[Stratification of cardiovascular risk in patients with non-traumatic chest pain in the emergency department. Perspectives of the Heart Risk Score in patients with acute coronary syndrome.].

Introduction: Acute chest pain (CP) is a potentially related both to acute coronary syndrome and to other morbidities; this means that 2%-10% patients with cardiogenic CP are improperly discharged from the Emergency Room (ER). In order to identify risk to develop cardiovascular (CV) events in patients admitted to ER with CP, we used Heart Risk Score (HRS).

Materials And Methods: We included 165 patients referred to the ER for non-traumatic acute CP.

Impaired flow-mediated dilation in hospitalized patients with community-acquired pneumonia.

Background: Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is complicated by cardiovascular events as myocardial infarction and stroke but the underlying mechanism is still unclear. We hypothesized that endothelial dysfunction may be implicated and that endotoxemia may have a role.

Methods: Fifty patients with CAP and 50 controls were enrolled.

Individualizing risk of multidrug-resistant pathogens in community-onset pneumonia.

Introduction: The diffusion of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria has created the need to identify risk factors for acquiring resistant pathogens in patients living in the community.

Objective: To analyze clinical features of patients with community-onset pneumonia due to MDR pathogens, to evaluate performance of existing scoring tools and to develop a bedside risk score for an early identification of these patients in the Emergency Department.

Patients And Methods: This was an open, observational, prospective study of consecutive patients with pneumonia, coming from the community, from January 2011 to January 2013.

Lower mortality rate in elderly patients with community-onset pneumonia on treatment with aspirin.

Background: Pneumonia is complicated by high rate of mortality and cardiovascular events (CVEs). The potential benefit of aspirin, which lowers platelet aggregation by inhibition of thromboxane A2 production, is still unclear. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of aspirin on mortality in patients with pneumonia.

Cortical Brain Connectivity and B-Type Natriuretic Peptide in Patients With Congestive Heart Failure.

The brain has a high level of complexity and needs continuous oxygen supply. So it is clear that any pathological condition, or physiological (aging) change, in the cardiovascular system affects functioning of the central nervous system. We evaluated linear aspects of the relationship between the slowness of cortical rhythms, as revealed by the modulation of a graph connectivity parameter, and congestive heart failure (CHF), as a reflection of neurodegenerative processes.

Cortical sources of EEG rhythms in congestive heart failure and Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: The brain needs continuous oxygen supply even in resting-state. Hypoxia enhances resting-state electroencephalographic (EEG) rhythms in the delta range, and reduces those in the alpha range, with a pattern similar to that observed in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here we tested whether resting-state cortical EEG rhythms in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF), as a model of acute hypoxia, present frequency similarities with AD patients, comparable by cognitive status revealed by the mini mental state examination (MMSE).

Absolute neutrophil counts and fibrinogen levels as an aid in the early diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.

A retrospective analysis of white blood cell (WBC) counts and fibrinogen levels was performed on 292 consecutive patients admitted to the emergency department for chest pain likely due to ischaemic heart disease. Aims of the study were to evaluate their utility in discriminating between cardiac and non-cardiac chest pain, and to identify those "chest pain-enzyme negative" patients who are at high risk of developing acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The results obtained showed that WBC (p < 0.