The American journal of the medical sciences
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Pericardial fistula is a rare complication. Generally, the diagnosis can be confirmed by imaging examination, but our patient was an exception. We present a 71-year-old female patient that complained of remnant gastric cancer for five months and dyspnea for seven days; the dyspnea became aggravated during the last two days. ⋯ Given the color change of the pericardial drainage, we strongly suspected pericardial fistula, but the imaging examinations were negative. Finally, a methylene blue test confirmed the existence of a pericardial fistula. When the color of the pericardial effusion changes, the existence of a pericardial fistula must be considered in advance, and other methods should be evaluated if imaging cannot assist in the diagnosis.
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Prediabetes versus type 2 diabetes in patients with acute myocardial infarction and current smoking.
Smoking is linked with increased risk of cardiovascular events among diabetic patients. Prediabetes is associated with increased risk for microvascular and macrovascular complications. We compared the 2-year clinical outcomes of current smoking between prediabetic and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) after newer-generation drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation. ⋯ Current smoking leads to worse clinical outcomes in patients with AMI and prediabetes, and thus, similarly to T2DM patients, more attention and more intensive treatment strategy including quitting smoking would be advantageous.
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The aim of this study was to assess the correlation of the serum B-cell activating factor (BAFF), A proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) and interleukin (IL)-21 with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) to evaluate their efficacy as non-invasive biomarkers for the risk of premature development of atherosclerosis. ⋯ Circulating BAFF and APRIL in patients with SLE were correlated to disease activity and cIMT, suggesting that they could be used as a peripheral blood biomarker for the occurrence of premature atherosclerosis in SLE.
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This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of early secretory antigenic target-6 (ESAT-6) and culture filtrate protein-10 (CFP-10) in immunoglobulin A nephropathy (IgAN) associated with renal tuberculosis (RT). ⋯ Our study provides evidence for the potential of ESAT-6 and CFP-10 proteins as candidate markers in the diagnosis of IgAN associated with RT.