An 89-year-old man with a history of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, a pacemaker (inserted in 2006 due to sick sinus syndrome), ischemic heart disease, mild chronic renal failure, allergy to penicillin, bronchiectasis .... developed a cough that had started about 20 days ago. The cough worsened in the last week and fever and diarrhea (~2 per day) occurred. Gradually settled downRead More
Articles
Hyperlipidemia
Hyperlipidemia is defined as a pathological condition in which one or more lipid fractions in the blood (total cholesterol, triglycerides, LDL cholesterol) are elevated. One of the main factors in the development of this pathological condition is the diet, and in particular the high fat content, especially of saturated fats and trans fats found inRead More
Diabetes mellitus
Diabetes mellitus (type I or juvenile or insulin-dependent or type II or adult type or gestational diabetes etc. common "sugar") is a disease with a global distribution and serious complications for sufferers.Prevention and intensive monitoring are useful weapons for its treatment. What is diabetes mellitus? Diabetes mellitus (DM) is aRead More
Vaccines in adults?
Vaccines are the most important cause of reducing infections worldwide. In fact, they are the cause of the disappearance of smallpox (the last case was reported in 1963). Their use has led to a great improvement in childhood morbidity and mortality from infections such as measles, rubella, pneumococcus, influenza haemophilusRead More
Vaccination against influenza
Influenza is one of the most common causes of medical visits and is ranked by the World Health Organization - WHO (www.who.int) along with pneumonia as the 7th leading cause of mortality in the developed world. The vast majority of people who come into contact with the influenza virus will either have no symptoms at all or veryRead More
Allergy to penicillin? Should we reconsider?
Penicillin is one of the most well-known antibiotics to the general public. What is not widely known is that the first penicillin used in World War II is now almost useless due to the development of resistance by microbes. Thus, synthetic derivatives of that first penicillin are used today. Antibiotics of this class are the cornerstone of the therapeutic strategy of theRead More
Hypertension
What is it? High blood pressure in the arteries is a common condition. High is defined as systolic pressure >140 mmHg or diastolic pressure >90 mmHg. Blood pressure depends on the amount of blood supplied to the arteries by the heart and the amount of resistance to blood flow in your arteries. The moreRead More
Myths and realities about obesity
The human brain is the most energy-intensive organ in our body, consuming more than 25% of the energy intake (the brain weighs about 1300-1500 grams, just 1.8% of the body weight of an average man). To meet these demands, our ancestors had to travel huge distances every day to find food.Read More
Myths and realities about antivirals
Coughing is one of the most common symptoms that plague and often lead a patient to the pharmacy (mostly) or to a doctor (less often). Most coughing episodes are transient, meaning they will last for a short period of time and will subside. However, coughing of prolonged duration may lead to the use of an approved medicine to treat it. TheRead More
Myths and realities about preventive vitamin supplementation
Vitamins and minerals have antioxidant and other effects that could be useful in patients with multiple diseases. Many studies have been conducted to determine if and how much they can reduce both morbidity and mortality in various diseases. However, it is unknown whether vitamins and minerals can prevent a futureRead More
Patient with fever, weakness, anorexia and impaired communication
A 76-year-old gentleman with a history of diabetes mellitus under insulin, coronary artery disease (with stenting 8 years ago in the territory of myocardial infarction), heart failure, arterial hypertension, obesity, hyperlipidemia and nephrolithiasis asked for our help because of a fever of 5 days that rose up to 38.5 °C but usually went down with simple antipyretics without reporting other accompanying symptoms. The previousRead More
Patient with complete loss of consciousness (syncopal episode)
An 82-year-old lady with a history of osteoporosis, gastroesophageal reflux disease, back pain, bilateral hip arthroplasty, hyperlipidemia and 2 hospitalizations for pneumonia in the previous years, asked for our help after an episode of "dizziness" that occurred in the bathroom while urinating a few hours after midnight. The patient denied the presence of any other symptoms, except for a mild nausea and eructations (rales)Read More
Patient with weakness, decreased appetite, unsteady gait and palpable abdominal mass
An 82 year old lady developed weakness which settled gradually over a period of about 3 weeks. At the same time she noticed a decrease in appetite. Gradually the weakness became so severe that she could hardly get out of bed and shortly before asking for our help she developed instability in walking. From her history there was hypertension, anaemia (for whichRead More
A rare cause of chronic cough and weakness
A 70-year-old patient, with a history of treated hypertension, a smoker, with gastritis and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, came to the clinic because of a cough of 3 months with accompanying weakness, which did not allow him to perform his daily tasks, sweating, drowsiness, upper limb tremors , anorexia and weight loss (~ 6 kg). The patient denies any other symptoms (fever, runny nose, headache, chest pain,Read More
The rare serious side effects of antibiotic abuse
A 17-year-old patient with an unrelated history presented with fever (up to 39⁰C) with a cough of approximately one week's duration. The patient was examined 3 days ago by a physician who recommended symptomatic treatment for a possible viral infection. He reported no other respiratory symptoms (runny nose, nasal congestion, pharyngalgia) but complained of severe weakness and easy fatigue. At the clinicRead More