Evaluating Tech Neck: A Pilot Study Using a Self-Developed Questionnaire on Symptoms, Posture, and Preventive Measures.

Background/objectives: Musculoskeletal symptoms, such as neck pain, back pain, and eye strain, are prevalent in modern work environments, particularly among individuals engaged in prolonged sitting and repetitive tasks. This study aimed to explore the prevalence of these symptoms and the impact of ergonomic tool usage, break frequency, posture awareness, and proactive measures on symptom intensity and daily functioning.

Methods: This cross-sectional pilot study used a self-developed questionnaire to assess the prevalence and intensity of musculoskeletal symptoms among participants aged 6-18 years.

Assessing Nutritional Knowledge and Physical Health Among Football Players: A Pilot Study from Three Sports Clubs in Western Romania.

Background: Football players require optimal nutrition and physical fitness to enhance their performance and maintain their health. Understanding the relationships among nutritional knowledge, dietary habits, physical health, and substance use in athletes is essential for developing effective strategies. This study investigates these factors in male football players aged 16-33 years.

Exploring the Relationship Between Ejection Fraction, Arterial Stiffness, NT-proBNP, and Hospitalization Risk in Heart Failure Patients.

Heart failure (HF) remains a leading cause of hospitalization and morbidity. Arterial stiffness, measured by pulse wave velocity (PWV) and the augmentation index (AIx), has been linked to HF severity and prognosis. This study investigates the relationship between clinical parameters, biochemical indicators, and arterial stiffness in hospitalized patients with HF, aiming to identify predictors of hospitalization and improve patient management.

Gender-Specific Insights into Depression in Patients with Ischemic Heart Disease: Findings from a Pilot Study Using a Self-Developed Questionnaire.

Background/objectives: Ischemic heart disease (IHD) significantly affects mental health, with gender-specific differences being observed in psychological responses. This pilot study aimed to explore these differences in the demographic, clinical, psychological, psychiatric, and social profile of patients diagnosed with IHD.

Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used, recruiting 183 adult patients diagnosed with coronary artery disease and depression at the Psychiatry Department of Arad County Emergency Hospital, Romania, between May 2021 and May 2024.

Sequencing by avidity enables high accuracy with low reagent consumption.

We present avidity sequencing, a sequencing chemistry that separately optimizes the processes of stepping along a DNA template and that of identifying each nucleotide within the template. Nucleotide identification uses multivalent nucleotide ligands on dye-labeled cores to form polymerase-polymer-nucleotide complexes bound to clonal copies of DNA targets. These polymer-nucleotide substrates, termed avidites, decrease the required concentration of reporting nucleotides from micromolar to nanomolar and yield negligible dissociation rates.

Solution blow spinning of PLLA/hydroxyapatite composite scaffolds for bone tissue engineering.

Composite poly-L-lactide acid-based scaffolds with hydroxyapatite (HAp) content up to 75 wt.% were fabricated via solution blow spinning. The influence of HAp concentration on structure, wettability, mechanical properties and chemical and phase composition of the produced materials was examined.

Breast tumour cell subpopulations with expression of the MYC and OCT4 proteins.

The MYC and OCT4 genes are known factors associated with maintaining pluripotency and are linked with a more aggressive course, progression, and resistance to therapy in cancer. Determining the subpopulations of tumour cells expressing the Myc and Oct4 proteins will provide an opportunity to understand which tumour cell subpopulations expressing MYC and OCT4 are associated with metastasis and resistance and which subpopulations can be targeted by anti-MYC and anti-OCT4 therapy. The study included paraffin-embedded tissue from tumours from 27 patients with luminal B breast cancer obtained after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT).

[Comparative analysis of static scintigraphy and computerized tomography in assessment of remnant liver volume after advanced hepatic resection].

Aim: To perform a comparative analysis of computerized tomographic volumetry and scintigraphic liver volumetry in assessment of remnant liver volume after advanced hepatic resection.

Material And Methods: Static hepatobiliary scintigraphy and CT volumetry were performed in 45 patients with various liver tumors who underwent advanced hepatectomies (more than three segments).

Results: There were no any significant differences in volumetric parameters obtained by CT and scintigraphic volumetry.

[TREATMENT OF ACUTE CALCULOUS CHOLECYSTITIS: "EARLY" OR "PLANNED" LAPAROSCOPIC CHOLECYSTECTMIVY].

The comparative analysis of results of surgical treatment of 82 patients with acute cholecystitis, which made "early" (ELCE) or "planned" (PLCE) laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LCE) in the surgical department for the period from 2012 to 2014. The analysis showed that LCE can be set in any time from the beginning of acute cholecystitis. However, priority should be given ELCE, providing significant reduction in duration of treatment of patients in hospitals and is more cost effective.

Cervix Motion in 50 Cervical Cancer Patients Assessed by Daily Cone Beam Computed Tomographic Imaging of a New Type of Marker.

Purpose: To evaluate a new type of marker and a new method of marker implantation and to assess interfraction cervix motion for a large population of patients with locally advanced cervical cancer by daily cone beam computed tomographic (CBCT) imaging.

Methods And Materials: We investigated the position of markers in 50 patients treated in prone position during at least 23 fractions. To reduce streaking artifacts in the planning CT scan, a new type of polymeric marker was used and compared with conventional gold markers.

Repeat CT-scan assessment of lymph node motion in locally advanced cervical cancer patients.

Purpose: In cervical cancer patients the nodal clinical target volume (CTV, defined using the major pelvic blood vessels and enlarged lymph nodes) is assumed to move synchronously with the bony anatomy. The aim of this study was to verify this assumption by investigating the motion of the major pelvic blood vessels and enlarged lymph nodes visible in CT scans.

Methods And Materials: For 13 patients treated in prone position, four variable bladder-filling CT scans per patient, acquired at planning and after 40 Gy, were selected from an available dataset of 9-10 CT scans.

Statistical modeling of CTV motion and deformation for IMRT of early-stage rectal cancer.

Purpose: To derive and validate a statistical model of motion and deformation for the clinical target volume (CTV) of early-stage rectal cancer patients.

Methods And Materials: For 16 patients, 4 to 5 magnetic resonance images (MRI) were acquired before each fraction was administered. The CTV was delineated on each MRI.

Clinical implementation of an online adaptive plan-of-the-day protocol for nonrigid motion management in locally advanced cervical cancer IMRT.

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical implementation of an online adaptive plan-of-the-day protocol for nonrigid target motion management in locally advanced cervical cancer intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT).

Methods And Materials: Each of the 64 patients had four markers implanted in the vaginal fornix to verify the position of the cervix during treatment. Full and empty bladder computed tomography (CT) scans were acquired prior to treatment to build a bladder volume-dependent cervix-uterus motion model for establishment of the plan library.

Coupling between inter-helical hydrogen bonding and water dynamics in a proton transporter.

Long-distance proton transfers by proton pumps occurs in discrete steps that may involve the direct participation of protein sidechains and water molecules, and coupling of protonation changes to structural rearrangements of the protein matrix. Here we explore the role of inter-helical hydrogen bonding in long-distance protein conformational coupling and dynamics of internal water molecules. From molecular dynamics simulations of wild type and nine different bacteriorhodopsin mutants we find that both intra- and inter-helical hydrogen bonds are important determinants of the local protein structure, dynamics, and water interactions.

A margin-of-the-day online adaptive intensity-modulated radiotherapy strategy for cervical cancer provides superior treatment accuracy compared to clinically recommended margins: a dosimetric evaluation.

Purpose: To dosimetrically evaluate a margin-of-the-day (MoD) online adaptive intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) strategy for cervical cancer patients. The strategy is based on a single planning computed tomography (CT) scan and a pretreatment constructed IMRT plan library with incremental clinical target volumes (CTV)-to-planning target volumes (PTV) margins.

Material And Methods: For 14 patients, 9-10 variable bladder filling CT scans acquired at pretreatment and after 40 Gy were available.

Control over structure-specific flexibility improves anatomical accuracy for point-based deformable registration in bladder cancer radiotherapy.

Purpose: Future developments in image guided adaptive radiotherapy (IGART) for bladder cancer require accurate deformable image registration techniques for the precise assessment of tumor and bladder motion and deformation that occur as a result of large bladder volume changes during the course of radiotherapy treatment. The aim was to employ an extended version of a point-based deformable registration algorithm that allows control over tissue-specific flexibility in combination with the authors' unique patient dataset, in order to overcome two major challenges of bladder cancer registration, i.e.

Toward an individualized target motion management for IMRT of cervical cancer based on model-predicted cervix-uterus shape and position.

Background And Purpose: To design and evaluate a 3D patient-specific model to predict the cervix-uterus shape and position.

Methods And Materials: For 13 patients lying in prone position, 10 variable bladder filling CT-scans were acquired, 5 at planning and 5 after 40Gy. The delineated cervix-uterus volumes in 2-5 pre-treatment CT-scans were used to generate patient-specific models that predict the cervix-uterus geometry by bladder volume.

A population-based model to describe geometrical uncertainties in radiotherapy: applied to prostate cases.

Local motions and deformations of organs between treatment fractions introduce geometrical uncertainties into radiotherapy. These uncertainties are generally taken into account in the treatment planning by enlarging the radiation target by a margin around the clinical target volume. However, a practical method to fully include these uncertainties is still lacking.

Three-dimensional dose addition of external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy for oropharyngeal patients using nonrigid registration.

Purpose: To develop and evaluate a method for adding dose distributions of combined external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and brachytherapy (BT) for oropharyngeal patients.

Methods And Materials: Two computed tomography (CT) scans were used for 5 patients: the EBRT CT, used for EBRT planning, and the BT CT, acquired after catheter implantation. For each scan, the salivary glands and the chewing and swallowing muscles were contoured, and a dose distribution was calculated.

A symmetric nonrigid registration method to handle large organ deformations in cervical cancer patients.

Purpose: Modern radiotherapy requires assessment of patient anatomical changes. By using unidirectional registration methods, the quantified anatomical changes are asymmetric, i.e.

[Synthesis of immunomagnetic sorbents for separation of hepatitis B and C viruses].

This study was devoted to the creation of biomagnetic sorbents, capable of removing the virus particles from the human blood serum. With this purpose specific globulins were isolated from reconvalescents sera after acute hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV), which were later used as molecules-vectors (ligands). Ligands were covalently bound to magnetite encapsulated by the matrix, carrying aminopropyl groups on its surface.

A novel flexible framework with automatic feature correspondence optimization for nonrigid registration in radiotherapy.

Technical improvements in planning and dose delivery and in verification of patient positioning have substantially widened the therapeutic window for radiation treatment of cancer. However, changes in patient anatomy during the treatment limit the exploitation of these new techniques. To further improve radiation treatments, anatomical changes need to be modeled and accounted for Nonrigid registration can be used for this purpose.

[Characteristics of the functional state of the pancreas, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant defense in food hypersensitivity in children].

Pancreas function, lipid peroxidation and antioxidant defence were studied in 154 children aged 1 to 14 years with food allergy. Allergic inflammation due to food allergy favours the origin of different abnormalities of pancreas function: functional (39.4%), reactive pancreatitis (31.