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Antiphosphatidylethanolamine antibodies (aPE) may be related to venous thromboembolism and be part of the repertoire of aPL in immunologically-mediated diseases. aPE IgG may have various avidities and their avidities differ from those of anticardiolipin antibodies IgG.

Hyperprogression is a new phenomenon that has emerged with the advent of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Prompt recognition and change of the treatment management is crucial. Chemotherapy based on taxanes is a reasonable option after hyperprogression. Hyperprogression is rarely observed with anti-CTLA-4 treatment.

In this prospective study the authors attempted to confirm that VI-RADS system is safe enough to replace transurethral resection of bladder tumour in diagnosis of muscle invasive bladder cancer in every day urological practice. Primarily in risk/benefit question.

A prospective pharmacokinetic study was carried out on patients undergoing cardiac surgery using extracorporeal circulation, to describe the population pharmacokinetics of prophylactically administered ampicillin, cefazolin and ciprofloxacin. Measured serum concentration-time profiles of the three antibiotics were analyzed using a nonlinear mixed-effects modeling approach. The main factor determining the achievement of the PK/PD target was found to be eGFR in ampicillin and cefazolin and body weight in ciprofloxacin.

Approximately one in ten patients with chronic pancreatitis have primary painless disease with the major being attributed to an idiopathic etiology. Knowledge of the prominent symptoms is important for diagnosis – these patients may have any combination of pancreatic steatorrhea, diabetes mellitus, pancreatic calcifications and unclear loss of body-weight. Even if the incidence of this form of chronic pancreatitis is relatively low, early diagnosis is paramount.  Further research on this patient population is necessary.

This paper describes two cases of CLIPPERS. The first demonstrates the benefit of the early introduction of corticosteroids with side effects from long-term treatment. The second demonstrates the efficacy of ocrelizumab (anti-CD20 molecule) in a severe course of CLIPPERS. To the author s knowledge, this is only the second published case of CLIPPERS treated with ocrelizumab. The aim was to draw attention to this rare, often misdiagnosed but treatable disease.

A large proportion of patients with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction have significant residual stenoses exclusive of an infarct related artery. There is conflicting data regarding the optimal treatment strategy as well as its timing in such patients. In this article, we provide a comprehensive overview of this important and currently highly debated topic.

Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) is a cytokine that participates in inflammation and apoptosis. It has been identified as a strong and independent predictor of prognosis and adverse cardiac events in various cardiac conditions. Based on the data, this study supports a potential role of GDF15 in mortality and other clinical adverse outcomes such as bleeding complications and acute kidney injury prediction following transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

This case report illustrates that if tension pneumopericardium is apparent on CT in a polytrauma patient, it is necessary to bear in mind that a) it can mask bleeding from concomitant injuries, b) mechanical ventilation can seriously aggravate the patient's condition and c) if possible, pericardiocentesis should be performed in such patients before initiating mechanical ventilation. Such a recommendation is missing in ATLS guidelines.

This review paper discusses ascorbic acid intake during pregnancy and ascorbic acid deficiency for the individual maternal and foetal organ systems. If ascorbic acid is able to lower the risk of pregnancy complications such as pre-eclampsia, premature rupture of membranes or lower foetal morbidity remains inconclusive or controversial. Ascorbic acid appears to increase the iron available for erythropoiesis, and thus improves the anemia response to treatment and positively impacts maternal immune function. In the maternal-foetal unit, deficiency can increase the risk for foetal, uterine, and placental haemorrhage. Sufficient serum ascorbic acid levels can positively impact foetal growth in mid-pregnancy, neurodevelopmental epigenetics, foetal immunity and foetal programming. The authors highlighted the fact that sufficient maternal serum ascorbic acid levels may influence foetal outcome and may have far-reaching impact on foetal health.

Abdominal ultrasonography can detect secondary signs of isoattenuating pancreatic tumours with high sensitivity (88%) and has the potential to directly visualise these tumours in 21%. In this study, endoscopic ultrasonography detected a dilated pancreatic duct in isoattenuating pancreatic cancers significantly more often than abdominal ultrasonography.

The surgical treatment of borderline thyroid tumours (BTT) is necessarily individual and influenced by preoperative clinical, ultrasonographic, cytological, molecular genetic findings and other comorbidities.

Summary of the evolution of the use of insulin and non-insulin therapy in people with heart failure and diabetes mellitus. A positive trend in the use of new oral antidiabetic drugs is evident. Some of these are becoming an integral part of heart failure therapy.

Predicting sepsis outcomes remains a challenge. In this retrospective study of two separate cohorts, we sought to determine the relationship between BUN levels on admission and 28-day mortality in sepsis. We provide new high-level information for intensivists to adopt blood urea nitrogen (BUN) as an easily available prognostic marker in sepsis.

Mepolizumab treatment has shown improved asthma control and lung function in randomized controlled trials. Real-world data are important to validate these results, may significantly expand the clinical view of the use of mepolizumab and highlight some aspects that cannot be drawn from clinical trials. Data on mepolizumab from the Slovak clinical environment were requested by health insurance payers for successful patient access to the drug, but such data were never published. The presented data from a non-interventional study provide the first clinical evidence in Slovakia of the efficacy of mepolizumab in a real sample of patients with severe asthma when it is administered in routine care.

OSA is the most common of sleep-related breathing disorders in males. It adversely affects not only the patient's sleep quality, but their overall QoL as well. Even though CPAP therapy represents the standard treatment for moderate to severe OSA, rehabilitation should be considered as an additional therapy to further alleviate OSA symptoms. In this case report we show significant improvement of severe OSA in a male patient after the completion of the novel 12-week, comprehensive tele-RHB program. Our findings suggest that this tele-RHB program may be a novel home-based treatment to be used in conjunction with CPAP therapy.

Antimetabolites remdesivir and favipiravir were repurposed as treatment options for Covid-19. Both drugs possess antiviral properties by mimicking purine RNA constituents but the detailed processes of their antimetabolite actions differ, making these molecules unique in their mechanisms of anti-Covid-19 action. This article compares the chemical and pharmacological proprieties of these drugs in addition to their role as anti-Covid 19 agents based on data obtained from clinical trials.

This article reviews the latest published papers related to the microbiota in patients with depressive disorders and the influence of probiotic treatment upon these patients. The authors consider that the modulation of microbiota using probiotics, besides classical treatment could improve the results of treatment. Due to this positive effect of probiotics and their high tolerability and safety, no recommendation against their routine use in depressed patients can be made.

As clinical examination is inadequate in functional defecation disorders, and many multiparous women are at risk for outlet obstruction constipation, our diagnostic approach emphasizes the importance of correlating dynamic MRI-defecography, anorectal manometry and psychiatric disorders. Hypertonic anal sphincter and lack of defecation reflex at anorectal manometry correlated with anismus in all patients at MRI-defecography. Many cases with terminal constipation and anismus had a good correlation between defecation dysfunction and MRI-defecography pattern and it was also often associated with anxiety-depressive disorders.

These data analyses are the first for cabozantinib-treated patients in the Czech Republic. The evaluation of treatment outcomes and tolerance in an initial group of treated patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma provides important evidence for informing future treatment decisions.

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HPV16 status in oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) is an important prognostic factor. As its determination, based on immunistochemical analysis of p16 oncoprotein requires invasive biopsy, determining oral HPV16 status may be a promising alternative. With an average sensitivity and specificity of 74% and 91% resp. oral sampling appears to be valuable in monitoring treatment response, enabling early detection of persistent or relapsing carcinoma sufficiently long before its clinical and/or radiological manifestation. It may also contribute to identification of the primary tumour in cases of metastases of unknown origin. The screening could identify individuals who are at increased risk of developing OPC.

The authors carried out a survey in two European countries to investigate the labor anaesthesia practices and its secondary analysis to assess the impact of anaesthesia on neonatal outcomes.

Thoracic epidural bupivacaine/fentanyl provide adequate pain relief and similar analgesia to ropivacaine/fentanyl in children and adolescents after the Ravitch procedure and thoracotomy. The effectiveness of analgesia depends on the number of pain measurements and the number of interventions undertaken by nurses to relieve pain. Modifying postoperative analgesia by nurses based on the pain assessment at rest, during deep breathing and coughing is a key to adequate pain control.

The aim of the study was to demonstrate or disprove the influence of the origin of the X chromosome on individual clinical manifestations in Turner syndrome patients. The  results show that the evaluated clinical manifestations of Turner syndrome were  not affected by the origin of the (maternal/paternal) X chromosome, i.e. they are not subject to imprinting.

The percentage of long-term glioblastoma survivals is slowly increasing but very late complications of the treatment are the most difficult to identify. For the first time, this case series presents three long-term survivors of GBM with stroke-like syndrome. To avoid misinterpretation of imaging findings as GBM recurrence, and avert recall oncotherapy or redundant interventions, better understanding of delayed complications of brain tumor therapy is crucial.

This is a critical evaluation of selected microRNAs as important indicators of the anatomical-pathological changes in heart disease leading to heart failure. MicroRNAs are also interesting as potential drugs in the treatment of these diseases but to use them in cardiovascular examinations or as drugs, requires answers to practical questions such as ease of laboratory determination and their limitations. This review provides valuable material for responding to these questions.

The article briefly summarizes current knowledge of the phenotypic and functional diversity of macrophages in solid tumors in relation to their potential influence on the course of the disease and on its susceptibility to treatment.

By measuring the extent of cytokines secreted by human dental pulp stem cells (hDPSCs) from passages 2 through 10, the optimal passage of hDPSCs was determined. hDPSCs have steady biological features of stem cells and exhibit optimal proliferation potentials. hDPSCs at different passages have different capacities apropos the secretion of VEGF, BDNF, NGF, and NT-3.

Adverse effects of certain drugs on the oral cavity and esophagus can induce injury that may significantly impact further treatment and quality of life. If these are not timely recognized, complications are possible, resulting in unnecessary diagnostic procedures and inadequate treatment attempts.