Disfuncţia diastolică al ventriculului drept la pacienţii cu boala pulmonară obstructivă cronică

Studiul funcţiei ventriculului stâng se află tot mai mult sub vizorul cardiologilor, dar rolul ventriculului drept în dezvoltarea insufi cienţei cardiace ca şi în contextul altor patologii este subestimat. Prezenţa disfuncţiei sistolice a ventriculului stâng în asociere cu disfuncţia sistolică de ventricul drept agravează mai mult pronosticul pacienţilor cu insuficienţă cardiacă. Impactul disfuncţiei diastolice a ventriculului drept, alături de alţi factori predictivi ai pronosticului este insuficient

Medical Telementoring Using an Augmented Reality Transparent Display

Background The goal of this study was to design and implement a novel surgical telementoring system called the System for Telementoring with Augmented Reality (STAR) that uses a virtual transparent display to convey precise locations in the operating field to a trainee surgeon. This system was compared with a conventional system based on a telestrator for surgical instruction. Methods A telementoring system was developed and evaluated in a study which used a 1 × 2 between-subjects design with telementoring system, that is, STAR or conventional, as the independent variable. The participants in the study were 20 premedical or medical students who had no prior experience with telementoring. Each participant completed a task of port placement and a task of abdominal incision under telementoring using either the STAR or the conventional system. The metrics used to test performance when using the system were placement error, number of focus shifts, and time to task completion. Results When compared with the conventional system, participants using STAR completed the 2 tasks with less placement error (45% and 68%) and with fewer focus shifts (86% and 44%), but more slowly (19% for each task). Conclusions Using STAR resulted in decreased annotation placement error, fewer focus shifts, but greater times to task completion. STAR placed virtual annotations directly onto the trainee surgeon's field of view of the operating field by conveying location with great accuracy; this technology helped to avoid shifts in focus, decreased depth perception, and enabled fine-tuning execution of the task to match telementored instruction, but led to greater times to task completion

Magnetically‐actuated microcages for cells entrapment, fabricated by laser direct writing via two photon polymerization

The manipulation of biological materials at cellular level constitutes a sine qua non and provocative research area regarding the development of micro/nano‐medicine. In this study, we report on 3D superparamagnetic microcage‐like structures that, in conjunction with an externally applied static magnetic field, were highly efficient in entrapping cells. The microcage‐like structures were fabricated using Laser Direct Writing via Two‐Photon Polymerization (LDW via TPP) of IP‐L780 biocompatible photopolymer/iron oxide superparamagnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) composite. The unique properties of LDW via TPP technique enabled the reproduction of the complex architecture of the 3D structures, with a very high accuracy i.e., about 90 nm lateral resolution. 3D hyperspectral microscopy was employed to investigate the structural and compositional characteristics of the microcage‐like structures. Scanning Electron Microscopy coupled with Energy Dispersive X‐Ray Spectroscopy was used to prove the unique features regarding the morphology and the functionality of the 3D structures seeded with MG‐63 osteoblast‐like cells. Comparative studies were made on microcage‐like structures made of IP‐L780 photopolymer alone (i.e., without superparamagnetic properties). We found that the cell‐seeded structures made by IP‐L780/MNPs composite actuated by static magnetic fields of 1.3 T were 13.66 ± 5.11 folds (p < 0.01) more efficient in terms of cells entrapment than the structures made by IP‐L780 photopolymer alone (i.e., that could not be actuated magnetically). The unique 3D architecture of the microcage‐like superparamagnetic structures and their actuation by external static magnetic fields acted in synergy for entrapping osteoblast‐like cells, showing a significant potential for bone tissue engineering applications

PREVALENCE OF ORAL LESIONS MODULATED BY PATIENT’S AGE: THE YOUNG VERSUS THE ELDERLY

The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of oral lesions and conditions in young and elderly population. The authors analyzed a number of 1324 patiens, treated in our clinic, between 2011-2017, divided into 4 subgroups. Prevalence of one or several oral lesions was of 51,29% patients. We identified a wide range of oral heterogeneous lesions, the first place being held by burning mouth syndrome and chronic candidiasis in the elderly, and by aphtous stomatitis and acute candidiasis in the young. The results of our study may provide important information on the types and incidence of oral mucosal lesions in the northern region of Romania and seems to be similar to the level predicted for young and elderly patients in our country

Внебольничная пневмония, вызванная коронавирусом (клинический случай)

Disciplina de sinteze clinice, Departamentul Medicină Internă, IP USMF „Nicolae Testemițanu”, IMSP Spitalul Clinic Municipal „Sfânta Treime”Rezumat În acest articol este prezentat un caz clinic de pneumonie comunitară prin Coronavirus, complicat cu infecție mixtă (bacteriană și fungică) și tromboembolia arterei pulmonare segmentare. Pentru aprecierea stării generale a pacientului și evaluarea tratamentului au fost analizate datele clinice, rezultatele investigațiilor de laborator și imagistice. Datele obținute au fost analizate prin prisma literaturii de specialitate. În final a fost obținută vindecarea clinică, rezoluția radiologică a pneumoniei și recanalizarea arterei pulmonare segmentare. The article represents a clinical case of community-acquired pneumonia caused by Coronavirus, complicated by mixed infection (bacterial and fungal) and segmental pulmonary artery thromboembolism. To assess the condition of the patient and treatment were analyzed clinical, laboratory and instrumental results in the light of specialized literature. Finally, a clinical recovery, radiological resolution of pneumonia and pulmonary artery recanalization were achieved В данной статье представлен клинический случай внебольничной пневмонии, вызванной ко- ронавирусом, осложненной смешанной инфекцией (бактериальной и грибковой) и тромбоэмбо- лией сегментарной легочной артерии. Для того, чтобы оценить состояние пациента и оценить эф- фективность лечения были проанализированы результаты клинических и лабораторных иссле- дований с точки зрения данных литературы. В итоге лечения были достигнуты клиническое выз- доровление, рентгенологическое разрешение пневмонии и реканализация сегментарной легочной артерии

Robust High-Level Video Stabilization for Effective AR Telementoring

This poster presents the design, implementation, and evaluation of a method for robust high-level stabilization of mentees first-person video in augmented reality (AR) telementoring. This video is captured by the front-facing built-in camera of an AR headset and stabilized by rendering from a stationary view a planar proxy of the workspace projectively texture mapped with the video feed. The result is stable, complete, up to date, continuous, distortion free, and rendered from the mentee's default viewpoint. The stabilization method was evaluated in two user studies, in the context of number matching and for cricothyroidotomy training, respectively. Both showed a significant advantage of our method compared with unstabilized visualization

Farm Biosecurity Measures and Interventions with an Impact on Bacterial Biofilms

Publication history: Accepted - 16 August 2022; Published - 18 August 2022.Farm biosecurity management includes a set of practical measures used to prevent and limit the spread of infections to humans and animals. Infections, predominantly caused by zoonotic agents, often occur due to a lack of safety standards monitoring on farms, but also because of the use of inappropriate antimicrobial products leading to bacterial resistance, tolerance to biocides and the emergence antimicrobial-resistant germs. To date, research was mainly focused on studying the antimicrobial resistance in bacterial biofilms and the mechanisms involved in their occurrence. At molecular level, the limited diffusion of biocides in the biofilm matrix, enzyme-mediated resistance, genetic adaptation, efflux pumps, and levels of metabolic activity inside the biofilm are some of the investigated biological mechanisms which can promote antimicrobial resistance in biofilms were also investigated. Interventions, based on the identification of novel antimicrobial compounds, that would exclude the occurrence of bacterial tolerance, including essential oils (oregano, cloves), organic acids (tannic & oleic acid) and natural plant compounds (e.g. alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins and coumarins) were also extensively studied and reviewed given their effectiveness against pathogen-produced biofilms. The aim of this review was emphasize the importance of biosecurity and farm management practices and to assess their impact on bacterial biofilm formation. Furthermore, we present the recent intervention strategies aimed at reducing and combating the formation of bacterial biofilms in livestock farms.Environtech, Dublin, Ireland - funding the PhD of Eugenia Butucel. Grant number 49650

The Effect Citrox BCL on Legionella pneumophila Mechanisms of Biofilm Formation, Oxidative Stress and Virulence

Publication history: Accepted - 1 November 2022; Published online - 4 November 2022Legionella pneumophila is responsible for causing Legionnaires’ disease and Pontiac fever, also known as legionellosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanistic effect of a mixture of natural antimicrobials (Citrox BCL) in preventing L. pneumophila biofilm formation and reducing its in vitro virulence. The minimum inhibitory concentrations were detected at 0.06%, and the MBC was established at 0.125%. Based on the growth curve profile, the sub-inhibitory concentration of 0.02% was further used to study the mechanistic implications in the absence of a cytotoxic effect on A549 cells. At 24 h post-infection, Citrox BCL reduced (p = 0.005) the intracellular growth of L. pneumophila when the A549 cells or the bacteria were pre-treated with 0.02% Citrox BCL. This result was replicated when Citrox BCL was added during the 24 h infection assay leading to a reduction in intracellular growth (p = 0.003). Herein we show that at the sub-inhibitory concentration of 0.02%, Citrox CBL lowers the ROS levels in infected A549 cells and causes a 45% reduction in L. pneumophila EPS production, a reduction associated with the decline in biofilm formation. Overall, our results corroborate the low c-di-GMP production with the decrease in biofilm formation and low EPS levels. The low EPS levels seemed to be caused by the downregulation of the tatB and tatC gene expressions. Moreover, inhibition of pvcA and pvcB gene expressions, leading to lower siderophore levels, suggests that Citrox BCL reduces the ability of L. pneumophila to sequester iron and reduce biofilm formation through iron starvation.We acknowledge Environtech, Dublin, Ireland, for funding the Ph.D. of Eugenia Butucel. Grant number 49650

Natural Antimicrobials Promote the Anti-Oxidative Inhibition of COX-2 Mediated Inflammatory Response in Primary Oral Cells Infected with Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Enterococcus faecalis

Publication history: Accepted - 27 April 2023; Published - 28 April 2023.Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Enterococcus faecalis can colonize the tooth root canals, adhere to dentin walls, and frequently cause periodontitis in dogs. Bacterial periodontal diseases are common in domesticated pets, causing severe oral cavity inflammation and a strong immune response. This study investigates the antioxidant effect of a natural antimicrobial mixture (Auraguard—Ag) on the ability of S. aureus, S. pyogenes and E. faecalis to infect primary canine oral epithelial cells as well as its impact on their virulence factors. Our data show that a concentration of 0.25% Ag is sufficient to inhibit the growth of all three pathogens, whereas a concentration of 0.5% will become bactericidal. The sub-inhibitory concentration of 0.125% Ag reveals that the antimicrobial mixture can significantly reduce biofilm formation and exopolysaccharide production. The impact on these virulence factors was further translated into a significantly reduced ability to infect primary canine oral epithelial cells and restore epithelial tight junctions, with no impact on the epithelial cell viability. The post-infection inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and IL-8) and the COX-2 mediator were also reduced both in mRNA and protein expression levels. The oxidative burst, detected upon infection, was also decreased in the presence of Ag, as our results show a significant decrease in H2O2 released by the infected cells. We show that inhibition of either NADPH or ERK activity will result in a downregulation of COX-2 expression and lower levels of H2O2 in infected cells. Conclusively, our study shows that natural antimicrobials reduce pro-inflammatory events, post infection, through an antioxidative mechanism that involves the downregulation of the COX-2 mediator via the inactivation of ERK in the absence of H2O2. As a result, they significantly reduce the risk of secondary bacterial infections and host oxidative stress caused by Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pyogenes and Enterococcus faecalis accumulation in biofilms in an in vitro canine oral infection model.Environtech, Dublin, Ireland for funding the PhD of Eugenia Butucel. Grant number 49650. The publication of this paper was supported through the University of Life Sciences King Mihai I from Timisoara doctoral grants