Telmisartan: just an antihypertensive agent? A literature review.

Introduction: The modulation of the renin angiotensin aldosterone system (RAAS) is an important pathway in managing high blood pressure, and its overexpression plays a key role in target end-organ damage. Telmisartan is an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) with unique pharmacologic properties, including the longest half-life among all ARBs; this leads to a significant and 24-h sustained reduction of blood pressure. Telmisartan has well-known antihypertensive properties, but there is also strong clinical evidence that it reduces left ventricular hypertrophy, arterial stiffness and the recurrence of atrial fibrillation, and confers renoprotection.

Lower limb myalgias in a man who used to "climb the stairs": an atypical abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Atypical presentation of emergency abdominal aortic aneurysm comprises a wide spectrum of symptoms. Lower limbs' involvement is infrequent, usually monolateral and with clear vascular features. We report the case of a 58-year-old patient who complained exclusively about symmetric lower limb myalgias without vascular features, after having repeatedly climbed the stairs of the school he worked in.

The addition of rituximab to anthracycline-based chemotherapy significantly improves outcome in 'Western' patients with intravascular large B-cell lymphoma.

Some case reports and a Japanese series suggest benefit from the use of rituximab in patients with intravascular large B-cell lymphoma (IVL). Rituximab efficacy was evaluated in Western patients with IVL, comparing outcome of 10 patients treated with rituximab + chemotherapy (R-CT) and of 20 patients treated with chemotherapy alone (CT). There were no significant differences in patients' characteristics between the two subgroups.

Chlamydophila psittaci is viable and infectious in the conjunctiva and peripheral blood of patients with ocular adnexal lymphoma: results of a single-center prospective case-control study.

Ocular adnexal MALT lymphoma (OAML) is linked to Chlamydophila psittaci (Cp) infection. Viability and infectivity of Cp, demonstrated by growth in culture, has not been yet investigated in these patients. We conducted a single-center prospective case-control study to assess the prevalence, viability and infectivity of Cp in 20 OAML patients and 42 blood donors registered in a 6-month period.

Therapeutic management of ocular adnexal MALT lymphoma.

Non-Hodgkin lymphomas constitute 50% of all orbital malignancies. Mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT)-type lymphoma is the most common histology category in this anatomic region. Ocular adnexal lymphoma of MALT-type is an indolent and rarely lethal malignancy that can often be managed with observation alone.

Variations in clinical presentation, frequency of hemophagocytosis and clinical behavior of intravascular lymphoma diagnosed in different geographical regions.

Background And Objectives: This study explored variations in the clinical manifestations of intravascular lymphoma (IVL) on the bases of the association with hemophagocytosis and the country where the diagnosis was made.

Design And Methods: The clinical features of 50 Western patients with IVL were compared with those of 123 patients with IVL diagnosed in Eastern countries (87 diagnosed in Japan and 36 in other Asian countries), previously reported in English literature, and collected by an electronic bibliographic search.

Results: Hemophagocytosis was absent in Western patients, but reported in 38 (44%) Japanese patients (p=0.

Bacteria-eradicating therapy with doxycycline in ocular adnexal MALT lymphoma: a multicenter prospective trial.

Background: An association between ocular adnexal MALT lymphoma (OAL) and Chlamydia psittaci (Cp) infection has been proposed, and recent reports suggest that doxycycline treatment causes tumor regression in patients with Cp-related OAL. The effectiveness of doxycycline treatment in Cp-negative OAL has not been tested.

Methods: In a prospective trial, 27 OAL patients (15 newly diagnosed and 12 having experienced relapse) were given a 3-week course of doxycycline therapy.