Parvovirus infection in fetal life. Case report and recent literature updates

Background. The parvovirus B19 (B19V) belongs to the Parvoviridae family, genus Erythrovirus, and is a virus that causes a common childhood disease called erythema infectiosum, also largely known as the fifth childhood disease. The clinical appearance is marked by the “slapped cheek” facies and an erythematous rash localized mainly on the extremities and on the trunk. Most people gain immunity during childhood, and when it occurs in pregnancy in non-immunized women, there are some serious complications for the fetus that can occur. B19V infection in pregnancy can conduct to fetal loss or severe hydrops fetalis, due to the risk of vertical transmission to the fetus and the virus tropism for the erythropoietic fetal stem cells with subsequent cell destruction and fetal anemia. Invasive treatment, as intrauterine fetal transfusion, is necessary for the cases of severe fetal anemia with good survival rates afterwards. The purpose of this review is to update the current knowledge regarding the best management of severe fetal anemia and other complications related to B19V infection in pregnancy, based on the latest data from literature and guidelines. Methods. Electronic research for relevant articles published in the last years was made, with the usage of PubMed, Medline, Cochrane Data Base, and the current international guidelines promoted by the Obstetrics and Gynecology Societies. Results and conclusions. The importance of prenatal detection of non-immunized women by serologic testing for parvovirus B19 should not be overlooked, and subsequent follow-up should be recommended in order to lower the incidence of fetal complications associated with developing the disease in pregnancy, especially during epidemics. In case of P19V infection in pregnancy, serial ultrasounds and lab tests should be performed in order to determine the impact on the fetus and the apparition of fetal hydrops. The future moms who are not immunized to B19V should be advised about the risk of vertical transmission and the associated fetal sequelae that can occur. Assessment for maternal disease and for fetal impairment has to become a priority when there are signs of primary infection in pregnancy

Regenerative medicine options in treating premature ovarian failure

Infertility is generally defined as the failure to achieve a pregnancy after 12 months or more of regular unprotected sexual intercourse. premature ovarian failure (POF) is a cause of female infertility, being estimated to affect 1% of the general population. This condition represents a loss of hormonal and germinative activity of the ovaries due to a lack in the number of active follicles in women under 40 years old. Regenerative medicine represents a complex therapeutic option and it consists of technologies such as the use of stem cells, tissue engineering, and gene therapy alone or in different combinations. Although the boundaries of regenerative medicine are not clearly outlined at present, this paper is aiming to review its possibility of treatment in the future in what concerns POF, focusing more on the use of stem cell therapy. Stem cell therapy could be a feasible therapeutic approach for POF as the cells can be easily obtained. However, additional clinical studies are needed because until now the majority of the literature focuses on animal models for the evaluation of the role of stem cells on treating POF. Additionally, the platelet-rich plasma (PRP) approach for POF should be kept in mind as it was shown to be useful in the regeneration of multiple types of tissue

Assessment of the Insolvency Risk in Companies Listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange

The present study presents, from the theoretical and pragmatic point of view, 6 of the established score models regarding the assessment of the insolvency risk, belonging to the Anglo-Saxon, Continental and Romanian schools. The research sample is made up of 26 companies belonging to the hotel industry and restaurants, listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange. The research was carried out over a period of 11 years (2007-2017). Following the application of the score models, it was found that during the period covered by the research, a number of 14 companies had a relatively high insolvency risk and 12 of them had a relatively low insolvency risk

Blended Natural Support Materials—Collagen Based Hydrogels Used in Biomedicine

Due to their unique properties—the are biocompatible, easily accessible, and inexpensive with programmable properties—biopolymers are used in pharmaceutical and biomedical research, as well as in cosmetics and food. Collagen is one of the most-used biomaterials in biomedicine, being the most abundant protein in animals with a triple helices structure, biocompatible, biomimetic, biodegradable, and hemostatic. Its disadvantages are its poor mechanical and thermal properties and enzymatic degradation. In order to solve this problem and to use its benefits, collagen can be used blended with other biomaterials such as alginate, chitosan, and cellulose. The purpose of this review article is to offer a brief paper with updated information on blended collagen-based formulations and their potential application in biomedicine

Vectors of Sustainable Development and Global Knowledge in the Metallic Materials Industry in Romania

As a 21st century trend, sustainability has encompassed the entire world economy, including industry. The concept of “Industry 4.0” is already known today. It promotes the computerization of manufacturing by interconnection, information transparency, technical assistance and decentralized decisions. In recent years, companies in the metal materials industry have also implemented strategies and technologies belonging to the Industry 4.0 concept. The main aim of the manuscript is to identify the key issues in the evolution of the development of the metal materials industry. The transition to a higher level of its evolution is based on two vectors, namely: the ecological paradigm, as a vector of in-depth knowledge, and sustainable material, as a vector that ensures sustainability in the areas of convergence of systems in the spheres of life and social consciousness. The systems that have an impact on the sustainable development of the metallic materials industry through the interactions between them are the technological system, the social system and the natural-ecological system. The main objectives of the paper are the investigations into the interconditions of ecology–economy, and the correlations of ecology–economy–energy, investigations that led to the establishment of new scientific branches (ecometallurgy, metallurgical economics, metallurgical ecosociology and sustainable materials engineering) in terms of global knowledge, and which allow the expansion of the field of implementing knowledge of sustainable development in the metal materials industry. The paper is based on literary foundations, obtained from libraries; databases such as Web of Science (WoS), Scopus and Google Scholar; sustainable universal principles; and legislative parameters

Using renewable energy to create comfort in the first Romanian passive house suited for offices

Using renewable energy is becoming more profitable nowadays because of applying advanced technology. The paper, presented by the authors, analyses the case of using solar and geothermal energy to create comfort in homes with low energy consumption. In this situation, the performance of the systems that take energy from low-heat renewable sources and convert it into useful energy is growing. The characteristics of the buildings with low power consumption, of passive houses in particular, can cause the development of a new generation of devices to create comfort. The energy used to create comfort in the first passive house built in Romania, which was designed for offices, analyzed by the authors, is using both geothermal and solar power. The authors present the energy performance of the building correlated with the performance of the air-conditioning system that uses ground-water heat pumps. The thermodynamic analysis presented, highlights how the performance of geothermal energy systems increased, their variation depending on the climate zone variation parameter values. The authors make a detailed analysis, in the presented paper, about the influence of the working conditions of the installation elements, on the heat pump energy consumption and the methods adopted to reduce losses and increase system performance

Using renewable energy to create comfort in the first Romanian passive house suited for offices

Using renewable energy is becoming more profitable nowadays because of applying advanced technology. The paper, presented by the authors, analyses the case of using solar and geothermal energy to create comfort in homes with low energy consumption. In this situation, the performance of the systems that take energy from low-heat renewable sources and convert it into useful energy is growing. The characteristics of the buildings with low power consumption, of passive houses in particular, can cause the development of a new generation of devices to create comfort. The energy used to create comfort in the first passive house built in Romania, which was designed for offices, analyzed by the authors, is using both geothermal and solar power. The authors present the energy performance of the building correlated with the performance of the air-conditioning system that uses ground-water heat pumps. The thermodynamic analysis presented, highlights how the performance of geothermal energy systems increased, their variation depending on the climate zone variation parameter values. The authors make a detailed analysis, in the presented paper, about the influence of the working conditions of the installation elements, on the heat pump energy consumption and the methods adopted to reduce losses and increase system performance

GPU-SD and DPD Parallelization for Gromacs tools for molecular dynamics simulations

This article presents the GPU parallelization of new algorithms SD and DPD types for molecular dynamics systems developed by the Molecular Dynamics Group, University of Groningen, the Netherlands. One should note that molecular dynamics simulations are time-consuming simulations of systems, running time ranging from days to weeks and months. Therefore parallelization is a key issue for the well-running and use of MD software. The paper presents the main ingredients of GPU parallelization of the new algorithms and simulation results. It can be concluded that the parallelization through the use of graphical cards improves the performances of the runs as compared to the serial version of the code.