Information on weather and sea conditions onboard polar cruise ships

The arctic and Antarctic regions are difficult to navigate because of their severe maritime conditions. Weather forecast, forecast of the sea ice and icebergs dynamics are extremely important when planning ships routes and tourism activities including embarkation/disembarkation from boats or landing operations. New meteorological services have been created in the arctic region for broadcast purposes. The information provided by these services and received onboard ships is presented in this paper. A risk assessment should be considered for Polar Water operations such as maneuvering in ice covered waters, anchoring, shore landings etc

Prognostic impact of Lymph node resection in stage II colon cancer: a prospective study from a tertiary hospital center

Background. The treatment of stage II colon cancer has been a subject of debate for a long time. In the last years, a few risk factors have been proposed in order to guide any treatment decision more accurately. One of these risk factors is the number of resected lymph nodes, and according to the latest guidelines, it is recommended that at least 12 lymph nodes should be resected for optimal staging. The aim of this study is to evaluate the role of lymph node resection, in stage II colon cancer and the implication of suboptimal lymph node resection on disease free survival and overall survival. Patients and methods. This was a prospective study that included 130 patients with stage II colon cancer who were monitored between October 2014 and October 2016. The relation between patients’ tumour characteristics that include number of lymph node resection and the use of adjuvant chemotherapy using Chi test and multiple logistic regression was analyzed. The disease-free survival and overall survival were estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method and compared with the log-rank test. Results. 130 patients with stage II colon cancer were recruited. 56 patients were treated with surgery alone and 74 patients received flourouracil- based chemotherapy after surgery. Patients' age varied from 37 years to 81 years. According to the number of resected lymph nodes, patients were divided into two groups - with less than 12 lymph nodes resected and at least 12 lymph nodes resected. The number of resected lymph nodes varied from 2 to 32 lymph nodes. Median follow up was 36 months. Suboptimal resections of lymph nodes confirmed to be a negative prognostic factor for survival without disease recurrence. Conclusion. Data results confirmed the importance of lymph node resection as a prognostic factor for stage II colon cancer and the role of chemotherapy for patients with suboptimal lymph node resectio

MODERN TRENDS IN THE DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF HEMORRHOIDAL DISEASE

Introduction. Hemorrhoidal disease (HD) is one of the most common anorectal disorders with a prevalence of 4.4% and with multiple social, medical and economic implications. Hence the interest and permanent tendencies of change of approach and treatment of this disease. Material and methods. We studied medical books and articles starting from classical techniques of treatment of HD and trying to identify the tendencies of its evolution as well as the appearance of new therapeutic techniques and technologies and the degree of their implementation. Conclusions. There is a tendency of promotion of ambulatory techniques in the treatment of HD, rising in some countries to 90%. Ambulatory medicine has multiple advantages: the increasing efficiency of hospital bads use, increasing of patient degree of satisfaction, lower costs for every resolved case. The modern office procedures (rubber band ligation, injection sclerotherapy, infrared coagulation) or he new miniinvasive techniques (DG-HAL, PPH) meet the anesthetic and surgical conditions of an ambulatory surgery. The ideal operation should have as low as possible recurrences, not have major complications, allow as quickly as possible resumption of social activities, can be done ambulatory and have as small as possible costs. The problem of good medical guidelines of medical practice became more and more actual, with increasing of practical application of evidence-based medicine, with increasing quantity of medical informations, with involvement of medical conflicts in pacient-physician relationship. Starting from these guidelines every medical facility should have his own protocols and procedures

Atmospheric Patterns During the Storms from January 2014 in Bulgaria and Romania

Synoptic conditions associated with strong winds and snowfalls on January 2014 in Bulgaria and Romania are investigated in this paper. The Romanian authorities established the orange and red codes while the Bulgarian ones the orange code. A first peak was recorded in northern and especially northeastern Bulgaria and south-eastern Romania on January 25-26 and a second one on January 29 2014. The purpose is to understand what regulates the duration and intensity of these events. For their study, NCEP-500/700/850 and SLP analyses, different model outputs and soundings as well as data from 12 weather stations have been used

Recent Advances in Biomarker Discovery — from Serum to Imaging-based Biomarkers for a Complex Assessment of Heart Failure Patients

Over the last years, a vast majority of serum biomarkers and imaging techniques have been used alone or combined in the diagnosis, management and prognosis of numerous pathologies. This review provides a brief insight into the novelties from the last 6 years (2010–2016) regarding serum and imaging markers in heart failure (HF). New information about natriuretic peptides (NPs), soluble ST2 (Sst2), growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF-15), myeloperoxidase (MPO), C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), troponins (Tns), myoglobin (Mb), galectin-3 (Gal-3), micro ribonucleic acids (microRNAs) and long non-coding ribonucleic acids (IncRNAs), copectin and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) measurements were summarized in this review in order to guide the practitioner

Cardiovascular and Metabolic Consequences of Liver Transplantation: A Review

Liver transplantation (LT) is considered the curative treatment option for selected patients who suffer from end-stage or acute liver disease or hepatic malignancy (primary). After LT, patients should be carefully monitored for complications that may appear, partially due to immunosuppressive therapy, but not entirely. Cardiovascular diseases are frequently encountered in patients with LT, being responsible for high morbidity and mortality. Patients with underlying cardiovascular and metabolic pathologies are prone to complications after the transplant, but these complications can also appear de novo, mostly associated with immunosuppressants. Metabolic syndrome, defined by obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and hyperglycemia, is diagnosed among LT recipients and is aggravated after LT, influencing the long-term survival. In this review, our purpose was to summarize the current knowledge regarding cardiovascular (CV) diseases and the metabolic syndrome associated with LT and to assess their impact on short and long-term morbidity and mortality