Beneficial effect of Mediterranean diet on disease activity and cardiovascular risk in systemic lupus erythematosus patients: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the influence of the Mediterranean diet (Med Diet) on SLE activity, damage accrual and cardiovascular disease risk markers. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 280 patients with SLE [46.9 (12.85) years]. Med Diet adherence was assessed through a 14-item questionnaire on food consumption frequency and habits (total score from 0 to 14 points; higher score is greater adherence to the Med Diet). CRP, homocysteine, SLEDAI-2K (SLE disease activity), and SLICC/ACR and SDI (damage accrual) were measured. Obesity, diabetes mellitus, hypertension and blood lipids, among others, were considered cardiovascular disease risk factors. RESULTS: Greater adherence to the Med Diet was significantly associated with better anthropometric profiles, fewer cardiovascular disease risk factors, and lower disease activity and damage accrual scores (P ≤ 0.001 for SLEDAI and SDI). An inverse relationship between the Med Diet score and SLEDAI (P ≥ 0.001; ß = -0.380), SDI (P ≤ 0.001; ß = -0.740) and hsCRP (P = 0.039; ß = -0.055) was observed. The odds ratio for having active SLE (SLEDAI ≥5) or the presence of damage (SDI ≥1) was lower among patients whose Med Diet score was higher (P ≤ 0.001). Finally, greater consumption of Med Diet foods (olive oil, fruits, vegetables, fish, etc.) and abstaining from red meat and meat products, sugars and pastries was associated with less SLE clinical activity and damage. CONCLUSION: Greater adherence to the Med Diet seems to exert a beneficial effect on disease activity and cardiovascular risk in SLE patients. To confirm these findings, further longitudinal studies would be of interest.

Social media and medical journals: a promising relationship? / Medios sociales y periódicos médicos: ¿una relación prometedora?

Have you ever heard the question: "what is your impact factor?" Impact factor (IF) has become an important metric to obtain grants, to promote your own career, to justify the presence of the best speakers at meetings, as well as a measure of "professional value." It is the impact that publishing research has in our own academic life. However, we should not forget that the IF was not created to rank an individual work or paper, and for sure it was not created to measure the quality of the authors.

¿Alguna vez has oído la pregunta: "¿Cuál es tu factor de impacto?" El factor de impacto (FI) se ha convertido en una medida importante para la obtención de becas, para promover su propia carrera, para justificar la presencia de los mejores oradores en las reuniones, así como una medida de "valor profesional". Es el impacto que la investigación editorial tiene en nuestra propia vida académica. Sin embargo, no debemos olvidar que el MI no fue creado para clasificar un trabajo o documento individual, y por supuesto no fue creado para medir la calidad de los autores.

Relevancia clínica del signo del pedículo en el diagnóstico del pólipo endometrial / Clinical relevance of the pedicle sign in diagnosing of the endometrial polyp

Objetivo: Valorar la rentabilidad diagnóstica del signo del pedículo vascular detectado mediante Doppler color/potencia para el diagnóstico del pólipo endometrial. Método: Se realiza una revisión sistemática y metanálisis. Para ello, se llevó a cabo una búsqueda electrónica de los siguientes términos: "endometrial polyp", "Doppler", "ultrasound" (MeSH) y "pedicle sign". Se incluyeron: estudios prospectivos o de cohortes retrospectivos; investigaciones de mujeres con enfermedad orgánica endometrial y pacientes con pólipos endometriales; estudios que tuvieran como objetivo la evaluación de la prueba diagnóstica la ecografía mediante Doppler color/potencia para el diagnóstico de pólipo endometrial, y trabajos que usaran el diagnóstico anatomopatológico como prueba de referencia. El período comprendió de enero de 2003 a mayo de 2015. Todos los análisis se realizaron mediante el módulo MIDAS y METANDI de la versión STATA 12.0 para Windows (Stata Corporation, College Station, TX, EE.UU.). Un valor de p < 0.05 fue considerado estadísticamente significativo. Resultados: Se identificaron un total de 629 artículos, de los que se excluyeron 623, por lo que fueron incluidos en el metanálisis final 6 artículos. Dichos estudios incluían 1237 mujeres y 362 pólipos endometriales (prevalencia del 29.3%). La sensibilidad, la especificidad, la razón de verosimilitud (LR, likelihood ratio), tanto positiva como negativa (LR-) para el signo del pedículo fueron 77% (intervalo de confianza [IC] del 95%: 53% a 91%), 95% (IC 95%: 87% a 98%), 16.0 (IC 95%: 7.1 a 35.9) y 0.24 (IC 95%: 0.11 a 0.54), respectivamente. Se detectó una heterogeneidad importante en los estudios. Conclusión: El signo del pedículo ofrece un rendimiento aceptable para el diagnóstico de los pólipos endometriales.

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of vascular pedicle sign detected by color Doppler/power ultrasound for the diagnosis of endometrial polyp. Method: A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed. An electronic search (Pubmed) was conducted using the following terms: "endometrial polyp", "Doppler", "ultrasound" (MeSH), and "pedicle sign". Criteria for inclusion were as follows: prospective or retrospective cohort studies; studies of women with endometrial organic pathology and women with endometrial polyps; studies to evaluate the diagnostic test using color Doppler ultrasound/power for the diagnosis of endometrial polyp, and studies using pathological diagnosis as the gold standard. The period covered was January 2003 to May 2015. All analyses were performed using the MIDAS and METANDI module STATA version 12.0 for Windows (Stata Corporation, College Station, TX, USA). A value of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: A total of 629 papers were identified, of which 623 were excluded, including 6 studies in the meta-analysis. These studies included 1237 women and 362 endometrial polyps (29.3% prevalence). The sensitivity, specificity, LR and LR- for the sign of the pedicle were 77% (95% CI, 53%-91%), 95% (95% CI, 87%-98%), 16.0 (95% CI, 7.1-35.9) and 0.24 (95% CI, 0.11 to 0.54), respectively. Significant heterogeneity was detected in studies. Conclusion: The sign of the pedicle provides acceptable performance for diagnosis of endometrial polyp.