Infective Endocarditis-Predictors of In-Hospital Mortality, 17 Years, Single-Center Experience in Bulgaria.

Despite enormous developments in medicine, infective endocarditis (IE) remains an ongoing issue for physicians due to increased morbidity and persistently high mortality. Our goal was to assess clinical outcomes in patients with IE and identify determinants of in-hospital mortality. Material and methods: The analysis was retrospective, single-centered, and comprised 270 patients diagnosed with IE from 2005 to 2021 (median age 65 (51-74), male 177 (65.

A Cautionary Tale of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy-From "Benign" Left Ventricular Hypertrophy to Stroke, Atrial Fibrillation, and Molecular Genetic Diagnostics: A Case Report and Review of Literature.

This case report concerns a 48-year-old man with a history of ischemic stroke at the age of 41 who reported cardiac hypertrophy, registered in his twenties when explained by increased physical activity. Family history was positive for a mother with permanent atrial fibrillation from her mid-thirties. At the age of 44, he had a first episode of persistent atrial fibrillation, accompanied by left atrial thrombosis while on a direct oral anticoagulant.

Trend in Infective Endocarditis in Bulgaria: Characteristics and Outcome, 17-Years, Single Center Experience.

Background: Infective endocarditis (IE) remains a difficult disease to diagnose and treat, with a persistently high mortality rate. There is a lack of recent data on IE in Bulgaria over the last decades.

Methods: This study is retrospective, single-centered, and includes 270 patients diagnosed with IE for the period 2005-2021.

May Measurement Month 2021: an analysis of blood pressure screening results from Bulgaria.

Cardiovascular disease is not only the leading cause of mortality in Bulgaria, but the associated mortality rate is twice the European Union average, so screening programmes that identify subjects with elevated blood pressure (BP) are of utmost importance. May Measurement Month (MMM) is an annual global initiative that began in 2017 that aims to raise awareness of high BP. Bulgaria first joined the third campaign of MMM in 2019, and an overview of the results of Bulgarian participation in MMM21 is presented in this paper.

Infective Endocarditis-Characteristics and Prognosis According to the Affected Valves.

Background: Infective endocarditis (IE) continues to be a disease with high mortality despite medical advances.

Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate the characteristics and prognosis of IE according to the affected valves.

Materials And Methods: This study was retrospective and single-centered, and it included 270 patients with a diagnosis of IE, for the period 2005-2021, who received treatment at the University Hospital "St.

Diagnostic benefits of 18F-FDG PET/CT in cases of prosthetic infective endocarditis.

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a difficult-to-diagnose provocative disease that causes significant morbidity and mortality. The first-line imaging test for the diagnosis of IE is echocardiography. However, in cases of prosthetic IE or IE associated with intracardiac devices, its sensitivity is limited.

THE VALUE OF SERUM-ASCITES ALBUMIN GRADIENT AS A PREDICTOR OF SPONTANEOUS BACTERIAL PERITONITIS IN PATIENTS WITH LIVER CIRRHOSIS AND ASCITES.

Due to the high risk of adverse outcome, identifying predisposing factors for spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (SBP) is of paramount importance. Serum ascites albumin gradient (SAAG) has recently been included in the recommendations for the management of ascites in patients with cirrhosis by some associations. ; Aim - to determine the value of SAAG as a predictor of SBP and to compare the average values of SAAG in patients with SBP and non-SBP.

Hypertension in pregnancy as an early sex-specific risk factor for cardiovascular diseases: evidence and awareness.

Despite being a physiological condition, human pregnancy is known to cause numerous complications that can endanger the life of the mother and the fetus alike. While the majority of complications are mostly limited within the peripartum period, more and more information is available about persistently higher short- and long-term cardiovascular risk after a pregnancy complicated by a hypertensive disorder. There is evidence that women after gestational hypertension or preeclampsia are more likely to develop arterial hypertension, coronary atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, stroke, peripheral artery disease, and even diabetes mellitus and venous thromboembolism years after the target pregnancy.

High-sensitivity CRP levels in women with gestational hypertension, preeclampsia and in normotensive pregnant women and its correlations.

Introduction: Gestational hypertension is a less investigated hypertensive disorder of pregnancy than preeclampsia, but evidence exists of an unfavourable cardiovascular profile for women after such a pregnancy.

Aim: To determine serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels in women with preeclampsia, gestational hypertension, and in normotensive pregnancy in order to assess the cardiovascular implications and to examine its correlations with some characteristics of women.

Materials And Methods: Thirty-six women with gestational hypertension, thirty-seven with preeclampsia, and fifty maternal and gestational age-matched controls were included in a single-center prospective clinical-epidemiological study.

Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer in a Young Woman with Type 1 Gaucher Disease.

Introduction: Gaucher disease (GD) is a rare inherited lysosomal storage disease characterized by multi-system impairment. One of its main features is the over-expressed chronic stimulation and activation of the immune system, which may play a crucial role in the development of some malignancies associated with GD.

Case Description: We describe a young woman diagnosed with GD type 1 in early adulthood who developed early-onset colorectal cancer shortly after GD diagnosis and the initiation of enzyme replacement therapy.

Interleukin-6 and its correlations with maternal characteristics and echocardiographic parameters in pre-eclampsia, gestational hypertension and normotensive pregnancy.

Background: Pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension are pregnancy-related disorders with major maternal cardiovascular implications later in life.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine interleukin-6 levels in women with pre-eclampsia and gestational hypertension and in healthy pregnant controls, and to examine their correlations with characteristics of the women and echocardiographic findings.

Methods: The ELISA method was used to determine serum interleukin-6 in 36 women with gestational hypertension, 37 women with pre-eclampsia and 50 pregnant controls.

Familial Hypercholesterolemia Identification Algorithm in Patients with Acute Cardiovascular Events in A Large Hospital Electronic Database in Bulgaria: A Call for Implementation.

Background: Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is a genetic disorder characterized by a high level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) and is an important cause for premature cardiovascular disease. Because of underdiagnoses, an acute event is often the first clinical manifestation of FH. There are limited data on the prevalence and treatment of FH among adults admitted for treatment of acute cardiovascular events in Bulgaria.

Desaturation during Physical Exercise in COPD Patients - a Stable-over-time Phenomenon.

Introduction: Exercise-induced desaturation is a common finding in patients with moderate and severe COPD. It is an important marker in the course of disease that has a prognostic value for mortality risk.

Aim: To monitor over time COPD patients with and without desaturation during 6-minute walking test (6MWT) and to assess the stability of that phenomenon.

Exercise training modes in rehabilitation of patients with chronic heart failure.

Modern cardiac rehabilitation (CR) in chronic heart failure (CHF) is a multidisciplinary process with the patient being the centre of the focus. Various CR models (inpatient, outpatient and home based) have been used the last two decades in the pursuit of higher effectiveness and better results. The aim of this review is to present different exercise training modes applied in rehabilitating patients with CHF and to highlight their clinical value, advantages and disadvantages and practical implication.

Effect of moderate and high dose simvastatin on adhesion molecules in severe hypercholesterolemia after targeting the LDL-cholesterol--a randomised, placebo-controlled study.

Introduction: The effect of statins on the levels of cell adhesion molecules (CAM) is discussed in the literature as one of the pleiotropic effects of the drugs. This effect is one of the ways that could be used to control the initial stage of atherogenesis. The research in this field is inadequate and controversial.

Non-invasive vessel examinations in carriers of LDL-receptor defective gene versus non-carriers with newly detected asymptomatic severe hypercholesterolemia.

Unlabelled: The results of the research of early vascular alterations in LDL-R carriers in comparison with those in non-carriers with severe hypercholesterolemia are controversial.

Aim: To investigate the difference between severe hypercholesterolemia patients that carry LDL-R defective gene and those that do not have it, in their functional (flow-mediated vasodilation) and structural (intima-media thickness of carotid artery and ankle-brachial index) characteristics of arterial wall.

Patients And Methods: The study included 120 hypercholesterolemic patients.

Role of some biomarkers of atherogenic risk in the screening for molecular defects in the low density lipoprotein receptor in severe hypercholesterolemia.

Background: Familial hypercholesterolemia is difficult to diagnose because of different expressions of the defective gene in low density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor mutation carriers and the presence of elevated LDL levels in noncarriers.

Aim: To study specific biomarkers of atherogenic risk in carriers and noncarriers of low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) defective gene and utilize them to screen in molecular biological analysis for defects in the LDL receptor (spot mutation and polymorphism) in severe hypercholesterolemia.

Patients And Methods: We investigated 120 patients after screening using the Simon-Broome criteria.

Relationship of asymmetric dimethylarginine with flow-mediated dilatation in subjects with newly detected severe hypercholesterolemia.

Background: Little is know about the relationship between asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and percent flow-mediated dilatation (%FMD) in subjects with severe hypercholesterolemia (HH).

Aim: The aim of the present study was the evaluation of the relationship of ADMA to %FMD, as well as to lipid parameters and other markers of endothelial dysfunction in newly detected subjects with severe HH.

Methods: One hundred and twenty asymptomatic patients with severe, newly detected HH and 100 controls were evaluated.

Effects of ACE-inhibitors on learning and memory processes in rats.

Introduction: Besides their well known effect on systemic blood vessels and heart, ACE inhibitors are supposed to have an effect on CNS by changing the local peptide-protein system.

Aim: To study the effect of ACE-inhibitors on learning and memory processes using active and passive avoidance.

Material And Methods: Male Wistar rats were used; the animals were divided into 4 groups of 20 animals each.