Multimodality Imaging Diagnosis in Infective Endocarditis.

Imaging is an important tool in the diagnosis and management of infective endocarditis (IE). Echocardiography is an essential examination, especially in native valve endocarditis (NVE), but its diagnostic accuracy is reduced in prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE). The diagnostic ability is superior for transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE), but a negative test cannot exclude PVE.

Pattern of Antibiotic Use among Hospitalized Patients at a Level One Multidisciplinary Care Hospital.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance is one of the world's most serious health issues. Antibiotic resistance, excessive drug expense, and an increased risk of adverse reactions are all common outcomes of incorrect antibiotic prescribing. The goal of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of antibiotic prescriptions for inpatients to find areas for improvement.

Myocardial Viability Testing in the Management of Ischemic Heart Failure.

Although major advances have occurred lately in medical therapy, ischemic heart failure remains an important cause of death and disability. Viable myocardium represents a cause of reversible ischemic left ventricular dysfunction. Coronary revascularization may improve left ventricular function and prognosis in patients with viable myocardium.

Vitamin D Implications and Effect of Supplementation in Endocrine Disorders: Autoimmune Thyroid Disorders (Hashimoto's Disease and Grave's Disease), Diabetes Mellitus and Obesity.

: Vitamin D deficiency is involved in numerous pathologies, including endocrine pathology. The purpose of this review consists of presenting the role of vitamin D in the pathophysiology of certain endocrine disorders, autoimmune thyroid disorders (Hashimoto's disease and Grave's disease), diabetes mellitus, and obesity, and whether its supplementation can influence the outcome of these diseases. : Review articles and original articles from the literature were consulted that corresponded with the thematic.

Clinical Features and Outcome of Infective Endocarditis in a University Hospital in Romania.

: Characterization of patients with endocarditis regarding demographic, clinical, biological and imagistic data, blood culture results and possible correlation between different etiologic factors and host status characteristics. : This is a retrospective observational descriptive study conducted on patients older than 18 years admitted in the past 10 years, in the Cardiology Clinic of the Clinical County Emergency Hospital Oradea Romania, with clinical suspicion of bacterial endocarditis. Demographic data, clinical, paraclinical investigations and outcome were registered and analyzed.

Viral hepatitis in Bucharest.

A seroprevalence survey of viral hepatitis was conducted in Bucharest, Romania, between April and July 1990 on a systematic sample of 1355 persons drawn from the general population and groups at higher risk of infection. Sera were tested for hepatitis A, B, and C (HAV, HBV and HCV, resp.) markers using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method.

[An evaluation of the sensitivity of commercial ELISA kits for the detection of HBsAg].

The sensitivity of seven commercial diagnostic kits for HBsAg detection was compared using the positive controls of the kits and a series of positive serum samples. No significant differences of sensitivity were noted between the kits, but there were some in the total reaction time and the facility of execution.

[The inverse passive hemagglutination reaction. An evaluation of preliminary trials].

Studies were conducted on inverse passive haemagglutination to work out more sensitive methods for the detection of serological markers of the hepatitis B virus (HBV). IgG were coupled to human red blood corpuscles (RBC) and some parameters of the RBC sensitization, to the coupling and of the test itself were investigated.

[Partial purification of HBsAg by the progressive elimination of serum proteins].

Partial elimination of proteins from HBsAg-positive sera was realised by raising the temperature and simultaneously lowering the pH. Products with a convenient level of purity (2.2 mg of proteins per ml) were obtained as well as a good recovery rate of the HBsAgs (8-24%).

Recent research on viral hepatitis performed in the "Stefan S. Nicolau" Institute of Virology.

The author reviews the research on viral hepatitis (VH) performed in the "Stefan S. Nicolau" Institute of Virology over the last five years. The investigations have been mainly focused on the development and improvement of methods for the serological diagnosis of VH, the study of the properties of HBsAg, the correlation of the presence of hepatitis B virus markers with diagnostic criteria, features of the pathogeny and epidemiology of VH, as well as on non-A non-B hepatitis.

Investigations on HBe antigen. Note III. HBe system and sex-dependent clearance of HBsAg subtypes.

The presence of HBeAg and anti-HBe was tested in 876 serum samples collected at 10-day intervals from 146 HBsAg-positive acute viral hepatitis patients. The clearance of HBsAg was followed up in the patients grouped according to HBsAg subtypes and to HBe system seroconversion or HBeAg persistence. The clearance of HBsAg was found to be more rapid in patients with HBe system seroconversion, in the case of HBsAg/ay and in female patients.