Flagship Journal

Damian Roland | Head of Service, Children’s Emergency Department, Leicester Royal Infirmary, UK; Honorary Professor, Population Health Sciences, University of Leicester, UK

In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), Alzheimer’s disease (AD [named after the German psychiatrist and neuropathologist, Alois Alzheimer, who first described it]), is considered as a major or mild neuro-cognitive disorder. It is estimated that about 50–70% of total dementia cases are due to this condition, while 10–20% are due to vascular dementia, and it is the fourth leading cause of death in industrialised countries.

Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) affects up to 25% of females of reproductive age, and 15% of all females worldwide. It is a common complaint of females visiting the gynaecology outpatient department.

Non-bacterial endocarditis (also known as marantic endocarditis), a term coined by Gross and Fiedberg in 1936, encompasses the non-infectious (sterile) vegetations on structurally normal or superficially damaged cardiac valves in the absence of blood stream infection. Studies have postulated that local physical damage or cytokine mediated damage leads to platelet consumption, activation of clotting factors, and interlacing of fibrin strands that could be contributing to the vegetation formation.

Caseous mitral annular calcification (CMAC), sometimes called liquefaction necrosis of mitral annular calcification (MAC), is a rare variant of MAC, a chronic degenerative process that progresses with age.

Primary hypothyroidism is a frequent presentation in primary care, and is treated with levothyroxine sodium tablets once daily in the morning in the fasting state.

Polyacrylamide hydrogel (PAHG) Bulkamid® (Axonics, Irvine, California, USA) was introduced in Europe as a promising periurethral bulking agent for the treatment of female stress and mixed urinary incontinence in 2006.

The harmful effects of cigarette smoke on human health are well documented and supported by evidence from preclinical, clinical, and epidemiological studies. Cigarette smoking damages multiple organs and leads to 8 million global deaths per year from direct use and passive exposure of cigarette smoke to non-smokers.