Unraveling the Impact of COVID-19 on Rheumatoid Arthritis: Insights from Two Romanian Hospitals-Preliminary Results.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients are at heightened risk of Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) complications due to immune dysregulation, chronic inflammation, and treatment with immunosuppressive therapies. This study aims to characterize the clinical and laboratory parameters of RA patients diagnosed with COVID-19, identify predictive risk factors for severe forms of this infection for RA patients, and determine if any RA immunosuppressive therapy is associated with worse COVID-19 outcomes.

Methods: A retrospective observational case-control study included 86 cases (43 diagnosed with RA and 43 cases without any inflammatory or autoimmune disease) that suffered from SARS-CoV-2 in two Romanian hospitals between March 2020 and February 2024.

Topical Cellular/Tissue and Molecular Aspects Regarding Nonpharmacological Interventions in Alzheimer's Disease-A Systematic Review.

One of the most complex and challenging developments at the beginning of the third millennium is the alarming increase in demographic aging, mainly-but not exclusively-affecting developed countries. This reality results in one of the harsh medical, social, and economic consequences: the continuously increasing number of people with dementia, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), which accounts for up to 80% of all such types of pathology. Its large and progressive disabling potential, which eventually leads to death, therefore represents an important public health matter, especially because there is no known cure for this disease.

Elevated heart rate as sympathetic biomarker in human obesity.

Background And Aim: The present study was aimed at determining whether and to what extent a specific heart rate (HR) cutoff value allows to identify in obeses a more pronounced level of adrenergic overdrive.

Methods And Results: In 86 obese subjects aged 44.7 ± 0.

Osteoporosis in childhood.

Purpose Of Review: The aim of this review is to highlight recent findings in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of pediatric osteoporosis.

Recent Findings: Several genes are involved in bone mass acquisition, and various monogenic bone disorders characterized by reduced bone mineral density and increased bone fragility have been recently described. Moreover, many chronic diseases and/or their treatment have been associated with impaired bone mass acquisition.

Role of the sympathetic nervous system in hypertension and hypertension-related cardiovascular disease.

A number of cardiovascular disease have been shown to be characterized by a marked increase in sympathetic drive to the heart and the peripheral circulation. This is the case for essential hypertension, congestive heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, obesity, metabolic syndrome, obstructive sleep apnea, and chronic renal disease. This review focuses on the most recent findings documenting the role of sympathetic neural factors in the development and progression of the hypertensive state as well as in the pathogenesis of hypertension-related target organ damage.

Morning and smooth 24-h ambulatory blood pressure control is not achieved in general practice: results from the SURGE observational study.

Background: The aim of this large-scale, practice-based observational study [Survey with HBPM and ABPM Under Real clinical conditions in General practice to Evaluate BP control in the early morning (SURGE)] was to ascertain the degree of morning and 24-h ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) control in hypertensive patients.

Methods: Hypertensive patients [with uncontrolled clinic blood pressure (BP) >140/90 mmHg at screening] from nine different countries were included. Ambulatory BP monitoring was performed over 24 h at 15-min intervals during the day and at 20-min intervals during the night.

Differential patterns of regional neuroadrenergic cardiovascular drive in acromegalic disease.

It has been shown that acromegaly is characterized by an autonomic imbalance and by marked sympathoinhibition. However, there is no information available as to whether adrenergic inhibition is confined to selected vascular districts or, rather, is generalized. We examined 17 newly diagnosed active acromegalic patients without hyperprolactinaemia, pituitary hormone deficiencies, obstructive sleep apnoea and cardiac hypertrophy and 14 healthy subjects matched for age, sex and body mass index.

Tolerability of long-term treatment with lercanidipine versus amlodipine and lacidipine in elderly hypertensives.

Background: Irrespective of their clinical relevance, side effects cannot be considered a negligible problem in antihypertensive therapy. The aim of this trial was to evaluate the tolerability profile of lercanidipine with that of two other calcium antagonists (amlodipine and lacidipine) in elderly hypertensives.

Methods: In a multicenter, double-blind, parallel study 828 elderly (aged > or =60 years) hypertensives were randomized to lercanidipine 10 mg/day (n = 420), amlodipine 5 mg/day (n = 200), or lacidipine 2 mg/day (n = 208) (ratio 2:1:1).

Hypertension and diabetes in women.

Arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus are two important and frequent risk factors for atherosclerosis and their association in the same patients is particularly elevated, suggesting something more than the simple causality due to their frequency. In women with diabetes mellitus, the risk of cardiovascular complications is similar to that in men with diabetes mellitus, a pattern completely different from that in the general population where the cardiovascular risk in women is significantly lower than in men. During the gestational period, the glucose metabolism may be reduced and there may be an elevation of blood pressure with or without proteinuria and both conditions have a negative prognostic impact for the mother and for the fetus.

Blood pressure variability, cardiovascular risk and antihypertensive treatment.

TWENTY-FOUR HOUR BLOOD PRESSURE PARAMETERS: The use of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring techniques has shown clearly that 24-h average blood pressure is more closely related to the end-organ damage of hypertension than isolated office blood pressure readings. It has also provided evidence that the degree of blood pressure variability over a 24-h period may be independently related to the cardiovascular complications of hypertension. However, all the available data on this issue come from cross-sectional studies, and prospective evidence on the actual prognostic value of 24-h blood pressure parameters has only recently been provided for daytime blood pressure variability.