Acute Abdominal Situations as Presenting or Flaring Manifestations of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: A Case Series.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)is a multisystem autoimmune disease, characterized by clinical heterogeneity, ranging from mild to severe, life-threatening manifestations. Although gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are frequently encountered during disease course (mainly associated with complications of medication or infection), primary GI involvement due to SLE is rare. Among variable presentations, lupus abdominal serositis (defined as peritonitis if accompanied by symptoms and signs of acute abdomen) and lupus enteritis/mesenteric vasculitis are causes of SLE-related acute abdominal pain.

Differential impact of angiotensin receptor blockers and calcium channel blockers on arterial stiffness.

Aim: Arterial stiffness, assessed by ambulatory arterial stiffness index (AASI), is an independent predictor of cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality in hypertensives. However, it is unclear whether certain antihypertensive drugs are conducive to the reduction in CVD morbidity and mortality through their beneficial effect on arterial stiffness. Therefore, we compared the effect of angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and calcium channel blockers (CCBs) on AASI in a hypertensive population.

The effect of metformin on the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease risk factors in overweight and obese subjects--the Carmos study.

Unlabelled: We investigated whether the addition of metformin to the treatment of overweight and obese individuals further reduces the incidence of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T (2)DM), prediabetes and metabolic syndrome (MetS) and improves cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors (RFs).

Design And Methods: We studied 366 adults (mean age 53.0+/-0.

A case of pseudomembranous colitis presenting with massive ascites.

Clostridium difficile-associated disease seems to be increasing worldwide. A wide spectrum of clinical manifestations, ranging from asymptomatic to life-threatening disease, has been described. A case of pseudomembranous colitis with massive ascites as the main presenting manifestation is described in order to illustrate the changing clinical pattern of antibiotic-associated colitis.

Metabolic syndrome and incident cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in a Mediterranean hypertensive population.

Background: Although the metabolic syndrome (MetS) is associated with adverse cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk in the general population, it is not clear whether its existence is independently associated with CVD in hypertensives. We investigated the presence of MetS in subjects with hypertension and its impact on the incidence of CVD.

Methods: We prospectively investigated 1007 hypertensive individuals.