Relationship between inflammation and benefits of early high-dose rosuvastatin on contrast-induced nephropathy in patients with acute coronary syndrome: the pathophysiological link in the PRATO-ACS study (Protective Effect of Rosuvastatin and Antiplatelet Therapy on Contrast-Induced Nephropathy and Myocardial Damage in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome Undergoing Coronary Intervention).

Objectives: This study sought to investigate whether the beneficial impact of high-dose rosuvastatin against contrast-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients varied in relation to baseline high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels.

Background: High-dose rosuvastatin administered on admission has been shown to prevent CI-AKI and improve short- and mid-term clinical outcome in ACS patients.

Methods: All 504 statin-naïve ACS patients enrolled in the PRATO-ACS (Protective Effect of Rosuvastatin and Antiplatelet Therapy on Contrast-Induced Acute Kidney Injury and Myocardial Damage in ACS Patients) study were stratified into baseline hs-CRP tertiles: <2.

Pulmonary involvement in patients with Marfan Syndrome.

Aim: Pulmonary involvement is not generally considered a main feature of Marfan syndrome, an autosomal connective tissue disorder caused by mutations in fibrillin 1. Thanks to the substantial progress in treatments, life expectation of these patients has been dramatically improved determining changes in different organ systems. The number of patients with pulmonary pathology may be higher than expected.

The course of asthma in young adults: a population-based nine-year follow-up on asthma remission and control.

Background: Only few longitudinal studies on the course of asthma among adults have been carried out.

Objective: The aim of the present prospective study, carried out between 2000 and 2009 in Italy, is to assess asthma remission and control in adults with asthma, as well as their determinants.

Methods: All the subjects with current asthma (21-47 years) identified in 2000 in the Italian Study on Asthma in Young Adults in 6 Italian centres were followed up.

First-line bevacizumab-containing therapy for breast cancer: results in patients aged≥70 years treated in the ATHENA study.

Background: There are limited data on treatment outcomes in the growing population of elderly patients with locally recurrent/metastatic breast cancer (LR/mBC). To gain information on first-line bevacizumab combined with chemotherapy in the elderly, we analyzed data from the ATHENA trial in routine oncology practice.

Patients And Methods: Patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor-2-negative LR/mBC received first-line bevacizumab with standard chemotherapy until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, or physician/patient decision.