Death by SARS-CoV 2: a Romanian COVID-19 multi-centre comorbidity study

Evidence regarding the relation between SARS-CoV-2 mortality and the underlying medical condition is scarce. We conducted an observational, retrospective study based on Romanian official data about location, age, gender and comorbidities for COVID-19 fatalities. Our findings indicate that males, hypertension, diabetes, obesity and chronic kidney disease were most frequent in the COVID-19 fatalities, that the burden of disease was low, and that the prognosis for 1-year survival probability was high in the sample. Evidence shows that age-dependent pairs of comorbidities could be a negative prognosis factor for the severity of disease for the SARS-CoV 2 infection

Clinical significance of serum melatonin in predicting the severity of oral squamous cell carcinoma

Melatonin, the primary hormone produced by the pineal gland, is intensely assessed for its anticancer properties. This study aimed to reveal the clinical significance of serum melatonin levels in predicting the severity of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). For this purpose, 40 male patients with OSCC and 30 healthy subjects were enrolled in this study. The serum levels of melatonin were determined by ELISA. The results revealed that the melatonin concentrations were significantly lower in the patients with OSCC compared with the controls (18.2 vs. 47.6 pg/ml, P<0.001). In addition, the serum melatonin levels had a high predictive accuracy for discriminating patients with OSCC with T-depth of invasion (DOI) II from the healthy controls (89.1%), as well as in discriminating patients with OSCC with nodal metastasis from those without nodal metastasis (83.8%). On the whole, the findings of this study suggest that the serum melatonin concentrations are closely related to the severity of OSCC and may thus be used to assess the different stages of oral cancer objectively and accurately. The present study also supports the conclusion that melatonin may be a potential therapeutic agent for use in the treatment of patients with OSCC. © 2020 Spandidos Publications. All rights reserved