From alchemy to personalised medicine: the journey of laboratory medicine.

This review summarises the long period in which man has approached nature to understand its powers, and has tried to control it through physical and chemical, and also magical, practices. From the attempt to manage nature to the development of primordial drugs and medical practices and later to achieve modern biomedical science, laboratory practices always played a pivotal role. Over the years and centuries, the laboratory has acquired more and more importance in the improvement of health.

Diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of hemiplegic migraine.

Hemiplegic migraine (HM) is a clinically and genetically heterogeneous condition with attacks of headache and motor weakness which may be associated with impaired consciousness, cerebellar ataxia and intellectual disability. Motor symptoms usually last <72 hours and are associated with visual or sensory manifestations, speech impairment or brainstem aura. HM can occur as a sporadic HM or familiar HM with an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance.

Is a preoperative assessment of the early recurrence of pancreatic cancer possible after complete surgical resection?

Background/aims: The prognosis of pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PAC) is poor. The serum carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA 19-9) level has been identified as a prognostic indicator of recurrence and reduced overall survival. The aim of this study was to identify preoperative prognostic factors and to create a prognostic model able to assess the early recurrence risk for patients with resectable PAC.

Today's medical knowledge. Evolution of data exchange between tradition and globalization.

The authors historically review bibliographic research concepts and define globalization in time. Moreover, recent free online data exchange is important in terms of medical progress, scientific updating and patient-care improving. In the author's opinion, data globalization is favoring medical knowledge flow even more.