European journal of internal medicine
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · May 2020
ReviewInhalation therapy devices for the treatment of obstructive lung diseases: the history of inhalers towards the ideal inhaler.
Inhalation therapy allows conveying drugs directly into the airways. The devices used to administer inhaled drugs play a crucial role in the management of obstructive lung diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). To ensure high bronchial deposition of the drug, a device should deliver a high proportion of fine particles, be easy to use, and provide constant and accurate doses of the active substance. ⋯ In SMIs, the medication is dissolved in an aqueous solution, without propellant, and it is dispensed as a slow aerosol cloud thanks to the energy of a spring. Smart inhalers, connected to smartphones, are promising tools that can provide information about patient's adherence and their inhaler technique. Inhalation has also been proposed as a route of administration for several systemic drugs.
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Inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic autoimmune disorder of the western world that is rapidly expanding in newly industrialized countries. Novel strategies are urgently needed to prevent and improve the treatment of this costly and disabling disease. Statins are the most commonly prescribed drugs worldwide. ⋯ Several experimental studies have shown that statins reduce inflammation in animal models of colitis; however, clinical studies investigating their disease-modifying and preventive potential in IBD have demonstrated some limitations and conflicting results. The available epidemiological evidence is not yet sufficient to support the use of statin for preventing or treating inflammatory bowel disease. Additional high-quality research is warranted.
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · May 2020
Left atrial diameter thresholds and new incident atrial fibrillation in embolic stroke of undetermined source.
We analyzed consecutive patients with embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS) from three prospective stroke registries to compare the prognostic performance of different LAD thresholds for the prediction of new incident AF. ⋯ The LAD threshold of 40 mm has the best prognostic performance among other LAD values to predict new incident AF after ESUS. The diagnostic yield of prolonged cardiac rhythm monitoring in patients with LAD ≤ 40 mm seems low; therefore, such patients may have lower priority for prolonged cardiac monitoring.
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · May 2020
ReviewNAFLD and autoimmune hepatitis: Do not judge a book by its cover.
Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common chronic liver disease (almost 25% of the general population). Autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) is a relatively rare liver disease of unknown aetiology characterized by female predominance and large heterogeneity regarding epidemiology, clinical manifestations, genetics, serology and liver pathology. ⋯ Patients with NAFLD/AIH coincidence have significantly more frequently hypertension, diabetes, obesity, older age, lower transaminases, bilirubin and simplified score for AIH diagnosis but no female predominance compared to AIH patients only. The true outcome of NAFLD/AIH patients is practically unknown while their management is quite problematic because official clinical practice guidelines for this condition are missing.
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · May 2020
The association between education level and chronic liver disease of any etiology.
The potential link between educational level and chronic liver diseases (CLD) were explored using the mortality records of liver cirrhosis, which lack accuracy and are unable to identify the different etiological factors of liver cirrhosis. Information on the association of low educational level with the severity of CLD is lacking. ⋯ These findings show an independent association linking education level with viruses and alcohol-related CLD. Low educational level is associated with the severity of CLD.