Cardiometabolic risk factors and atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia worldwide; it is a significant risk factor for stroke and embolization, and has an impact on cardiac function. Despite its impact on morbidity and mortality, our understanding of the etiology and pathophysiology of this disease process is still incomplete. Over the past several decades, there has been evidence to suggest that AF has a significant correlation with metabolic syndrome (MetS).

The impact of obesity on risk factors and prevalence and prognosis of coronary heart disease-the obesity paradox.

Obesity is associated with a host of cardiovascular risk factors and its prevalence is rising rapidly. Despite strong evidence that obesity predisposes to the development and progression of coronary heart disease (CHD), numerous studies have shown an inverse relationship between various measures of obesity (most commonly body mass index) and outcomes in established CHD. In this article we review the evidence surrounding the ≪obesity paradox≫ in the secondary care of CHD patients and the CHD presentations where a paradox has been found.

Binge drinking, reflection impulsivity, and unplanned sexual behavior: impaired decision-making in young social drinkers.

Background: The repeated pattern of heavy intoxication followed by withdrawal from alcohol (i.e., "binge drinking") has been found to have substantial adverse effects on prefrontal neural systems associated with decision-making and impulse control.

The role of pelvic and aortic lymphadenectomy at second look surgery in apparent early stage ovarian cancer after inadequate surgical staging followed by adjuvant chemotherapy.

Background: Systematic aortic and pelvic lymphadenectomy (SAPL) is a milestone procedure in the treatment of early stage ovarian cancer. It defines staging and prognosis and helps in tailoring adjuvant chemotherapy. Only limited data are available about SAPL at second look surgery in patients with apparent early stage ovarian cancer who underwent inadequate surgical staging and adjuvant platinum based chemotherapy.

Effects of left ventricular geometry and obesity on mortality in women with normal ejection fraction.

Left ventricular (LV) geometry is an independent predictor of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Although obesity is a known risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, studies have suggested a paradoxical relation between obesity and prognosis. We retrospectively assessed 26,126 female patients with normal LV ejection fraction to determine the impact of LV geometry, including normal structure, concentric remodeling, and eccentric or concentric LV hypertrophy, and obesity on mortality during an average follow-up of 1.

Omega-3 fatty acids: a growing ocean of choices.

There has been increasing interest in the health benefits of supplemental and/or dietary omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), particularly in their role in disease prevention. This interest escalated once their effects on cardiovascular health were observed from numerous observational studies in populations whose diet consisted mainly of fish. Research has since been undertaken on omega-3 PUFAs to investigate their health benefits in a vast array of medical conditions, including primary and secondary prevention.

Evaluation of Patient Satisfaction Using the EORTC IN-PATSAT32 Questionnaire and Surgical Outcome in Single-Port Surgery for Benign Adnexal Disease: Observational Comparison with Traditional Laparoscopy.

Laparoscopic surgery has been demonstrated as a valid approach in almost all gynaecologic procedures including malignant diseases. Benefits of the minimally invasive approach over traditional open surgery have been well demonstrated in terms of minimal perioperative morbidity and reduced postoperative pain and hospital stay duration, with consequent quick postoperative recovery (Medeiros et al. (2009)).

Minimally invasive redo mitral valve surgery without aortic crossclamp.

Introduction: Reoperations of the mitral valve have a higher rate of complications when compared with the first surgery. With the field of video-assisted techniques for the first surgery of mitral valve became routine, reoperation cases began to arouse interest for this less invasive procedures.

Objective: To assess the results and the technical difficulties in 10 patients undergoing minimally invasive redo mitral valve surgery.

A more global approach to musculoskeletal pain: expressive writing as an effective adjunct to physiotherapy.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of written emotional disclosure as an adjunct to physiotherapy. Forty outpatients with musculoskeletal pain were treated with Mézières physiotherapy for 10 sessions. Half of the subjects also wrote about difficult life experiences immediately after four of these sessions.

Preoperative 18F-FDG PET/CT in the management of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer.

Objective: The introduction of 18-FDG-PET/CT during preoperative evaluation of patients with epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) has led to an increase of the detection of extra-abdominal metastases. However, the clinical impact of this upstage remains unclear.

Methods: Patients with suspected advanced EOC underwent 18-FDG-PET/CT within two weeks prior to debulking surgery.

Iliococcygeus fixation or abdominal sacral colpopexy for the treatment of vaginal vault prolapse: a retrospective cohort study.

Introduction And Hypothesis: To compare the efficacy and safety of iliococcygeus fixation (ICG) and abdominal sacral colpopexy (SCP) in the treatment of vaginal vault prolapse.

Methods: Patients with symptomatic vaginal vault prolapse after hysterectomy were considered in this analysis. Surgical outcomes, i.

Iron-binding properties of sugar cane yeast peptides.

The extract of sugar-cane yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) was enzymatically hydrolysed by Alcalase, Protex or Viscozyme. Hydrolysates were fractionated using a membrane ultrafiltration system and peptides smaller than 5kDa were evaluated for iron chelating ability through measurements of iron solubility, binding capacity and dialyzability. Iron-chelating peptides were isolated using immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC).

Sentinel node mapping in high risk endometrial cancer after laparoscopic supracervical hysterectomy with morcellation.

Introduction: Occult endometrial cancer after supracervical hysterectomy is very uncommon. Even if optimal management of those rare cases is still unproven, to guide the need for further therapies, restaging should be recommended in this situation.

Presentation Of Case: We report of a 60-year old woman with occult high risk endometrial cancer after supracervical hysterectomy with morcellation.

Obesity paradox and the heart: which indicator of obesity best describes this complex relationship?

Purpose Of Review: Despite the detrimental effects of obesity on coronary heart disease (CHD) and heart failure, obesity is found to be paradoxically associated with improved survival in secondary care of CHD and heart failure. This 'obesity paradox' is an area of active research, and it might be the result of an inaccurate working definition of obesity, which is traditionally defined in terms of BMI. We reviewed the recent literature on the paradox and examined different anthropomorphic measurements and their association with prognosis in cardiovascular diseases.

Uterine lymphatic drainage is unaffected from injection technique and operators: Identical sentinel node detection in two cases of endometrial cancer.

Introduction: Sentinel node (SN) mapping with cervical injection of 99m-technetium (99mTc) albumin nanocolloid in early endometrial cancer has been shown to be feasible and data emerging from recent large series support the incorporation of SN mapping algorithm in endometrial cancer staging.

Presentation Of Case: We report two cases of SN mapping which demonstrated identical migration of both radioactive technetium and blue dye in the same patients that were re-injected because surgical intervention was postponed due to transitory cardiac contraindications.

Discussion: As clearly demonstrated in cervical cancer, SN mapping through intracervical injection of both radioactive technetium and blue dye seems to be effective and easy to perform, providing good results in patients with endometrial cancer.

MiRNA landscape in stage I epithelial ovarian cancer defines the histotype specificities.

Purpose: Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is one of the most lethal gynecologic diseases, with survival rate virtually unchanged for the past 30 years. EOC comprises different histotypes with molecular and clinical heterogeneity, but up till now the present gold standard platinum-based treatment has been conducted without any patient stratification. The aim of the present study is to generate microRNA (miRNA) profiles characteristic of each stage I EOC histotype, to identify subtype-specific biomarkers to improve our understanding underlying the tumor mechanisms.

Atrial fibrillation in the 21st century: a current understanding of risk factors and primary prevention strategies.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia worldwide, and it has a significant effect on morbidity and mortality. It is a significant risk factor for stroke and peripheral embolization, and it has an effect on cardiac function. Despite widespread interest and extensive research on this topic, our understanding of the etiology and pathogenesis of this disease process is still incomplete.