European journal of clinical investigation
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Eur. J. Clin. Invest. · Jan 2022
Multicenter Study Observational StudyMyocardial injury in patients with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia: pivotal role of inflammation in COVID-19.
Infection by SARS-CoV-2 may result in a systemic disease and a proportion of patients ranging 15%-44% experienced cardiac injury (CI) diagnosed by abnormal troponin levels. The aim of the present study was to analyse the clinical characteristics of a large series of hospitalized patients for COVID-19 in order to identify predisposing and/or protective factors of CI and the outcome. ⋯ This large, multicentre Italian study confirmed the high prevalence of CI and its prognostic role in hospitalized patients with COVID-19, highlighting the leading role of systemic inflammation for the occurrence of CI.
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Eur. J. Clin. Invest. · Jan 2022
Observational StudyAltered cardiac reserve is a determinant of exercise intolerance in sickle cell anemia patients.
The underlying mechanisms of exercise intolerance in sickle cell anaemia (SCA) patients are complex and not yet completely understood. While latent heart failure at rest could be unmasked upon exercise, most previous studies assessed cardiac function at rest. We aimed to investigate exercise cardiovascular reserve as a potential contributor to exercise intolerance in adult SCA patients. ⋯ Altered cardiac reserve due to chronotropic incompetence and left ventricular diastolic dysfunction seems to be an important determinant of exercise intolerance in adult SCA patients.
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Eur. J. Clin. Invest. · Jan 2022
Predictive value of laser speckle contrast analysis in systemic sclerosis.
To assess whether tools to functionally examine the microcirculation, such as laser speckle contrast analysis (LASCA), are predictive of ischaemic digital trophic lesions ([i]DTL) in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc). ⋯ A predictive role of LASCA for (i)DTL has not yet been described in the literature and could also not be attested by our additional pilot study, due to a lower-than-expected iDTL incidence in our day-to-day SSc population in which patients were allowed to continue their vasodilator medication. However, the promising observations in the subgroup of vasodilator-naïve patients encourage further investigation of this potential added value of LASCA.
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Eur. J. Clin. Invest. · Jan 2022
Discriminatory capacity of obesity indicators as predictors of high liver fat in US adolescents.
The aims of this study were to assess the potential of 16 anthropometric, body composition and endocrine indexes as predictors of high liver fat and determine the most appropriate cut-off points in US adolescents. ⋯ Assessment of TMI in boys, TFI in girls, and FMI in both sexes are low-cost and easy-to-use parameters that may be useful as early screening tools for possible high liver fat in adolescents.