November 2023
29 ArticlesClinical Insights
The peculiarities of COVID-19 in older people: Considerations after two years
As written by Cicero in De finibus, Aristotle said, “Hominem ad duas res, ad intelligendum et ad agendum, esse natum”, i.e. “Man is born for two things: to understand and to act”. The path of the... more
Body Mass Index (BMI): Still be used?
The Body Mass Index (BMI) is a commonly used measure that calculates an individual's body weight in relation to their height [1]. It was developed by Adolphe Quetelet in the early 19th century and... more
Commentary
Standing up for equitable treatment of coronary microvascular dysfunction and myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries
Myocardial infarction (MI) with normal coronary arteries (MINOCA) and ischemia with normal coronary arteries (INOCA) are syndromes characterized by evidence of myocardial necrosis or myocardial... more
Renal denervation trials in hypertension – what we wait for in 2023/2024
Arterial hypertension is the most frequent modifiable cardiovascular risk factor and remains a leading cause of premature death worldwide with increasing prevalence [1]. Epidemiologic studies suggest... more
Editorial
The new international nomenclature for steatotic liver disease: One step forward towards enhanced awareness for healthier life
Steatotic liver disease (SLD) is the most common liver disease worldwide and a leading cause of liver-related morbidity and mortality. Current prevalence of SLD is approximately 30 % of the global... more
Ideas and Opinions
Addressing the paradox: Health expansion threatening sustainable healthcare
We need to address the paradox that health expansion threatens sustainable healthcare as anti-aging drugs are on the trail from trial to the market and come together with health enhancement measures... more
Internal Medicine Flashcard
Young woman with red eyes and shock
A 21-year-old previously healthy Japanese woman with one-week history of fever, sore throat, chills, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, and watery diarrhea presented to our emergency department.... more
A man with widespread subcutaneous fat necrosis and osteonecrosis
A man in his forties with a history of alcohol abuse (200 g/day) presented with progressive multiple joint pain. He did not have abdominal, respiratory or urinary complaints. Physical examination... more
Letter to the Editor
The old and the new: The EG.5 (‘Eris’) sub-variant of Coronavirus
In the last year of pandemic, several variants of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) have been identified and monitored. Indeed, the persisting challenges of SARS-CoV-2 to... more
Fixing the Achilles heel of electronic medical records: Vital information must be defined, concise, accurate and easily accessible
Although electronic medical records (EMR) have many potential benefits, one of their unintended consequences it that many physicians may now spend most of their working hours at a computer screen... more
Does a multidisciplinary team involving internists specialized in hypertension and obstetric medicine improve pregnancy outcomes?
The prevalence of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) steadily increased in past years partly because of advanced maternal age and partly because of ever-wider access to assisted reproduction... more
Polyautoimmunity in IgG4-related disease
Dear Editor,
Diagnoses associated with temporal arteritis
The diagnosis of giant cell arteritis (GCA), the most common vasculitis after the age of 50, relies on a body of evidence, among which temporal arteritis (TA) remains a cornerstone [1]. However, TA... more
Spontaneous coronary artery dissection and Takotsubo syndrome
Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) and Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) are increasingly recognized. Both conditions predominantly affect females, with an incidence of up to 4% in patients... more
Undiagnosed cognitive impairment in older adults hospitalized in internal medicine wards: Data from the REPOSI registry
Dear Editor,
Prognostic role of the left ventricular global function index companion in patients with chronic heart failure
Heart failure (HF) is characterized by significant morbidity, mortality, economic burden and low quality of life. The global prevalence of HF among patients aged 50 years and older averages 8.3%, the... more
COVID-19 research waste: An analysis on terminated clinical trials on medicines on ClinicalTrials.gov
Dear Editor,
Original Article
Predictive value of Killip classification in MINOCA patients
In the last two decades, the better understanding of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) pathophysiology as well as the advances in medical therapy and hemodynamical techniques led to a decrease in the... more
Catheter-based renal artery denervation: facts and expectations
Some clinical studies published before year 2014 raised consistent expectations worldwide on a promising role of catheter-based renal artery denervation (RAD) in the management of patients with... more
Thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP) is a substrate for tryptase in patients with mastocytosis
Mastocytosis is a heterogeneous, rare disease associated with uncontrolled proliferation, accumulation, and increased survival of mast cells (MCs) in different organs [1]. This pathological condition... more
GLIM-diagnosed malnutrition predicts mortality and risk of hospitalization in systemic sclerosis: A retrospective study
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune disease characterized by microcirculation dysfunction, autoantibodies production, progressive skin and multiorgan fibrosis with potentially life-threatening... more
Prevalence of anti-synthetase antibodies among systemic sclerosis patients
Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a rare, multisystem autoimmune disease. It is divided according to the extent of skin involvement, into limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc) and diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc) [1...
Clinicopathological characteristics, risk factors and prognostic value of intrarenal vascular lesions in IgA nephropathy
IgA nephropathy (IgAN) is the most prevalent primary glomerulonephritis worldwide, which is characterized by the predominant deposition of IgA in the glomerular mesangium. Although prevalence of... more
Intravenous immunoglobulin therapy in antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibody-associated vasculitis
According to the International Chapel Hill Consensus Conference 2012 (CHCC2012), anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)-associated vasculitis (AAV) is a group of necrotizing vasculitis, with... more
Aortic stiffness plays a role in the discrepancy between mitral valve lesion severity and hemodynamic burden of secondary mitral regurgitation.
The disproportionate/proportionate nature of secondary mitral regurgitation (sMR) has been recently introduced to explain the different outcomes of patients undergoing percutaneous mitral valve... more
Review Article
Coronary microvascular dysfunction and myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries: Where do we stand?
The term myocardial infarction with non-obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) was first coined in 2013 [1] and was globally recognized in an expert position paper as a clinically heterogeneous... more
Albumin administration in internal medicine: A journey between effectiveness and futility
Human albumin is the most abundant circulating protein and accounts for approximately 50–60% of all total plasma proteins in healthy individuals. The molecule is composed of 585 amino acids organised... more
Management of diabetic ketoacidosis
Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is an acute life-threatening emergency in patients with diabetes, characterized by hyperglycemia, metabolic acidosis and ketonemia, it can result in serious morbidity and... more
Axial Spondyloarthritis: Evolving concepts regarding the disease's diagnosis and treatment
Spondyloarthritis (SpA) is a group of inflammatory diseases characterized by the involvement of the axial skeleton (axSpA) and/or the peripheral joints (p-SpA). It affects young adults of both sexes... more