Publications by authors named "Alexandru Constantin"

Background: Although many people infected with SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) experience no or mild symptoms, some individuals can develop severe illness and may die, particularly older people and those with underlying medical problems. Providing evidence-based interventions to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection has become more urgent with the potential psychological toll imposed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Controlling exposures to occupational hazards is the fundamental method of protecting workers.

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Article Synopsis
  • This systematic review evaluated 24 infection prevention interventions for peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVCs), which are known to contribute to a high rate of infections globally.* -
  • Out of 105 included studies, findings indicate that wearing gloves during catheter insertion and scheduled catheter removal may lower the risk of complications, while specific antiseptics like chlorhexidine were more effective for neonates.* -
  • The review highlights a significant lack of high-quality research on effective interventions, emphasizing the need for better studies and the importance of standard precautions in PIVC management.*
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There is increasing evidence of both central and peripheral nervous system (PNS) involvement in COVID-19. We conducted this systematic literature review to investigate the characteristics, management and outcomes of patients with PNS, including the types and severity of cranial nerves (CN) involvement. We systematically searched on PubMed for studies reporting adult patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and PNS involvement until July 2021.

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Introduction: Peripheral neurologic manifestations may be associated with most of the collagen vascular diseases including systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), yet most of the times it is not clear what therapy should be prescribed. EULAR recommendations for the management of systemic lupus erythematosus with neuropsychiatric manifestations suggest the use of glucocorticoids and immunosuppressive agents for the treatment of SLE associated peripheral neuropathy (PN) (strength of statement A, category of evidence 1), however these recommendations are based on studies that did not focus specifically on PN but rather on neuropsychiatric manifestations of SLE out of which only one was a randomized controlled clinical trial that included 7 patients with peripheral neuropathy. The objective of this systematic review is to determine whether the pathogenic treatments (corticosteroids, immunosuppressive agents, intravenous immunoglobulins, plasmapheresis) are effective for SLE associated PN.

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Background: Shared decision making (SDM) is very important from patients' perspective. This process has not yet been evaluated in Romania. The study aims to evaluate SDM from the patients' perspective and to evaluate patients' characteristics that associate with SDM.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on evaluating the perspective of Romanian patients in the shared decision-making (SDM) process, an important aspect of patient-physician interactions, using a translated questionnaire called SDM-Q-9.
  • Conducted across eight centers with both inpatients and outpatients suffering from specific medical conditions, the study involved 665 participants who completed the Romanian version of the SDM-Q-9.
  • Results showed that the translated survey has good internal consistency and can effectively assess and enhance healthcare practices in Romania, establishing it as a reliable tool for clinical use.
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The application of semantic technologies to the integration of biological data and the interoperability of bioinformatics analysis and visualization tools has been the common theme of a series of annual BioHackathons hosted in Japan for the past five years. Here we provide a review of the activities and outcomes from the BioHackathons held in 2011 in Kyoto and 2012 in Toyama. In order to efficiently implement semantic technologies in the life sciences, participants formed various sub-groups and worked on the following topics: Resource Description Framework (RDF) models for specific domains, text mining of the literature, ontology development, essential metadata for biological databases, platforms to enable efficient Semantic Web technology development and interoperability, and the development of applications for Semantic Web data.

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