The inflammatory component of diabetic kidney disease has become of great interest in recent years, with genetic and epigenetic variants playing a fundamental role in the initiation and progression of the disease. Cells of the innate immune system play a major role in the pathogenesis of diabetic kidney disease, with a lesser contribution from the adaptive immune cells. Other components such as the complement system also play a role, as well as specific cytokines and chemokines. The inflammatory component of diabetic kidney disease is of great interest and is an active research field, with the hope to find potential innovative therapeutic targets.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, millions of people have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 around the world. An area of epidemiological relevance is Latin America, tropical regions, due to the distribution of endemic diseases such as chikungunya, dengue (DENV), malaria, Zika virus, where febrile disease abounds. The early signs and symptoms of DENV and COVID-19 could be similar, making it a risk that patients may be wrongly diagnosed early during the disease. The problem increases since COVID-19 infection can lead to false positives in DENV screening tests. We present two cases of acute undifferentiated febrile syndrome that were diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 and DENV co-infection, confirmed by ELISA and RT-PCR for both viral pathogens. The occurrence of simultaneous or overlapped infections can alter the usual clinical course, severity, or outcome of each infection. Therefore, epidemiological surveillance and intensified preparation for those scenarios must be considered, as well as further studies should be done to address cases of co-infection promptly to avoid major complications and fatal outcomes during the current pandemic. Other endemic tropical diseases should not be neglected.

Enfermedad renal diabética: puesta al díaUpdate on diabetic kidney disease EDUCACIÓN MÉDICA CONTINUA RESUMEN Introducción: La Diabetes Mellitus es una enfermedad inflamatoria sistémica de alta prevalencia e incidencia a nivel mundial. Dentro de las complicaciones crónicas, la enfermedad renal diabética es una de las más frecuentes y que marca el pronóstico. Objetivos: El objetivo de este artículo es hacer una revisión actualizada de la enfermedad renal diabética, a la luz de los cambios en los paradigmas que se han generado en los últimos años con respecto a sus nuevas definiciones, el papel de la inflamación en su desarrollo, la gestión del riesgo cardiovascular y los nuevos tratamientos. La enfermedad renal diabética puede presentarse en aproximadamente el 30-40% de la población con diabetes mellitus tipo 1 o 2 alrededor del mundo. En la patogénesis y progresión de esta condición se distinguen tres ejes fundamentales el hemodinámico, metabólico e inflamatorio. Es importante siempre hacer gestión del riesgo cardiovascular. El diagnóstico se debe hacer con el cálculo de la tasa de filtrado glomerular y la relación albuminuria / creatinuria en muestra ocasional. Los objetivos en el tratamiento deben ser: el control metabólico, reducir o enlentecer la progresión de la enfermedad renal y disminuir los desenlaces cardiovasculares. Conclusión: El tratamiento de la ERD debe ser holístico, desde intervenciones no farmacológicas, como la modificación de los estilos de vida, hasta los nuevos medicamentos como el uso de inhibidores SGLT-2, Agonistas del receptor GLP-1 y el uso antagonista selectivos del receptor mineralocorticoide como finerenone. El futuro es promisorio.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected millions of people, including hundreds of deaths. The search for adequate treatments and interventions that influence poor prognostic factors and reduce mortality has led to excessive use of antibiotics based on the possible existence of bacterial co-infection. However, there is no evidence to justify the systematic use of antimicrobials in COVID-19. The recommendations seek to provide knowledge regarding treatment; standardizing a management algorithm requires validation in clinical trials and studies of greater methodological rigor.

Alcaligenes faecalis (A. faecalis) is a Gram-negative rod rarely isolated as an infective bacterium worldwide. The first cases of infections caused by this microorganism, such as pneumonia, soft tissue infections, urinary tract infections, bacteremia, and meningitis, date back more than 40 years and are almost entirely in newborns and immunosuppressed hosts. Optimal antibiotic therapy for A. faecalis has not been well established in the literature. We report a case of an immunocompetent patient in Colombia who had meningitis due to A. faecalis after a dental procedure. It is important to know about this microorganism that nowadays could be considered a potentially emerging pathogen in immunocompetent adults.

Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is a highly prevalent condition worldwide. It represents one of the most common complications arising from diabetes mellitus (DM) and is the leading cause of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). Its development involves three fundamental components: the hemodynamic, metabolic, and inflammatory axes. Clinically, persistent albuminuria in association with a progressive decline in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) defines this disease. However, as these alterations are not specific to DKD, there is a need to discuss novel biomarkers arising from its pathogenesis which may aid in the diagnosis, follow-up, therapeutic response, and prognosis of the disease.

Cardiac masses are rare entities that present with a very varied spectrum of manifestations ranging from asymptomatic to severe hemodynamic compromise. They mainly correspond to benign neoplastic lesions; however, other pathologies may occur. The availability of high-definition imaging techniques has increased early detection. Nevertheless, these techniques do not allow the characterization and reliable differentiation of the nature of the mass. We describe a patient with no cardiovascular history with a chronic dyspnea, in whom the presence of a cardiac mass attached to the ventricle with slight deformation of the right cavities was identified by imaging studies. The patient underwent surgical resection, which confirmed the presence of lipoma by histopathology. This finding is the rarest of all benign cardiac tumors.

The pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 infection has had an unimaginable impact on health systems worldwide. Cardiorespiratory arrest remains a potentially reversible medical emergency that requires the performance of a set of maneuvers designed to replace and restore spontaneous breathing and circulation. Suspending cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) usually corresponds to an ethical-clinical dilemma that the health professional in charge must assume. The “Lazarus phenomenon” is an unusual syndrome with a difficult pathophysiological explanation, defined as the spontaneous return of circulation in the absence of any life support technique or after the cessation of failed CPR maneuvers. We present the case of a 79-year-old patient hospitalized in the intensive care unit for septic shock of pulmonary origin associated with COVID-19 infection who presented cardiorespiratory arrest that required unsuccessful resuscitation maneuvers for 40 minutes, declared deceased. After 20 minutes of death, he presented a return to spontaneous circulation. The pathophysiological changes of the Lazarus phenomenon remind us of the limitations we have in determining when to end cardiopulmonary resuscitation and that its interruption must be approached with more caution, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.