Retromolar trigone--oropharynx junction maligns tumor surgery: transmandibular versus oral approach.

Aim: This study proposes a new approach to a borderline pathology between Otorhinolaryngology (E.N.T.

Measuring fatigue as a symptom in COPD: From descriptors and questionnaires to the importance of the problem.

Fatigue is a symptom commonly diagnosed in cancers and in many other chronic debilitating diseases and is one of the main therapeutic targets for various pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic interventions. However, in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), this symptom, which can be considered as the main extrapulmonary clinical feature of the disease, can impact significantly on the health-related quality of life of the patients. The aims of this review are to discuss the issues related to fatigue assessment in COPD and to highlight the importance of this symptom in this setting based on the data retrieved from articles published between 1987 through August 2014 available on MEDLINE database.

Insulin resistance and adipokine levels correlate with early atherosclerosis - a study in prediabetic patients.

Cardiovascular risk of prediabetes is still subject to controversies. We analyzed the associations between insulin resistance, adipokines and incipient atherosclerosis estimated by intima-media thickness (IMT) in a cross-sectional study on 122 prediabetic subjects without clinical signs of atherosclerotic disease. Homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR, calculated as fasting insulin × fasting plasma glucose / 22.

Vitamin D status in patients admitted in a clinic of endocrinology.

Unlabelled: Vitamin D deficiency has been known as a global health problem and there were reported moderate to strong inverse associations between 25(OH) D concentrations and cardiovascular diseases, serum lipid concentrations, inflammation, glucose metabolism disorders, weight gain, infectious diseases, multiple sclerosis, mood disorders, declining cognitive function, impaired physical functioning, and all-cause mortality. In Romania there are only a few published reports on vitamin D status among adult population.

Aim: To evaluate vitamin D status in 440 patients those were admitted in our clinic for various endocrine pathology.

Immune therapies for malignant mesothelioma.

Malignant mesothelioma (MM) is a rare disease which can develop in pleura, pericardium or peritoneum and in which the therapies available have limited efficacy and are associated with various side effects. Therefore, there is a need for more targeted and more effective therapies which are able to halt the disease progression. Among them immune therapies actively or passively directed against various structures of the MM cells seem to be particularly promising given their inhibitory potential demonstrated in both experimental and early clinical studies.

Rad51 overexpression and resistance to genotoxic agents. A study in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Background: Many cancer cell lines have been found to overexpress the recombinase Rad51. The overexpression is associated with increased invasive potential and resistance to DNA-damaging therapeutic agents. This has been attributed to an increased capacity of cells overexpressing Rad51 to repair DNA lesions or to a genetic stabilization of the genome.

Rad52 protein function study by fluorescence tagging.

Rad52 protein plays a significant role in DNA lesions repair by homologous recombination in eukariotic cells. Human Rad52 function somewhat overlaps with BRCA2 and has a role in cell survival in the absence of BRCA1-BRCA2 mediated recombination. Additional Rad52 function analysis and intracellular localization studies are probably necessary.

Cardiac troponin T and NT-proBNP as biomarkers of early myocardial damage in amitriptyline-induced cardiovascular toxicity in rats.

The main objective of this study was to investigate whether cardiac troponin (cTn) and N-terminal, protein B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) can be useful as indicators for amitriptyline cardiotoxicity which is a known drug having sublethal toxic cardiac effects. At the same time, this study looked at detecting potential histopathological changes specific to irreversible cardiac injuries in a rat model of amitriptyline cardiotoxicity. Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 2 groups, control (saline) group and amitriptyline group (100 mg/kg body weight intraperitoneally, equivalent for lethal dose at 50%).

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is associated with cardiovascular risk factors of metabolic syndrome.

Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of steatosis and to assess its correlations with the classical cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, components of metabolic syndrome (MS) in a rural population.

Material And Methods: A sample of 254 subjects was enrolled in the study. Collected data included: age, gender, complete medical history, anthropometric and blood pressure (BP) measurements.

Evaluation of serum and gingival crevicular fluid C-reactive protein and IL-6 levels in patients with periodontitis and transient ischemic attacks.

Background: Recent advances have suggested that periodontitis (PD), the paradigm of chronic infection in dental pathology, shares several pathogenic pathways with cardio- and cerebro-vascular disorders (CVD), based on inflammatory mediators including IL-1, IL-6, TNF-α.

Aim: To assess pro-inflammatory biomarkers (C-reactive protein - CRP, IL-6) in serum and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) in patients with PD and with transient ischemic attacks (TIAs).

Materials And Methods: Prospective observational study on 143 patients classified as follows: 40 healthy subjects (group A), 50 PD patients (group B) and 53 PD-TIAs patients (group C).

[Comparative study concerning food intake in a group of people with dyslipidemias vs. a control group in the Targu Neamt area].

Unlabelled: The aim of the study was to find a correlation between the consumption frequency of the main food groups and the presence of dyslipidemia as compared to a control group without dyslipidemias.

Material And Method: For this study we have considered a number of 678 people, divided in two groups: 339 with dyslipidemias and 339 without dyslipidemias, each of the two groups comprising 137 subjects from the rural area and 201 from the urban area, through the questionnaire method.

Results: The involved people have been questioned about the consumption of milk and related products (cheese), meat and related products (beef and pork), fish and related products and fruits.

Total antioxidant status in the blood serum of rats after biogenic amines administration.

Unlabelled: The aim of our study was to investigate the influence of biogenic amines on rat blood levels of total antioxidant status (TAS). Total antioxidant species refers to all circulating species in plasma including vitamin E, vitamin C, beta-carotene, uric acid, bilirubin, albumin as well as metal-binding proteins (e.g.

[Evaluation of oral injuries in experimental induced diabetes mellitus by analysis of some gingival fluid markers].

Aim: The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between the activity of the enzyme aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and IL1-beta in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) on animal model with experimentally induced diabetes mellitus and periodontal disease.

Material And Method: During our study we used 15 Wistar rats, divided into three groups: I--control, II--with experimental model of periodontal disease, III--with experimental model of periodontal disease and diabetes. The sampling of GCF was realized using Whatman no.

Flow cytometry-based quantification of cytokine levels in AML patients plasma and cell culture supernatants.

Aim: Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) have been found to support leukemic cell survival; however, the mechanisms responsible are far from being elucidated yet. The main aim of the current study is to identify particular cytokine/chemokine patterns of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells, and, on a longer term, to correlate them with the patient outcome and response to therapy. Therefore, the influence of BMSCs on in vitro modulation of cytokine secretion (IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, IL-10, IFN-gamma, IL-4, IL-5, and IL-2) by AML cells as well as the AML cells supportive capacity of BMSCs-derived soluble factors was investigated.

[Relationship diabetes mellitus-periodontal disease: etiology and risk factors].

The interrelation between diabetes mellitus and inflammatory periodontal disease has been intensively studied for more than 50 years, a real bidirectional influence existing between patient's glycemic level disorder and periodontal territories alteration. Several studies developed in this direction emerged to the evidences that reveal a general increase of prevalence, extent and severity of gingivitis and periodontitis. Inflammation plays an important role in this interrelation, orchestrating both the periodontal disease and diabetes mellitus pathogeny and complications.

Th1 and Th2 cytokine response in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and health care workers occupationally exposed to M. tuberculosis.

Unlabelled: Aiming to detect reliable markers indicating protection from or susceptibility to tuberculosis infection, we investigated both Th1/Th2 cytokines and total IgE plasma levels in health care workers occupationally exposed to M. tuberculosis, in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis and in healthy persons.

Material And Method: The study groups have included 15 health care workers in close contact with TB patients, patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis at diagnosis and after treatment (12 advanced and 10 moderate TB, of which 6 had also pleurisy) and 20 healthy volunteers.

[Oxidative stress and immune response in eumenorrheic underweight patients].

Malnutrition is known to induce a state of immunodeficiency and a predisposition to death from infectious diseases. During fasting or starvation, it appears that oxidative stress is decreased. The goal of our study was to assess the interrelation between nutritional factors, oxidative stress and immune response.

[High values of soluble cytokeratin 18 in breast carcinomas may have different meanings].

We have investigated the cellular and serum CK18 in 26 non-treated primary ductal invasive breast carcinomas. The soluble CK18 (TPS) was detected by chemiluminescent assay, and the cellular CK18 and PCNA expression by immunocytochemistry. Flow-cytometry was used to estimate the amount of DNA in malignant cells.

[Correlation between increase of oxidative stress and microalbuminuria in type-1 diabetic patients].

Oxidative stress has an important role in genesis of diabetic complications, especially diabetic nephropathy. The aim of the study was to assess correlations between increase of oxidative stress (OS) and the development of microalbuminuria (MA) in type 1 diabetic patients. We determined the oxidative status by measuring the level of superoxide dismutase (SOD-Minanui method), catalase (CAT-Aebi method), glutathione peroxidase (GPx-Fukuzawa method) and glutathione (GSH-Ellman method) in 87 type 1 diabetic patients (44 with normal urinary protein excretion-group A and 43 with MA-group B) and 38 nondiabetic matched controls, before and 24 hours after a test effort.

[HDL-cholesterol--active or passive participant in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis? (II)].

It is known that high sanguin levels of cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol (LDLc) have an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The treatment of hypercholesterolemia with statins and/or with fibrates have had beneficial effects on coronary heart disease and on other localization of atherosclerosis. The decreased of cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol is the most important effect of this treatment.

[Evaluation of oxidative stress and enzymatic antioxidants in medium physical training of moderate arterial hypertension].

A group of patients with moderate hypertension (149-150/90-99 mmHg) performed physical exercise for 3 months; we determined the oxidative stress in blood samples, by calculating the level of some antioxidative markers, the enzymes SOD, CAT, GPx, MDA and comparing the results with the values obtained from a group of healthy subjects. We found an increased oxidative stress at the hypertensive patients, with initial higher values of SOD and MDA and with lower values of CAT and GPx, compared to the normal subjects. After the 3 months of physical training, the oxidative stress improved, with decreasing activity of SOD, GPx, MDA and increasing CAT, maintaining the ratio CAT/SOD and GPx/SOD superior compared to normal subjects.

[Determination of urinary iodine as a marker of iodine deficiency].

Purpose: Determination of ioduria in order to establish the actual degree of iodine deficiency in school-age children from 4 counties in Moldavia.

Materials And Methods: Urinary iodine was determined in 927 school-children aged 7-14 years from 4 counties: Suceava, Iaşi, Neamţ and Botoşani. The determination was made by cerium-arsenate method and by a semi-quantitative method.

[Effect of antilipemic therapy on patients with diabetes mellitus and obesity].

Fibrates are hypolipemic agents used in noninsulin dependent diabetes mellitus (NIDDM) because these drugs have no influence on glycemia control. The efficiency of fenofibrate (Lipanthyl) was studied in a group of 22 subjects, 30-70 years, obese (body mass index-BMI over 30 kg/m2) or overweight (BMI = 28-30 kg/m2) with hypertension or/and diabetes. All the patients received 200 mg fenofibrate daily, for 6 month, and they had a hypocaloric diet.

[Implication of methylglyoxal in diabetes mellitus].

Methylglyoxal (MG) is an early glycation product which is implicated in genesis of diabetic complications either as a direct toxin or as a precursor for advanced glycation end products. It is metabolized via S-D-lactoylglutathione to D-lactate by means of the enzymes glyoxalase I and II, which depend on glutattione as cofactor. MG is highly reactive and can bind to and modify proteins by chemical interaction with cellular proteins, action on energy production, induce free radical generation and cell killing.