The American journal of the medical sciences
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The vast majority of antianginal drugs decrease heart rate and or blood pressure levels or the inotropic status of the left ventricle to decrease myocardial oxygen consumption (MVO2) and thus anginal symptoms. Ranolazine presents a completely different mechanism of action, which reduces the sodium-dependent calcium overload inhibiting the late sodium current. ⋯ However, ranolazine, in addition to symptom relief properties, is an antianginal drug showing favorable effects in decreasing the arrhythmic burden and in ameliorating the glycemic profile of these patients. In this review, we summarize the available data regarding the antianginal and pleiotropic effects of this drug.
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the fourth leading cause of death from cancer worldwide. Spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is associated with poor prognosis. This study aimed to evaluate risk factors, differences in clinical characteristics and prognosis of SBP in patients with HCC in comparison with non-HCC patients. ⋯ Prognosis of SBP in patients with HCC seemed similar to that in patients without HCC.
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With increasing mortality and incidence, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has become a major public health problem. The early diagnosis of HCC can improve its prognosis. The aim of this study was to identify potential risk factors related to HCC development and to establish a high-risk population rating scale. ⋯ The integration of these factors can contribute to a prognostic score for the risk of HCC development, which offered certain clinical practicability.
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N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) is widely used in clinical settings to identify cardiac stress, diagnose, and manage heart failure (HF). We explored the associations between NT-proBNP and both muscle area and density. ⋯ Muscle density is inversely associated with NT-proBNP, while muscle area is not after adjustment for inflammation and muscle density.
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Previous work has shown the ability of Fibresolve, a machine learning system, to non-invasively classify idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) with a pre-invasive sensitivity of 53% and specificity of 86% versus other types of interstitial lung disease. Further external validation for the use of Fibresolve to classify IPF in patients with non-definite usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) is needed. The aim of this study is to assess the sensitivity for Fibresolve to positively classify IPF in an external cohort of patients with a non-definite UIP radiographic pattern. ⋯ In patients with suspected IPF with non-definite UIP on HRCT, Fibresolve can positively identify cases of IPF with high sensitivity. These results suggest that in combination with standard clinical assessment, Fibresolve has the potential to serve as an adjunct in the non-invasive diagnosis of IPF.