Discoveries (Craiova, Romania)最新文献

{"title":"Sodium glucose co-transport 2 inhibitors for gout treatment.","authors":"Manoj Kumar Reddy Somagutta,&nbsp;Enkhmaa Luvsannyam,&nbsp;Molly Jain,&nbsp;Gaurav Venkat Cuddapah,&nbsp;Sandeep Pelluru,&nbsp;Nafisa Mustafa,&nbsp;Duaa S Nasereldin,&nbsp;Siva K Pendyala,&nbsp;Nagendrababu Jarapala,&nbsp;Bhavani Padamati","doi":"10.15190/d.2022.11","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15190/d.2022.11","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Hyperuricemia remains the most prevalent cause of gout. Gout patients present with joint inflammation and uric acid crystals deposition manifesting as tophi. The association of gout with increased risk of insulin resistance, diabetes, metabolic disorders, increased cardiometabolic risk, and kidney disease is well established. These factors influence the treatment plan, and current treatment options have limited cardiovascular risk reduction. So the need for novel treatments with a broad range of coverage for the complications is warranted. Sodium-glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors are novel drugs approved for treating type-2 diabetes. They prevent glucose reabsorption and lower serum uric acid levels. Recently few studies have studied their association with reducing the risk of gout. They may help address the gout related complications through their recorded benefit with weight loss, improved insulin resistance, and cardiovascular benefits in recent studies. . SGLT2-Is may be useful to reduce the risk of gout in individuals with type 2 diabetes. Limited literature is available on the safety and efficacy of these novel antidiabetic drugs in patients with gout. This review is aimed to summarize the current knowledge on the role and effectiveness of novel antidiabetic medication as an early therapeutic option in gout patients.</p>","PeriodicalId":72829,"journal":{"name":"Discoveries (Craiova, Romania)","volume":"10 3","pages":"e152"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9759282/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10414773","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Conjunctival congestion: a novel clinical sign in older children with Tetralogy of Fallot.","authors":"Arun Prasad,&nbsp;Pradeep Kumar,&nbsp;Amit Raj,&nbsp;Yankappa Nayak","doi":"10.15190/d.2022.13","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15190/d.2022.13","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Tetralogy of Fallot is the most common cyanotic heart disease in children. While doing echocardiographic examination of children with Tetralogy of Fallot, we observed that many older children with this condition had congestion in their bulbar conjunctiva, easily recognizable even from some distance. This observation led us to design and perform a research study in order to find out the presence of conjunctival congestion in children with Tetralogy of Fallot. 85% of children in the ≥ 5-years of age group had conjunctival congestion without any ocular symptom. This novel clinical finding can act as an adjunct clinical sign for recognizing Tetralogy of Fallot in older children.</p>","PeriodicalId":72829,"journal":{"name":"Discoveries (Craiova, Romania)","volume":"10 3","pages":"e154"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9754735/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10474268","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Artificial Intelligence in Teledentistry.","authors":"Panchali Batra,&nbsp;Himanshu Tagra,&nbsp;Sakshi Katyal","doi":"10.15190/d.2022.12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15190/d.2022.12","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Artificial intelligence (AI) has grown tremendously in the past decade. The application of AI in teledentistry can reform the way dental care, dental education, research, and subsequent innovations can happen remotely. Machine learning including deep learning-based algorithms can be developed to create predictive models of risk assessment for oral health related conditions, consequent complications, and patient stratification. Patients can be empowered to self-diagnose and apply preventive measures or self-manage some early stages of dental diseases. Applications of AI in teledentistry can be beneficial for both, the dental surgeon and the patient. AI enables better remote screening, diagnosis, record keeping, triaging, and monitoring of dental patients based on smart devices. This will take away rudimentary cases requiring run-of-the-mill treatments from dentists and enable them to concentrate on highly complex cases. This would also enable the dentists to serve a larger and deprived population in inaccessible areas. Its usage in teledentistry can bring a paradigm shift from curative to preventive personalised approach in dentistry. A strong asset to teledentistry could be a robust and comprehensive feedback mechanism routed through various channels proposed in this paper. This paper discusses the application of AI in teledentistry and proposes a feedback mechanism to enhance performance in teledentistry.</p>","PeriodicalId":72829,"journal":{"name":"Discoveries (Craiova, Romania)","volume":"10 3","pages":"153"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9748636/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10391556","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Testosterone and quality of life in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.","authors":"Rodica Diaconu,&nbsp;Oana Neagoe,&nbsp;Oana Mirea,&nbsp;Eugen Tieranu,&nbsp;Roxana Mustafa,&nbsp;Tudor-Adrian Balseanu,&nbsp;Ionut Donoiu","doi":"10.15190/d.2022.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15190/d.2022.15","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Testosterone is an important factor that influences the quality of life in men. The purpose of this study is to evaluate how testosterone level impacts the quality of life in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This cross-sectional single-center included 97 male patients with dilated cardiomyopathy, in whom serum testosterone was measured. Health-related quality of life was measured using the translated validated version of the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ-12). We used correlation and multivariable regression to assess the association between KCCQ-12 score, serum testosterone level, and clinical and paraclinical variables.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The mean age of study participants was 58 (range 29-88). The mean LVEF was 25 ±8.61%. The average total serum testosterone level was 3.13 ±2.72 (range 0.19-13.5 ng/ml). The median global KCCQ-12 score was 44.8 (6.2-90.6) representing a poor to fair impairment in quality of life. There was an inverse correlation between the KCCQ-12 score and NYHA class (Pearson coefficient r = 0.847 p<0.001) and a direct correlation with LVEF (r=0.445, p<0.001). Also, the KCCQ-12 score correlated with hemoglobin level (r=0.214, p=0.037) and plasmatic creatinine level (r=-0.296 p= 0.004). In multivariable regression, the independent predictors of health-related quality of life were testosterone, LVEF, and NYHA class.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>The results of this study showed for the first time a significant direct relationship between serum testosterone levels and quality of life in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.</p>","PeriodicalId":72829,"journal":{"name":"Discoveries (Craiova, Romania)","volume":"10 3","pages":"e156"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9757918/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10763177","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Reed Sternberg-Like Cells in Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Diagnostic Challenge.","authors":"Geeta Yadav,&nbsp;Anurag Singh,&nbsp;Mili Jain,&nbsp;Rashmi Kushwaha,&nbsp;Shailendra Prasad Verma","doi":"10.15190/d.2022.14","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15190/d.2022.14","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Reed-Sternberg cells are distinguishing features of classical Hodgkin lymphoma. However, they are seen infrequently, in both B and T cells Non-Hodgkin lymphomas with a comparable morphology and immunophenotype. These cells are known as Reed-Sternberg-like cells. The characteristic background milieu of classical Hodgkin lymphoma is typically not present in Non-Hodgkin lymphomas, and Reed-Sternberg-like cells are typically present as dispersed cells or in tiny clusters. They are positive for CD30, show variable expression of B cell lineage markers and are negative for CD45/LCA in Non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Reed-Sternberg-like cells have phenotypes that are remarkably similar to those of conventional Reed-Sternberg cells. In this interesting case report, we discuss a case of disseminated B-cell Non-Hodgkin lymphoma with Reed-Sternberg-like cells that presented as a diagnostic challenge. It is essential to distinguish between classical Hodgkin lymphoma and Non-Hodgkin lymphomas due to distinct therapy protocols and prognosis. The presence of large CD30 positive Reed-Sternberg like cells may mimic Hodgkin's Lymphoma. However, monomorphic background population with CD20 positivity should always raise the suspicious of B-cell Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Immunohistochemical detection of a panel of targets should always be applied to correctly diagnose these rare cases of B-cell Non-Hodgkin lymphoma with Reed-Sternberg like cells.</p>","PeriodicalId":72829,"journal":{"name":"Discoveries (Craiova, Romania)","volume":"10 3","pages":"e155"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9754675/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10474270","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"COVID-19 and Pregnancy.","authors":"Selia Chowdhury,&nbsp;Mehedi Hasan Bappy,&nbsp;Shreeya Desai,&nbsp;Samia Chowdhury,&nbsp;Vraj Patel,&nbsp;Md Shahraj Chowdhury,&nbsp;Ayesha Fonseca,&nbsp;Catalina Sekzer,&nbsp;Samina Zahid,&nbsp;Athanasios Patousis,&nbsp;Anna Gerothanasi,&nbsp;Matias Juan Masenga","doi":"10.15190/d.2022.6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15190/d.2022.6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>It is of greatest concern how COVID-19 is affecting pregnancy, mothers, and babies. Scientists are studying the impact of COVID-19 on pregnant women and babies and are understanding a little more every day. Reports show that there is an increased risk in pregnant women compared to nonpregnant women to get more serious illness due to COVID-19. Researchers are also investigating COVID-19 and its potential impact on a fetus. There are exceedingly rare cases of COVID-19 transmission to the fetus, and newborns can pick up COVID-19 when exposed. Vaccines are proved to be safe for pregnant women and help prevent both mother and the fetus from getting COVID-19 and are also highly effective to prevent COVID-19 infection, critical sickness, and fatalities in general. There are specific guidelines for labor and delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic which are to be imposed and followed to achieve safer and healthier childbirth. In this article, the overall influence of COVID-19 in pregnancy, its pathophysiology, effects on placenta and neonates, maternal and perinatal features and outcomes, the role of vaccination, available treatment options, and the guidelines to be followed during the pandemic are discussed based on the available scientific evidence.</p>","PeriodicalId":72829,"journal":{"name":"Discoveries (Craiova, Romania)","volume":" ","pages":"e147"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9683860/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40497579","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Remdesivir: the first FDA-approved anti-COVID-19 Treatment for Young Children.","authors":"Alexandra Chera, Antoanela Tanca","doi":"10.15190/d.2022.10","DOIUrl":"10.15190/d.2022.10","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Following the emergence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, finding efficient forms of treatment is seen as a priority for both adults and children. On April 25, 2022, remdesivir has become the first United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved COVID-19 treatment for young children, specifically ≥28-days-old children, weighing ≥3 kilograms, who are either hospitalized or non-hospitalized, showing a high risk for progression to severe COVID-19 (prone to hospitalization or death). This new approval, which expands its already FDA-approved use in adults to young children, is supported by the CARAVAN study (a phase 2/3 single-arm, open-label study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and efficacy of remdesivir (GS-5734™) in participants, from birth to < 18 years of age, with COVID-19). This study is in progress, with an estimated primary completion in February 2023. While positive effects of remdesivir have been ascertained through various studies, controversy has surrounded remdesivir since its initial FDA approval in 2020 due to the contradictory results obtained by various studies. However, many case reports state its positive effects on the outcome of the patients, encouraging an optimistic vision for the future.</p>","PeriodicalId":72829,"journal":{"name":"Discoveries (Craiova, Romania)","volume":" ","pages":"e151"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9491826/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"33481975","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"mRNA-based vaccine technology for HIV.","authors":"Andra Fortner,&nbsp;Octavian Bucur","doi":"10.15190/d.2022.9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15190/d.2022.9","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) poses a major health problem around the globe, resulting in hundred-thousands of deaths from AIDS and over a million new infections annually. Although the standard treatment of HIV infection, antiretroviral therapy, has proven effective in preventing HIV transmission, it is unsuitable for worldwide use due to its substantial costs and frequent adverse effects. Besides promoting HIV/AIDS awareness through education, there is hardly an alternative for inhibiting the spread of the disease. One promising approach is the development of an HIV vaccine. Unfortunately, the high variability of envelope proteins from HIV subtypes, their frequency of mutation and the lack of fully understanding the mechanisms of protection against the virus constitute an obstacle for vaccine development. Efforts for developing successful anti-HIV vaccines have been underway for decades now, with little success. Lately, significant progress has been made in adopting the novel mRNA vaccine approach as an anti-HIV strategy. mRNA vaccines received a great thrust during the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, several mRNA-based HIV vaccines are undergoing clinical trials to evaluate their safety and efficacy. This review offers an overview of the pathogenesis and treatment of HIV / AIDS, previous efforts of HIV vaccine development and introduces mRNA vaccines as a promising and potential game changing platform for HIV vaccination.</p>","PeriodicalId":72829,"journal":{"name":"Discoveries (Craiova, Romania)","volume":" ","pages":"e150"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-06-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9683993/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"40497578","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Increased cannabis use in pregnant women during COVID-19 pandemic.","authors":"Arjola Agolli,&nbsp;Olsi Agolli,&nbsp;Selia Chowdhury,&nbsp;Vallabh Shet,&nbsp;Johanna S Canenguez Benitez,&nbsp;Niharika Bheemisetty,&nbsp;Madeeha Subhan Waleed","doi":"10.15190/d.2022.7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15190/d.2022.7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Almost one in every 20 pregnant women self-reports marijuana use during pregnancy. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this number has risen to 1 in 6 pregnant women. Some of the main factors associated with cannabis use during pregnancy and lactation are management of chronic conditions, sensation-seeking, dealing with stress, and other conditions related to pregnancy. The action of cannabis on endocannabinoid receptors might cause poor blastocyst implantation, inhibition of decidualization, compromised placentation, miscarriage and poor embryo development.The children born to mothers who used cannabis during pregnancy manifested higher aggression, anxiety, hyperactivity, and higher levels of the hormone cortisol, compared to children of non-cannabis users. In this review we summarize the effects of cannabis use on fetal development during the COVID-19 pandemic based on the existing published peer-reviewed scientific literature. The COVID-19 pandemic has served as an additional stimulus that has increased cannabis use among pregnant women. Prenatal cannabis use is associated with health risks for the mother and child. Cannabis use in pregnant mothers is associated with low infant birth weight and potential negative neurodevelopmental effects in the offspring. It remains unclear how long these changes will persist in the affected children. It is essential that clinicians educate pregnant women about the harm of prenatal cannabis use, improve strategies to support women at risk, and create new intervention strategies to help them stop using cannabis.</p>","PeriodicalId":72829,"journal":{"name":"Discoveries (Craiova, Romania)","volume":"10 2","pages":"e148"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9748245/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10398046","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"On the Origin of Hemoglobin Cooperativity under Non-equilibrium Conditions.","authors":"Rosella Scrima,&nbsp;Sabino Fugetto,&nbsp;Nazzareno Capitanio,&nbsp;Domenico L Gatti","doi":"10.15190/d.2022.5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15190/d.2022.5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Abnormal hemoglobins can have major consequences for tissue delivery of oxygen. Correct diagnosis of hemoglobinopathies with altered oxygen affinity requires a determination of hemoglobin oxygen dissociation curve, which relates the hemoglobin oxygen saturation to the partial pressure of oxygen in the blood. Determination of the oxygen dissociation curve of human hemoglobin is typically carried out under conditions in which hemoglobin is in equilibrium with O2 at each partial pressure. However, in the human body due to the fast transit of red blood cells through tissues hemoglobin oxygen exchanges occur under non-equilibrium conditions. We describe the determination of non-equilibrium oxygen dissociation curve and show that under these conditions the true nature of hemoglobin cooperativity is revealed as emerging solely from the consecutive binding of oxygen to each one of the four subunits of hemoglobin until the entire tetramer is saturated. We call this form of cooperativity the sequential cooperativity of hemoglobin and define the simplest model that includes it as the minimalist model of hemoglobin. A single instantiation of this model accounts for ~70% of hemoglobin cooperativity under non-equilibrium conditions. The total cooperativity of hemoglobin can be viewed more correctly as the summation of two instantiations of the minimalist model (each one corresponding to a tetramer of low and high affinity for O2, respectively) in equilibrium with each other, as in the Monod-Wyman-Changeux model of hemoglobin. In addition to offering new insights on the nature of hemoglobin reaction with oxygen, the methodology described here for the determination of hemoglobin non-equilibrium oxygen dissociation curve provides a simple, fast, low-cost alternative to complex spectrophotometric methods, which is expected to be particularly valuable in regions where hemoglobinopathies are a significant public health problem, but where highly specialized laboratories capable of determining a traditional oxygen dissociation curve are not easily accessible.</p>","PeriodicalId":72829,"journal":{"name":"Discoveries (Craiova, Romania)","volume":"10 2","pages":"e146"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2022-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10431948/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10047031","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}