Tryptophan Metabolites, Cytokines, and Fatty Acid Binding Protein 2 in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) differ for triggers, mode of start, associated symptoms, evolution, and biochemical traits. Therefore, serious attempts are underway to partition them into subgroups useful for a personalized medicine approach to the disease. Here, we investigated clinical and biochemical traits in 40 ME/CFS patients and 40 sex- and age-matched healthy controls.

Response to a massive SARS-CoV-2 infection in a nursing home transformed into a caring center.

Background: The best policy to follow when nursing homes are massively hit by SARS-CoV2 is unclear.

Aim: To describe COVID-19 containment in a nursing home transformed into a caring center.

Methods: Physicians and nurses were recruited.

Approach to patients with COVID-19 disease: the procedure in Udine.

Coronavirus disease 2019 poses a serious threat to public health. The protocol developed at the Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale (Italy) is based on clinical data, laboratory tests, chest echography and HRCT. Several therapeutic options are considered, since patients vary in disease severity, evolution and co-morbidities and because so far there are no clear indications about therapeutic strategy based on randomized clinical trial.

Isoniazid-induced Takayasu arteritis remission.

A 75-year-old man was admitted because of fever, unproductive cough, neck pain and upper limb claudication. The patient was febrile and hypotensive, and a cardiac systolic ejection murmur was heard. Blood tests showed normochromic anemia, elevated erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, and alpha-2 and beta-2 globulins.

Chest ultrasound findings in pulmonary tuberculosis.

In resource-limited countries, the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) is based on clinical findings, chest radiography and the demonstration of acid-fast bacilli in sputum. Few data are available on the use of ultrasound (US) to diagnose pulmonary TB. Chest US was performed in patients with lung TB from a rural African setting, to look for signs of the disease and to clarify the role US may have in the diagnosis of pulmonary TB.

Overcoming a "probable" diagnosis in antimitochondrial antibody negative primary biliary cirrhosis: study of 100 sera and review of the literature.

Serum anti-mitochondrial antibodies (AMA) are the serological hallmark of primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), yet up to 15% of PBC sera are AMA negative at routine indirect immunofluorescence (IIF) while being referred to as "probable" cases. The diagnostic role of PBC-specific antinuclear antibodies (ANA) remains to be determined. We will report herein data on the accuracy of new laboratory tools for AMA and PBC-specific ANA in a large series of PBC sera that were AMA-negative at IIF.