July 2022
31 ArticlesNo Section
Adult anaphylaxis: To the heart of the matter
Dear Editor, we want to congratulate with Rossi and colleagues [1] for their state-of-the-art review summarizing pathophysiological mechanisms, diagnostic criteria, classification and clinical... more
Deployment of guideline-based therapy for heart failure with reduced ejection fraction: A word of caution for older patients
Dear Editor,
Beyond the Guidelines
Comparing atrial fibrillation guidelines: Focus on stroke prevention, bleeding risk assessment and oral anticoagulant recommendations
Clinical practice in atrial fibrillation (AF) patient management is constantly evolving. Non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) showed a favorable risk-benefit profile as compared to... more
Clinical Insights
Atrial cardiomyopathy: Pathophysiology and clinical implications
The term atrial cardiomyopathy appears sporadically in the medical literature, and generally has been used in conjunction with atrial fibrillation (AF), or as “atrial fibrotic cardiomyopathy”, a... more
Commentary
Conservative versus aggressive blood pressure reduction: Do we have a winner?
Arterial hypertension is an established cardiovascular risk factor [1], while antihypertensive therapy is associated with substantial cardiovascular benefits [2]. Therefore, research in the field of... more
Intensive blood pressure control and cognitive impairment in chronic kidney disease: The jury is still out
Globally, 55 million people suffer from dementia, mainly Alzheimer's disease (60–70% of cases), and over 60% of patients live in low- or middle-income countries. This number is estimated to rise to... more
The search for a gold standard to clinically diagnose and monitor atrial cardiomyopathy
: Tufano A, Lancellotti P. "Atrial cardiomyopathy: Pathophysiology and clinical implications". Eur J Intern Med. 2022 Mar 11:S0953–6205(22)00097–8. doi: 10.1016/j.ejim.2022.03.007. Epub ahead of... more
Interleukin 6 inhibition in severe COVID-19: Another piece of the puzzle
More than two years have passed since the beginning of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Extensive efforts have been invested into better understanding the pathogenesis of this... more
Internal Medicine Flashcard
Heart failure: An autopsy case
A 78-year-old man with a history of bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome was admitted to our hospital with congestive heart failure. On physical examination a systolic ejection murmur was documented. B-... more
Persistent fever, bloody diarrhea, and skin necrosis in a young female
A 28-year-old Caucasian female presented with a two-month history of low-grade fevers, abdominal cramps, occasional bloody stools, weight loss, high C-reactive protein (234 mg/L), and with a newly-... more
Hemolytic anemia in a patient with cirrhosis: Hiding in the smear!
A 41-year-old female with alcoholic liver cirrhosis presented to the emergency department with worsening abdominal pain and progressively worsening shortness of breath for two weeks. Laboratory... more
Vanishing tumor of the stomach
A previously healthy Japanese 36-year-old man presented to the gastroenterology department with a 2-day history of acute-onset severe epigastric pain after eating flounder sashimi. His vital signs... more
Letter to the Editor
Concerns regarding result analysis and the corresponding risk of pulmonary embolism severity and in-hospital mortality. Author's reply
Dear Editor,
Exploring the recovery curve for long-term post-COVID dyspnea and fatigue
Dear Editor
Adult anaphylaxis: To the heart of the matter. Author's reply
we read with interest the letter by Mirijello et al. [1] which emphasizes the importance of Kounis syndrome (KS), Takotsubo syndrome and their copresence in ATAK syndrome among cardiovascular... more
Concerns regarding result analysis and the corresponding risk of pulmonary embolism severity and in-hospital mortality
I read with great interest the article by Miró et al., [1] as the paper discusses an important aspect of clinical medicine which is of great importance in the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-... more
Lipoprotein Z, an abnormal LDL-like lipoprotein, independently predicts mortality in cirrhosis
Decreased plasma concentrations of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) make part of the lipoprotein abnormalities encountered in end-stage liver disease [1,2]. The liver plays a central role in both the... more
Community care reform in Italy: Get a move on!
Dear editor
The role of heparin in reducing in-hospital complications and three-month mortality rates in hospitalized COVID-19 patients
Many COVID-19 patients develop a coagulopathy characterized by thrombocytopenia, minor prolongation of bleeding times and elevated serum d-dimer and fibrinogen levels, similar to consumption... more
The precautionary principle in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign: The complicated relationship between the scientific community, medicines regulatory agencies and citizens
COronaVIrus Disease 19 (COVID-19) pandemia and vaccination campaign showed a frail relationship between the scientific community, medical authorities, and citizens. This clearly emerged when... more
Original Article
A prediction model for central venous catheter-related thrombosis in patients with newly-diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia: A derivation cohort analysis
Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in cancer patients. In a large population-based cohort study from Denmark, the VTE incidence within the first 6 months after... more
Hepatitis C Elimination in the Netherlands (CELINE): How nationwide retrieval of lost to follow-up hepatitis C patients contributes to micro-elimination
Achieving hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination as a global health threat has been a priority of many countries since the World Health Organisation published their elimination targets [1]. In low-... more
Impact of eGFR rate on 1-year all-cause mortality in patients with stable coronary artery disease
The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is currently around 10% in the general population, a figure that grows up to 30-50% in at-risk subgroups such as those with diabetes, hypertension or... more
Epidemiological and genetic features of anti-3‑hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA reductase necrotizing myopathy: Single-center experience and literature review
alanine aminotransferase
Usefulness of telemedicine-based heart failure monitoring according to ‘eHealth literacy’ domains: Insights from the iCOR randomized controlled trial
Notwithstanding new pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches, such as optimising care using new monitoring strategies,[1,2] heart failure (HF) remains a huge public health problem worldwide... more
Echocardiographic markers of early alcoholic cardiomyopathy: Six-month longitudinal study in heavy drinking patients
Alcoholic cardiomyopathy (ACM) represents one of the leading causes of non-ischemic dilated myocardial disease in Western Countries [1]. ACM significantly contributes to the global burden of... more
Benefits of more intensive versus less intensive blood pressure control. Updated trial sequential analysis
High blood pressure (BP) remains a dominant risk factor for cardiovascular disease and death worldwide [1,2]. The progressive decline in the incidence of cardiovascular disease, particularly stroke,... more
Interleukin-6 inhibitors reduce mortality in coronavirus disease-2019: An individual patient data meta-analysis from randomized controlled trials
The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in December 2019 and was declared a pandemic in March 2020 by the World Health Organization (WHO) [1]. Clinical manifestations... more
Review Article
Evolving concepts in the management of antithrombotic therapy in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation
Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is an effective and less invasive treatment option compared with conventional surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), and is the standard of care for... more
Acute kidney injury associated with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are ones of the commonly prescribed drugs worldwide. They primarily inhibit cyclooxygenase (COX) enzyme which is responsible for conversion of... more
Intensive blood pressure control on dementia in patients with chronic kidney disease: Potential reduction in disease burden
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is defined by either presence of a decline in renal function, mostly assessed via creatinine or cystatin C-based estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) measurements... more