European journal of internal medicine
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · Dec 2022
Short versus long course therapy in the treatment of febrile urinary tract infections in men based on serum PSA values.
Febrile urinary tract infections (fUTI) in men are frequently complicated with subclinical prostatic involvement, measured by a transient increase in serum prostate-specific-antigen (sPSA). The aim of this study was to evaluate recurrence rates in a 6-month follow-up period of 2-week versus 4-week antibiotic treatment in men with fUTI, based on prostatic involvement. Clinical and microbiological cure rates at the end-of-therapy (EoT) were also assessed. ⋯ One fifth of men with fUTI did not present apparent prostatic involvement. A 2-week regimen seems adequate in terms of clinical, microbiological cure and recurrence rates for those patients without PSA elevation.
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Eur. J. Intern. Med. · Dec 2022
Angiopoietins, vascular endothelial growth factors and secretory phospholipase A2 in heart failure patients with preserved ejection fraction.
Heart failure (HF) is a growing public health burden, with high prevalence and mortality rates. A proportion of patients with HF have a normal ventricular ejection fraction (EF), referred to as HF with preserved EF (HFpEF), as opposed to patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). HFpEF currently accounts for about 50% of all HF patients, and its prevalence is rising. Angiopoietins (ANGPTs), vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGFs) and secretory phospholipases A2 (sPLA2s) are proinflammatory mediators and key regulators of endothelial cells. ⋯ Our results indicate that three different classes of proinflammatory regulators of vascular permeability and smoldering inflammation are selectively altered in HFrEF or HFpEF patients. Studies involving larger cohorts of these patients will be necessary to demonstrate the clinical implications of our findings.