8%. The symptoms of CVD were worse during the summer period only in 26.8% of the patients whereas in 50.8% during all the year. Regarding quality of life, more than 40% of the patients had either health or cosmetic problems. Sufferers mentioned that they took first advice from physicians (28%), or from friends and relatives (27%) or from pharmacists (26%).\n\nConclusion This is a real whole-population study of Greece – a Mediterranean country that provides important and remarkable data on the epidemiology of CVD and highlights that we need improvement of relations within the triangle constituted by physicians, patients and disease.”
“Objective: The brain sparing phenomenon in the fetus is PARP activation a protective mechanism aimed

at see more maintaining

sufficient blood flow towards the brain during chronic or acute fetal stress, such as that caused by hypoxemia or utero-placental insufficiency. In this study we investigated whether the brain sparing effect can also be elicited by a physiological stress associated with maternal posture.\n\nStudy design Twenty-three low-risk pregnant women participated in the study. Between 36 and 40 weeks’ gestation, Doppler flow velocity waveforms were obtained from the fetal middle cerebral and the umbilical artery in the supine and the left lateral decubitus positions. Pulsatility index, systolic/diastolic index, and peak systolic velocities were measured and comparison was made between the left lateral and supine positions.\n\nResults: The pulsatility index in the middle cerebral artery decreased from 1.78 +/- 0.27 in the left lateral decubitus position to 1.29 +/- 0.16 in supine position (p < selleck products 0.0001). Peak systolic

velocity decreased from 46.05 +/- 7.85 cm/s to 39.43 +/- 7.95 cm/s, respectively (p = 0.001). The pulsatility index in the umbilical artery decreased from 0.89 +/- 0.13 in the left lateral position to 0.74 +/- 0.11 in the supine position (p < 0.0001).\n\nConclusions: This study demonstrates that the supine position in late pregnancy, causing aortic and venacaval compression, leads to brain auto-regulation that activates the brain sparing effect in the fetus. This protective mechanism, shown here for the first time to be linked to a physiological stress, may provide the basis for a novel approach in the assessment of fetal wellbeing. Crown Copyright (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Background: Surgery for type A acute aortic dissection (AAD) is associated with a high mortality and incidence of postoperative complications, including acute respiratory failure and coagulopathy. Aim of the study was to investigate the effects of sivelestat on pulmonary function and coagulopathy in patients undergoing surgery for AAD.\n\nMethods: Sixty patients undergoing emergency ascending replacement for AAD were divided into two groups. Group I was administered sivelestat intravenously from the beginning of surgery until extubation. Group II was not treated with sivelestat.