Publications by authors named "Munteanu V"

Bone loading is a crucial factor that constrains locomotor capacities of terrestrial tetrapods. To date, limb bone strains and stresses have been studied across various animals, with a primary emphasis on consistent bone loading in mammals of different sizes and variations in loading regimes across different clades and limb postures. However, the relationships between body size, limb posture and limb bone loading remain unclear in animals with non-parasagittally moving limbs, limiting our understanding of the evolution of limb functions in tetrapods.

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Background And Aims: Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treatment is challenged by late detection and limited therapeutic options. Aberrant DNA methylation, a common epigenetic alteration in NSCLC, offers new therapeutic avenues. This study aims to evaluate the combined effects of 5-Azacytidine (5-Aza), an epigenetic modifier, and ionizing radiation (IR) on NSCLC, exploring the underlying molecular mechanisms and therapeutic potential.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study compares a new minimally-invasive lymph node dissection technique for penile cancer (MILND) with the traditional open approach (OILND) to evaluate patient outcomes.
  • Between 2016 and 2023, results showed that MILND had shorter operation times, shorter hospital stays, and fewer days with drainage compared to OILND, while also yielding similar or better lymph node results.
  • Additionally, MILND led to a lower rate of major complications, suggesting it may enhance patient safety and recovery compared to the standard approach.
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Pain is a subjective concept which is ever-present in the medical field. Health professionals are confronted with a variety of pain types and sources, as well as the challenge of managing a patient with acute or chronic suffering. An even bigger challenge is presented in the pediatric population, which often cannot quantify pain in a numerical scale like adults.

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  • Data-driven computational analysis in biomedical research is hindered by poor sharing of research outputs, affecting the transparency and reproducibility of studies.
  • An analysis of 453 manuscripts from 2016-2021 found that over half did not share analytical code, with only 10% organizing their code in a reproducible format.
  • To improve reproducibility and promote scientific collaboration, the study emphasizes the need for better awareness and practices around sharing code and data in the biomedical field.
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Celiac disease, firstly described in children, is a type of T-cell enteropathy that occurs in individuals genetically predisposed to gluten exposure. The estimated global prevalence of celiac disease is continuously increasing. Although, traditionally, celiac disease was diagnosed in children with failure to thrive and digestive issues, it is now recognized that may present with a wide range of symptoms beyond gastrointestinal ones.

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Being defined as an autoimmune, chronic pathology, frequently encountered in any age group, but especially in pediatrics, celiac disease (also called gluten enteropathy), is gaining more and more ground in terms of diagnosis, but also interest in research. The data from the literature of the last decades attest the chameleonic way of its presentation, there may be both classic onset symptoms and atypical symptoms. Given the impact played by celiac disease, especially in the optimal growth and development of children, the current narrative review aims to highlight the atypical presentation methods, intended to guide the clinician towards the inclusion of the pathology in the differential diagnosis scheme.

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Due to the ambiguity related to the lack of phase information, determining the physical parameters of multilayer thin films from measured neutron and X-ray reflectivity curves is, on a fundamental level, an underdetermined inverse problem. This ambiguity poses limitations on standard neural networks, constraining the range and number of considered parameters in previous machine learning solutions. To overcome this challenge, a novel training procedure has been designed which incorporates dynamic prior boundaries for each physical parameter as additional inputs to the neural network.

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The evolution of archosaurs provides an important context for understanding the mechanisms behind major functional transformations in vertebrates, such as shifts from sprawling to erect limb posture and the acquisition of powered flight. While comparative anatomy and ichnology of extinct archosaurs have offered insights into musculoskeletal and gait changes associated with locomotor transitions, reconstructing the evolution of motor control requires data from extant species. However, the scarcity of electromyography (EMG) data from the forelimb, especially of crocodylians, has hindered understanding of neuromuscular evolution in archosaurs.

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  • Prostate adenocarcinoma is influenced by both coding and non-coding genes, including the crucial gene TP53, which interacts with specific microRNAs that may serve as biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment.
  • Researchers analyzed TCGA data and validated findings using patient samples to explore the relationship between TP53 and select miRNAs (miR-15a-5p, miR-34a-5p, miR-141-3p).
  • Their results revealed TP53 is overexpressed in prostate cancer and identified these miRNAs as part of a network crucial for tumor regulation, indicating their potential as future therapeutic targets.
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Recently, there has been significant interest in applying machine-learning (ML) techniques to the automated analysis of X-ray scattering experiments, due to the increasing speed and size at which datasets are generated. ML-based analysis presents an important opportunity to establish a closed-loop feedback system, enabling monitoring and real-time decision-making based on online data analysis. In this study, the incorporation of a combined one-dimensional convolutional neural network (CNN) and multilayer perceptron that is trained to extract physical thin-film parameters (thickness, density, roughness) and capable of taking into account prior knowledge is described.

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: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in children is a debilitating disease, difficult to treat. Dental appliances have been proposed as a valid therapy for improving functional outcomes with good compliance rates. Herein, we aimed to perform a meta-analysis comparing clinical outcomes between OSA children treated with dental appliances versus controls.

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Data-driven computational analysis is becoming increasingly important in biomedical research, as the amount of data being generated continues to grow. However, the lack of practices of sharing research outputs, such as data, source code and methods, affects transparency and reproducibility of studies, which are critical to the advancement of science. Many published studies are not reproducible due to insufficient documentation, code, and data being shared.

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Across vertebrate diversity, limb bone morphology is typically expected to reflect differences in the habitats and functional tasks that species utilize. Arboreal vertebrates are often recognized to have longer limbs than terrestrial relatives, a feature thought to help extend the reach of limbs across gaps between branches. Among terrestrial vertebrates, longer limbs can experience greater bending moments that might expose bones to a greater risk of failure.

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The human microbiome represents the diversity of microorganisms that live together at different organ sites, influencing various physiological processes and leading to pathological conditions, even carcinogenesis, in case of a chronic imbalance. Additionally, the link between organ-specific microbiota and cancer has attracted the interest of numerous studies and projects. In this review article, we address the important aspects regarding the role of gut, prostate, urinary and reproductive system, skin, and oral cavity colonizing microorganisms in prostate cancer development.

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Background: A Hartmann operation, which is the intervention by which the lower part of the sigmoid and the upper part of the rectum are resected with the closing of the rectal stump and end colostomy, has as its indications: advanced or complicated rectosigmoid neoplasm, moderate biological condition of the patient, peritoneal sepsis, intestinal occlusion and fragile colonic wall, especially in the context of inflammatory changes. The Hartmann procedure can save lives even at the cost of a stoma reversal failure.

Methods: The cases operated with the Hartmann procedure by an open approach or laparoscopic approach in our clinic, between 1 January 2016 and 31 December 2020, were admitted in this study and their medical records were reviewed, also making a comparison between the two types of approach.

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Article Synopsis
  • * RNA-seq allows researchers to investigate various aspects of gene expression, such as identifying new exons, measuring gene expression levels, and studying alternative splicing, but challenges persist in extracting meaningful data due to the complexity and size of the datasets.
  • * The review aims to clarify essential concepts and terminology related to RNA-seq data analysis, highlighting the evolution of computational tools as technology advances and the importance of researchers’ computational skills.
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Machine learning (ML) has received enormous attention in science and beyond. Discussed here are the status, opportunities, challenges and limitations of ML as applied to X-ray and neutron scattering techniques, with an emphasis on surface scattering. Typical strategies are outlined, as well as possible pitfalls.

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Ventricular assist devices (VAD) have gained popularity in the pediatric population during recent years, as more and more children require a heart transplant due to improved palliation methods, allowing congenital heart defect patients and children with cardiomyopathies to live longer. Eventually, these children may require heart transplantation, and ventricular assist devices provide a bridge to transplantation in these cases. The FDA has so far approved two types of device: pulsatile and continuous flow (non-pulsatile), which can be axial and centrifugal.

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Pediatric nephrolithiasis cases have been on the rise in the past several years, resulting in increased healthcare costs and other burdens on the juveniles with this ailment. Recent research has shown that present trends in pediatric nephrolithiasis have changed as a result of fluid intake, including water consumption, nutrition, obesity prevalence, lifestyle, and imaging procedures. A specific cause, meanwhile, is still elusive.

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About 1% of childhood tumors can be malignant ovarian tumors and differential diagnosis with benign ones is sometimes difficult before surgery. Concerning the management of such tumors in adolescents for which future fertility is a concern, there is specific interest in their malignant potential and the possible use of ovarian-sparing operative techniques, as well the suitability of chemotherapy. To exemplify the difficulties of preoperative differential diagnosis, personalized approach and the difficulties of deciding to preserve the affected ovary, we report a rare case of a 14-year-old female adolescent with a growing abdominal painless mass and without any other chronic diseases.

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It is possible to obtain diagnostically relevant data on the changes in biochemical elements brought on by cancer via the use of multivariate analysis of vibrational spectra recorded on biological fluids. Prostate cancer and control groups included in this research generated almost similar SERS spectra, which means that the values of peak intensities present in SERS spectra can only give unspecific and limited information for distinguishing between the two groups. Our diagnostic algorithm for prostate cancer (PCa) differentiation was built using principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis (PCA-LDA) analysis of spectral data, which has been widely used in spectral data management in many studies and has shown promising results so far.

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The Python package is demonstrated, which implements an optimized pipeline for the automated analysis of reflectometry data using machine learning. The package combines several training and data treatment techniques discussed in previous publications. The predictions made by the neural network are accurate and robust enough to serve as good starting parameters for an optional subsequent least-mean-squares (LMS) fit of the data.

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Unlabelled: Prostate cancer biology is complex, and needs to be deciphered. The latest evidence reveals the significant role of non-coding RNAs, particularly microRNAs (miRNAs), as key regulatory factors in cancer. Therefore, the identification of altered miRNA patterns involved in prostate cancer will allow them to be used for development of novel diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.

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