Improvement Of Graves' Ophthalmopathy After Administration Of The Cyclooxygenase-2 Selective Inhibitor Celecoxib: A Case-Report

Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) is a disabling complication of GravesBasedow disease, which in severe cases can progress toward blindness. Its treatment consists of the administration of corticosteroids, radiotherapy, as well as surgical treatment. The present report brings to your attention a case of moderate GO found in a patient recently diagnosed with Graves' disease that was resistant to the administration of Prednisone, stabilized under treatment with Celecoxib. A 45-year-old Caucasian woman presented in an outpatient facility with the following complaints: gritty feeling in both eyes, tachycardia, insomnia, anxiety, sweating, and weight loss. After the clinical European Scientific Journal, ESJ ISSN: 1857-7881 (Print) e - ISSN 1857-7431 January 2021 edition Vol.17, No.3 www.eujournal.org 2 examination and laboratory investigations, the patient has been diagnosed with Graves-Basedow disease and Graves' ophthalmopathy. Consecutively, treatment with Methimazole for Graves' disease and corticotherapy for Graves' ophthalmopathy were initiated. Due to the lack of response to Prednisone, other treatment methods were used, namely, Celecoxib 100 mg treatment, twice per day for 8 weeks. Under treatment with Celecoxib, GO was stabilized and remained stable even after discontinuation, respectively at six months and one year after discontinuation. Celecoxib can be an alternative treatment for mild and moderate ophthalmopathy in newly diagnosed Graves’ disease

Associations between environmental non-essential heavy metals, ecobiochemistry and health

Environmental heavy metals should be a concern of the entire world due to its impact on the animal and human population. "Heavy metals" is a generic name used for metals characterized by relatively high atomic weight, density, and atomic number. Some of the heavy metals are essential nutrients for animals and humans, but when their ingested concentration exceeds the needs, their homeostasis is unbalanced and health status is impaired. Non-essential heavy metals are minerals that are harmful to the environment and living organisms. The environment is the main source of minerals provided by soil, water and air. Any deficiency or excess of minerals in the environment will be transferred to the living organisms. Plants, meat and water – are ingredients of humans' diet, and because of that, any overload affects the minerals' homeostasis that could lead to accumulation in target organs – mainly in the liver and kidney, also in the brain, heart, lungs, and other organs. Ecobiochemistry and xenobiochemistry are two complex sciences that are trying to find correlations between the biochemical processes related to the minerals’ needs, intake, and excretion to assure a good health status

Multiplication and Viability of some Rhizobium Strains to be used as Inoculants for Agricultural Biomass Production

Rhizobia are well known for their capacity to establish a symbiosis with legumes. They inhabit root nodules, where they reduce atmospheric nitrogen and make it available to the plant. Biological nitrogen fixation is an important component of sustainable agriculture, and rhizobial inoculants have been applied frequently as biofertilizers. In this review we approach the subject of legumes inoculation in order to improve the nitrogen fixing capacity. In the first part of the experiment, the Rhizobium strains were cultivated on media indicated in the literature as optimal for bacterial growing and development in laboratory conditions. Afterwards, the Rhizobium strains that have grown and accumulate biomass were tested in different conditions of pH and salinity. The biomass accumulation was determinate by spectrophotometer. The obtained values shown that the Rhizobium strains tested can be used to inoculate the legumes cultivated on acid, basic and alkaline soils. Finally, the stability in real time of two strains of Rhizobium (Rhizobium meliloti and Rhizobium japonicum) mixed with different supports was evaluated during a 6-months period. The supports studied were: peat, peat and calcium carbonate, zeolite, and ceramic.  The highest number of viable cells at the end of the experiment was obtained in ceramic with Rhizobium japonicum (8x105 cells/gram), and the lowest number of viable cells was obtained in zeolite with Rhizobium meliloti (1,1x103 cells/gram)

Prevalence Of Alcohol Consumption In First-Year Romanian Medical Students And Its Association With Cardiovascular Risk Factors

Alcohol is the third risk factor for premature disease and death for the general population of the European Union (EU) after smoking and high blood pressure. In the case of young people, they consume alcohol based on the desire to explore, sometimes associating it with recreational drugs use, thus increasing the risk of negative consequences. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of alcohol consumption and its association with other cardiovascular risk factors in first-year medical students. The studied lot consisted of 434 first-year medical students, 30.18% boys, and 69.82% girls, with the mean age of 19.48 ± 0.53 years. The methods included the administration of a questionnaire (CORT 2004 questionnaire on health risk behaviors in first-year medical students) for assessing both alcohol consumption and stress state, as well as blood pressure determination, and anthropometric parameters. The prevalence of alcohol consumption among first-year medical students was 22.58%, with a net prevalence of male gender (57.25% M versus 7.59% F) (p <0.001, X2 = 129.02). The main reasons for alcohol consumption were the festive and official occasions and the desire to integrate into the group. People with whom they prefer to drink alcohol were friends, colleagues, and family. The age at which most people began to consume alcohol was 13-14 years old, and the favorite drink was beer among boys and wine among the girls. Regarding the cardiovascular risk factors, positive correlations were obtained between alcohol and smoking, increased consumption of bread, sedentary lifestyle, and increased body mass index. Students need to be educated from the first year of study on the long-term consequences of alcohol consumption related to the development of the cardiovascular disease, and further studies are needed to see if educational programs really reduce the prevalence of alcohol consumption

Study on the Ovaries and Oocytes Quality in Swines

Recent developments in understanding the physiological mechanisms of reproduction control can be adapted to swine reproductive management. This article points out the procedures that can be used to induce estrus, in pre-pubescent and anestrus gilts, and heat synchronization. For estrus induction and heat synchronization, we used P.G. 600 commercial product (400 IU of PMSG and 200 IU of hCG, Intervet, Millsboro, DE). A total of 36 gilts, from Large White breed, were used, divided in two lots: pre-pubescent gilts (5months of age, no=19) and gilts in anestrus (8 months of age, no=17). The efficacy of hormonal P.G. 600 product was different for the two lots. Estrus manifestation rate was different between lots 73.68% of pre-pubescent gilts compared with 76.47% of anestrus gilts. The use of P.G. 600 hormonal product is effective in inducing and synchronizing estrus in gilts

Morpho-histological Studies on the Male Genital Apparatus of Chinchilla laniger

The histological studies of the male genital apparatus of the Chinchilla Laniger are scares and incomplete. Due to the studies done on the male genital apparatus of Chinchilla Laniger it has been determined that the seminiferous tubes are separated by large conjunctive septum; the seminiferous epithelium varies from one tissue to another, aspect that suggests different stages in the spermatogenesis process. The epididymis channel is made up of pseudo-layered epithelium, a reduced lamina propria and a delicate muscular layer. The deferent channel wall is made up of three tunics: mucous, muscular and adventitia. The muscular tunic is the most developed part and is made up of three super posed layers of even smooth muscle cell. The histological sections done on the pelvic urethra reveals the following components: mucous, vascular layer, muscular and adventitia. The transversal sections done on the free extremity of the penis reveal the presence of the foreskin made up of three layers: tegument or external, parietal or visceral. The vesicular glands (seminal) have an intestine shaped aspect and are sustained by their own ligament, richly vascularised. The transversal section reveals a tubular aspect, the wall of these tubes is made up of: mucous, muscular and adventitia. The prostate is made up of an external part and an internal part, and is covered in a thick conjunctive-muscular capsule

Morpho-histological Study of the Digestive Tract and the Annex Glands of Chinchilla laniger

No detailed histological study of the segments of the digestive tract and of the post-diaphragmatic annex glands of Chinchilla laniger is available in the literature, to our knowledge. The study presented draws attention to the morphological characteristics of the digestive tract and their involvement in the digestive process, with important implications for the composition of formula diets. Histological study of the digestive tract and annex glands (liver and pancreas) of Chinchilla laniger shows no major differences from other mammals. The walls of the oesophagus, stomach and intestine are composed of four layers: the mucosa, sub-mucosa, muscularis mucosa and serosa (the fourth layer of the oesophagus being called the adventitia). A noteworthy feature of the species is the generous development of the caecum in proportion to body size, a characteristic shared with other rodent species

Assessement of Growth Performances of Juvenile Sterlet Acipenser ruthenus Raised in a Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS)

The study was conducted within the recirculating aquaculture system for sturgeon rearing in Herneacova village, Timis County, on a population of juvenile sterlet (Acipenser ruthenus) aged between 346-431 days. Specimens were housed in five round tanks (Ø=3 m, V=6 m3, h=100 cm) and fed with commercial extruded pellets (3 mm granulation, 48% CP, and 10% EE). Fish from each tank were individually weighed and measured once every two weeks. Bioproductive indices such body weight gain (BW), specific growth rate (SGR), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were calculated at the end of an 85 days experimental period. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPPS IBM 22 and Minitab 16 software. Data were reported as Mean±Sx at a significant level of p<0.05. Testing differences between means was realized by ANOVA completed with post-hoc Tukey test. The results obtained indicate that the growth performance of juvenile Acipenser ruthenus seems to be similar and even better than that of other sturgeons species reared in recirculating aquaculture system