Common Non-Rheumatic Medical Conditions Mimicking Fibromyalgia: A Simple Framework for Differential Diagnosis.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic non-inflammatory disorder mainly characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and a constellation of other symptoms. For this reason, delineating a clear distinction between pure FM and FM-like picture attributable to other common diseases can be extremely challenging. Physicians must identify the most significant confounders in individual patients and implement an appropriate diagnostic workflow, carefully choosing a minimal (but sufficient) set of tests to be used for identifying the most plausible diseases in the specific case.

Bone-active drugs in premenopausal women with breast cancer under hormone-deprivation therapies.

Background: Bone health management in premenopausal women with breast cancer (BC) under hormone-deprivation therapies (HDTs) is often challenging, and the effectiveness of bone-active drugs is still unknown.

Methods: This retrospective multicenter study included 306 premenopausal women with early BC undergoing HDTs. Bone mineral density (BMD) and morphometric vertebral fractures (VFs) were assessed 12 months after HDT initiation and then after at least 24 months.

Convalescent Plasma for Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients: A Single-Center Experience.

In Winter 2020, Italy, and in particular the Lombardy region, was the first country in the Western hemisphere to be hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Plasma from individuals recovered from COVID-19 (COVID-19 convalescent plasma, CCP) was the first therapeutic tool adopted to counteract the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2). In this retrospective cohort study, we report the experience of the city hospital of Mantua, Lombardy region, on the compassionate use of CCP in patients hospitalized for severe COVID-19.

Autonomic system activity and 24-hour blood pressure variations in subjects with normal- and high-tension glaucoma.

Purpose: As suggested by findings of abnormal responses to posture in patients with normal-tension glaucoma (NTG), cardiovascular autoregulation may also be defective in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).

Patients And Methods: Both 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and the head-up tilt test were performed in 17 subjects with NTG and in 13 subjects with high-tension POAG (ht-POAG). These groups were compared with 17 age-matched healthy individuals.

Prevalence of carotid artery kinking in 590 consecutive subjects evaluated by Echocolordoppler. Is there a correlation with arterial hypertension?

Objective: To assess a possible correlation between high blood pressure and prevalence of kinking in carotid arteries.

Design: Between July 1, 1997 and December 31, 1998, we evaluated the subjects submitted to Echocolordoppler examination of carotid arteries.

Setting: Patients were examined at the Laboratory for Noninvasive Vascular Diagnostics of the University Hospital in Verona.

Effect of losartan on heart rate and blood pressure variability during tilt test and trinitroglycerine vasodilation.

Objective: To define the changes in variability of heart rate and of blood pressure during vasodilation in a group of hypertensive patients treated with an angiotensin II type I (AT1) receptor inhibitor.

Design: Losartan (50 mg/day at 0800 h) or placebo were administered for 3 weeks according to a single blind, crossover, randomized protocol, to 18 hypertensive patients (16 men and two women, mean age 42 + 3.6 years).

Autonomic nervous system dysfunction in sclerodermic and primary Raynaud's phenomenon.

Our aim was to investigate the sympathetic hyperactivity of systemic sclerosis that may lead to greater morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular events. We analysed the sympathetic (low-frequency) and vagal (high-frequency) components of heart rate variability, in supine and upright positions, in 10 patients with systemic sclerosis, 12 patients with primary Raynaud's phenomenon and 14 controls. We also analysed lung function in order to evaluate a possible link between heart rate variability and ventilation parameters.

How to study sympatho-vagal balance in arterial hypertension and the effect of antihypertensive drugs?

Blood pressure homeostasis and variability are the resultant of many complicated neurohumoral interactions. The autonomic nervous system plays a key role in the process. Since arterial hypertension is characterized by an increased sympathetic tone, the determination of the sympatho-vagal balance can give more insight in the autonomic nervous function in this pathology.

[Clinical assessment of a new oral bacterial treatment for children with acute diarrhea].

This study was carried out to evaluate the efficacy of a new oral bacteriotherapeutic drug in 63 children under 4 years old affected by infective diarrhoea or by extraintestinal infective pathology caused by oral antibiotic therapy. The patients were divided into three groups: the first and the second included subjects affected by acute diarrhoea enrolled in a comparative and controlled study; the third included subjects in chemotherapeutic treatment because suffering from infective extraintestinal pathologies, these patients were enrolled in a not controlled study. The first group underwent the rehydratant treatment for the acute enteritis together with the therapy with inactivated Lactobacillus acidophilus LB to value its antidiarrheic activity.