Lipid-lowering drugs in ischaemic heart disease: a quasi-experimental uncontrolled before-and-after study of the effectiveness of clinical practice guidelines.

Background: Cardiovascular diseases(CVD), specifically ischaemic heart disease(IHD), are the main causes of death in industrialized countries. Statins are not usually prescribed in the most appropriate way. To ensure the correct prescription of these drugs, it is necessary to develop, disseminate and implement clinical practice guidelines(CPGs), and subsequently evaluate them.

[Tracheobronchial amyloidosis: a report of a new case].

Tracheobronchial amyloidosis is the most frequent manifestation of pulmonary amyloidosis. We present the case of a patient who initially presented pneumonia with atelectasis in the upper right lobe (URL) and in whom the presence of nodular bodies in all the bronchial tree was detected with bronchoscopy, with almost complete obstruction of the URL bronchus, identified as amyloid AL. Therapy with laser photoresection was effective, with almost complete resolution of the obstruction.

[Creatine phosphokinase in leptospirosis].

Leptospirosis is a widely-distributed infectious disease, that usually presents with fever, headache and myalgia. Organ involvement could have very different severity degree. We evaluate 21 patients with leptospirosis looking for prognostic and diagnostic value of myalgia and/or elevated creatine-phosphokinase serum levels.