Publications by authors named "Oana Ionescu"

Chitosan-based nanofibers (CS-NFs) are excellent artificial extracellular matrices (ECMs) due to the resemblance of CS with the glycosaminoglycans of the natural ECMs. Despite this excellent feature, the poor electrospinnability and mechanical properties of CS are responsible for important limitations in respect to its biomedical applications. To improve the CS's physico-chemical properties, new bioactive and biomimetic CS-NFs were formulated with polyethylene oxide (PEO), having incorporated different active components (ACs) with important beneficial effects for healing.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Improving wound healing by developing innovative dressing materials has been an important focus over the past few years in the biomedical field. In this regard, the current study focuses on developing new dressings based on acrylate-endcapped urethane-based polymers (AUPs). The materials have been processed into films and electrospun mats.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Liposarcoma of the breast is a very rare soft tissue malignant tumor arising in the fat cells, with a prevalence of 0.3% of all malignant breast tumors, clinically manifested as a palpable breast mass mimicking a primary breast cancer. In the present paper, we had two objectives: (i) to report the first liposarcoma case in our Clinic and (ii) to screen the scientific literature on the topic.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Wound dressings under the form of films constituted of modified alginate (methacrylated alginate - AlgMA) versus a gelatine derivative containing norbornene functionalities (GelNB) are developed and evaluated for their moisturizing effects, followed by further in vivo testing to assay their wound healing potential. The gel fraction results shows that AlgMA and GelNB films displayed a high crosslinking efficiency while the swelling assay reveals a stronger water uptake capacity for AlgMA films compared to GelNB and to commercial dressing AquacelAg, used as positive control. Referring to the in vivo wound healing effect, the GelNB films not only exhibit proper healing properties, yet is higher to the AquacelAg, while the AlgMA films exhibit similar wound healing effect as the positive control.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Natural compounds have been used as wound-healing promoters and are also present in today's clinical proceedings. In this research, different natural active components such as propolis, Manuka honey, insulin, L-arginine, and infusion were included into hyaluronic acid/poly(ethylene)oxide-based electrospun nanofiber membranes to design innovative wound-dressing biomaterials. Morphology and average fiber diameter were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Epithelioid angiosarcoma of the vagina is a rare variant, easily misdiagnosed as other epithelial neoplasms. On Hematoxylin-Eosin-stained sections, the pathologist encounters sheets of large, mildly to moderately pleomorphic epithelioid cells, with abundant eosinophilic cytoplasm, vesicular nuclei, and prominent nucleoli. We report the case of a 22-year-old woman initially diagnosed with condiloma-like tumor of the left vaginal wall, which turned out positive at immunostaining for epithelioid angiosarcoma.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Acne is a disorder of the pilosebaceous unit, common among adolescents, which may be extended to adulthood. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of hormonal disorders in women with acne resistance to conventional therapy. We included 72 women aged between 15 and 36 years (divided in two age groups) who presented to our clinic between May and October 2014, suffering from moderate and severe forms of papulopustular and nodulocystic acne.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Endometriosis is a gynecologic condition affecting mainly the pelvic organs. However, extrapelvic endometriosis has been reported in almost all parts of the body. Umbilical endometriosis, either primary or secondary, is uncommon and has a documented neoplastic risk.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Prolactin is a polipeptidic hormone secreted by the anterior pituitary gland, whose main role consists in the stimulation of lactation in the postpartum period. The increasing of prolactin secretion can be physiological (pregnancy and lactation) or pathological (hypothalamic and pituitary diseases, iatrogenic, etc.).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF