Systemic arterial hypertension is an independent risk factor for coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and chronic kidney diseases. Spirulina is microalgae with nutritious ingredients and has potential attenuating effects on chronic diseases including hypertension. Spirulina can be added to food products in order to develop functional foods. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of 8-week consumption of a salad dressing containing 2 g of spirulina platensis powder versus a placebo dressing on patients with hypertension. In this triple-blind randomized clinical trial, 48 patients with hypertension were enrolled to receive daily either spirulina-fortified dressing or placebo for 2 months. A total of 41 patients completed this study. We observed that the consumption of spirulina dressing significantly reduced systolic blood pressure (p = .02), diastolic blood pressure (p = .03), serum triglyceride (p = .01), total cholesterol, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels, compared to nonsignificant changes in the placebo group. Significant changes in TAC and hs-CRP levels were observed in none of the groups. According to our findings, spirulinafortified dressing as a functional food can be used a supportive treatment for patients with hypertension along with standard antihypertensive drugs. However, further investigations are required for a more comprehensive conclusion.
In late 2019, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged from Wuhan, China, giving rise to coronavirus disease 2019 . In March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic. 1,2 Although it initially seemed that SARS-CoV-2 only affects the pulmonary system, recent studies have shown that it can also involve the cardiovascular system, gastrointestinal system, central nervous system, kidneys, and liver. 3 COVID-19 can lead to various cardiovascular complications, including myocarditis, acute myocardial
LetterA preceptorship is an optional experience in which an experienced physician gives a personal guide and supervision to medical students during the first or second year of medical school. Preceptorships offer the preclinical medical student good opportunity to track a patient over time and to experience a real clinical setting. The results of previous articles about preceptorship showed that the students report that this method can be an effective way of preparing them for clinical training and motivation for studying basic sciences. Besides it provides a unique opportunity to see the patients in follow up visits. (Tan 2011, Willoughby 2016).The present experience was carried out in Shiraz medical school that is one of the oldest and best ranked medical school in south Iran (Nasr 2009).In this experience, a combination of shadowing program for first year medical students, Individual preceptorship (IP) stage 1 for second and third year medical students and IP stage 2 for clinical students was done. All of the preceptorship supervision was done by an experience full professor cardiologist who was also an expert in the field of medical education. A well-educated general practitioner was also selected as a perceptor. A total number of 8 first years and 8 second and third years and 10 medical students in clinical setting participated voluntarily in this program.For first year medical students shadowing program was designed by observing doctor-patient communication. This shadowing experience offers the first year medical student a chance for seeing their future career, knowing the realities of medicine, and realizing the importance of professionalism.IP during stage 1 pairs each second or third year medical student with the general practitioner to work in an
Patient: Male, 64-year-old Final Diagnosis: Huge coronary aneurysm Symptoms: Chest discomfort • dyspnea Medication: Losar 25 mg twice daily • Amlodipine 5 mg twice daily • Aspirin 80 mg daily • Atorovastatin 20 mg daily • Pantaprazole 20 mg daily Clinical Procedure: Coronary artery bypass graft surgery Specialty: Cardiac Surgery • Cardiology Objective: Rare disease Background: Giant coronary artery aneurysm (GCAA) is a rare disease, with an incidence of 0.02% in the general population. GCAA is defined as when the diameter of the coronary artery is more than 4 times the adjacent part or more than 8 mm. There are several causes of GCAA, with atherosclerosis being the most common. Patients with giant coronary artery aneurysms can be asymptomatic or develop chest pain, dyspnea, and palpitations. Complications of GCCA include myocardial infarction, thrombosis, and sudden death, so early treatment is necessary to prevent mortality. There is no standard surgical approach for a giant coronary artery aneurysm. Case Report: A 64-year-old man with hypertension, opium addiction, morbid obesity (body weight 151 kg and BMI 46), and benign prostate hyperplasia presented with a giant coronary aneurysm in coronary angiography. The patient underwent cardiac surgery, and a 42-mm coronary aneurysm was detected. The aneurysm had many orifices that opened to the left main coronary artery, left circumflex artery, LAD, the diagonal branch of the LAD, and the septal branch of the LAD. Aneurysmectomy and coronary artery bypass graft were successfully performed. Conclusions: Giant coronary artery aneurysms are rare. Patients with giant coronary artery aneurysms may experience sudden death due to myocardial infarction and other cardiovascular complications due to ischemia. Because it is rare, there is no standard surgical approach for a giant coronary artery aneurysm. Further studies need to focus on standardized surgical management of patients with giant coronary artery aneurysms.
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