Faecal calprotectin is the biomarker that best distinguishes remission from different degrees of endoscopic activity in Crohn's disease.

Background: Effective control of the inflammatory process in Crohn's disease (CD) is reflected in intestinal mucosal healing. The performances of faecal calprotectin (fcal), clinical and serologic parameters in the inflammatory activity evaluation and their correlation to the simple endoscopic score (SES-CD) are the goals of this study.

Methods: Patients with CD referred for ileocolonoscopy were prospectively included and distributed according to the degree of endoscopic inflammatory activity into remission, mild activity, and moderate to severe activity groups.

Speckle tracking echocardiographic deformation indices in Chagas and idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy: Incremental prognostic value of longitudinal strain.

Background: Chagas cardiomyopathy (CDC) is associated with a poor prognosis compared to other cardiomyopathies. Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE), which provides direct assessment of myocardial fiber deformation, may be useful in predicting prognosis.

Objective: This study assessed STE in CDC and compared with idiopathic cardiomyopathy (IDC), and also examined the incremental prognostic information of STE over left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) in these patients.