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Background: During pandemic period, a single fast glycemia value (≥ 92 mg/dl) performed within the recommended time window for the risk level defined by the Italian guidelines, was considered an acceptable surrogate for GDM diagnosis following Italian Diabetes Association recomendations., Methods: All pregnant women who performed an OGTT following Italian Guidelines from march 2020 to september 2021 and then delivered at our University Hospital were prospectively enrolled in this study. Primary outcome of the study was the number of women diagnosed with GDM with only the FPG value (≥ 92 mg/dl), following Italian Diabetes Societies recommendations for COVID 19 pandemic period. At the same time, the data of women who became diabetic according to the 1999 WHO criteria was collected too. The secondary outcome was the comparison of risk factors of women undergoing OGTT according to IADPSG and WHO'99 criteria for the diagnosis of GDM and associated clinical outcomes., Results: The number of women with a diagnosis of GDM following Italian guidelines in the 18-month period considered was 161. Only 109 (67.7%) had a fast glucose value ≥ 92 mg/dl. No differences between IADPSG and WHO'99 groups in relation to risk factors, with the exception for overweight and obesity, and clinical outcomes., Conclusion: Recommendations of Italian Diabetes Societis for COVID 19 pandemic failed to recognize one third of GDM diagnosis. Clinical Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov, www., Clinicaltrials: gov , NCT05026840, August 30, 2021, 'retrospectively registered'., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Purpose: Assessment of fluid-responsiveness is a key aspect of daily management in critically ill patients. Non-invasive evaluation of the variation of inferior vena cava (IVC) diameter during ventilation may provide useful information. However, a standard sagittal IVC visualization from the subcostal (SC) region is not always feasible. An alternative method to visualize the IVC is a coronal trans-hepatic (TH) approach., Materials and Methods: We performed a systematic search to explore the interchangeability of IVC evaluation with SC and TH views. We searched Medline and EMBASE to identify prospective studies. We did not consider the relationship between axial and sagittal visualization of the IVC., Results: We included seven studies reporting data on IVC evaluation with both SC and TH IVC views. Four studies were conducted on spontaneously breathing patients/volunteers, two on fully mechanically ventilated patients, and one in a mixed population, with large heterogeneity regarding the analyses reported. Limits of agreement between SC and TH were large. Concordance of the IVC collapsibility/distensibility indices are not interchangeable between SC and TH view. Correlation between diameters measured with SC and TH approach and intra/inter-observer correlation produced variable results., Conclusions: An overview of the included studies suggests that longitudinal TH and SC assessment of IVC size and respiratory variation are not interchangeable. New studies with accurate data reporting and appropriate statistical analysis are needed to define proper cut-offs for fluid responsiveness when using TH approach for IVC visualization., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Unlabelled: The authors evaluated the ability of rHuEPO (recombinant human erythropoietin) in performing a vasoactive calcium-mediated action. Forty healthy volunteers were evaluated for the muscle blood flow at rest (RBF) and after reactive hyperemia by Xenon 133 clearance. Pre-treatments with several calcium antagonists were used., Results: The i.v. infusion of rHuEPO brought about a reduction of the RBF and MBF (maximal blood flow). This reduction was maintained with nifedipine or verapamil. Gallopamil and ketanserine prevented the reduction of blood flow induced by rHuEPO. CONCLUSIONS. The rHuEPO has a vasoconstrictive action in vivo since gallopamil and ketanserine, drugs able to prevent intracellular mobilisation of the Ca++, can block the rHuEPO induced vasoconstriction. The action exerted by rHuEPO could be due not an increased flow of the Ca++ from the extracellular department but to a mobilisation from Ca++ deposits.