Internal and emergency medicine
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Ischemic stroke remains the second leading cause of death and among the major causes of morbidity worldwide. Therapeutic options are currently limited to early reperfusion strategies, while pharmacological neuroprotective strategies despite showing promising results in the experimental setting constantly failed to enter the clinical arena. Inflammation plays an important role in the pathophysiology of ischemic stroke and mediators of inflammation have been longtime investigated as possible prognostic marker and therapeutic target for stroke patients. Here, we summarized available evidence on the role of cytokines, soluble adhesion molecules and adipokines in the pathophysiology, prognosis and therapy of ischemic stroke.
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Some persons who smoke have substituted e-cigarettes for tobacco cigarettes, either completely or partially. What effect does this have on cardiovascular functioning? We conducted a living systematic review on human clinical studies measuring the cardiovascular effects of e-cigarette substitution for smoking. The Scopus, PubMed, and CENTRAL Cochrane Library databases were searched on January 31 and April 29, 2021. ⋯ E-cigarette substitution incurs no additional cardiovascular risks, and some possible benefits may be obtained, but the evidence is of low to very low certainty. An update search on May 30, 2022 retrieved five studies that did not alter our conclusion. Registration PROSPERO #CRD42021239094.
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Pulmonary embolism (PE) is the third-leading cause of cardiovascular death in the United States, and several studies suggest PE shows seasonal variation. Variation in monthly PE diagnosis may be due to pathophysiologic factors or confounding/bias. However, severe PE may be less prone to diagnostic bias. To address this gap, we analyzed two registries from 1/2013-12/2018 with the aim of describing temporal trends in PE diagnosis and severity. ⋯ Our results indicate correlation between calendar month and PERT activation; however, this pattern was not observed for PE diagnoses. This finding warrants further investigation into the causes of calendar month variation of PERT activations.
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Clinical Trial
Musculoskeletal manifestations in children with Behçet's syndrome: data from the AIDA Network Behçet's Syndrome Registry.
This study aims to describe musculoskeletal manifestations (MSM) in children with Behçet's syndrome (BS), their association with other disease manifestations, response to therapy, and long-term prognosis. Data were retrieved from the AIDA Network Behçet's Syndrome Registry. Out of a total of 141 patients with juvenile BS, 37 had MSM at disease onset (26.2%). ⋯ Arthritis is mostly mono- or oligoarticular, but sacroiliitis is not unusual. Prognosis of this subset of BS is overall favorable, though the presence of myalgia negatively affects response to biologic therapies. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT05200715 (registered on December 18, 2021).