CT-Guided Core Needle Biopsy of Pulmonary Lesions Associated With Cystic Airspaces: A Case-Control Study.

Concern may exist that pulmonary lesions associated with cystic airspaces are at risk of increased biopsy complications or lower biopsy accuracy given challenges in targeting tissue abutting or intermingled with the cystic airspaces. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and diagnostic performance of CT-guided core needle biopsy (CNB) of pulmonary lesions associated with cystic airspaces. This retrospective study included 90 patients (median age, 69.

Feasibility of a New Lung Ultrasound Protocol to Determine the Extent of Lung Injury in COVID-19 Pneumonia.

Background: Lung ultrasound (LUS) scanning is useful to diagnose and assess the severity of pulmonary lesions during COVID-19-related ARDS (CoARDS). A conventional LUS score is proposed to measure the loss of aeration during CoARDS. However, this score was validated during the pre-COVID-19 era in patients with ARDS in the ICU and does not consider the differences with CoARDS.

Transferrin Saturation Inversely Correlates with Platelet Function.

Background:  The association between iron overload (IO) and risk of cardiovascular disease is controversial. Epidemiological studies have found a significant negative association of transferrin (Tf) saturation and cardiovascular events suggesting that higher body iron possibly confer a protective effect towards developing cardiovascular events. The biological mechanisms of this phenomenon are unknown.

Simvastatin Effects on Inflammation and Platelet Activation Markers in Hypercholesterolemia.

Background: Beside the lipid-lowering effect, statins slow the progression of atherosclerosis by exerting anti-inflammatory and platelet inhibiting effects. We investigated whether platelet inhibition by simvastatin correlates with the statin effects on lipid lowering, inflammation, oxidative stress, and endothelial and platelet activation.

Methods: In hypercholesterolemic patients allocated to diet (n=20) or a 2-month treatment with diet plus 40 mg simvastatin (n=25), we evaluated platelet aggregating responses to ADP, collagen, and arachidonic acid (AA), the effect of aspirin on AA-induced aggregation, pro- and anti-inflammatory and atherogenic mediators (IL-1, -5, -6, -7, -8, -9, -10, -12, and -13, IFN-, IP-10, Eotaxin, and sRAGE), markers of endothelium (sE-selectin, VEGF, and MCP-1) and platelet activation (sP-selectin, sCD-40L, RANTES, and PDGF-bb), and oxidative stress (8-OH-2'-deoxyguanosine).