ABSTRACT
Objective: Describe incidental tomographic in the sample, correlating them with risk factors for chest diseases and sociodemographic data. Method(s): This is a retrospective and observational study covering 162 patients admitted to the COVID sector of the HU/UFJF, from April 1, 2020, to July 7, 2021, with a confirmed laboratory diagnosis of COVID-19. The variables were described in absolute and relative frequencies. The comparison of the correlation between the outcome variable (the tomographic findings) for independent samples was performed using Pearson's chi-square test (without correction) or Fisher's test when relevant. Result(s): Of the 162 patients, 15.4% had a solitary pulmonary nodule;14.8% had multiple pulmonary nodules;1.8%, lung mass;3.1%, mediastinal mass, and 9.3% had mediastinal adenomegaly. Findings such as excavations, pleural effusion, emphysema, PTE, pneumothorax, chronic interstitial disease, cavitation, aneurysms, and significant atheromatosis, classified in this study in the "Other" category showed impressive results, with an overall prevalence of 81.5%. This study demonstrated that 34% of patients had two or more types of incidental CT findings and that 88.3% of patients had at least some type of incidental CT finding. Conclusion(s): The pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 infections has brought a series of challenges and lessons learned to healthcare teams around the world. The massive implementation of highly sensitive diagnostic methods, such as chest tomography, ends up bringing an additional challenge, which is to deal with incidental findings, making good clinical reasoning necessary to avoid unnecessary investigations and not leave without diagnosis and treatment of diseases in early and asymptomatic stages.Copyright © 2023 Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeirao Preto - U.S.P.. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Cardiovascular disease is the main cause of death worldwide, but the collective efforts to prevent this pathological condition are directed exclusively to individuals at higher risk due to hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, obesity, diabetes. Recently, vitamin D deficiency was identified as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease in healthy people, as it predisposes to different vascular dysfunctions that can result in plaque development and fragility. In this scenario, the fundamental aim of the study was to reproduce a disease model inducing vitamin D deficiency and atheromatosis in ApoE-/- mice and then to evaluate the impact of this vitamin D status on the onset/progression of atheromatosis, focusing on plaque formation and instability. METHODS AND RESULTS: In our murine disease model, vitamin D deficiency was achieved by 3 weeks of vitamin D deficient diet along with intraperitoneal paricalcitol injections, while atheromatosis by western-type diet administration. Under these experimental conditions, vitamin D deficient mice developed more unstable atheromatous plaques with reduced or absent fibrotic cap. Since calcium and phosphorus metabolism and also cholesterol and triglycerides systemic concentration were not affected by vitamin D level, our results highlighted the role of vitamin D deficiency in the formation/instability of atheromatous plaque and, although further studies are needed, suggested a possible intervention with vitamin D to prevent or delay the atheromatous disease. CONCLUSIONS: The data obtained open the question about the potential role of the vitamins in the pharmacological treatments of cardiovascular disorders as coadjutant of the primary drugs used for these pathologies.