[Today, despite the increasing number of targeted and immunotherapeutic agents in oncology, the endocrine therapy is still an effective and manageable modality with acceptable safety profile in the treatment of hormone receptor positive breast cancer, especially in patients with multiple severe comorbidities. We present a case of successful treatment with fulvestrant of a woman with breast cancer and non-Hodgkin lymphoma, diabetes and heart failure, that emphasizes the need of personalized treatment. ]

[Guidelines of diagnosing and treating hypertension play pre-eminent role in maintaining health in our World. Based on reliable estimates we have to take in ac­count more than 1.6 billion individuals suffering from hypertension by 2025. Ad­he­rence to the guidelines is a vital issue for all high blood pressure patients, however, also the economically developed countries have a disappointing share of well-controlled hypertension. Unfortunately, on the 5 continents of the world, the guidelines provide different or very different recommendations for measuring blood pressure, making diagnosis, estimating cardiovascular risk, and setting a target value, although an attempt has been made in the recent years for developing “consensus” in specific issues. This study presents the different opinions and resolutions by analysing the ACC/AHA, ESC/ESH, NICE, Canadian and Australian guidelines. WHO and ISH resolutions were also concerned. We describe the mutual ad­justment in theoretical and practical terms of the guidelines and the consensus that have already been estab­lished.]

[Psoriasis is one of the most common dermatological disorders. It is an immune-mediated chronic inflammatory disease that primarily affects the skin and the joints, and substantially reduces the quality of life. It occurs worldwide, with a prevalence of about 2% in developed countries. Today numerous studies are continuously published on psoriasis. Important progress has been made especially on its genetics, pathomechanism and comorbidity. In the past few years, several efficient therapeutic approaches have been developed and applied. With the appearance of biological therapies, the inflammatory process can be targeted more selectively than before. The paper reviews most recent data on the pathogenesis, immunological background, comorbidity and reduced quality of life associated with psoriasis, and presents therapeutic approaches with special focus on recent advances. The increased knowledge allows of a more efficient treatment and care of patients with proriasis, thus significantly increasing their quality of life.]

Purpose – Migraine is one of the most disabling primary headache conditions. We aimed to detect hidden symptoms of anxiety and depression and to survey stress-coping mechanisms and related quality of life in a large migraine population without any known psychiatric comorbidity. Method – 123 migraine patients (MG) and 66 healthy subjects (HC) completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (S-STAI and T-STAI), the Stress and Coping Inventory (SCI) and the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). Results – MG patients reached significantly higher scores on the BDI-II and the T-STAI yielding previously undetected anxiety and depression symptoms. Significant differences were present on the SCI: higher stress scores and lower coping levels suggested impaired stress-coping strategies in migraine. MG patients achieved significantly lower scores on most of SF-36 subscales indicating lower perceived quality of life. Significant correlations were found between BDI-II, T-STAI, SCI scores and subscales of the SF-36. Conclusion – Unrecognized symptoms of anxiety and depression, as well as less effective stress-coping strategies might be related to the lower perceived quality of life in migraine. The screening of these symptoms might lead to more focused and efficient therapeutic strategies. Addressing stress management techniques could improve quality of life on the long-term.

[While risk scores are invaluable tools for adapted preventive strategies, a significant gap exists between predicted and actual event rates. Additional tools to further refine the risk stratification of patients at an individual level are biomarkers. A surrogate endpoint is a biomarker that is intended as a substitute for and being realized earlier than a clinical hard endpoint. In order to be suitable as a surrogate endpoint of cardiovascular events, a biomarker should meet several well-defined criteria. It has been proposed that a plenty of potential vascular biomarkers would have a role in primary and secondary cardiovascular prevention. Most of the biomarkers examined fit within the concept of early vascular aging. The only biomarkers that fulfill most of the criteria and, therefore, are close to being considered a clinical surrogate endpoint are carotid ultrasonography, ankle-brachial index and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity. ]