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Background: Stroke is a leading cause of death and acquired disability worldwide. In Europe, strokes account for almost 1.1 million death per year. In particular, countries in Southern Europe constitute populations with a different lifestyle and dietary habits from those in Northern Europe and that may influence stroke incidence, type and risk factors. Aim: The objective of this study was to review and summarise the trends of the incidence of stroke in Southern Europe, as well as, to mention stroke subtypes and recognise the risk factors for stroke. Methods: A systematic review in PubMed was conducted. Results: Therefore, twenty-three articles, representing seven countries, related to incidence, type and risk factors of stroke in this specific geographical area of Europe were identified. The annual stroke incidence varied from approximately 1.41 to 3.73 per 1000 population per year. Currently, in all the countries studied, ischemic stroke was the commonest stroke type in all series. Hypertension remains the main risk factor for both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, followed by diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia and other factors. Conclusions: A wide range of stroke incidence may be due to the different lifestyle and behavioural factors among countries. Further research that uses the best possible methods to study the incidence, type and risk factors of stroke are urgently needed in Balkan Peninsula. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Tetracyclines and clindamycin plus rifampicin combination therapy are both considered first-line therapy in current hidradenitis suppurativa guidelines. However, evidence for their efficacy is drawn from small studies, often without validated outcomes., Objective: To assess the 12-week efficacy of oral tetracyclines and a combination of clindamycin and rifampicin., Methods: A prospective, international cohort study performed between October 2018 and August 2019., Results: In total, 63.6% of the included 283 patients received oral tetracyclines, and 36.4% were treated with clindamycin and rifampicin. Both groups showed a significant decrease in International Hidradenitis Suppurativa Severity Score System from baseline (both P < .001). The Hidradenitis Suppurativa Clinical Response (HiSCR) was achieved in 40.1% and 48.2% of patients, respectively (P = .26). Patient characteristics or disease severity were not associated with the attainment of HiSCR or the minimal clinically important differences for the Dermatology Life Quality Index and pain., Limitations: Cohort study. Respectively, 23.9% and 19.4% of patients had to be excluded from the HiSCR analysis for the tetracycline and combination therapy group because of a low abscess and nodule count at baseline., Conclusion: This study shows significant efficacy of both tetracycline treatment and clindamycin and rifampicin combination therapy after 12 weeks in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa. No significant differences in efficacy were observed between the 2 treatments, regardless of disease severity., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest Dr Tzellos has reported relationships with AbbVie, UCB, and Sanofi Genzyme. Dr Guillem has received honoraria from AbbVie and Novartis as a consultant and has given nonpaid lectures for AbbVie, Brothier, Cicaplus, Coloplast, Inresa, and Novartis. Dr Giamarellos-Bourboulis has received honoraria from Abbott CH, Angelini Italy, bioMérieux Inc, InflaRx GmbH, MSD Greece, and XBiotech Inc; independent educational grants from AbbVie, Abbott, Astellas Pharma Europe, AxisShield, bioMérieux Inc, InflaRx GmbH, ThermoFisher Brahms GmbH, and XBiotech Inc; and funding from the FrameWork 7 program HemoSpec (granted to the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), the Horizon2020 Marie-Curie Project European Sepsis Academy (granted to the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), and the Horizon 2020 European Grant ImmunoSep (granted to the Hellenic Institute for the Study of Sepsis). Dr Jemec has received honoraria from AbbVie, Chemocentryx, Coloplast, Incyte, Inflarx, Kymera, Leo Pharma, Novartis, and UCB for participation on advisory boards; grants from AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Inflarx, Janssen-Cilag, Leo Pharma, Novartis, Regeneron, and Sanofi for participation as an investigator; speaker honoraria from AbbVie, Boehringer Ingelheim, Galderma, and Novartis; and unrestricted departmental grants from Leo Pharma and Novartis. Dr Katoulis has reported relationships with AbbVie, Novartis, Genesis Pharma, Mylan, Janssen, Leo Pharma, and Lilly. Dr Koenig was an investigator, speaker, or advisor for AbbVie, Braun-Stiftung, and Celgene. Dr Lazaridou has received speaker honoraria, and/or honoraria for participation in advisory boards, and/or grants from AbbVie, Novartis, Genesis Pharma, Mylan, Pfizer, Janssen, Leo Pharma, Roche, Lilly, UCB, and Sanofi. Dr Matusiak reports personal fees from AbbVie, Amgen, Galapagos, InflaRx, Janssen-Cilag, LEO, Menlo, Novartis, Pfizer, Pierre Fabre, Regeneron, Trevi, and UCB. Dr Pinter has been an investigator, speaker, or advisor for AbbVie, Almirall-Hermal, Amgen, Biogen Idec, Biontec, Boehringer Ingelheim, Celgene, GlaxoSmithKline, Eli Lilly, Galderma, Hexal, Janssen, LEO-Pharma, MC2, Medac, Merck Serono, Mitsubishi, MSD, Novartis, Pascoe, Pfizer, Tigercat Pharma, Regeneron, Roche, Sandoz Biopharmaceuticals, Sanofi-Genzyme, Schering-Plough, and UCB Pharma. Dr Romani has reported relationships with AbbVie, Novartis, Leo Pharma, Janssen, Almirall, and Isdín. Dr Saunte was paid as a consultant for advisory board meeting by AbbVie, Janssen, Sanofi, and Leo Pharma and received speaker honoraria and/or grants from AbbVie, Pfizer, Galderma, Novartis, and Leo Pharma during the last 5 years. Dr Szepietowski reports personal fees from AbbVie, Amgen, Galapagos, InflaRx, Janssen-Cilag, LEO, Menlo, Novartis, Pfizer, Pierre Fabre, Regeneron, Sandoz, Sanofi, Sienna, Trevi, and UCB. Dr Trigoni has reported relationships with AbbVie, UCB, Novartis, and LEO. Dr Trigoni has reported relationships with AbbVie, UCB, Novartis, and LEO. Dr van der Zee has received honoraria from AbbVie. Drs van Straalen, Benhadou, Cuencia-Barrales, Daxhelet, Daoud, Efthymiou, Marzano, Molina-Leyva, Moltrasio, Potenza, Skroza, Stergianou, and Vilarrasa have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2021 American Academy of Dermatology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The reported incidence of COVID-19 among cohorts of patients with inflammatory bowel and skin diseases under treatment with biologicals is low. Treatment may further modify disease severity as some biological modifiers, such as anakinra, are also proposed for the management of COVID-19 patients potentially providing HS patients with an advantage. The above preliminary evidence suggests that hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) does probably not provide an increased susceptibility for COVID-19 and that any susceptibility is unlikely to be modified negatively by treatment with biologicals. On the occasion of its 10th International Conference, experts of the European Hidradenitis Suppurativa Foundation e.V. have prepared a consensus statement regarding anti-COVID-19 measurements for HS patients. Based on the available knowledge, patients with HS may be vaccinated against SARS-CoV2 and patients affected by metabolic syndrome constitute a high-risk group for COVID-19 and should be vaccinated at the earliest convenient point in time. HS patients on treatment with adalimumab can be vaccinated with non-living virus anti-SARS-CoV2 vaccines. A possible suboptimal effect of the vaccine may be suspected but might not be expected universally. The management of the biological treatment in HS patients is at the discretion of the dermatologist / responsible physician., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Since March 2020, the outbreak of Sars-CoV-2 pandemic has changed medical practice and daily routine around the world. Huge efforts from pharmacological industries have led to the development of COVID-19 vaccines. In particular two mRNA vaccines, namely the BNT162b2 (Pfizer-BioNTech) and the mRNA-1273 (Moderna), and a viral-vectored vaccine, i.e. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AstraZeneca), have recently been approved in Europe. Clinical trials on these vaccines have been published on the general population showing a high efficacy with minor adverse events. However, specific data about the efficacy and safety of these vaccines in patients with immune-mediated inflammatory diseases (IMIDs) are still lacking. Moreover, the limited availability of these vaccines requires prioritizing some vulnerable categories of patients compared to others. In this position paper, we propose the point of view about the management of COVID-19 vaccination from Italian experts on IMIDs and the identification of high-risk groups according to the different diseases and their chronic therapy., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Ferretti, Cannatelli, Benucci, Carmagnola, Clementi, Danelli, Dilillo, Fiorina, Galli, Gallieni, Genovese, Giorgi, Invernizzi, Maconi, Maier, Marzano, Morpurgo, Nebuloni, Radovanovic, Riva, Rizzardini, Sabiu, Santus, Staurenghi, Zuccotti, Sarzi-Puttini and Ardizzone.)