[Cardiology as seen through social media]. / La cardiologia vista attraverso i social media.

The use of social media (SoMe) has spread worldwide among doctors, scientific societies, and researchers. SoMe offer a powerful platform to accelerate or create new contacts, spread scientific news, and increase visibility. A social media promotion strategy for cardiovascular medicine papers seems to be associated with increased online visibility and a higher number of citations. This effect is independent of the type of article and the total number of followers of the authors. Indeed, SoMe are democratic and even non-senior researchers may be popular on Twitter: your title is not as important as what you do on Twitter. Nevertheless, some physicians may be over-celebrated due to their presence on SoMe. This is why a new author index, the K-index, has been proposed. The K-index correlates the citations of a scientist with the number of Twitter followers. Even scientific journals and societies have recognized the importance of SoMe and in the last years they have appeared on SoMe with official accounts. Therefore, besides the classic impact factor, publishers now pay more and more attention to other parameters, such as the Altmetric score, which takes into account the number of citations, but also the number of downloads, mentions on SoMe, newspapers and tv news, web sites, and blogs. The COVID-19 pandemic has boosted the importance of SoMe for scientific content distribution, particularly for congresses. For all these reasons, it is important to understand the pros and cons of SoMe. It is also possible that SoMe will become a new education medium for continuing medical education.

The Athlete after COVID-19 infection: what the scientific evidence? What to do?

The coronavirus-19 disease (COVID-19) related pandemic have deeply impacted human health, economy, psychology and sociality. Possible serious cardiac involvement in the infection has been described, raising doubts about complete healing after the disease in many clinical settings. Moreover, there is the suspicion that the vaccines, especially those based on mRNA technology, can induce myopericarditis. Myocarditis or pericarditis related scars can represent the substrate for lifethreatening arrhythmias, triggered by physical activity. A crucial point is how to evaluate an athlete after a Covid-19 infection ensuring a safe return to play without increasing the number of unnecessary disqualifications from sports competitions. The lack of conclusive scientific data significantly increases the difficulty to propose recommendations and guidelines on this topic. At the same time, the psychological and physical negative consequences of unnecessary sports restriction must be taken into account. The present document aims to provide an updated brief review of the current knowledge about the COVID-19 cardiac involvement and how to recognize it and to offer a roadmap for the management of the athletes after a Covid-19 infections, including subsequent impact on exercise recommendations. Our document exclusively refers to cardiovascular implications of the disease, but pulmonary consequences are also considered.

Cardiac screening prior to return to play after SARS-CoV-2 infection: focus on the child and adolescent athlete: A Clinical Consensus Statement of the Task Force for Childhood Health of the European Association of Preventive Cardiology.

Cardiac sequelae after COVID-19 have been described in athletes, prompting the need to establish a return-to-play (RTP) protocol to guarantee a safe return to sports practice. Sports participation is strongly associated with multiple short- and long-term health benefits in children and adolescents and plays a crucial role in counteracting the psychological and physical effects of the current pandemic. Therefore, RTP protocols should be balanced to promote safe sports practice, particularly after an asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection that represents the common manifestation in children. The present consensus document aims to summarize the current evidence on the cardiac sequelae of COVID-19 in children and young athletes, providing key messages for conducting the RTP protocol in paediatric athletes to promote a safe sports practice during the COVID-19 era.

The Female Athlete's Heart: Overview and Management of Cardiovascular Diseases.

The number of female athletes taking part in elite and amateur sport is ever increasing. In contrast with male athletes, few studies have focused on cardiovascular adaptations to exercise in women, the effects of lifelong exercise on heart muscle and electrical tissue, the risk of exerciserelated sudden cardiac death and the management of cardiovascular disease. Women have a lower prevalence of large QRS complexes, repolarisation changes including inferior and lateral T-wave inversion, and cardiac dimensions exceeding predicted limits compared with men. The risk of exercise-related sudden cardiac death is significantly lower in women than men. Also, women who have engaged in lifelong exercise do not have a higher prevalence of AF, coronary artery calcification or myocardial fibrosis than their sedentary counterparts. Apart from providing an overview of the existing literature relating to cardiac adaptations, this review explores possible reasons for the sex differences and focuses on the management of cardiovascular disorders that affect female athletes.

COVID-19 and Cardiovascular Disease: a Global Perspective.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This review aims to assess the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), trying to assess the possible future trajectory of the CVDs and their management. RECENT FINDINGS: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a deleterious impact on the CV risk factors, with an increase in both sedentary and unhealthy food habits. The fear of contagion has decreased the access to the emergency systems with an increase in out-of-hospital-cardiac-arrests and late presentation of acute myocardial infarctions. The closure of the non-urgent services has delayed cardiac rehabilitation programmes and chronic clinical care. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic impact on the population habits and on the management of CVDs, we will probably face an increase in CVD and heart failure cases. It is crucial to use all the non-traditional approaches, such as telemonitoring systems, in order to overcome the difficulties raised by the pandemic.