Relationship between acute phase reactants and prognosis in patients with or without COVID-19 pneumonia

In December 2019, several cases of pneumonia of unknown origin were reported in the city of Wuhan, province of Hubei, China. The pathogen was named as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease was named coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Acute phase reactans (APRs) are critical in the early diagnosis, treatment, and for monitoring the progression of COVID-19. Seventy two patients were included in the study and infections confirmed by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. Clinical parameters, the level of APFs and D-dimer were assessed and results were retrived from the patients’ medical records. Chest computed tomography (CT) findings were described for each patient and they were divided into two groups, with or without COVID-19 pneumonia. The correlation between APRs and CT findings and the patients’ prognosis were evaluated. Twenty eight (38.8%) of the 72 patients were female and 44 (61.2%) were male. The most common symptom was cough (43%) and the most common associated chronic disease was hypertension (12.5%). Thirty (41.6%) patients had completely normal chest CT, while 42 (58.4%) patients had typical findings in terms of COVID-19 pneumonia. C reactive protein (CRP), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), ferritin, procalcitonin and D-Dimer levels were statistically significantly higher in patients with pneumonia than in those without pneumonia and these parameters were also statistically significantly higher in patients with severe illness. In conclusion, CRP, LDH, ESR, ferritin, and D-Dimer were associated with severe COVID-19 pneumonia. These biomarkers can be used to evaluate the prognosis to predict the clinical course of disease, allowing a proper management and treatment of the patients

Landscape - wildfire interactions in southern Europe: implications for landscape management

ReviewEvery year approximately half a million hectares of land are burned by wildfires in southern Europe, causing large ecological and socio-economic impacts. Climate and land use changes in the last decades have increased fire risk and danger. In this paper we review the available scientific knowledge on the relationships between landscape and wildfires in the Mediterranean region, with a focus on its application for defining landscape management guidelines and policies that could be adopted in order to promote landscapes with lower fire hazard. The main findings are that (1) socio-economic drivers have favoured land cover changes contributing to increasing fire hazard in the last decades, (2) large wildfires are becoming more frequent, (3) increased fire frequency is promoting homogeneous landscapes covered by fire-prone shrublands; (4) landscape planning to reduce fuel loads may be successful only if fire weather conditions are not extreme. The challenges to address these problems and the policy and landscape management responses that should be adopted are discussed, along with major knowledge gapsinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evaluation of the Posterior Tibial Slope in Noncontact ACL Injuries Using Magnetic Resonance Imagıng

 Objectives: This study investigated whether an increased posterior tibial slope (PTS) was a risk factor for noncontact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries.Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the Magnetic Resonance (MR) images of 60 patients with noncontact complete ruptures of the ACL and 60 age-matched, healthy individuals with normal knee MR images. We measured the medial and lateral PTS on the sagittal T1W images separately in both the patients with complete ACL ruptures and the control group, as described by Hudek et al. Medial and lateral PTS were investigated between two groups .Results: The patients with complete ACL ruptures had a statistically significantly (p<0.01) larger PTS on the lateral tibial condyle than the control group (4.5° and 3.8°, respectively). However, there was no statistically significant differences between the two groups’ medial PTS. Also, the lateral PTS was greater in the complete ACL group than the control group in both females and males (p<0.01).Conclusions: A statistically significant difference between the posterior tibial slopes of the groups with and without ACL ruptures was observed, which is consistent with the literature. Therefore, increased lateral PTS may be an anatomic risk factor for ACL injuries

Rapidly Progressive Pulmonary Apical Fibrosis and Parenchymal Destruction in a Patient with Ankylosing Spondylitis

Pulmonary apical fibrosis is a rare complication of ankylosing spondylitis (AS). The essential characteristics of this lesion are its very slow progression and frequently asymptomatic nature. Herein, we are presenting a patient with AS who rapidly developed pulmonary apical fibrosis in a 3-year period despite decreased musculoskeletal pains. The 60-year-old male applied with complaints of progressively increasing cough in the recent two years, dyspnea, and fatigue. He had no chronic disease except AS. He had no continuous medication except nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs for 2-3 days monthly since his musculoskeletal pains decreased in the recent years. His physical examination revealed reduced breath sounds in the upper zones of the right lung. Chest X-ray revealed increased diffuse opacity in the upper zones of the right lung. Thoracic high-resolution computed tomography showed a consolidation accompanied with traction bronchiectases compatible with chronic fibrosis in the upper lobe of the right lung. However, thoracic computed tomography of the patient performed 3 years ago did not reveal pulmonary apical fibrosis and parenchymal destruction. Biopsy revealed no finding of malignancy, granulomatous inflammation, or vasculitis. The results of cultures were negative. So, the patient was diagnosed as pulmonary involvement of AS, which developed in a 3-year period. This case has shown that extra-articular complications may continue to develop in patients with AS even if their musculoskeletal complaints have subsided. So, patients with AS should be followed up regularly with systemic examinations

Multimodality imaging of a rare type of coronary cameral fistula

Coronary artery fistulas are defined as abnormal vascular connections between one or more coronary arteries and the cardiac chamber [coronary cameral fistula (CCF)] or a great thoracic vessel. Here, we present multimodality imaging findings of a rare case with CCF between the sinoatrial nodal artery and the left atrium. Keywords: Coronary cameral fistula, Left atrium, Sinoatrial nodal arter

Imaging of unilateral adrenal hemorrhages in patients after blunt abdominal trauma: Report of two cases

Adrenal hemorrhage following blunt abdominal trauma is extremely rare. Most of the lesions are unilateral and right sided. Although often asymptomatic, life-threatening adrenal insufficiency may develop in the bilateral adrenal gland hemorrhage. Isolated adrenal injuries are very rare. They are often associated with other organ injuries. The mortality rates of patients range from 7% to 32%. In this report, we present the computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging findings of unilateral adrenal hemorrhages in two patients with a history of fall from a height