December 2016
24 ArticlesInternal Medicine Flashcard
An under-recognized cause for syncope
A 74-year-old male presented with history of recurrent syncope and fall that once caused scalp-injury. The episodes were sudden and lacked any prodrome. He regained consciousness spontaneously.... more
ST segment elevations in a patient with neutropenic fever
A 31-year-old Caucasian man presented to the emergency department with sudden onset fever, chills and chest, pain two weeks after completing induction chemotherapy for acute myelogenous leukemia.... more
A 76-year-old woman with electrolyte abnormalities
A 76-year-old female was admitted to our hospital because of severe diarrhea and lethargy. Diarrhea persisted since several weeks. Past medical history revealed cholecystectomy, appendectomy,... more
Multiple lung metastases?
A Tunisian migrant with no past medical history, recently arrived in France, was referred for weight loss and multiple lung nodules on chest X-ray, suggesting lung metastases (Fig. 1a). The patient... more
A young man with neck pain
A 34-year old man had a two-month history of weight loss, palpitations, night sweating, low-grade fever, and neck pain. His past history was unremarkable, he took no medications including over-the-... more
Pulmonary infiltrate with characteristic “reversed halo” and “air crescent” signs
A brain mass had been diagnosed to a 62years old man after an epileptic fit and subsequent comatose status. The mass had been excised; it was an anaplastic astrocytoma. After chemotherapy and... more
An unusual inguinal hernia
A 31-year-old man had a medical history of right inguinal hernia operated two years earlier. He presented at the emergency department with a 3-day history of painful scrotal tumefaction (Panel A). (... more
Letter to the Editor
Ethics of reviewing scientific publications – Two elephants in the room
In the recently published paper “Ethics of reviewing scientific publications” [1] the author avoids two “elephants in the room”.
Updates on “Adiponcosis”: More new incoming evidence strengthening the obesity-cancer link
Despite what recently published on the Eur J Intern Med. by Bitzur et al., who did not found a significant correlation between obesity and the incidence of cancer in a population of mostly Jewish... more
Acute medical units, definitely the way to go
We thank van Galen et al. for their review of acute medical units (AMUs) [1]. The evidence presented matches our tacit experience, namely a successful model of care when measured against hard... more
Bleeding in patients with atrial fibrillation treated with dabigatran, rivaroxaban or warfarin
I read with great interest the paper by Ellis et al. [1], which is a retrospective cohort study to determine the incidence of bleeding in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) beginning dabigatran,... more
Letters to the Editor
Augmentation index is reduced in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, a meta-analysis
In a work published in a recent issue of the European Journal of Internal Medicine [1], Cappello et al. found that, despite the lower prevalence of dyslipidemia, carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity,... more
Narrative Review
Subclinical hypothyroidism, lipid metabolism and cardiovascular disease
Subclinical hypothyroidism is defined by elevated serum thyrotropin in presence of normal free thyroid hormones. Lipid metabolism is influenced by thyroid hormone and many reports showed that lipids... more
The ischemic/nephrotoxic Acute Kidney Injury and the use of renal biomarkers in clinical practice
The term Acute Renal Failure (ARF) has been replaced by the term Acute Kidney Injury (AKI). AKI indicates an abrupt (within 24–48h) decrease in Glomerular Filtraton Rate, due to renal damage, that... more
Original Article
Ethics of reviewing scientific publications
The approval or rejection of scientific publications can have important consequences for scientific knowledge, so considerable responsibility lies on those who have to assess or review them. Today it... more
Patients with diabetes are at high risk of serious medication errors at hospital: Interest of clinical pharmacist intervention to improve healthcare
Medication errors (ME) are major public health issues in hospitals because of their consequences on patients' morbi-mortality. This study aims to evaluate the prevalence of ME at admission and... more
Bleeding after invasive procedures is rare and unpredicted by platelet counts in cirrhotic patients with thrombocytopenia
In cirrhotics with low circulating platelets (PLT), restoration of normal cell counts has been traditionally recommended before invasive procedures. However, there is neither consensus on the PLT... more
Acute focal bacterial nephritis in a cohort of hospitalized adult patients with acute pyelonephritis. Assessment of risk factors and a predictive model
Acute focal bacterial nephritis (AFBN) is a complicated form of acute pyelonephritis (APN) characterized by single or multiple areas of localised infection in the kidney without liquefaction or... more
Trends in hospitalizations for community-acquired pneumonia in Spain: 2004 to 2013
To describe trends in the incidence and outcomes of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) hospitalizations in Spain (2004–2013).
Animal testing is still the best way to find new treatments for patients
Experimental research proceeds by hypotheses formulated on the basis of previous or new knowledge and then tested. If they are accepted, they serve as the basis for further hypotheses, and if they... more
Factors related to the development of acquired von Willebrand syndrome in patients with essential thrombocythemia and polycythemia vera
We characterized acquired von Willebrand syndrome (AVWS) among essential thrombocythemia (ET) and polycythemia vera (PV) patients.
Continuous positive airway pressure and diabetes risk in sleep apnea patients: A systemic review and meta-analysis
The study assessed the effect of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy on the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by evaluating change in the homeostasis model assessment of insulin... more
Review Article
Periostin: The bone and beyond
In recent years the relationship between bone, metabolism and many pathophysiologic mechanisms involving other organs and the immune system, was increasingly apparent. This observation concerns... more
Current and potential cyber attacks on medical journals; guidelines for improving security
At the moment, scholarly publishing is faced with much academic misconduct and threats such as predatory journals, hijacked journals, phishing, and other scams. In response, we have been discussing... more