August 2023
31 ArticlesNo Section
Ocular surface manifestations and SARS-CoV-2 RNA detection in conjunctival swabs of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 pneumonia
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can appear with a wide range of clinical manifestations including respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, neurological, dermatological, and ocular... more
Characteristics and clinical outcomes of patients with COVID-19 recurrent infection during the omicron variant predominance
Reinfections with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), were considered an uncommon event during the pre-omicron... more
Clinical Insights
Understanding the biological success of SARS-CoV-2: Immunoevasion strategies and beyond
Although the epidemiology of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has considerably changed over time, displaying a substantial decline in severe forms of illness and death rate [1], a recent claim by... more
Metabolically healthy obesity: does it exist?
Excessive and/or abnormal adipose tissue accumulation due to positive energy balance leads to a chronic and progressive disease: obesity [1]. Its clinical impact due to the many disabling and deadly... more
Commentary
The main thing is to keep the main thing as the main thing
Medicine is the privilege of being able to help our patients with their illness. There is no doubt that this implies a huge continuous effort to keep up to date with medical knowledge. These advances... more
New therapeutic options for IgA nephropathy: Balancing risks and benefits
IgA nephropathy (IgAN), also known as Berger disease, is currently the most common primary glomerular disease worldwide, its prevalence and incidence varying significantly from 30 to 40 cases per... more
SGLT2-inhibitors: Should they be considered anti-remodeling drugs?
Heart failure (HF) is a complex syndrome characterized by multiple aetiologies and a progressive clinical course with a strong impact in terms of morbidity, mortality and public health costs [1].
Uric acid and left ventricular mass in prediction of cardiovascular risk—New insight from the URRAH study
The association between serum uric acid (SUA) levels and cardiovascular diseases has been investigated through decades. A large number of epidemiological studies have suggested an unfavorable impact... more
Internal Medicine Flashcard
Red eye and joint pain
A 61-year-old woman reported a right ocular painful redness with photophobia, two weeks after a rheumatoid arthritis flare. She was daily treated with leflunomide. Visual acuity was at 20/250 on the... more
Hyperpigmentation on the dorsal tongue
A 73-year-old man diagnosed with brain metastasis from non-small cell lung carcinoma, not otherwise specified (NSCLC-NOS), was hospitalized for 1 week due to anorexia. A computed tomography revealed... more
Massive splenomegaly
A 31-year-old Ashkenazi Jewish male presented to his primary care physician due to early satiety, nausea, abdominal discomfort, and occasional vomiting. Laboratory tests were within normal limits,... more
Letter to the Editor
The lean paradox in pulmonary embolism: Beyond the estimated plasma volume?
Dear Editor,
Prognostic value of left atrial strain in multiple myeloma
The clonal proliferation of neoplastic plasma cells and the overproduction of monoclonal immunoglobulins promote the multi-system consequences of multiple myeloma (MM), which confers a high-risk of... more
Spironolactone is associated with reduced white matter lesion progression in patients with hypertension
White matter lesions (WMLs) in the brain are mostly caused by cerebral small vessel disease linked to traditional cardiovascular risk factors, which increase the risk of dementia, depression, stroke... more
Therapeutic challenges and cardiovascular risk in patients with HMGCR-associated immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy (HMGR-IMNM) secondary to statins
Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are connective tissue diseases (CTD) that involve muscle with varying severity [1]. They include polymyositis, dermatomyositis, overlap myositis, inclusion... more
Furosemide-associated hyponatremia in internal medicine patients: Analysis of epidemiological and biochemical profiles
the role of furosemide in the development of hyponatremia seems ambiguous. The data coming from a large retrospective population-based case-control study, focused on hospitalization due to... more
Chronic cough in very old patients on long-term therapy with angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and new-onset cancer
Dear editor
Pulmonary embolism, is it healthy to be volume expanded?
We have read with great interest the paper by Jurin et al. [1] reporting adverse survival in pulmonary embolism (PE) patients belonging to the first body mass index (BMI) quartile. As the authors... more
Tirzepatide decreases systolic and diastolic blood pressure
Tirzepatide is a newer glucose-lowering medication with agonist activity on the glucagon-like peptide (GLP)−1 receptor as well as on the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor.... more
Original Article
Evaluation of machine learning algorithms for renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors associated renal adverse event prediction
Renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors (RAASi) are a group of drugs that include angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEi) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB). Numerous randomized... more
Short sleep duration and atrial fibrillation risk: A comprehensive analysis of observational cohort studies and genetic study
Short sleep duration has a significant influence on individual health. Sleep duration can be affected by many factors, such as lifestyle, environmental factors, and sleep disorders (e.g., common... more
Comparative effectiveness and safety for the treatments despite optimized renin-angiotensin system blockade among IgA nephropathy patients at high-risk of disease progression: A network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
IgA nephropathy (Berger's disease) is the most common glomerular disease worldwide and often diagnosed in young adults, [1] with a heavy social and economic burden on our society [2,3]. It... more
Contribution of low skeletal muscle mass in predicting cardiovascular events: A prospective cohort study
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the largest single contributor to global mortality and accounts for more than 40% of deaths in China [1,2]. In China, there were estimated 93.8 million prevalent cases... more
Role of systemic immunosuppression on subglottic stenosis in granulomatosis with polyangiitis: Analysis of a single-centre cohort
Subglottic stenosis (SGS) is defined as narrowing of the airway below the vocal cords and is a potentially life-threatening condition. Many aetiologies have been proposed in the literature for... more
Renal hyperfiltration revisited—Role of the individual body surface area on mortality
Renal hyperfiltration (RHF) has been associated with mortality in several studies which have estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) with the creatinine-based Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology... more
The impact of HCV chronic positivity and clearance on extrahepatic morbidity in thalassemia major patients: an observational study from MIOT Network
In the general population hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is commonly correlated with the development of liver complication such as fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) [1,2].... more
Serum uric acid and left ventricular mass index independently predict cardiovascular mortality: The uric acid right for heart health (URRAH) project
The association between serum uric acid levels (SUA) and cardiovascular (CV) disease has been extensively investigated in the last 3 decades. A large number of epidemiological studies have confirmed... more
The effect of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors on cardiac structure remodeling and function: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Adverse cardiac remodeling (ACR) is not only one of the most important mechanisms of heart failure, but also the independent risk factor of mortality and morbidity for patients with cardiovascular... more
Review Article
Insight into increased risk of portal vein thrombosis in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
With the increasing prevalence of obesity and metabolic deterioration, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has emerged as the leading cause of liver diseases worldwide [1]. The disease spectrum... more
How epigenetics impacts on human diseases
The evidence that DNA was organized in a peculiar structure named "chromatin" and associated with proteins of unknown function was a very early finding. The term "chromatin" was first introduced by... more
Comparative analysis of level of evidence and class of recommendation for 50 clinical practice guidelines released by the European Society of Cardiology from 2011 to 2022
The term “Evidence-based Medicine” (EBM) first appeared in medical literature in 1991 when Gordon Guyatt, a faculty member at McMaster Medical School in Hamilton, Ontario, published an Editorial... more