Immunomodulatory Effects of Vitamin D in Respiratory Tract Infections and COVID-19 in Children.

Acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs) are one of the main reasons that the pediatric population goes to the doctor. The connection between ARTI and vitamin D (VD) is currently debated by the medical community, and so far, there has been little agreement with regard to the ideal level of 25(OH)D concentration that would provide protection for the respiratory tract, or the effectiveness of its administration in the treatment of respiratory infections. The purpose of this literature review was to bring attention to the immunomodulatory and antiviral function of vitamin D and its relation to the respiratory system by examining the main ARTIs, including SARS-CoV-2.

Better Safe than Sorry: Rheumatoid Arthritis, Interstitial Lung Disease, and Medication-A Narrative Review.

It is well known that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients are at an increased risk of developing non-infectious pulmonary complications, especially interstitial lung disease (ILD); however, the clinician must keep in mind that lung disease could not only be a manifestation of the underlying condition, but also a consequence of using disease-modifying therapies. New-onset ILD or ILD worsening has also been reported as a possible consequence of both conventional disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) and biologic agents. This study is a narrative review of the current literature regarding the potential risk of developing interstitial lung disease along with the administration of specific drugs used in controlling rheumatoid arthritis.

Clinicopathological Outlines of Post-COVID-19 Pulmonary Fibrosis Compared with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis.

This review brings together the current knowledge regarding the risk factors and the clinical, radiologic, and histological features of both post-COVID-19 pulmonary fibrosis (PCPF) and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), describing the similarities and the disparities between these two diseases, using numerous databases to identify relevant articles published in English through October 2022. This review would help clinicians, pathologists, and researchers make an accurate diagnosis, which can help identify the group of patients selected for anti-fibrotic therapies and future therapeutic perspectives.

Coronasomnia in Employees without a Direct Contact with COVID-19 Infected Patients in Their Workplace.

Background: The aim of this analysis was to explore coronasomnia in second line workers.

Methods: Data were collected via in an online questionnaire. Patients with new onset or aggravation of insomnia were defined as cases and those without insomnia as controls.

Romanian Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Treatment of GERD-induced Respiratory Manifestations.

Background And Aims: Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a common condition present in daily practice with a wide range of clinical phenotypes. In this line, respiratory conditions may be associated with GERD. The Romanian Societies of Gastroenterology and Neurogastroenterology, in association with the Romanian Society of Pneumology, aimed to create a guideline regarding the epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of respiratory conditions associated with GERD.

Smoking Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Arguments for a Distinctive Phenotype and a Personalized Intervention.

Background: This is the first study that aims to define smoking, with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), as a phenotype (SOSA). Moreover, we wanted to demonstrate the deleterious effects of the continuation of smoking on OSA.

Methods: The cross-sectional study highlighted four dimensions of SOSA: the demographic and anthropometric features, the symptoms, the comorbidities, and the sleep study parameters.

Challenges in Diagnosing Occupational Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Occupational chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (oCOPD) represents 15-20% of the global burden of this disease. Even if industrial bronchitis has long been known, new occupational hazards continue to emerge and enlarge the number of people exposed to risk. This review discusses the challenges related to the early detection of oCOPD, in the context of new exposures and of limited usage of methods for an efficient disease occupational screening.

High 24-Hour Respiratory Symptoms and Low Physical Activity in the Stable COPD Romanian Cohort of SPACE Study.

Objective: This study assessed the characteristics and the relationship between symptoms in any part of the 24-hour (24-h) day, physical activity level (PAL), and other clinical and functional outcomes in stable COPD patients.

Patients And Methods: Out of the 2162 patients enrolled in the SPACE study (The Symptoms and Physical Activity in COPD patients in Europe, clinicaltrials.gov NCT03031769), 406 (18.

Adiponectin and Asthma: Knowns, Unknowns and Controversies.

Adiponectin is an adipokine associated with the healthy obese phenotype. Adiponectin increases insulin sensitivity and has cardio and vascular protection actions. Studies related to adiponectin, a modulator of the innate and acquired immunity response, have suggested a role of this molecule in asthma.

Respiratory Dysfunctions in Parkinson's Disease Patients.

Respiratory dysfunctions have been associated with Parkinson's disease since the first observations of the disease in 1817. Patients with Parkinson's disease frequently present respiratory disorders with obstructive ventilatory patterns and restrictive modifications, as well as limitations in respiratory volumes. In addition, respiratory impairments are observed due to the rigidity and kyphosis that Parkinson's disease patients experience.

A retrospective evaluation of the treatment of viscerocranial fractures in Romania. A study of 1007 patients.

Aim: The treatment of viscerocranial fractures is complex and involves orthopedic, surgical methods, or combinations of both. The aim of this study is to evaluate the treatment methods applied and the type of materials used in the case of viscerocranial fractures in our geographical area, as well as to assess postoperative complications depending on each type of treatment, the location and the characteristics of the fracture lines.

Material And Methods: A 10-year retrospective statistical analysis of 1007 patients treated in a Romanian university hospital was performed, the data being collected from patients' medical records.

Interrelation between facial soft tissue lessions, underlying fracture patterns and treatment of zygomatic bone trauma: a 10 year retrospective study.

Background: The pattern of zygomatic bone fractures varies in the literature, their features being frequently masked by the presence of associated soft tissue lesions. In this context the clinical diagnosis and the therapeutic indications can be difficult. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical features of zygomatic bone fractures and their interrelation with concomitant overlying soft tissue injuries, as well as to assess the type of treatment methods applied depending on the fracture pattern and the results achieved depending on the incidence rate of postoperative complications.

Fatal rare case of measles complicated by bilateral pulmonary embolism: a case report and short literature review.

Different endemic outbreaks of measles have been diagnosed worldwide during the last several years. Some have had severe and fatal complications, possibly because of decreasing vaccination rates. The present case report describes an unvaccinated boy aged 2 years 11 months who was diagnosed with severe measles complicated by pulmonary embolism (PE).

Post-traumatic occipital psoriatic plaque complicated by extensive necrotizing fasciitis of the head and neck: a case report and literature review.

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is a severe infection involving the superficial fascial layers, subcutaneous cellular tissue, and possibly skin. It usually has a fulminant evolution, rapidly leading to death in the absence of early diagnosis and aggressive surgical treatment. We herein report a rare case of NF secondary to a traumatized occipital psoriatic plaque in an alcoholic 47-year-old woman and compare this case with the published literature.

Distinction between mesothelioma and lung adenocarcinoma based on immunohistochemistry in a patient with asbestos bodies in bronchoalveolar fluid - case report.

Asbestos is a mineral-mined form the rocks, consisting in amosite (brown asbestos), crocidolite (blue asbestos) and÷or chrysotile (white asbestos) used in many industries. Researches about the exposure to asbestos dust and asbestosis related diseases started almost a century ago. The first case report of fatal asbestosis disease was published in 1906, in England, by Dr.

Analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid in a first Romanian pulmonary alveolar proteinosis cohort.

The features of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) components and the severity of pulmonary alveolar proteinosis (PAP) were analyzed in the first Romanian cohort of patients admitted to "Marius Nasta" Institute of Pneumophtisiology, Bucharest, Romania. A six-year follow-up study based on bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) data was performed between January 2007 to December 2012. Study cohort consisted in 20 inpatients diagnosed with PAP, based on BALF cytological findings and÷or on histopathological findings.

Fatal paradoxical cryptic miliary tuberculosis and immune reconstitution disease in a young non-HIV immunocompromised male patient: case report with autopsy findings.

Non-HIV immunocompromised patients may develop immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) as an abnormal response to invading microorganisms, such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). IRIS consists in a sudden change in the dominant T-helper responses to inflammation, which is not balanced by anti-inflammatory response, playing a critical role in microbial pathogenesis. A patient with restoration of host immunity during anti-tuberculosis treatment can become gravely ill with a paradoxical severe form of tuberculosis (TB) disease named TB immune reconstitution disease (IRD).

Parental environmental tobacco smoking and the prevalence of respiratory diseases in primary school children.

Introduction: The inhaling tobacco smoke to which a child is exposed, in a home environmental area, could affect respiratory system.

Material And Methods: The aim of the study consists in detecting the prevalence of respiratory diseases in home exposure to secondhand smoke among primary school children. A 6-month prospective case-control study based on questionnaire survey was carried out among school children of "Spiru Haret" Primary School, Medgidia, Romania, with absences for respiratory diseases, related to exposure to parental passive smoking, in their home environmental.

Progressive intraparenchymal lung nodules dissemination in a heavy smoker and seropositive rheumatoid arthritis suspected of tuberculosis relapse.

Anthony Caplan first described rheumatoid lung nodules associated with pneumoconiosis in coal-miners (Caplan, 1953). Intraparenchymal lung nodules were later described in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients who were never exposed to coal dust and/or without pneumoconiosis. Rheumatoid lung nodules are usually detected in unselected patients: 0.

Smoking, snoring and obstructive sleep apnea.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), with an apnea/hypopnea index (AHI) > or =5 events per hour, is recognized as an important cause of medical morbidity and mortality, being associated with a wide range of significant medical consequences, including arterial hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic diseases, neurological diseases and psychological effects. Tobacco smoking is considered a predisposing factor for pulmonary and cardiovasculary diseases and a risk factor for developing OSA. Since snoring is frequent in smokers and a common symptom, even a preclinical form of OSA, it is reasonable to speculate that smoking is an independent risk factor for snoring and may be associated with OSA.

Giant left-sided pleuropericardial cyst, mimicking a heart disease.

Mediastinal cysts (MC) mainly have an embryonic origin, are benign and frequently discovered thanks to tomodensitometry, sometimes by magnetic resonance imaging. Rarely symptomatic, excepted in cases of very large cysts, they are mainly pleuropericardic cysts (PPC) that represent 30% of MC Surgery is commonly performed by videothoracoscopy or by video-assisted mini-thoracotomy, mainly for PPC We report the case of a 62-year-old woman, smoker (30 packs years), who is hospitalized in Constanta Pneumology Hospital in June 2011 for slight shortness of breath, sweating, pain in the left hemi thorax, minor hemoptysis, recurrent. In her medical history, there are to be noticed a blood transfusion after hysterectomy for uterine fibroma (1995), arterial hypertension (2006).

Acute massive pulmonary embolism associated with olanzapine therapy and no significant personal history in a young male--case report and literature review.

We report the case of a 28 years old, non-smoker male with a massive pulmonary embolism and left pleural effusion associated and probably induced by olanzapine 10 mg once daily in the previous 4 months, completely recovered after 18 days of stopping the antipsychotic and trombolytic treatment. Thrombotic events have been reported with the use of antipsychotic compounds, although the incidence, predisposing factors, and biological mechanisms associated with these events in psychiatric patients are subject to debate.

[Smoking and chronic autoimmune thyroiditis].

Introduction: The chronic autoimmune thyroiditis are heterogeneous entities by the functional, lesional and evolutive point of view. Ethiopathogenic factors involved in chronic autoimmune thyroiditis are genetical factors, combines with environmental factors, hormonal factors, infectious factors etc. The exact role of smoking on the autoimmune mechanism is unclear, but smoking is known to have an antithyroid effect.

[Diagnosis and management of occupational asthma in the American College of Chest Physicians statement].

Occupational asthma is one of the most common work-related respiratory conditions and causes considerable morbidity and impairment of quality of life. In the general population, the occupations that contribute to asthma are concentrated in the construction industry, metal, plastic and rubber work, printing and industrial cleaning. The magnitude of the attributable risk of occupational asthma is estimate between 4 to 58% among all cases of asthma.

[Sternal chondrosarcoma and the complications poststernectomy].

Primary tumors of the sternum are unusual, and, of these chondrosarcoma is extremely rare. Prior cases were more frequent in men. It is the consensus that central (axial) skeletal lesions are always suspected of malignancy.