Effectiveness and safety of PCSK9 inhibitors in real-world clinical practice. An observational multicentre study. The IRIS-PCSK9I study.

Background And Aims: The benefits of the PCSK9 inhibitors, alirocumab and evolocumab, in lowering LDL-cholesterol and preventing major adverse cardiac events (MACE) have been demonstrated in pivotal clinical trials. However, few studies of routine clinical practice have been conducted to analyse and compare the efficacy and safety of the two drugs.

Methods: Retrospective observational study of patients treated with a PCSK9 inhibitor in five hospitals in Andalusia (southern Spain).

High-dose corticosteroid pulse therapy increases the survival rate in COVID-19 patients at risk of hyper-inflammatory response.

Objective: Test whether high dose corticosteroid pulse therapy (HDCPT) with either methylprednisolone or dexamethasone is associated with increased survival in COVID-19 patients at risk of hyper-inflammatory response. Provide some initial diagnostic criteria using laboratory markers to stratify these patients.

Methods: This is a prospective observational study, 318 met the inclusion criteria.

Diagnostic Capacity of Pocket-Sized Ultrasound Devices at Point of Care by a Non-radiologist Resident in Patients with Suspected Abdominal Pathology.

Studies have reported the usefulness and tolerability in practice of abdominal ultrasound performed by non-radiologists in various clinical situations. This prospective observational single-center study included 184 patients hospitalized in an internal medicine department who underwent conventional abdominal ultrasound. A medical resident with basic training performed point-of-care clinical ultrasound using a pocket-sized device.