COVID-19 chest CT and laboratory features of B.1.617.2 (Delta variant) vs B.1.1.7 (Alpha variant) surge: a single center case-control study.

Purpose: To assess clinical, laboratory and radiological differences between Delta and Alpha SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Materials And Methods: Twenty SARS-CoV-2 patients admitted from 30th of August to 30th of October 2021 (period with estimated highest prevalence of Delta variant circulation in Italy) were enrolled. Patients were matched in a 1:1 ratio with same gender and same age +/- 2 years controls admitted from 1st of September 2020 to 30th of January 2021 (predominant circulation of Alpha variant).

Reliability of fr-AGILE tool to evaluate multidimensional frailty in hospital settings for older adults with COVID-19.

Aims: The study assesses the reliability of fr-AGILE, a validated rapid tool used for the evaluation of multidimensional frailty in older adults hospitalized with COVID-19.

Methods: Two different staff members independently assessed the presence of frailty in 144 patients aged ≥ 65 years affected by COVID-19 using the fr-AGILE tool. The internal consistency of fr-AGILE was evaluated by examining the item-total correlations and the Kuder-Richardson (KR) formula.

Personal protective equipment in Covid-19: Evidence-based quality and analysis of YouTube videos after one year of pandemic.

Background: The correct use of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the Covid-19 pandemic is mandatory to minimize the contagion risk. The current study aimed to evaluate quality information of YouTube videos on PPE use during the pandemic.

Methods: Using Google Trend tool, the frequency of worldwide YouTube and Google searches for "donning and doffing" was examined.

YouTube as a source of information on bladder pain syndrome: A contemporary analysis.

Aim: To evaluate the quality of YouTube™ videos on bladder pain syndrome (BPS) and to investigate whether they can be used as a reliable source of information.

Methods: The search term "bladder pain syndrome" was used on YouTube platform. The first 100 videos were selected.

Epicardial Adipose Tissue and IL-13 Response to Myocardial Injury Drives Left Ventricular Remodeling After ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

Introduction: Left ventricular (LV) remodeling after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is explained only in part by the infarct size, and the inter-patient variability may be ascribed to different inflammatory response to myocardial injury. Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is a source of inflammatory mediators which directly modulates the myocardium. EAT increase is associated to several cardiovascular diseases; however, its response to myocardial injury is currently unknown.

The role of inflammation and metabolic risk factors in the pathogenesis of calcific aortic valve stenosis.

Given the epidemiologic increase of aged population in the world, aortic stenosis (AS) represents now the most common valvular heart disease in industrialized countries. It is a very challenging disease, representing an important cause of morbidity, hospitalization and death in the elderly population. It is widely recognized that AS is the result of a very complex active process, driven by inflammation and involving multifactorial pathological mechanisms promoting valvular calcification and valvular bone deposition.

Type 2 myocardial infarction: is it a geriatric syndrome?

Type 2 myocardial infarctions (T2-MI) is a type of necrosis that results from reduced oxygen supply and/or increased demand secondary to other causes unrelated to acute coronary atherothrombosis. The development and implementation of sensitive and high-sensitivity cardiac necrosis marker and the age-related increase of comorbidity lead to a boost of the frequency of T2-MI. T2-MI is often a complication of a high degree of clinical frailty in older adults, emerging as a "geriatric syndrome".

Exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation improves heart rate recovery in elderly patients after acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Heart rate recovery (HRR), defined as the fall in HR during the first minute after exercise, is a marker of vagal tone, which is a powerful predictor of mortality in patients with coronary artery disease and in older patients. Whether exercise training (ET) modifies HRR in elderly patients recovering from acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is still unknown. Therefore, this study aims at evaluating the effect of ET on HRR in elderly AMI patients.

Myocardial ultrasonic tissue characterization in pediatric and adult patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Background: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) has different clinical and prognostic aspects in young than in adult patients. This study was undertaken to determine whether these reported differences are reflected by changes in ultrasonic backscatter parameters and whether oral treatment with verapamil modifies backscatter variables in children with HCM.

Methods And Results: Sixty-eight subjects underwent backscatter analysis to assess the ultrasonic myocardial reflectivity and the amplitude of the cardiac cycle-dependent variation of the backscatter power curve.

Diastolic abnormalities in systemic sclerosis: evidence for associated defective cardiac functional reserve.

Objective: To investigate the pattern of diastolic abnormalities in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) and the relationship between impaired ventricular filling and systolic function.

Methods: Twenty four patients with SSc underwent M-mode and two dimensional echocardiography using echo-Doppler and gated blood pool cardiac angiography, both at rest and after exercise.

Results: An impaired diastolic relaxation of the left ventricle was detected in 10 of the 24 patients with SSc.

Alterations in ultrasonic backscatter during exercise-induced myocardial ischemia in humans.

Background: Experimentally induced myocardial ischemia in animals causes tissue modifications that alter characteristics of the ultrasonic beam backscattered from the myocardial muscle. Alterations of backscatter parameters have been evidenced in human subjects with acute or remote myocardial infarction and during ischemia induced by angioplasty balloon occlusion or pharmacological stimuli. The effects of transient effort ischemia in humans have not been reported.