Children with acute asthma attacks exhibit a decrease in the activity of the most important salivary antioxidant enzyme-peroxidase, which is accompanied by other salivary composition alterations. Hence, acute asthma is manifested by salivary changes. This implies systemic oxidative stress in asthma, which may be reflected in salivary analysis.

Hypoglycemia is common among hospitalized patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Identify pre-admission risk factors associated with in-hospital hypoglycemia. Historical prospectively collected data of adult DM patients hospitalized to medical wards between 2011 and 2013. Hypoglycemia and serious hypoglycemia were defined as at least one blood glucose measurement ≤ 70 and < 54 mg/dl, respectively, during hospitalization. The primary outcome was in-hospital hypoglycemia. The cohort included 5301 patients (mean age 73 ± 13 years, 51% male), including 792 patients (15%) with hypoglycemia, among them 392 patients (7%) with serious hypoglycemia. Patients with hypoglycemia or serious hypoglycemia during hospitalization were older, compared to patients without hypoglycemia and more likely to have chronic renal failure and cerebrovascular disease. Malignancy and female gender were risk factors for hypoglycemia, but not for serious hypoglycemia, while congestive heart failure was associated with increased risk only for serious hypoglycemia. Diabetes mellitus' duration over 10 years was associated with an almost threefold increased risk for hypoglycemia, compared to DM duration less than a year. Insulin treatment and glycated hemoglobin > 9% were also more common in patients with hypoglycemia. Insulin treatment was associated with a fourfold increase in the risk for hypoglycemia among all glycated hemoglobin categories. Our results identified several risk factors for in-hospital hypoglycemia in patients with DM. These findings may lead to appropriate monitoring and early intervention to prevent hypoglycemia and to reduce morbidity and mortality associated with in-hospital hypoglycemia.

This study suggests that the use of routine hypothalamic-pituitary imaging in the evaluation of IHH, in the absence of clinical characteristics of other hormonal loss or sellar compression symptoms, will not increase the diagnostic yield of sellar structural abnormalities over that reported in the general population.

Admission SBP in patients with acute stroke and TIA decreased from 2004 to 2010 and may have contributed to the improved outcome in these patients.

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Cerebrovascular disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide, 1 with hypertension being its most important modifiable risk factor. Landmark studies have shown that lowering blood pressure decreased rates of stroke incidence and mortality. 2 However, not all anti-hypertensive agents were found to be equally effective in preventing stroke. Comparative studies and meta-analyses have demonstrated that beta-blockers (BB) provide less protection against stroke compared with other anti-hypertensive agents. 3 On the other hand, stroke is associated with dysregulation of the autonomous nervous system with subsequent derangements of the cardiovascular, endocrine, and immune systems. Several studies have shown that pre-and on-stroke use of BB was associated with less severe stroke 4 and reduced mortality, 5-7 but results have been inconsistent. [8][9][10][11][12][13] In 2006 published data on the effect of pre-stroke treatment with BB on ischemic stroke severity, disability or death at discharge, and 1 month mortality. 16 The present study is aimed at exploring the effect of prestroke treatment with BB on ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) outcomes 3 months after stroke. | METHODS | Study setting and participantsThe National Acute Stroke Israeli Survey (NASIS) registry is an ongo- The impact of beta-blockers (BB) treatment on stroke outcome is unclear. We used data from a prospective national stroke registry to assess the associations between use of BB and poor outcome 3 months after stroke. Using the National Acute StrokeIsraeli (NASIS) registry, we identified 1126 patients with ischemic stroke and intracerebral hemorrhage with pre-stroke hypertension treatment, who were followed for 3-months. Functional outcome and mortality at 3-month were compared by use of BB, adjusting for demographics and clinical factors. Pre-stroke use of BB was reported by 615 (54.6%) patients. Users of BB showed higher rates of atrial fibrillation, heart disease, statin use, cancer, and severe stroke. Adjusted odds-ratios (ORs, 95% CI) for BB users compared with non-users 3 months after stroke were 0.86 (0.49-1.52) for mortality and 1.07 (0.76-1.50) for Barthel Index ≤60. In conclusion, treatment with BB is not associated with 3-month poor outcome in hypertensive patients.

IGF-I SDS can be used to evaluate the somatotroph function, as a valid substitute to absolute IGF-I levels. Moreover, IGF-I SDS predicted the extent of hypopituitarism in adults with pituitary disease, and thus can serve as a marker of hypopituitarism severity.