Publications by authors named "Ferrera A"

Introduction: Abnormal blood pressure response to exercise (ABPR) in athletes is considered a risk for incident hypertension, conferring a higher cardiovascular risk profile. We sought to describe the clinical cardiovascular features of athletes with ABPR and, moreover, the relationship of ABPR with occurrence of exercise-induced ventricular ectopic beats (VEBs).

Methods And Results: We enrolled 1460 elite athletes (56.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a growing global public health concern that is associated with increased risk for cardiovascular events, even in athletes. The lipid accumulation product (LAP) index and cardiometabolic index (CMI) have been shown to be efficient markers of MS in the general population; its applicability in athletes has not been discussed yet. We aimed to assess the role of LAP and CMI in predicting MS in athletes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Cervical cytology is recommended by WHO as a triage option in HPV-based cervical cancer screening programmes. We assessed the performance of cytology to detect CIN3+ without and with knowledge of HPV positivity.

Methods: Women were screened with cytology and HPV across ESTAMPA study centres in Latin America.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study analyzed cardiac differences among Olympic athletes based on their foot racing discipline (sprints, middle, and long distances), focusing on morpho-functional parameters.
  • In total, 140 athletes were categorized into four groups based on their racing distances and underwent screenings including echocardiography and exercise stress tests.
  • Results indicated that sprinters and 400m runners generally had normal heart geometry, while middle and long-distance runners displayed significant eccentric cardiac remodeling, highlighting how training intensity and distance affect heart structure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The SPARC tokamak is a high-field, Bt0 ∼12 T, medium-sized, R0 = 1.85 m, tokamak that is presently under construction in Devens, MA, led by Commonwealth Fusion Systems. It will be used to de-risk the high-field tokamak path to a fusion power plant and demonstrate the commercial viability of fusion energy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Physical activity is generally beneficial for heart health, but recent research indicates that high-volume endurance exercise might actually worsen coronary atherosclerosis, leading to concerns in treating coronary artery disease (CAD) in athletes.
  • - CAD is a major cause of sudden cardiac death in athletes over 35, prompting studies to assess the prevalence of CAD in this group and its implications for health outcomes.
  • - While earlier beliefs suggested that coronary plaques in elite athletes were harmless, recent studies challenge this view, highlighting potential risks associated with exercise-induced coronary calcification and the need for better evaluation and management strategies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • * A marathon runner underwent preparticipation screening, showing abnormal heart activity during exercise testing and confirmed scar tissue in the heart through advanced imaging techniques.
  • * Echocardiography serves as an essential and cost-effective initial diagnostic tool for athletes, guiding further tests like cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) when abnormalities are found.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The design of a vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy system has been performed to monitor and provide feedback for impurity control in SPARC. The spectrometer, covering a wavelength range of 10-2000 Å through a flat-field configuration with diffraction gratings, incorporates five survey lines of sight. This allows for comprehensive impurity analysis across the core and four divertor regions (inner/outer and upper/lower).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) prevention in cardiomyopathies such as hypertrophic (HCM), dilated (DCM), non-dilated left ventricular (NDLCM), and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) remains a crucial but complex clinical challenge, especially among younger populations. Accurate risk stratification is hampered by the variability in phenotypic expression and genetic heterogeneity inherent in these conditions. This article explores the multifaceted strategies for preventing SCD across a spectrum of cardiomyopathies and emphasizes the integration of clinical evaluations, genetic insights, and advanced imaging techniques such as cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) in assessing SCD risks.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Previous studies demonstrated that variations of fT3, even within the euthyroid range, can influence cardiac function. Our aim was to investigate whether thyroid hormones, even within the euthyroid range, are associated with the magnitude of exercise-induced cardiac remodeling in Olympic athletes.

Methods: We evaluated 1342 Olympic athletes (mean age 25.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Diarrheal diseases constitute a significant public health problem in terms of mortality and morbidity. In Honduras and around the world, RVs have consistently emerged as the single most important etiologic agent in acute childhood diarrhea. However, other viruses, such as NoVs and HAstVs, have also been shown to be responsible for viral gastroenteritis.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

According to the ESC guidelines, sport disciplines are classified in relation to the predominant component (skill, power, mixed and endurance), including a wide range of disciplines with different isometric/isotonic exercises and exercise-induced heart remodeling. The aim of our study was to evaluate differences in morpho-functional cardiac adaptations in power athletes, comparing judokas with weightlifters. We enrolled 55 Olympic athletes (38 judokas, 17 weightlifters), aged 24.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Ethnic and gender differences in plasma lipid composition have been widely reported among the general population, but there are scarce data on athletes.

Aim: To assess ethnic and gender differences in lipid profile across a large cohort of Olympic athletes practicing different sport disciplines METHODS: We enrolled 1165 Olympic athletes divided into power, endurance, and mixed disciplines according to European Society of Cardiology classification. Sixty-two (5.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Overexpression of HPV oncoproteins E6 and E7 is crucial for cervical cancer linked to HPV, making them potential biomarkers for the disease.
  • The study evaluated the OncoE6/E7 test on cervical samples from HPV-positive women, showing variability in positivity rates between HIV-negative women and those living with HIV.
  • Operators found the OncoE6/E7 test user-friendly, despite some concerns about its complexity, but caution is advised due to the test's variability and potential for false results, indicating a need for further refinements before widespread use.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In recent years, immune checkpoint inhibitors have significantly changed the field of oncology, emerging as first-line treatment, either alone or in combination with other regimens, for numerous malignancies, improving overall survival and progression-free survival in these patients. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors might also cause severe or fatal immune-related adverse events, including adverse cardiovascular events. Initially, myocarditis was recognized as the main immune checkpoint inhibitor-related cardiac event, but our knowledge of other potential immune-related cardiovascular adverse events continues to broaden.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia in patients affected by cardiomyopathies. Reports estimate a prevalence of 27% in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and 40% in patients with cardiac amyloidosis (CA). The presence of AF typically results in progressive functional decline, an increased frequency of hospitalizations for heart failure, and a higher thromboembolic risk.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The worldwide impressive growth of metabolic disorders observed in the last decades, especially type 2 diabetes mellitus and obesity, has generated great interest in the potential benefits of early identification and management of patients at risk. In this view, prediabetes represents a high-risk condition for the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases, and an ideal target to intercept patients before they develop type 2 diabetes gaining a prominent role even in international guidelines. For prediabetic individuals, lifestyle modification is the cornerstone of diabetes prevention, with evidence of about 50% relative risk reduction.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Cervical cytology remains widely used as the initial tool in cervical cancer screening worldwide. WHO guidelines recommend replacing cytology with primary HPV testing to reach cervical cancer elimination goals. We assessed the performance of cytology and high-risk HPV testing to detect cervical precancer, cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) grade 3 or worse (CIN3+) among women aged 30-64 years participating in the ESTAMPA study.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

A minority of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (COVID-19) develop cardiovascular complications, such as acute cardiac lesions with elevated troponins, de novo systolic heart failure, pericardial effusion and, rarely, acute myocarditis. The prevalence of COVID-19-related myocarditis ranges from 10 to 105 cases per 100,000 COVID-19-infected individuals, with a male predominance (58%) and a median age of 50 years. The etiopathogenetic mechanism is currently unclear, but may involve direct virus-mediated damage or an exaggerated immune response to the virus.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Obesity is not only an important modifiable cardiovascular risk factor but also a chronic disease with relevant consequences on morbidity and mortality in the general population. According to European guidelines, cardiologists must recognize and treat it properly.

Aims: To assess perception of obesity as a modifiable pathological condition and the importance to treat it in a real-world sample of cardiologists and residents in cardiology.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Bladder-sparing trimodal therapy (TMT) is an alternative to radical cystectomy (RC) according to international guidelines. However, there are limited data to guide management of nonmetastatic clinically node-positive bladder cancer (cN+ M0 BCa). We performed a multicenter retrospective analysis of survival outcomes in node-positive patients to inform practice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) consists of two primary conditions: ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). UC primarily impacts the colon, leading to inflammation of the mucosal layer. Conversely, CD involves transmural inflammation and can affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract, ranging from the oral cavity to the perianal region.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The interaction of polygenic risk (PRS) and environmental effects on development of bipolar disorder (BD) is understudied, as are high-risk offspring perceptions of their family environment (FE). We tested the association of offspring-perceived FE in interaction with BD-PRS on liability for BD in offspring at high or low familial risk for BD.

Methods: Offspring of a parent with BD (oBD;  = 266) or no psychiatric disorders ( = 174), aged 12-21 at recruitment, participated in the US and Australia.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF