Cardioprotective effects of coffee

Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages among adults. Popular for its stimulant properties, it is also appreciated for its taste and is an essential part of many people's daily lives. Coffee, in addition to caffeine, contains macroelements such as sodium, potassium and magnesium, which ensure the proper functioning of the body, as well as polyphenols which are characterised by their anti-inflammatory properties. [1,2] Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia and caffeine is often considered a potential risk factor. [3] The purpose of this article is to evaluate current scientific reports on the relationship between coffee consumption and atrial fibrillation

Oral anticoagulation – current knowlegde

Vitamin K antagonists (VKA) and direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) are two groups of drugs used in the prevention of thromboembolic events. Although DOACs are currently the preferred option in such prophylaxis, there are still indications for the use of VKAs. Thromboembolic episodes may occur as a result of many cardiovascular diseases, inter alia cardiac dysrhythmias. Atrial fibrillation is an arrhythmia that may be asymptomatic or manifested by chest pain, syncope, dyspnea or fatigue. Moreover, it is associated with a high risk of serious complications. An ischemic stroke or myocardial infarction can result from poorly treated AF and may sometimes be the only symptom of an arrhythmia. Therefore, the assessment of a patient's eligibility for anticoagulation therapy is an important element in the prevention of thromboembolic events. Demographic aging and the associated comorbidity may pose a clinical problem in the treatment of atrial fibrillation. The selection of an appropriate anticoagulant therapy should be individualized to the patient's needs

Promising COVID-19 therapies on examples of some antiviral, immunomodulatory and natural substances use - review

COVID-19 is one of the biggest challenges to medicine ever. Because of its dissemination in population effective drug to cure it was needed. There were some trials on antiviral drugs like lopiravir/ritonavir, remdesivir, darunavir/cobicistat, favipiravir, molnupiravir, discovered originally in order to treat other diseases. Only remdesivir and molnupiravir seem to be beneficial for patients with COVID-19, both of them are approved in therapy in a large number of countries allover the world. [2] Another very important group of drugs used in trials against COVID-19 was immunomodulatory drugs. Some of them, like chloroquine/hydrochloroquine was very promising, but finally there were no evidences of its benefits found. [2] Corticosteroids used in moderate and severe COVID-19 caused general improvement of clinical status and decreased mortality. Interesting and quite promising may be use of interferons but for now lack of evidences does not allow to make clear statement about its benefits. There are some argumentations for natural methods of COVID-19 treatment. Dietary recommendations, vitamin and microelements supplementation may be helpful in the therapy and in addition may not have any adverse effects. Also, herbal mixtures, developed centuries ago in China found usage during COVID-19 pandemic. After analysis of thousands of cases Traditional Chinese Medicine can be considered as one of the most successful attempt in combating COVID-19. [6

Present situation of bacterial neuroinfections across the globe – review

Bacterial meningitis is still life-treating disease, which cause about 1.2 million cases and it is responsible for over 100 thousand of deaths across the globe. [2][ The most common pathogens which case the disease are Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae and Listeria monocytogenes. Morbidity is significantly higher in Africa, than in other regions in the world. Region of the highest frequency of new cases is located in sub-Saharan Africa and called meningitis belt. Vaccination campaigns against bacterial, mostly meningococcal were conducted in some of these regions and the benefits of it were seen [5]. Young children and elderly patients are predisposed to have bacterial meningitis. In pediatric population the disease usually presents as fever, seizures, vomiting, chills, altered mental status and stiff neck. [4] Development of each country have impact on mortality and morbidity among children. [6] Elderly patients, because of their comorbidity are also predisposed to bacterial meningitis. Diseases like diabetes mellitus, alcoholism, cancer, HIV/AIDS or being after splenectomy may make the patients susceptible for bacterial invasion of CNS. Also, every factor which interrupt blood-brain barrier, like trauma or surgery may cause the infection. Intracerebral hemorrhage can be consequence of the infection, which cause other complications like impaired consciousness, focal neurological deficit, need of mechanical ventilation and seizures. It was noticed that in most of cases bacterial meningitis had S.pneumoniae etiology

Effect of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists on the example of semaglutide on the cardiovascular system and their role in the treatment of obesity.

Obesity nowadays affects an increasing number of people. We can talk about it when the patient's BMI is ≥ 30.0 kg/m² (BMI 25.0-29.9 kg/m² - overweight). While obesity in itself may not be a problem for people suffering from it, its complications can be global and sometimes pose a serious threat to health or even life. Its main complications in the cardiovascular system include: hypercholesterolaemia, arterial hypertension, left ventricular hypertrophy, early atherosclerotic changes, heart and cerebral infarction. Treatment of obesity is based mainly on changing the patient's lifestyle - diet and physical activity, which can sometimes be problematic and difficult to apply. However, there is a new group of hypoglycaemic drugs - glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists, which can make obesity treatment easier. These drugs use the incretin effect in the body to increase insulin secretion in response to a meal containing carbohydrates and prevent postprandial hyperglycemia. In this article, we will analyze the latest studies on the effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists, using semaglutide as an example, on the cardiovascular system and on weight loss in patients

Health effects of energy drinks on children, adolescents, and young adults

Energy drinks are very popular nowadays. The number of people consuming this type of drink is growing every year, not only in the adult group but also in the population of adolescents and children. For many people, they are an alternative to stimulating coffee. In addition to the desired effects such as reducing fatigue, improving concentration and increasing physical and mental performance, energy drinks can also have adverse effects. The substances they contain, such as caffeine, taurine and large amounts of carbohydrates, may contribute to an increased risk of cardiovascular complications, metabolic and gastroenterological diseases, and mental disorders. [1] The aim of the article is to present the negative effects of consuming energy drinks in the population of adolescents and children

Comparison of the impact of e-cigarettes and new tobacco heating devices on the human body and their potential in the fight against smoking

Nicotine is one of the most common stimulants used by humans in the world. Its addictive potential is almost the same as that of cocaine. [1] The most popular way of delivering nicotine to the body, which is cigarette smoking, has many negative effects, including considerable carcinogenic potential. Cigarette smoke contains approx. 6,500 chemical compounds, of which around 150 are considered toxic. [2] With the advancement of technology, alternative ways of delivering nicotine to the body have been found. These include e-cigarettes and tobacco heaters. In the following study, we will compare the method and mechanism of operation of these devices and their possible effects on human health compared to smoking

Effects of autoimmune disorders on daily lifestyle

Systemic diseases of connective tissue are a group of diseases of unspecified aetiology and pathogenesis. They are based on the autoimmune process. It can involve single organs as well as whole systems. Neuropsychiatric complications in systemic connective tissue diseases are of interest to both neurologists and rheumatologists and specialists in other fields. These complications may occur with different frequency – from 30-80% and result from the involvement of individual structures of the central and peripheral nervous system. They can be divided into primary, i.e. resulting from the underlying disease, and secondary, which are most often the result of the applied treatment. The most common psychopathological symptoms include: progressive cognitive disorders, emotional lability, mood and sleep disorders, as well as memory disorders, psychosensory disorders, depersonalisation, derealisation, depressed mood, anxiety states, hallucinations, persecutory delusions. Diagnosing the cause of psychiatric disorders is the basis for introducing appropriate causal treatment, which should be supplemented by symptomatic psychiatric therapy

Large scale directional anomalies in the WMAP 5yr ILC map

We study the alignments of the low multipoles of CMB anisotropies with specific directions in the sky (i.e. the dipole, the north Ecliptic pole, the north Galactic pole and the north Super Galactic pole). Performing $10^5$ random extractions we have found that: 1) separately quadrupole and octupole are mildly orthogonal to the dipole but when they are considered together, in analogy to \cite{Copi2006}, we find an unlikely orthogonality at the level of 0.8% C.L.; 2) the multipole vectors associated to $\ell=4$ are unlikely aligned with the dipole at $99.1$ C.L.; 3) the multipole vectors associated to $\ell=5$ are mildly orthogonal to the dipole but when we consider only maps that show exactly the same correlation among the multipoles as in the observed WMAP 5yr ILC, these multipole vectors are unlikely orthogonal to the dipole at $99.7$ C.L..Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in JCAP. Few references added and some typos correcte

Planck intermediate results: XVI. Profile likelihoods for cosmological parameters

We explore the 2013 Planck likelihood function with a high-precision multi-dimensional minimizer (Minuit). This allows a refinement of the ΛCDM best-fit solution with respect to previously-released results, and the construction of frequentist confidence intervals using profile likelihoods. The agreement with the cosmological results from the Bayesian framework is excellent, demonstrating the robustness of the Planck results to the statistical methodology. We investigate the inclusion of neutrino masses, where more significant differences may appear due to the non-Gaussian nature of the posterior mass distribution. By applying the Feldman-Cousins prescription, we again obtain results very similar to those of the Bayesian methodology. However, the profile-likelihood analysis of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) combination (Planck+WP+highL) reveals a minimum well within the unphysical negative-mass region. We show that inclusion of the Planck CMB-lensing information regularizes this issue, and provide a robust frequentist upper limit ∑ mν ≤ 0.26 eV (95% confidence) from the CMB+lensing+BAO data combination. Reproduced with permission from Astronomy & Astrophysics, © ESO 201