive approach include reduced intraoperative blood loss, less postoperative pain, and shorter rehabilitation times, as well as a marked reduction of overall and surgical postoperative morbidity. In the advent of modern oncologic treatment algorithms, these effects not only lower the immediate impact that an operation has on the patient, but also become important key steps in reducing the side-effects of surgery. Thus, they enable surgery to become a module in modern multi-disciplinary cancer treatment, which blends into multimodular treatment options at different times and prolongs and widens the possibilities available to cancer patients. In this quickly changing environment, the requirement to learn and refine not only open surgical but also different minimally invasive techniques on high levels deeply impact modern surgical training pathways. The use of modern elearning tools and new and praxis-based surgical training possibilities have been readily integrated into modern surgical education,which persists throughout the whole surgical career of modern gynecologic and visceral surgery specialists.

Summary: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) has spread worldwide from the beginning of 2020. The infection is mostly asymptomatic but some patients may develop COVID‑19 (coronavirus disease 2019) with a severe or critical course leading to pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and multiorgan failure. Apart from the virus‑related damage of the lungs, pathomechanism of the disease seems to be linked to thromboembolism and inflammation accompanied by overproduction of proinflammatory cytokines, termed a cytokine storm, responsible for multiorgan damage and death. Since the development of a new therapeutic molecule, dedicated strictly to a particular virus is time‑consuming, physicians and scientists have started to test and repurpose old medications. Unfortunately, after one year of pandemics, there is still a lack of optimal therapy and no clear indicators of recovery. A major issue is also insufficient knowledge on predictors of the severe or deadly course of the disease, which could also help to switch from one therapeutic option to another. Due to many gaps still existing in the management of COVID-19, there is a need for the accumulation of new data particularly from real-world experience, which could be applicable to practice guidelines. The objective of this special issue of the Journal of Clinical Medicine is to provide an update on the mangement for the diagnostic workup and pharmacotherapy of SARS‑CoV‑2 infection.