Dysmetabolic signals in "metabolically healthy" obesity.

Background: Obesity is associated with decreased insulin sensitivity, atherogenic dyslipidemia and hypertension, but clinical studies have also identified a "metabolically healthy" obese phenotype.

Objective: To compare the characteristics of so-called "metabolically healthy" obese (MHO), normal weight subjects (MHNW) and obese with insulin resistance in the United States National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1999-2004 (NHANES).

Design, Setting And Participants: Insulin resistance was defined by a homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) value in the upper tertile for the entire NHANES cohort.

Giant lipomatous tumors of the upper extremities--a series of 8 consecutive cases.

We present a series of eight consecutive patients evaluated in our department from 2002 to 2007 with giant lipomatous tumors (as defined in medical studies as greater than 5 cm) of upper extremities. There were three male and five female, ranged in age from 17 to 77 years (mean age of 55). The tumor's size ranged from 5 to 34 cm.

Contribution towards developing a new semi-selective medium for Streptococcus anginosus group.

Unlabelled: The aim of this study was to develop a new selective medium for isolation of Streptococcus anginosus group (SAG) strains, by adding sulphamethazine and aztreonam as selective agents at Mitis-Salivarius agar (MSA), the medium commonly used for recovery of oral streptococci from oral samples.

Material And Method: The evaluation of Mitis-Salivarius--sulphamethazine--aztreonam agar (MSSAA) for SAG selectivity was performed by testing the growth of type strains and laboratory-stored clinical isolates of different oral streptococcal species on this medium and also by investigating the SAG recovery on MSSAA in comparison with MSA and the growth inhibition of non-SAG strains from 100 saliva and 11 pus samples (collected from healthy young subjects and from paediatric patients with upper respiratory tract infections, respectively) on MSSAA.

Results: The same SAG recovery rate was obtained on both MSSAA and MSA, while non-SAG strains failed to grow on the novel medium, except for enterococci.

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder: neuroendocrine interferences.

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) consists in severe cognitive and mood changes, more aggressive as seen in premenstrual syndrome (PMS). These two syndromes are situated at the border between gynecology and psychiatry but the link between the two domains remains the neuroendocrine underlying mechanisms. In present, there are some molecular systems certainly proved as being involved, like estrogens.

Reproduction after breast cancer.

Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring cancer in women of developed countries, and as a result of new developments in breast cancer treatment, more women are cured after being diagnosed with this disease. It is important that fertility preservation strategies are addressed before chemotherapy, because chemotherapy may induce premature ovarian failure (depending on the woman's age, the drugs used, the dosage and duration of treatment). Among possible solutions are embryos or oocytes cryopreservation, ovarian tissue cryopreservation-freezing with a subsequent orthotopic and heterotopic autotransplantation, whole ovary cryopreservation, ovarian suppression with gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) analogues, which inhibit ovarian follicular depletion induced by chemotherapeutic agents and in vitro fertilisation (IVF) after ovulation induction with aromatase inhibitors or tamoxifen.

Changes in plasma levels of complement in patients with acute ischemic stroke.

Inflammatory processes are involved in cerebral ischemia. Patients with ischemic stroke may be predisposed to marked activation of the inflammatory system. The objective was to analyze the association between the level of complement at different stages after stroke and outcome.

Some clinico-immunological aspects in patients with ocular myasthenia gravis associated with inflammatory bowel disease.

The link between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and ocular myasthenia gravis (OMG) is thought to be related to the production of autoantibodies. The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of some antibodies in OMG patients with IBD. Sixty-four patients with IBD and neurological symptoms were examined neurologically and immunologically (41 men and 23 women, mean age 43-5.

Oral streptococcal strains isolated from odontogenic infections and their susceptibility to antibiotics.

The aim of this study was to identify at species level and to investigate the antibiotic susceptibility of oral streptococcal strains isolated from 100 pus samples collected from Romanian patients with different odontogenic infections. The isolates were identified at species level using the Rapid ID 32 STREP system and their susceptibility was testing by the Etest, against: penicillin G, ampicillin, erythromycin, clindamycin and tetracycline. For the investigation of erythromycin resistance phenotype the disk diffusion test was used.

Allergic reactions to antithyroid drugs are associated with autoimmunity a retrospective case-control study.

Unlabelled: Thiamazole is the most used antithyroid drug for thyrotoxicosis in Basedow-Graves' (BG) (autoimmune) disease and in toxic multinodular goitre (TMG) (non-autoimmune). This study aims to find whether allergic reactions to thiamazole occur more frequently during the treatment of BG than of TMG.

Method: Retrospective study, of 128 patients newly diagnosed and treated for thyrotoxicosis in the first 6 months of 2006, in the Endocrinology Department of "Elias" Hospital, Bucharest.

Investigation of TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-8 and of procalcitonin in patients with neurologic complications in sepsis.

Some mediators of inflammation are associated with sepsis, involving nervous system. Proinflammatory cytokines, TNF-alpha, IL-6, and IL-8, and procalcitonin (PCT), proinflammatory protein, were investigated in patients with neurologic complications in sepsis. TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-8, and PCT were prospectively investigated in 62 patients with neurologic complications in sepsis.

Fibrinogen interaction with activated polymorphonuclear leukocytes studied by chemiluminescence.

Fibrinogen (FB) is an acute phase protein. It is recognized as an independent risk factor in the plasma of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). The plasma FB level is also significantly increased in inflammation and neoplasms.

Antioxidant protection in collagen-vascular diseases.

Alteration of redox balance in the serum of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and systemic vasculitis (SV) was investigated. Excess in oxidative processes has been measured through concentration of lipid peroxides which was found to increase by 26% in SLE and 32% in SV. Antioxidant protection capacity against this oxidative aggression has been assessed both by determining the level of activity of the enzymes participating in this process (superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase GSH-Px) and by determining the total antioxidant serum activity.

Lipoproteins, lipidic peroxidation and total antioxidant capacity in serum of aged subjects suffering from hyperglycemia.

Quantitative alterations of serum lipoproteins were studied as well as lipidic peroxidation level and total antioxidant capacity in the serum of 265 subjects ranging in age between 60-70 years, out of which 97 showed levels of glycemia higher than normal. Increase of LDL and VLDL was found in 74.6% respectively 67% of the old-aged subjects researched, without also finding significant differences between sexes.

Herpetic viruses and spontaneous recovery in melanoma.

The malignant melanoma may display extremely variable forms of development, from clinical forms with a lethal course to the unforeseeable situations of spontaneous cures. The basic immunotherapeutic procedures, as well as hypotheses regarding the mechanisms involved in courses towards spontaneous regressions, are presented. Since viruses of the herpes genus are involved in the mechanisms assumed to be at the basis of spontaneous regressions, it is suggested that these viruses (selected strains) be used in the clinic, in order to check the advanced hypothesis, an opportunity which could permit to study also the very probable therapeutic alternative offered by this virus, namely the association of the well-known immunotherapeutic methods.