Clinical medicine (London, England)
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Paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) is a frequent cause of recurrent stroke but can be difficult to detect because of its episodic and often asymptomatic nature. We sought to improve rate of PAF detection through a quality improvement project (QIP) to deliver early prolonged inpatient cardiac monitoring on the stroke unit (SU). ⋯ Although this study had a number of limitations, it did demonstrate that early and prolonged non-invasive IP cardiac monitoring could be delivered 'in-house' on the SU and improve AF detection rates.
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This study investigated the clinical significance of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography / computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) in identifying the causes of fever of unknown origin (FUO). ⋯ 18F-FDG PET/CT has great clinical importance in diagnosing and identifying causes of FUO and improves the accuracy of FUO diagnosis when combined with serum CRP levels.
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Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the most common cause of chronic liver disease worldwide. NAFLD is defined by excess fat in the liver and has a multidirectional relationship with metabolic syndrome. ⋯ Patients with NAFLD are at risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer, and in a proportion of individuals, NAFLD is associated with liver damage. This article summarises the epidemiology of NAFLD, the clinical approach to risk-assessing patients and briefly outlines current and future management options.
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Review
Potential role of endothelial cell surface ectopic redox complexes in COVID-19 disease pathogenesis.
The novel coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) has rapidly spread and poses a great challenge to researchers, both in elucidating its pathogenic mechanism and developing effective treatments. It has been recently proposed that COVID-19 is an endothelial disease. ⋯ Consequently, oxidative stress could prime these cells to acquire a pro-thrombotic and pro-inflammatory phenotype, predisposing patients to thromboembolic and vasculitic events and to disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC). This implies a pivotal role played by oxygen in the pathogenetic mechanism of COVID-19 disease, in that its availability would tune the oxidant state and consequent damage.