The Never-Ending Story of Hyponatremia: A Current Problem to Overcome.

Unlabelled: Hyponatremia is a common complication in patients undergoing neurosurgery. If undiagnosed, it has a negative prognostic impact. The two dominant causes of refractory hyponatremia include syndrome of inappropriate ADH secretion (SIADH) and cerebral salt wasting syndrome (CSWS).

Midodrine and albumin as a possible "winning pair" in managing paracentesis-induced circulatory dysfunction: a clinical case report.

Background: Paracentesis-induced circulatory dysfunction (PICD) is a "silent killer syndrome" occurring after large volume paracenteses (LVPs). We here report an unusual case of PICD induced by right heart failure recognized and managed successfully.

Case Presentation: A 60-year-old woman was admitted to our Emergency Department for worsening dyspnea and hypoxia.

Microscopic colitis, a forgotten condition: a clinical case and review of the literature.

Objective: Microscopic colitis is a not uncommon chronic inflammatory disease of the colon, characterized by watery, non-bloody diarrhea, which is often forgotten and misdiagnosed.

Case Presentation: In this paper, we present a puzzling case of relapsing chronic diarrhea triggered by non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) abuse, smoking, inappropriate antibiotic use, and secondary Clostridium Difficilis infection. Several tests were performed during hospitalization, all of which were negative apart from fecal calprotectin (> 6,000 mg/kg, normal values < 50 mg/kg) and a positive Clostridium Difficilis toxin test.

The complexity of immunology: a rare adverse event following a Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine booster shot.

Objective: Several mRNA vaccines have been developed to tackle the global pandemic. Despite their remarkable clinical efficacy, they are not devoid of severe short- and long-term adverse events.

Case Presentation: In this paper, we describe a rare delayed adverse event (arterial and venous renal thrombosis with myocardial injury) in an otherwise healthy adult female, which occurred three months after she received a booster shot of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.

When Autoimmunity 'DRESSes up': A Case after Certolizumab Therapy.

Unlabelled: Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms (DRESS) is characterised by skin rash together with visceral organ involvement, lymphadenopathy, eosinophilia and atypical lymphocytosis. The syndrome is clinically heterogeneous, making diagnosis challenging. It has an annual incidence of 2 per 100,000 population and a mortality rate of 2-10%.

Suppression of nitric oxide production in mouse macrophages by soybean flavonoids accumulated in response to nitroprusside and fungal elicitation.

Background: The anti-inflammatory properties of some flavonoids have been attributed to their ability to inhibit the production of NO by activated macrophages. Soybean cotyledons accumulate certain flavonoids following elicitation with an extract of the fungal pathogen Diaporthe phaseolorum f. sp.

High plasma adrenomedullin concentrations in patients with high-renin essential hypertension.

Adrenomedullin (AM) is a novel peptide, first isolated from human phaeochromocytoma, which elicits a long-lasting vasorelaxant activity. Recently, it has been reported that endothelial cells produce AM and that immunoreactive AM plasma levels may be elevated in human arterial hypertension, although the exact pathophysiological role of AM remains to be established. The aim of our study was to determine the relationship between the components of the enin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) and plasma AM levels in patients with low-, medium- or high- renin essential hypertension.

[High circulating levels of adrenomedullin and endothelin-1 in obesity associated with arterial hypertension].

Background: The aim of the study was to investigate the behavior of two endothelial vasoactive peptides, adrenomedullin (vasodilator) and endothelin-1 (vasoconstrictor), in human obesity with and without arterial hypertension.

Methods: The study was carried out on 30 obese subjects (body mass index > 27 kg/m2) divided into two groups: 15 normotensive obese patients (10 males, 5 females, mean age 42 +/- 12 years) and 15 hypertensive obese patients (9 males, 6 females, mean age 42 +/- 13 years). The control group consisted of 21 normal subjects (12 males, 9 females, mean age 38 +/- 12 years) and of 16 patients with essential hypertension (10 males, 6 females, mean age 41 +/- 12 years) but without organ damage.

Plasma levels of endothelin-1 in patients with Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate the behavior of circulating endothelin-1, a vasoconstrictor and mitogenic peptide, in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Patients: We investigated plasma endothelin-1 levels in 29 patients with Crohn's disease, 13 with ulcerative colitis and 26 healthy subjects as controls.

Methods: Erythrocyte sedimentation and C-reactive protein were also measured in all patients.

Circulating levels of adrenomedullin in patients with Addison's disease before and after corticosteroid treatment.

Background And Objective: A novel hypotensive peptide, adrenomedullin (AM), had recently been isolated, purifed and its encoding gene sequenced from a human phaeochromocytoma. In humans AM circulates in physiological levels and possesses a distinct vasodilatatory activity. The purpose of this study was to examine the behaviour of AM levels in primary adrenal failure.

Adrenomedullin levels are high in primary aldosteronism due to adenoma and decline after surgical cure.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the possible changes in plasma adrenomedullin (AM) levels in patients with primary aldosteronism before and after surgical resection. The study included 13 patients affected by aldosterone-producing adenoma (9 women, 4 men; mean age 36.2+/-14.

High plasma levels of endothelin-1 in untreated Addison's disease.

The aim of this study has been to investigate the plasma endothelin-1 (ET-1) levels in adult patients with proven Addison's disease (AD). Plasma ET-1 levels were measured in 29 subjects (17 males and 12 females, aged between 20 and 54 years): 15 of them were patients with AD and 14 were sex- and age-matched normal subjects, used as a control group. All patients with AD have been studied under basal conditions and nine of them also after 2 weeks on oral corticosteroid therapy (individual cortisol dosage ranging from 25 to 37.

Plasma endothelin-1 levels in patients with aldosterone-producing adenoma and pheochromocytoma.

The aim of the study was to evaluate possible changes of plasma endothelin-1 levels (ET-1) in patients with hypertension secondary to primary aldosteronism and pheochromocytoma. We enrolled in the study: 12 patients affected by aldosterone-producing adenoma (5 M and 7 W; mean age 42.1 +/- 17.

beta-Endorphin and propiomelanocortin-correlates peptides response in suspected and confirmed ischemic heart disease during exercise.

Unlabelled: In this study, we investigated circulating beta-endorphin, ACTH and cortisol in subjects with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) and in patients with CAD during stress testing. Group I: 18 subjects, all male (average age 48 +/- 9 yrs) with suspected (CAD) were enrolled. Group II: 35 patients, 30 males and 5 females (average age 54.

Plasma endothelin-1 levels in normotensive and borderline hypertensive subjects during a standard cold pressor test.

Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoconstrictor peptide derived from endothelium. The presence of ET-1 in human vascular endothelium and in the plasma suggests that it may play a role in the regulation of vascular tone and blood pressure (BP) in humans. The aim of this study was to evaluate the behaviour of plasma ET-1 in 10 normotensives (average 36.

Increased plasma levels of endothelin-1 in patients with hyperthyroidism.

Plasma concentrations of endothelin-1 (ET-1) were measured in 25 hyperthyroid subjects, 15 hypothyroid subjects, and 21 age-matched normal controls. In hyperthyroid patients, plasma concentrations of ET-1 were significantly higher than in the control group (P < .0001) and in hypothyroid patients (P < .

Serum concentrations of osteocalcin in pregnant women with multinodular thyroid goiter undergoing treatment with levothyroxine.

In this study we measured serum osteocalcin (Bone Gla-Protein) to investigate bone metabolism in pregnant women with multinodular thyroid goiter undergoing treatment with levothyroxine (L-T4). Serum concentration of BGP was measured in 18 pregnant women and in 20 non-pregnant women (ages raging from 21-34 years) receiving L-T4 (75-125 micrograms/day). Venous blood samples for RIA determination of serum BGP, plasma thyroid hormone (T3, T4, free T3, free T4) and TSH were collected from the two groups.

Fasting serum insulin in relation to fat distribution, serum lipid profile, and blood pressure in European women: the European Fat Distribution Study.

Samples of 38-year-old women were randomly selected from five European centers: Ede (The Netherlands), Warsaw (Poland), Gothenburg (Sweden), Verona (northern Italy), and Afragola (Naples-southern Italy). In total, 452 healthy women were studied. Anthropometric measurements were taken by one operator in each country after common training of all operators and blood parameters of all women were determined in one laboratory.

Variations in time of serum pancreatic enzyme levels in chronic pancreatitis and clinical course of the disease.

Thirty-four patients with chronic calcified pancreatitis were evaluated clinically and biochemically (at a time when painful relapses were not present) every 9 mo for 3 yr; 25 of them were also studied at 4 and 9 yr. Serum elastase-1, trypsin, lipase, and amylase in the same sera were measured at each visit; levels on entry and variations during the study were compared with the clinical and functional data of the patients. On entry, low levels of elastase-1 were found in 11.

A simple test for predisposition to LDL oxidation based on the fluorescence development during copper-catalyzed oxidative modification.

When human low density lipoprotein (LDL) obtained from 10 volunteers was incubated in air at 37 degrees C in the presence of various concentrations of copper, an increase in fluorescence was observed with emission maximum at 430 nm when excitation was performed at 360 nm. The fluorescence increase was inhibited by ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid and by 4-methyl-2,6-di-tert-butylphenol. The fluorescence was found to be tightly bound to the protein moiety.

Isoamylase determination by isoelectric focusing in pancreatic disorders. A potential clinical aid.

Isoamylase analysis by isoelectric focusing was performed in the serum of 30 healthy volunteers, 65 patients with acute or chronic pancreatic diseases, nine with acute abdomen, four with macroamylasemia, and four with duodenal duplication. In controls, up to four fractions (2 salivary, 2 pancreatic) were found; the pancreatic fractions were as a mean 44.7% (SD 8.

Lack of pancreatic maldigestion in atopic dermatitis.

Twenty adult patients affected by atopic dermatitis (AD) were submitted to the p-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) test in order to evaluate the proteolytic pancreatic function. All but one showed a normal PABA test. These results seem to exclude a proteolytic maldigestion as a pathogenetic factor in AD.

Acute and chronic pancreatitis: an up-date.

According to the 1988 Marseilles-Rome classification inflammatory pancreatic diseases are represented by acute (AP) and chronic pancreatitis (CP), pancreatic fibrosis and abscesses (due to infection of cystic cavities). Each form is defined by specific etiological, pathomorphological, functional and evolutive aspects. In our experience with 348 AP cases, gallstones and chronic alcohol abuse, alone or together, represent the major causative factors (over 70% of cases).

Pancreatic calcifications in patients with chronic pancreatitis. A sign of long-lasting or severe disease?

Pancreatic calcifications are particularly frequent in patients with severe pancreatic insufficiency and long-lasting chronic pancreatitis. To clarify whether calcifications point to a more severe form of the disease, irrespective of its duration, we have retrospectively analyzed patients with chronic pancreatitis submitted to the secretin-cerulein test in our center over a six-year period. Out of 120 patients, calcifications were found in 55.