Impact of risk factors on the evolution of severe acute pancreatitis

Introduction. Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) is an acute inflammatory condition of the pancreas with increasing incidence and mortality rates in recent years. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of age, comorbidities, and different scoring systems on the complications and outcomes of SAP. Materials and Methods. A retrospective study was conducted on 161 patients diagnosed and treated for SAP at the Bucharest University Hospital in the intensive care unit (ICU), in the period 2014-2021. The impact of risk factors for the development of SAP, occurrence of complications (respiratory, cardiac, etc.), length of hospital stays and mortality was analyzed using several scores (BISAP, Ranson, Apache II and SOFA) or modified computed tomography severity index. Preexisting chronic conditions were assessed using the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). Multivariate statistics and non-parametric univariate were calculated in statistical analysis. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were used. Results. Risk factors such as age, diet, medication, alcohol consumption, genetic factors and patient comorbidities contribute significantly to the development of a severe form of acute pancreatitis with critical course and high mortality. Conclusions. In our study, CCI was the most important factor correlated with death and duration of ICU treatment

Learning from a Flower Market in Romania: Community, social fabric and the promise of economic prosperity

Alexandru Balasescu proposes ways to counter the current economic crisis in a small community in Bucharest, Romania. Drawing on the experience of various actors in ‘La Bomba’ he suggests that a collaboration of NGOs, Big Businesses, Government and Universities may transform the social fabric into a more economically prosperous one. He exposes the multiple layers of development and economic crisis as he argues that the key to change is to build trust between different types of institutions and encourage entrepreneurial spirit in all of them.

Introduction: Urbanism and Sustainability

While we are preparing for an urban age with a population that will exceed 60 percent of the world's total, sustainability is the buzzword now in urban studies. It has become the goal of urban planners, city designers, administrators, economists, and anthropologists involved in the process of urbanization. Alexandru Balasescu goes further to argue that each one of us shapes the city in which we live. The city is the result of humanity's decisions regarding their habitat; it is the material form of human emotions, desires, and ways of understanding of (and relating to) the world. We shape the city and the city shapes us. Taking Bucharest and Istanbul as examples, he discusses urban sustainability from the perspective of conflict solutions and futures. He reproblematizes the goal of sustainability, which he sees as locked up in the rhetoric of economic growth, and brings into the conversation on sustainability the concepts of cohabitation, negotiation, and harmony.