A program of professional accreditation of hospital wards by the Italian Society of Internal Medicine (SIMI): self- versus peer-evaluation.

The Italian Society of Internal Medicine has developed a voluntary program of professional accreditation of the medical units run by its constituency. Participation in the program, which is meant to foster staff involvement in clinical governance, includes all the medical personnel and nurses. Accreditation is awarded provided the candidate unit is able to adhere to a pre-established set of quality standards, meet a number of clinical and organizational requirements and monitor specific indicators.

Thromboxane and prostacyclin biosynthesis in heart failure of ischemic origin: effects of disease severity and aspirin treatment.

Summary Background: Thromboembolism is a relatively common complication of chronic heart failure (HF) and the place of antiplatelet therapy is uncertain.

Objectives: We characterized the rate of thromboxane and prostacyclin biosynthesis in chronic HF of ischemic origin, with the aim of separating the influence of HF on platelet activation from that of the underlying ischemic heart disease (IHD).

Patients And Methods: We compared urinary 11-dehydro-thromboxane (TX)B(2), 2,3 dinor 6-keto-PGF(1alpha,) 8-iso-prostaglandin (PG)F(2alpha), and plasma N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-pro-BNP), asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA), and soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L), in 84 patients with HF secondary to IHD, 61 patients with IHD without HF and 42 healthy subjects.