Clinical Utility of Induced Sputum and Bronchoalveolar Lavage Cultures in Diagnosing Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Disease.

Diagnosing non-tuberculous mycobacterial pulmonary disease (NTM-PD) in patients unable to produce sputum spontaneously requires invasive procedures to obtain valid respiratory specimens. In this retrospective study, we evaluated the results of microbiological tests performed on respiratory samples of 132 patients affected by NTM-PD. In the diagnostic workout, 98 patients performed both induced sputum (IS) and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) and were enrolled in our study.

Impact of Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination on Disease Severity and Clinical Outcomes of Individuals Hospitalized for COVID-19 Throughout Successive Pandemic Waves: Data from an Italian Reference Hospital.

This is a retrospective observational study including all COVID-19 patients admitted at our Institute throughout three successive pandemic waves, from January 2021 to June 2023. The main in-hospital outcomes (clinical progression [CP], defined as admission to Intensive Care Unit [ICU]/death, and death within 28 days) were compared among participants unvaccinated (NV), fully vaccinated (FV), with one (FV&B1) and two (FV&B2) booster doses. Vaccinated participants were stratified into recently and waned FV/FV&B1/FV&B2, depending on the time elapsed from last dose (≤ and >120 days, respectively).

Diagnosis of Tuberculosis in a Case of Chronic Urticaria following Omalizumab Therapy.

In Italy, tuberculosis (TB) incidence in the last decade has remained constant at under 10 cases/100,000 inhabitants. In the Philippines, TB annual incidence is greater than 500 cases/100,000 inhabitants. Omalizumab is a humanized anti-IgE monoclonal antibody approved for the treatment of chronic spontaneous urticaria.

Disability in moderate chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: prevalence, burden and assessment - results from a real-life study.

Background: The role of disability and its association with patient-reported outcomes in the nonsevere forms of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has never been explored.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess, in a cross-sectional real-life study, the prevalence and degree of disability in moderate COPD patients and to assess its association with health status, illness perception, risk of death and well-being.

Methods: Moderate COPD outpatients attending scheduled visits were involved in a quantitative research program using a questionnaire-based data collection method.

Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome associated with parvovirus B19 viraemia and haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis.

We describe a 23-year-old patient who presented acutely with haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HL) and Melkersson-Rosenthal syndrome (MRS). MRS and HL are two unusual and complex clinical patterns that may present acutely and to our knowledge, an association between them has never been reported. The clinical investigations in this patient led to identification of parvovirus B19 (PB19) viraemia by PCR.

[The Latin-American Consensus on Chronic Constipation].

The Latin-American Consensus on Chronic Constipation aimed to establish guidelines to improve the identification, diagnosis and treatment of this disorder in the region. Two coordinators and an honorary coordinator established the process and the topics to be discussed, based on a systematic review of the literature published in the previous 10 years, since 1995. Seventeen members participated with the support of their local gastroenterology societies.

Clara cell 16 protein in COPD sputum: a marker of small airways damage?

Rationale: The development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in smokers and their susceptibility to infections is not fully understood. Recent evidences suggest that Clara cells play a part in host defense, immunomodulatory response and airways remodelling through the production of specific factors such as Clara cell 16 (CC-16). This protein has never been related to patients' lung function tests, blood gases parameters and diseases severity.

Bilateral Gasser's ganglion sarcoidosis: diagnosis, treatment and unsolved questions.

Magnetic resonance imaging is currently the best means for confirming clinical suspicion of neurosarcoidosis as well as being useful in the follow-up of corticosteroid-treated patients. We report the case of a 34 year old male presenting suspected Heerfordt's syndrome with concentric facial hypesthesia. Mediastinal and parotid sarcoidosis was diagnosed and magnetic resonance imaging showed bilateral sarcoid involvement of Gasser's ganglion cisternae (such involvement was not revealed by computed tomography).

[TREATMENT OF PEPTIC ULCER].

Peptic ulcer disease has been the reason for extensive studies throughout the 20th Century. During the first 75 years, investigation and study of the production of acid and in which cases it leads to the formation of ulcers were carried out. The last 25 years have been of major importance due to the finding of powerful suppressants of acid formation.

[Hepatic adenoma rupture as a cause of bleeding in the third trimester of pregnancy: report of a case and review of the literature].

Anemia and gynecological hemorrhage are common during pregnancy. For this reason an unusual cause of bleeding can pass unnoticed, and a late diagnosis is an important cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. In this case report we describe the rupture of am hepatic adenoma as cause of abdominal hemorrhage in adolescent pregnant during the labor.

[ANTIBIOTICS IN GASTROINTESTINAL INFECTIONS].

In gastroenterology, the antibiotics are widely used for the treatment of gastrointestinal infections and also as prophylaxis for gastrointestinal procedures. Therefore, it is very important to know the characteristics of each and every antibiotic to use the most effective with the least adverse effects.This review gives a brief summary mentioning the most frequent adverse effects produced by antibiotics in the gastrointestinal tract.