European journal of internal medicine
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · Jan 2023
ReviewClinical usefulness of testing for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 antibodies.
In the COVID-19 pandemic era, antibody testing against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has proven an invaluable tool and herein we highlight some of the most useful clinical and/or epidemiological applications of humoral immune responses recording. Anti-spike circulating IgGs and SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies can serve as predictors of disease progression or disease prevention, whereas anti-nucleocapsid antibodies can help distinguishing infection from vaccination. ⋯ Additional crucial applications include population immunosurveillance, either at the general population or at specific communities such as health workers. Finally, we discuss how testing of antibodies in cerebrospinal fluid can inform us on the neurological complications that often accompany COVID-19.
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · Jan 2023
Multicenter StudyAirflow grades, outcome measures and response to pulmonary rehabilitation in individuals after an exacerbation of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Individuals with COPD may be staged according to symptoms and exacerbation history (GOLD groups: A-D) and on airflow obstruction (GOLD grades: 1-4). Guidelines recommend pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) for these individuals, including those recovering from an exacerbation (ECOPD) OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether in individuals with clinically severe COPD, recovering from an ECOPD, the effect size of an in-hospital PR program would be affected by airflow severity grades and assessed outcome measures. ⋯ in individuals with severe COPD, recovering from ECOPD the success rate of PR does not depend on airflow severity, or outcome measure assessed. In addition to the most used outcome measures, also Bid and SPPB are sensitive to PR.
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · Jan 2023
Effects and differences of sleep duration on the risk of new-onset chronic disease conditions in middle-aged and elderly populations.
Few longitude cohort studies investigated the risk of the duration of nighttime sleep and naps to the new-onset common chronic disease conditions (CDCs) in middle-aged (45-60) and the elderly (age ≥ 60) populations using an age-stratified strategy. ⋯ Nighttime sleep and daytime naps may have their own implications for the new-onset CDCs' risk in the aging process.
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · Jan 2023
CommentLiver fat accumulation more than fibrosis causes early liver dynamic dysfunction in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.
In Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), events driving early hepatic dysfunction with respect to specific metabolic pathways are still poorly known. ⋯ Overweight, obesity and liver fat accumulation manifest with deranged portal extraction efficiency of methacetin into the steatotic hepatocyte. This functional alteration occurs early, and irrespective of significant fibrosis and presence of T2D.