Age Characteristics and Concomitant Diseases in Patients with Angioedema

BACKGROUND: Angioneurotic oedema (AE) is an unpredictable and dangerous disease directly threatening the patient's life due to a sudden onset of upper respiratory tract obstruction. The disease is associated with various causes and triggering factors, but little is known about the conditions that accompany AE. AIM: The study aims to determine the age-specificities and the spectrum of concomitant diseases in patients with AE. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The subjects of observation were 88 patients (53 women and 35 men) with angioneurotic oedema who underwent diagnostics and treatment in the Department of Occupational Diseases and Clinical Allergology of University hospital “Saint Georgeâ€-Plovdiv. RESULTS: The highest level of disease prevalence was found in the age group over 50 years, both in males (45.71%) and females (54.72%). We found that the most often concomitant diseases in our patients with AE are cardiovascular (33%). On second place are the patients with other accompanying conditions outside of the target groups (27.3%). Patients with AE and autoimmune thyroiditis were 14.8%, and those with AE and skeletal-muscle disorders-10.2%. Given the role of hereditary factors in this disease, the profession of the patients is considered insignificant. CONCLUSION: Angioedema occurs in all age groups, but half of the cases are in people over 50 years of age. The most common concomitant diseases in angioedema are cardiovascular diseases

Allergic Contact Dermatitis, Angioneurotic Edema and Conjunctivitis in a Patient with Autoimmune Thrombocytopenia – A Clinical Case

Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is common in clinical practice, but the etiology of this disease is quite varied. A leading pathogenetic mechanism is cell-mediated immunity. The combinations of ACD with other allergic and systemic autoimmune diseases are relatively rare, but these conditions are undoubtedly a professional challenge for practitioners. We present a case of ACD combined with other immune-allergic conditions. Etiology and pathogenesis in these cases are not well understood

Cannabidiol improves memory and decreases IL-1β serum levels in rats with lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation

Aim: Memory improving and anti-inflammatory properties of cannabidiol (CBD) were investigated in an experimental model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation. Materials and methods: Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control, LPS control, LPS + CBD 5 mg/kg bw, and LPS + CBD 10 mg/kg bw. Animals were treated with CBD 14 days before LPS administration and throughout the experiment. Step-through passive avoidance task, Y-maze, and novel object recognition test (NORT) were used to assess the memory functions. The following parameters were recorded: latency time, spontaneous alternations percentage (SA%) and recognition index (RI). IL-10, IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1β serum levels were measured to evaluate the immunomodulatory properties of CBD. Results: LPS led to significant decrease of the recorded parameters in all memory tasks. This demonstrated the memory-impairing effect of LPS-induced inflammation. In the Y-maze and NORT tests, both doses of CBD increased SA% and RI, respectively. Significant difference was found in comparison with the LPS controls. Rats from the CBD treated groups showed increased latency in the step-through passive avoidance task. In the short-term memory test, both CBD doses significantly increased this parameter when compared with both control groups (p<0.05 and p<0.001, respectively), whereas in the long-term memory test, statistical significance was reached only in comparison with the LPS controls (p<0.01). CBD treatment failed to reduce TNF-α and IL-6 serum levels. The lower studied dose significantly decreased IL-10 and IL-1β concentrations compared to LPS controls (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively). Conclusions: CBD improved spatial working and recognition memory in rats with LPS-induced inflammation. Suppression of IL-1β production could be attributed to the observed effect

Analysis of clinical and microbiological indicators of vulvovaginal candidiasis

Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is the most common vaginal infection. It is considered to be the reason for 15%–30% of all vulvovaginal symptoms. A diagnosis based only on clinical signs and/or on a syndrome-based approach, recommended by some authors and health institutions, is in many cases incorrect. There is no indisputable diagnostic method that guarantees high specificity, sensitivity and predictive value. There is no pathognomonic clinical feature of VVC. The aim of the present study was to assess the role of selected clinical and mycological indicators in the diagnosis of VVC using the standard complex scoring system. The research is retrospective and was conducted in several stages to give a more precise and detailed assessment of the examined clinical and microbiological indicators. Clinical, microbiological and statistical methods were used. The results showed the lowest level of compliance between clinical and laboratory diagnosis in VVC: 67.65%. We did not observe a statistically significant relation between the density of the vaginal smear, inflammation, odour test and VVC (p > 0.05). The results showed a moderate association between the positive yellow swab test and VVC (p < 0.05). A significant positive association was established between VVC and presence of microscopic signs of invasiveness (p < 0.001). The most common isolate was Candida albicans: 72.81% of all vaginal Candida isolates

Surveillance of Nosocomial Infections in a Bulgarian Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Introduction: Nosocomial infections (NI) are frequent complications in neonatal intensive care units (NICU) which result in high morbidity and mortality.Aim: To determine and analyze the incidence, risk factors and etiologic agents of NI in newborns admitted in the NICU to help plan-ning future surveillance and prevention strategies.Materials and methods: A prospective cohort study was carried out at the NICU of St George University Hospital, Plovdiv, Bul-garia from January 1, 2017 to June 31, 2018. The number of neonates included in the study was 507. Descriptive statistics such as count,  percent, mean and standard deviation was used. Chi-square test was performed to prove associations. Odds ratios, with 95% confidence intervals, were computed from the results of the binominal logistic regression analyses.Results: Of the 507 hospitalized newborns in NICU, 48 presented with 54 NI. The incidence and the density incidence rates were 9.5% and 7.67 per 1,000 patient-days, respectively. Nosocomial infections were detected in neonates from all birth weight (BW) classes, but it was low BW and premature neonates that were at major risk to acquire them. The most common infection sites were ventilator-asso-ciated pneumonia (VAP) (67.27%), bloodstream infection (23.64%) and conjunctivitis (9.09%). Major pathogens were Gram-negative such as Klebsiella pneumoniae, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Acinetobacter baumannii. In the multivariate logistic regression analysis NIs were strongly associated with intubation, presence of a venous catheter, the duration of antibiotic treatment and increased CRP> 10 mg/l.Conclusions: This report highlights the burden of NIs, identifies the major focus for future NI control and prevention programs

Cannabidiol improves memory and decreases IL-1β serum levels in rats with lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammation

Aim: Memory improving and anti-inflammatory properties of cannabidiol (CBD) were investigated in an experimental model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation. Materials and methods: Male Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: control, LPS control, LPS + CBD 5 mg/kg bw, and LPS + CBD 10 mg/kg bw. Animals were treated with CBD 14 days before LPS administration and throughout the experiment. Step-through passive avoidance task, Y-maze, and novel object recognition test (NORT) were used to assess the memory functions. The following parameters were recorded: latency time, spontaneous alternations percentage (SA%) and recognition index (RI). IL-10, IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1β serum levels were measured to evaluate the immunomodulatory properties of CBD. Results: LPS led to significant decrease of the recorded parameters in all memory tasks. This demonstrated the memory-impairing effect of LPS-induced inflammation. In the Y-maze and NORT tests, both doses of CBD increased SA% and RI, respectively. Significant difference was found in comparison with the LPS controls. Rats from the CBD treated groups showed increased latency in the step-through passive avoidance task. In the short-term memory test, both CBD doses significantly increased this parameter when compared with both control groups (p<0.05 and p<0.001, respectively), whereas in the long-term memory test, statistical significance was reached only in comparison with the LPS controls (p<0.01). CBD treatment failed to reduce TNF-α and IL-6 serum levels. The lower studied dose significantly decreased IL-10 and IL-1β concentrations compared to LPS controls (p<0.01 and p<0.05, respectively). Conclusions: CBD improved spatial working and recognition memory in rats with LPS-induced inflammation. Suppression of IL-1β production could be attributed to the observed effect