Multimodality Imaging in Endomyocardial Fibrosis: An Unusual Etiology of Heart Failure.

• Endomyocardial fibrosis is an unusual etiology of heart failure. • A detailed evaluation of diastolic function is key for diagnosis. • The presence of fibrosis generates key functional alterations in the diagnosis.

Is the present cut-point to define type 2 diabetes appropriate in Latin-Americans?

The diagnosis of diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM2) is based either on increased plasma glucose or Glycated hemoglobin levels. Since these measures are the only means for diagnosis of DM2, they must be well adapted to each population according to their metabolic characteristics, given that these may vary in each population. The World Health Organization (WHO) determined the cut-points of plasma glucose levels for the diagnosis of DM2 by associating hyperglycemia with the risk of a specific microvascular complication-retinopathy.

Hand-foot syndrome associated with use of sorafenib in a patient with papillary thyroid cancer: a case report.

Background: Hand-foot syndrome (HFS), also known as palmar-plantar Erythrodysesthesia (PPE), acral erythema or Burgdorf reaction, is a dermatologic toxic reaction to certain chemotherapies, including sorafenib. A high incidence of adverse events is already described in dermatological clinical trials of this drug, but its use in medical practice, common in the patient with metastatic thyroid carcinoma has not yet been reported. Sorafenib (BAY 43-9006) is an orally administered multi-level kinase inhibitor, approved for treatment of solid tumors such as renal cell carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma and recently for metastatic thyroid carcinoma.

Inflammation and hypertension: are there regional differences?

Hypertension is a chronic disease with global prevalence and incidence rapidly increasing in low and medium income countries. The surveillance of cardiovascular risk factors, such as hypertension, is a global health priority in order to estimate the burden and trends, to appropriately direct resources, and to measure the effect of interventions. We propose here that the adoption of Western lifestyles in low and middle incomes countries has dramatically increased the prevalence of abdominal obesity, which is the main source of proinflammatory cytokines, and that the vascular systemic inflammation produced by adipose tissue contributes to the development of hypertension.