Articles: disease.
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Obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea syndrome (OSAHS) is an extremely common sleep-related breathing disorder (SRBD) characterised by complete or partial collapse of the upper airways. These nocturnal phenomena cause high-frequency hypoxemic desaturations (or intermittent hypoxia, IH) during sleep and alterations in gas exchange. The result of IH is the development or worsening of cerebro-cardio-vascular, metabolic and other diseases, which cause a high risk of death. ⋯ Therefore, this review aims to provide information on the main symptoms and risk factors for the detection of individuals at risk of OSAHS, as well as to present the diagnostic investigations to be performed and the different therapeutic approaches. The scientific evidence reported suggest that OSAHS is an extremely common and complex disorder that has a large impact on the health and quality of life of individuals, as well as on healthcare expenditure. Moreover, given its multifactorial nature, the design and implementation of diagnostic and therapeutic programmes through a multidisciplinary approach are necessary for a tailor-made therapy for each patient.
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Coronavirus disease 2019, known as a widespread, aerosol spreading disease, has affected >549 000 000 people since 2019. During the lockdown period, dramatic reduction of elective endoscopic procedures, including endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography, had been reported worldwide, leading to delayed diagnosis and treatment. Nevertheless, whether patients' hospital stays and complication rate of endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) during the lockdown period were influenced by the pandemic still remains controversial. ⋯ Patients from May 16 to July 26, 2021, the lockdown period, had longer hospital stays and higher biliary tract enzyme levels, which indicated more severe disease. Nevertheless, ERCP could be safely and successfully performed even during the medical level 3 alert lockdown period without causing an increase in procedure-related complications and mortality.
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Case Reports
Colinet-Caplan Syndrome: History of an Outbreak of Autoimmune Disease in Scouring Powder Workers.
The first modern description linking rheumatoid arthritis to occupational dust exposure is generally attributed to the British physician Anthony Caplan. In 1953, Caplan reported on a "peculiar" nodular pattern on chest radiographs of Welsh coal miners with rheumatoid arthritis that differed from the typical coal workers' pneumoconiosis. However, as early as 1950, the Belgian rheumatologist Émile Colinet described a similar case of rheumatoid arthritis and concomitant pulmonary opacities in a 30-year-old woman with silica exposure. ⋯ The largest outbreak involved 32 cases of autoimmune disease among 50 former workers of a Spanish scouring powder manufacturing facility. After silica in scouring powders was replaced with less hazardous materials later in the 20th century, no further cases have been reported. Although scouring powder disease is a historical phenomenon, autoimmune disorders linked to occupational exposure to silica and coal dust have not disappeared but instead are reemerging among those who work with silica-based artificial stone and in other dusty trades.