Severe asthma in adolescents and adults: a national, multicenter registry in real life.

Summary: The number of patients with uncontrolled asthma is growing especially in young people. Although current therapies improve the disease management, the heterogeneity of clinical outcomes results in patients whose asthma is refractory to standard therapies. To understand not responsive phenotypes, we instituted a web-registry aimed to collect real life data of adolescent and adult patients. One-hundred and five Italian medical Centers are part of the network. Participants above 14 years and affected by severe asthma will be included in the study. Demographic and clinical data will be collected for 5 years on a dedicated electronic database. For the first time in Italy, our study will provide information on epidemiological, clinical and therapeutic aspects related to the natural course of the disease, filling the gap between adolescents and adults.

[Echocardiographic aspects of prosthetic porcine valves. Observations on 125 personal cases (author's transl)]. / Aspetti ecocardiografici delle protesi valvolari porcine. Osservazioni in 125 casi personali.

Echocardiograms were performed on 111 prosthetic porcine valves in mitral position and 25 in aortic position. Satisfactory tracings were obtained in 68% of the mitral and in 80% of the aortic prosthesis. The characteristic appearance of the porcine prosthesis consists of two lines parallel to each other which represent the stent; the valve cusps reflect much thinner echoes with a box-like pattern similar to that of the normal aortic valve. The distance between the cusps varied from 12 to 17 for the mitral prosthesis and from 11 to 15 for the aortic prosthesis. The range of these values as well as the range of other parameters which were measured varies widely. We suggest therefore that a post-operative echocardiogram should be performed to get a baseline pattern useful for comparison with following controls.