Colonic polypoid arteriovenous malformation - An unexpected cause of haematochezia.

A 70-year-old male was admitted with severe haematochezia and lipothymia. His medical history was relevant for coronary artery disease and radiation proctopathy. During hospitalization, was hemodynamically stable with persistent haematochezia. Laboratory examination revealed continuous haemoglobin fall, despite erythrocyte reposition, with administration of 11 units since admission. Colonoscopy showed an 8mm fibrinous lesion with an adherent clot, at 40cm from the anal verge. During exploration, a heavy spurting haemorrhage developed, with haemostasis being achieved with 4 clips, followed by site tattoo. Considering the risk of severe bleeding relapse in a high-risk patient, the patient underwent emergent Hartmann type colectomy. Histopathology report revealed a vascular lesion with arterial and venous vessels, protruding through the submucosa, muscular and subserosa, with a focal mucosal erosion, without neoplastic disease, compatible with an arteriovenous malformation (AVM).

The sham effect of invasive interventions in chronic coronary syndromes: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Some patients with chronic coronary syndromes undergo invasive procedures but the efficacy of such interventions remains to be robustly established by randomised sham-controlled trials (RCTs). PURPOSE: To determine the sham effect in patients with chronic coronary syndromes enrolled in RCTs by performing a systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: In April 2022, we performed a literature search for published patient-blind RCTs (CENTRAL, MEDLINE®, PsycINFO, and reference lists) with sham procedures, reporting the pre-post effects in the invasive sham arm among patients with Canadian cardiovascular society (CCS) angina or angina equivalents. RESULTS: 16 RCTs were included with 546 patients in the sham arm. Pooled results showed that sham interventions were associated with: improvement of 7% (95% CI 2-11%; I2 = 0%) in exercise time; decrease of 0.78 (95% CI - 1.10 to - 0.47; I2 = 75%) in CCS angina class; decrease of 53% (95% CI 24-71%; I2 = 96%) and 25% (95% CI 20-29%; I2 = 0%) in anginal episodes and nitroglycerine (NTG) use, respectively. Pooled results also showed an improvement in the physical functioning, angina frequency, treatment satisfaction, and disease perception domains of the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ). CONCLUSION: Sham interventions in patients with chronic coronary syndromes were associated with a significant decrease in anginal episodes, NTG use, and CCS angina class and increased SAQ quality of life and exercise time. These results highlight the need for previous non sham-controlled trials to be interpreted with caution, and the importance of new invasive interventions to be evaluated versus a sham procedure.

Psychosocial drivers for change: Understanding and promoting stakeholder engagement in local adaptation to climate change in three European Mediterranean case studies.

Stakeholder engagement in the processes of planning local adaptation to climate change faces many challenges. The goal of this work was to explore whether or not the intention of engaging could be understood (Study 1) and promoted (Study 2), by using an extension of the theory of planned behaviour. In Study 1, stakeholders from three European Mediterranean case studies were surveyed: Baixo Vouga Lagunar (Portugal), SCOT Provence Méditerranée (France), and the island of Crete (Greece) (N = 115). Stakeholders' intention of engaging was significantly predicted by subjective norm (which was predicted by injunctive normative beliefs towards policy-makers and stakeholders) and by perceived behavioural control (which was predicted by knowledge of policy and instruments). Study 2 was conducted in the Baixo Vouga Lagunar case study and consisted of a two-workshop intervention where issues on local and regional adaptation, policies, and engagement were presented and discussed. A within-participants comparison of initial survey results with results following the workshops (NT1 = 12, NT2 = 15, NT3 = 12) indicated that these were successful in increasing stakeholders' intention of engaging. This increase was paired with a) an increase in injunctive normative beliefs towards policy-makers and consequently in subjective norm, and to b) a decrease in perceived complexity of planning local adaptation and an increase in knowledge regarding adaptation to climate change.