Determinants of 1-year mortality after acute myocardial infarction in patients with and without diabetes.

The gap in excess mortality between patients with and without diabetes has not decreased over time. The aim of this study was to investigate the determinants of mortality after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in patients with diabetes and without diabetes in a contemporary population. A retrospective analysis of a cohort of 266 patients with a diagnosis of AMI during 2022 was carried out.

Association of body mass index and blood pressure variability with 10-year mortality and renal disease progression in type 2 diabetes.

Background: Variability in biological parameters may be associated with adverse outcomes. The aim of the study was to determine whether variability in body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure is associated with all-cause, cardiovascular mortality and cancer mortality or with renal disease progression in subjects with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: The diabetes database was accessed, and all the information on patient visits (consultations) carried out in the study period (1 January 2008-31 December 2019) was extracted and linked to the laboratory database and the mortality register.

Phenotyping obesity: A focus on metabolically healthy obesity and metabolically unhealthy normal weight.

Over the past 4 decades, research has shown that having a normal body weight does not automatically imply preserved metabolic health and a considerable number of lean individuals harbour metabolic abnormalities typically associated with obesity. Conversely, excess adiposity does not always equate with an abnormal metabolic profile. In fact, evidence exists for the presence of a metabolically unhealthy normal weight (MUHNW) and a metabolically healthy obese (MHO) phenotype.

Metabolic Health and Carotid Intima-Media Thickness: Association of Different Definitions in Women.

The concept of metabolic health and the metabolic syndrome is to identify subjects at a higher cardiovascular risk. However, many definitions are currently in use, and it is uncertain which is the best in identifying at-risk subjects. We performed a cross-sectional study whereby women were invited to participate and were assessed for several anthropometric and biochemical parameters.

Time trajectories of key cardiometabolic parameters and of cardiovascular risk in subjects with diabetes in a real world setting.

Background And Aims: Diabetes is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Glycated haemoglobin (HbA), lipid parameters and blood pressure are known risk factors for adverse outcome. The aim of the study was to explore the time trajectories of these key parameters and of the associated cardiovascular risk.

Long COVID Syndrome: A Case-Control Study.

Background: Acute coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) causes various cardiovascular complications. However, it is unknown if there are cardiovascular sequelae in the medium and long-term. The aim of this study was dual.

Evaluation of lipoprotein(a) in the prevention and management of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease: A survey among the Lipid Clinics Network.

Background And Aims: The European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) Lipid Clinics Network promoted a survey in order to identify and understand how and when lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] is tested and clinically evaluated in lipid clinics throughout Europe, and the challenges that may prevent evaluation from being carried out.

Methods: This survey was divided into three areas of inquiry: background and clinical setting information of clinicians, questions for doctors who claimed not to measure Lp(a), in order to understand what were the reasons for not ordering the test, and questions for doctors who measure Lp(a), to investigate the use of this value in the management of patients.

Results: A total of 151 centres clinicians filled in the survey, out of 226 invited.

Thyroid dysfunction in pregnancy - a retrospective observational analysis of a Maltese cohort.

Background: Thyroid dysfunction is known to adversely affect pregnancy. This study evaluates the prevalence of thyroid disorders and explores their association with pregnancy complications/comorbidities and modes of delivery in the Maltese pregnant population over a ten year period.

Design: A population based observational study.

Clinical outcomes at medium-term follow-up of COVID-19.

Background: The long coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) syndrome is defined as persistent physical, cognitive and/or psychological symptoms that continue for more than 12 weeks following the acute illness.

Methods: In all, 2,646 patients were randomly selected from all individuals who were diagnosed with COVID-19. They were interviewed so as to assess the persistence of symptoms and health-related quality of life.

Socioeconomic deprivation status predicts both the incidence and nature of Achilles tendon rupture.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology of Achilles tendon rupture (ATR) and its relationship with socioeconomic deprivation status (SEDS). The hypothesis was that ATR occurs more frequently in socioeconomically deprived patients. Secondary aims were to determine variations in circumstances of injury between more and less deprived patients.

Predictors of autoimmune thyroid disease.

This case-control study sought to investigate whether thyroid autoimmunity is significantly associated with identifiable and potentially modifiable environmental factors. A total of 324 individuals were recruited: 164 cases (with positive thyroid peroxidase antibodies [TPO-Ab] and/or thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor antibodies [TSH-R Ab]) and 160 controls (negative antibodies) who had been screened for thyroid autoimmunity within the previous 12 months. A questionnaire sought information on drug, social, and reproductive history, stress, and iodine intake, while blood specimens were collected to measure glycosylated hemoglobin, thyroid function, TPO-Ab/TSH-R Ab status, 25-hydroxyvitamin D level, and hepatitis C antibody status.

Prevalence rates of metabolic health and body size phenotypes by different criteria and association with insulin resistance in a Maltese Caucasian population.

Introduction: Hyperinsulinemia and insulin resistance are known to be associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. A metabolically unhealthy phenotype is frequently used as a surrogate marker for insulin resistance. The aims of the current study were to compare the prevalence of the body size phenotypes using different definitions of metabolic health and to investigate which one of them is most strongly associated with insulin resistance in men and women.

Prenatal and early life factors and type 1 diabetes.

Background: The prevalence of type 1 diabetes is increasing worldwide, suggesting that unknown environmental factors are becoming increasingly important in its pathogenesis.

Aim: The aim of the study was to investigate the possible role of a number of prenatal and perinatal factors in the aetiology of type 1 diabetes.

Methods: Mothers of patients diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (cases) and mothers of children born on the same day and of the same sex as type 1 diabetes patients (controls) were interviewed on a number of prenatal and perinatal factors of interest.

Possible Role of Circulating Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Progenitors in Modulating Inflammation and Promoting Wound Repair.

Circulating bone marrow mesenchymal progenitors (BMMPs) are known to be potent antigen-presenting cells that migrate to damaged tissue to secrete cytokines and growth factors. An altered or dysregulated inflammatory cascade leads to a poor healing outcome. A skin model developed in our previous study was used to observe the immuno-modulatory properties of circulating BMMP cells in inflammatory chronic wounds in a scenario of low skin perfusion.

Sex differences in cardiometabolic abnormalities in a middle-aged Maltese population.

Objectives: There are sex differences in distribution of fat and in the prevalence of overweight and obesity. We therefore sought to explore sex differences in the prevalence of adiposity-metabolic health phenotypes, in anthropometric and cardio-metabolic parameters, and in the relationship between body mass index (BMI) categories and metabolic health.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study carried out between January 2018 and June 2019, of a nationally representative sample of the Maltese Caucasian population aged 41 ± 5 years.

Are there medium to short-term multifaceted effects of the airborne pollutant PM determining the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants?

The COVID-19 pandemic has been characterised by successiveoutbreaks effecting large swathes of the world's populations. These waves of infection have been mainly driven by a number of more transmissiblevariants which appear to evade the populations' immunity gained from previous outbreaks. There appears to be a link between COVID-19 and a ubiquitous airborne pollutant calledparticulate matter, PM2.

Age, personal and family history are independently associated with venous thromboembolism following acute Achilles tendon rupture.

Purpose: The primary aim was to determine independent patient, injury and management-related factors associated with symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE) following acute Achilles tendon rupture (ATR). The secondary aim was to suggest a clinical VTE risk assessment tool for patients with acute ATR.

Methods: From 2010-2018, 984 consecutive adults (median age 47yrs, 73% [n = 714/984] male) sustaining an acute ATR were retrospectively identified.

Neurosyphilis in a suspected case of giant cell arteritis.

A 67-year-old man had a few month history of deteriorating visual acuity. He had originally presented to ophthalmology with right-sided visual blurring. This subsequently progressed to involve the left eye.

Twelve tips for using Pattern Matching in data analysis for qualitative medical education research.

Pattern Matching (PM) is a data analysis method used in qualitative research. This article outlines a step-by-step approach to using PM to analyse qualitative data through the example of the author's experience in its use for a master in medical education dissertation. The recommended twelve tips, outlined as steps to be used sequentially in the PM process are: (1) Assess if PM is a suitable technique for you and your research, (2) Consider alternatives, (3) Decide to proceed with PM, (4) Perform literature review, (5) Reflect about your experiences, (6) Define Propositions, (7) Collect your data, (8) Code data, (9) Match data to propositions, (10) Celebrate congruency, (11) Explain discrepancies and, (12) Discuss relevance and utility of findings in your context.