An Epidemiological Perspective on New Pediatric Cases of Type 1 Diabetes and Vitamin D Deficiency in South-East Romania: A Retrospective Study.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to analyze the epidemiological characteristics and the biological profile of children from the southeast of Romania who have been newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes (T1DM) and to investigate the potential relationships between vitamin D deficiency and the onset of this disease, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: This is a retrospective study that included 79 children under the age of 18 who were diagnosed with T1DM at the St. Ioan Galati Children's Emergency Clinical Hospital between 2018 and 2023.

Dynamic Soluble IL-6R/Soluble gp130 Ratio as a Potential Indicator for the Prostate Malignancy Phenotype-A Multicenter Case-Control Study.

Objective: Prostate tumors, if prostate cancer or adenoma, represent a major public health challenge. Progress in research on inflammation has revealed a connection between inflammation, immunity, and cancer. In this context, this study aimed to find IL-6 signaling systemic abnormalities in the inflammatory tumor microenvironment.

[Retracted] Molecular mechanism of atractylon in the invasion and migration of hepatic cancer cells based on high‑throughput sequencing.

Following the publication of this paper, it was drawn to the Editor's attention by a concerned reader that certain of the  Transwell invasion assay data shown in Fig. 5E on p. 9 were strikingly similar to data that had already been published in different form in another article written by different authors at a different research institute [Zuo K, Zhao Y, Zheng Y, Chen D, Liu X, Du S and Liu Q: Long non‑coding RNA XIST promotes malignant behavior of epithelial ovarian cancer.

Phylo-geo haplotype network-based characterization of SARS-CoV-2 strains circulating in India (2020-2022).

Background & objectives Genetic analysis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) strains circulating in India during 2020-2022 was carried out to understand the evolution of potentially expanding and divergent clades. Methods SARS-CoV-2 sequences (n=612) randomly selected from among the sequences of samples collected through a nationwide network of Virus Research Diagnostic Laboratories during 2020 (n=1532) and Indian sequences available in Global Initiative on Sharing All Influenza Data during March 2020-March 2022 (n=53077), were analyzed using the phylo-geo haplotype network approach with reference to the Wuhan prototype sequence. Results On haplotype analysis, 420 haplotypes were revealed from 643 segregating sites among the sequences.

Distinct soluble immune checkpoint profiles characterize COVID-19 severity, mortality and SARS-CoV-2 variant infections.

Introduction: Over the past four years, the COVID-19 pandemic has posed serious global health challenges. The severe form of disease and death resulted from the failure of immune regulatory mechanisms, closely highlighted by the dual proinflammatory cytokine and soluble immune checkpoint (sICP) storm. Identifying the individual factors impacting on disease severity, evolution and outcome, as well as any additional interconnections, have become of high scientific interest.

The correlation of ADMA with proinflammatory, liver injury and cancer biomarkers in patients with liver dysfunction.

Background And Aim: Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is an enzyme involved in vascular tone, blood pressure, and platelet activation. Serum ADMA levels are increased in liver diseases such as liver cirrhosis, hepatitis, and acute liver failure. The aim of our study was to assess the correlation of ADMA with proinflammatory, liver injury, and cancer biomarkers in patients with liver dysfunction of various etiologies.

Biomolecular Dynamics of Nitric Oxide Metabolites and HIF1α in HPV Infection.

Introduction: Viral infections cause oxygen deprivation, leading to hypoxia or anoxia in certain tissues. The limitation of mitochondrial respiration is one of the major events during hypoxia that induces alternative metabolic activities and increased levels of certain biomolecules such as nitric oxide (NO) metabolites. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of NO metabolites and hypoxia in HPV infection.

Association between lipid accumulation products and gallstones: an analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2017-2020.

Aims: The aim of the research was to look into the connection between the occurrence of gallstones in adult US citizens and lipid accumulation products (LAP).

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study of 3,582 U.S.

The Real-World Efficacy and Safety of Direct-Acting Antivirals for Chronic Hepatitis C in Patients Active Malignancies.

Background: Over the past years, the introduction of direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) revolutionized chronic hepatitis C treatment. We aimed to characterize and assess treatment efficacy in three specific groups of patients treated with DAAs: those with active solid malignant tumors (SMTs), hematological diseases (HDs) and hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs).

Methods: A total of 203 patients with active oncological disease (SMT = 61, HD = 67, HCC = 74) during DAA treatment in 2015-2020 selected from the EpiTer-2 database were analyzed retrospectively and compared to 12,983 patients without any active malignancy.

Worrying increase in the risk of vertical transmission of syphilis in Croatia, 2020 to 2024.

Four infants potentially exposed to syphilis infection in utero, meeting World Health Organization surveillance criteria of congenital syphilis (CS), were diagnosed in Croatia between September 2020 and January 2024. We conducted a retrospective analysis of epidemiological, clinical and laboratory data of these cases to assess compliance with surveillance case definitions. As only one confirmed CS case has been reported in Croatia in over 2 decades, these reports signal an increased risk of syphilis vertical transmission and warrant strengthening antenatal screening.

Are important predictors of adverse outcome in children with symptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus infection overlooked in clinical settings?

Objective: Congenital cytomegalovirus infection (cCMV) is a common, frequently unrecognized cause of childhood disability. The aim of the present study was to determine the symptoms that raise the suspicion of cCMV, define the neurodevelopmental outcomes, and assess their correlations.

Methods: This longitudinal observational study comprised 78 children with symptomatic cCMV who underwent neuropediatric follow-up for 4 to 17.

Integrated viral and immune monitoring in a prospective COVID-19 cohort from India.

In this study, we report on longitudinal kinetics of cellular immune subsets following SARS-CoV-2 infection in a cohort of hospitalized individuals and evaluate the interplay of these profiles with infecting viral variants, humoral immunity including neutralizing responses, vaccination history, and clinical outcomes. A cohort of 121 SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals exhibiting varying disease states were prospectively evaluated for lymphopenic profiles, antiviral humoral responses and infecting viral variants for a period of up to 90 d spanning the period of February 2021 to January 2022 (second and third waves of infection). A total of 51 participants received at least 1 vaccine dose of indigenous vaccines (Covishield or Covaxin) prior to recruitment.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea after COVID-19: An Observational Study.

The risk factors of hospitalized COVID-19 and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) overlap. The aim of this study is to evaluate the prevalence and associated factors of post-COVID-19 OSA in hospitalized adult patients from southeastern Romania. A follow-up study was conducted on patients hospitalized for COVID-19 at the Pneumology Hospital in Galati, Romania, between 2021 and 2022.

The Impact of Liver Steatosis on Interleukin and Growth Factors Kinetics during Chronic Hepatitis C Treatment.

Various biological response modifiers play important roles in the immunopathogenesis of chronic hepatitis C (CHC). While serum levels of cytokines and growth factors change with the disease severity and treatment responses, the impact of concomitant liver steatosis on systemic inflammatory response is largely unknown. The aim of this study was to analyze the characteristics and kinetics of serum profiles of interleukins and growth factors in CHC patients with steatotic liver disease (SLD).

Ceftriaxone Inhibits Conditioned Fear and Compulsive-like Repetitive Marble Digging without Central Nervous System Side Effects Typical of Diazepam-A Study on DBA2/J Mice and a High-5HT Subline of Wistar-Zagreb 5HT Rats.

Ceftriaxone upregulates GLT1 glutamate transporter in the brain and may have anti-CFC and anti-OCD effects. Twenty WZ-5HT rats were used to investigate the effects of ceftriaxone on obsessive-compulsive (OCD)-like behaviour in the marble-burying (MB) test, freezing behaviour in contextual fear conditioning (CFC) and expression of GLT1 protein in the hippocampus or amygdala using immunoblots. Fifteen DBA/2J mice were used in the MB test.

Real-world experience with direct-acting antiviral therapy in HCV-infected patients with cirrhosis and esophageal varices.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection affects 50 million people worldwide with around 242,000 deaths annually, mainly due to complications such as cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Portal hypertension (PH) caused by cirrhosis leads to severe consequences, including esophageal varices (EV). This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of direct-acting antiviral (DAA) treatment in patients with and without EV.

Toxoplasma gondii genotypes and frequency in domestic cats from Romania.

Background: Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic protozoan parasite with a heteroxenus life cycle that involves felids as the definitive hosts and any warm-blooded animal, including humans, as intermediate hosts. Cats are key players in parasite transmission as they are capable of shedding high numbers of oocysts in their feces that contaminate the environment.

Methods: The study was performed on 31 domestic cats (31.

Disseminated Infection Caused by Nocardia cyriacigeorgica in Immunocompromised Patient Confirmed by Whole Genome Sequencing.

Introduction: Nocardia spp. is an opportunistic pathogen capable of causing localized and disseminated infections in immunocompromised hosts. It is critical for serious infections to have an early and accurate identification of this pathogen in order to enable timely and focused combination antimicrobial treatment.

Integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI) related changes in BMI and risk of diabetes: a prospective study from the RESPOND cohort consortium.

Background: With integrase strand transfer inhibitor (INSTI) use associated with increased body mass index (BMI) and BMI increases associated with higher diabetes mellitus (DM) risk, this study explored the relationship between INSTI/non-INSTI regimens, BMI changes, and DM risk.

Methods: RESPOND participants were included if they had CD4, HIV RNA, and ≥ 2 BMI measurements during follow up. Those with prior DM were excluded.