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Taste acuity in 20 subjects affected by AL amyloidosis without oral complications was investigated by threshold determination. Sixteen cases did not recognize one or more fundamental tastes. Sour was the most frequently lost taste, as it was not recognized by 10 out of 20 cases. So, sensorial neuropathy, altering taste generation and/or transmission, seems frequently associated to AL amyloidosis. Further researches will show if taste losses realize typical symptomatic features in this disease.

Background: Aim of this study was to evaluate the factors affecting the duration of the recovery time (RT) after a positive exercise stress test and to define its relationship with the extent of coronary artery disease (CAD)., Methods: We studied 109 consecutive patients with a positive exercise test and proven coronary disease., Results: RT was neither related to the severity of CAD, nor to exercise duration, rate-pressure product at the end of the exercise and maximum ST segment depression. A significant linear relationship was found between RT and the time of ischemia during exercise (IT) (r = 0.66, p < .001). This relationship was analyzed separately in patients (pts) with advanced (Group I) and in pts with less severe CAD (Group II). The regression line of the data showed a similar slope but a higher y-axis intercept in Group I than in Group II (p < .05). The RT/IT ratio was in fact significantly higher in Group I than in Group II (3.0 +/- 1.3 vs 1.7 +/- 0.7, p < .0001). Discriminant analysis was performed to predict the presence of advanced CAD: using the RT/IT ratio instead of RT correct classification rate of the model increased from 81.4 to 86.7%, predictive accuracy from 73.7 to 85.3% and true negative rate from 85.3 to 87.4%., Conclusions: These results suggest that the normalization of the recovery time by time of ischemia during the test provides a simple and useful index for the prediction of the extent of coronary artery disease.