Thyroglossal Duct Lipoma: A Case Report and a Systematic Review of the Literature for Its Management.

Thyroglossal duct (TGD) remnants in the form of cysts or fistulas usually present as midline neck masses and they are removed along with the central body of the hyoid bone (Sistrunk's procedure). For other pathologies associated with the TGD tract, the latter operation might be not necessary. In the present report, a case of a TGD lipoma is presented and a systematic review of the pertinent literature was performed. We present the case of a 57-year-old woman with a pathologically confirmed TGD lipoma who underwent transcervical excision without resecting the hyoid bone. Recurrence was not observed after six months of follow-up. The literature search revealed only one other case of TGD lipoma and controversies are addressed. TGD lipoma is an exceedingly rare entity whose management might avoid hyoid bone excision.

Weight of Clinical and Social Determinants of Metabolic Syndrome in People Living with HIV.

Background. Comorbidities in people living with HIV (PLWH) represent a major clinical challenge today, and metabolic syndrome (MTBS) is one of the most important. Objective. Our objective was to assess the prevalence of MTBS and the role of both clinical/socio-behavioral risk factors for MTBS in a cohort of PLWH. Methods. All PLWH, over 18 years of age, attending all Infectious Disease Units in Calabria Region (Southern Italy) for their routine checks from October 2019-January 2020 were enrolled. MTBS was defined by NCEP-ATP III criteria. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess factors significantly associated with the main outcome (MTBS). Results. We enrolled 356 PLWH, mostly males (68.5%), with a mean age of 49 years (standard deviation: 12), including 98 subjects with and 258 without MTBS. At logistic regression analysis, a statistically significant association was found between MTBS and alcohol use, osteoporosis, polypharmacy, and a history of AIDS. Conclusions. Identifying and addressing risk factors, including those that are socio-behavioral or lifestyle-related, is crucial to prevent and treat MTBS. Our results suggest the importance of implementing educational/multidimensional interventions to prevent MTBS in PLWH, especially for those with particular risk factors (alcohol abuse, osteoporosis, previous AIDS events, and polypharmacy). Moreover, alcohol consumption or abuse should be routinely investigated in clinical practice.

An Outbreak of Human Systemic Anthrax, including One Case of Anthrax Meningitis, Occurred in Calabria Region (Italy): A Description of a Successful One Health Approach.

In this report, three cases of human cutaneous anthrax are described, one complicated by meningitis, and all were linked to a single infected bullock. A 41-year-old male truck driver, along with two male slaughterhouse workers, 45 and 42, were hospitalized for necrotic lesions of the arm associated with edema of the limb and high fever. All three patients were involved in transporting a bullock to the slaughterhouse. Microbiological examination on the prescapular lymph node and a piece of muscle from the bullock carcass showed the presence of Bacillus anthracis. The three patients underwent a biopsy of the affected tissues, and all samples tested positive for B. anthracis DNA using PCR. Furthermore, the truck driver also complained of an intense headache, and a CSF sampling was performed, showing him positive for B. anthracis by PCR, confirming the presumptive diagnosis of meningitis. Fast diagnosis and appropriate treatment are crucial for the management of human anthrax. Cooperation between human and veterinary medicine proved successful in diagnosing and resolving three human anthrax cases, confirming the reliability of the One Health approach for the surveillance of zoonoses.

Defensive medicine: It is time to finally slow down an epidemic.

Defensive medicine is widespread and practiced the world over, with serious consequences for patients, doctors, and healthcare costs. Even students and residents are exposed to defensive medicine practices and taught to take malpractice liability into consideration when making clinical decisions. Defensive medicine is generally thought to stem from physicians' perception that they can easily be sued by patients or their relatives who seek compensation for presumed medical errors. However, in our view the growth of defensive medicine should be seen in the context of larger changes in the conception of medicine that have taken place in the last few decades, undermining the patient-physician trust, which has traditionally been the main source of professional satisfaction for physicians. These changes include the following: time directly spent with patients has been overtaken by time devoted to electronic health records and desk work; family doctors have played a progressively less central role; clinical reasoning is being replaced by guidelines and algorithms; the public at large and a number of young physicians tend to believe that medicine is a perfect science rather than an imperfect art, as it continues to be; and modern societies do not tolerate the inevitable morbidity and mortality. To finally reduce the increasing defensive behavior of doctors around the world, the decriminalization of medical errors and the assurance that they can be dealt with in civil courts or by medical organizations in all countries could help but it would not suffice. Physicians and surgeons should be allowed to spend the time they need with their patients and should give clinical reasoning the importance it deserves. The institutions should support the doctors who have experienced adverse patient events, and the media should stop reporting with excessive evidence presumed medical errors and subject physicians to "public trials" before they are eventually judged in court.

Demographical, Viro-Immunological, Clinical and Therapeutical Characteristics of HIV-Infected Patients in an "Epidemiologically Unexplored" Region of Italy (Calabria Region): the CalabrHIV Cohort.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: HIV epidemics may differ among epidemiological contexts. We aimed at constructing an HIV clinical cohort whose main epidemiological, clinical and therapeutical characteristics are described (the CalabrHIV cohort, Calabria Region, Southern Italy). METHODS: The CalabrHIV Cohort includes all HIV patients on active follow-up in all infectious disease centers in the Calabria Region as at October 2014. All information was recorded in a common electronic database. Not-infectious co-morbidities (such as cardiovascular diseases, bone fractures, diabetes, renal failure and hypertension) were also studied. RESULTS: 548 patients (68% males; 59% aged <50 years) were included in the CalabrHIV cohort. Major risk factors were: sexual transmission (49%) and intravenous drug use (34%). 39% patients had HCV and/or HBV co-infection. Amongst 404 patients who had a complete clinical history, 34% were AIDS presenters and 49.3% had CD4 count ≤350/mm(3) at HIV diagnosis. 83% patients on HAART had undetectable HIV-RNA. Hypertension was the most frequent co-morbidity (21.5%). Multimorbidity was more frequent in >50 years old patients than in <50 years old ones (30% vs. 6%; p<0.0001). Co-morbidity was more frequent in HCV and/or HBV co-infected than in HIV mono-infected patients (46.6% vs. 31.7%: p=0.0006). CONCLUSION: This cohort presentation study sheds light, for the first time, on HIV patients' characteristics in the Calabria Region. We showed that HIV-infected patients with chronic hepatitis were affected by concomitant not-infectious co-morbidities more than the HIV mono-infected individuals. New HCV treatments are therefore to be implemented in the co-infected population.

Safety and efficacy of pegylated liposomal doxorubicin in HIV-associated Kaposi's sarcoma.

Kaposi's sarcoma is a vascular tumor linked to the presence of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (human herpesvirus-8) and the incidence of which has increased considerably the world over after the onset of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic. Antiretroviral therapy combined with cytotoxic agents has been established as the treatment of choice in the past 10 years. Among chemotherapeutic agents, pegylated liposomal doxorubicin has become the preferred one for patients with HIV-associated Kaposi's sarcoma in Western countries. The drug in this formulation localizes better to the tumor and has higher efficacy. Skin toxicity, mucositis, and leukopenia/neutropenia are the main side effects. Hepatotoxicity and mild cardiotoxicity are observed less frequently. Pegylated liposomal doxorubicin impacts favorably on quality of life. Although cost effective in Western countries, the drug is less so in developing countries.