Surgical Treatments for Women with Stress Urinary Incontinence: A Systematic Review.

Stress urinary incontinence affects a large proportion of women in their lifetime. The objective of this review was to describe and compare the latest surgical trends in urinary incontinence and focus on the literature advantages, disadvantages, complications and efficacy of surgical procedures regarding this pathology. Using network meta-analysis, we have identified the most frequently used procedures (Burch surgery, midurethral sling and pubovaginal sling), and we have described and characterized them in terms of effectiveness and safety. Midurethral procedures remain the gold standard for surgical treatment of stress urinary incontinence, although the potential of serious complications following this procedure should be taken into consideration always. There is a clear need for a much more unified evaluation of possible complications and postoperative evolution. This process will help practitioners to adapt and individualize their strategy for each patient.

Umbilical cord lactate compared with pH as predictors of intrapartum asphyxia.

Despite advances in fetal monitoring during labor, one of the most critical causes of neonatal death and neurologic injuries remains intrapartum asphyxia. Umbilical cord gases can be used to detect acidosis and fetal distress. We conducted a retrospective, multicenter study to evaluate umbilical cord blood pH and lactate as a mean of evaluating the degree of intrapartum hypoxia and also to establish which of the two is more reliable in predicting morbidity in term neonates. The present study utilized a total of 124 cases that met the criteria for intrapartum asphyxia and 150 normal term newborns that were randomly selected as case control. Both umbilical cord lactate and pH proved to be accurate predictors of neonatal morbidity caused by intrapartum hypoxia. Lactate proved to be superior to pH in predicting adverse neonatal outcome. The greatest sensibility and specificity in predicting intrapartum asphyxia were achieved in our study by using a cutoff value of 3.75 mmol/l for lactate and 7.24 for pH.

Impact of histological subtype on the response to chemoradiation in locally advanced cervical cancer and the possible role of surgery.

Cervical cancer is one of the most common cancers in women in developing countries, second only to breast cancer, with more than 450.000 new cases every year. Romania has the highest incidence of cervical cancer in Europe; more than four times the incidence found in Western Europe. Radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy is considered in most countries the gold standard for locally advanced cervical cancer. In Romania, if downstaging occurs after radiotherapy, adjuvant surgery is routinely performed. Thus, in the present study, we investigated the rate of residual cancer in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer who underwent surgery after concurrent chemoradiotherapy and to determine the impact of tumor histological subtype on the chemoradiotherapy response. Of a total of 461 patients with locally advanced cervical cancer that underwent chemoradiotherapy and adjuvant surgery, 254 had a partial response defined as the presence of residual tumor at pathology examination. Depending on the histological subtype of the cervical cancer, partial response was obtained in 50.6% of squamous cell carcinoma cases and in 77.6% of adenocarcinoma or adenosquamous carcinoma cases. The present study demonstrated that cervical cancer patients with adenocarcinomas and adenosquamous carcinomas had a significantly poorer treatment response to chemoradiotherapy than those with squamous cell carcinomas. We consider that in such cases where residual tumor is present, adjuvant surgery is mandatory for improving the survival rates.

A Romanian therapeutic approach to peripheral nerve injury.

The study of nerve regeneration and functional recovery of the injured peripheral nerves represents a worldwide subject of clinical and scientific research. Our team aimed to obtain the first guide for nerve regeneration, bioartificial and biodegradable, using exclusively Romanian resources and having the advantages of price and quality, over the imported nerve conduits already used in clinical practice. First steps of this project consisted in obtaining the prototype of nerve guide conduit and its' testing in vitro and in vivo. Tests of physicochemical characterization, FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) spectrometry, thermal analysis (differential calorimetry, thermo-gravimetry), electron microscopy, water absorption and enzymatic degradation of the obtained prototype were followed by in vivo testing. The first results, obtained on a group of Brown Norway rats who suffered experimental lesions of 1 cm at the level of left sciatic nerve, which have then been repaired using the Romanian conduit prototype, are favorable in terms of biocompatibility, biodegradable capacity and support of nerve regeneration.

Association of +35A/C (intron3/exon3) polymorphism in SOD1-gene with diabetic nephropathy in type 1 diabetes.

Diabetic nephropathy is a major complication of type 1 diabetes whose pathogenesis is insufficiently known, but oxidative stress and genetic susceptibility seem to be involved. The purpose of this study is to assess the possible association of +35A/C (rs2234694) polymorphism in SOD1-gene with advanced stages of diabetic nephropathy in patients with type 1 diabetes in Romania. There have been enrolled 238 unrelated patients, having type 1 diabetes, divided into group A (106 patients) with diabetic nephropathy - macroalbuminuria or ESRD (End Stage Renal Disease) and group B (132 patients) without diabetic nephropathy. The genomic DNA was extracted from the peripheral venous blood and the genotyping of +35A/C (rs2234694) polymorphism has been made using the PCR-RFLP technique. The statistical analysis has been made using De Finetti's program. There has not been a significant deviation from the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for any group (p=0.229 and p=0.894, respectively). The data analysis revealed that the presence of a C-allele confers a significant risk (p=0.008) for the advanced diabetes nephropathy (OR=4.940, 95% C.I.=1.341-18.198), and the CA-genotype (p=0.015) confers a little lower risk (OR=4.491, 95% C.I.=1.203-16.766). This study shows the association of a mutant C-allele of rs2234694 polymorphism in SOD1-gene with the advanced stages of diabetic nephropathy in patients with type 1 diabetes in Romania, suggesting the involvement of the defense against oxidative stress, as an important link in the pathogeny of diabetic nephropathy.

The glycemic control and temporal characteristics of diabetes as risk factors for the occurence of diabetic renal disease.

Diabetes is one of the most spread pandemy, which affects nowadays the world, its incidence increasing globally. The chronic complications of diabetes are extremely important, out of which the diabetic kidney disease (DKD) being by far the most expensive and severe. On the basis of statistic studies, we tried to identify the risk factors within some epidemiological studies. The research started in two directions: the hypothesis of environmental factors and associated diseases and the hypothesis of genetic factors. In this article we are trying to assess the role of glycaemic control, age, total duration and post-pubertal duration of diabetes as risk factors for diabetic nephropathy. The glycaemic control proved to be an essential risk factor in developing microvascular complications and DKD, the "normal" glycaemia being the only limit below which there are no microvascular complications. We do not know for sure exactly the role played by the total duration of diabetes and age in developing the diabetic nephropathy as well as other microvascular complications. The age of onset and the post-pubertal duration seem to be better associated to the development of nephropathy, but the causality has not been demonstrated yet. These are a part of the 21 risk factors quoted in the speciality literature as influencing the occurrence of DKD.

[Puberty, pregnancy, gender and hormonal status--putative risk factors for diabetic nephropathy]. / Pubertatea, sarcina, sexul si statusul hormonal--posibili factori de risc pentru nefropatia diabetica.

Contemplation of non-genetic risk factors that are influencing the onset and development of diabetic nephropathy (diabetic kidney disease--DKD) is very important. This article is integrative, assessing the existent data about several possible risk factors for DKD. Because the age of onset and postpubertal duration of diabetes seems to be strongly correlated with DKD, it is feasible for puberty to be another independent risk factor. Data analysis regarding puberty and possible explanatory mechanisms to link it with DKD, as the connection with DKD of other situations, with special hormonal status (like pregnancy), is also part of this article. Summing up the data about hormonal status, we can conclude that ANF levels are a risk factor for diabetic nephropathy because they are implicated in diminution of urinary Na elimination and hypertension and subsequent urinary albumin excretion (UAE) in case of inadequate glycaemic control. The evidences regarding GH are indicating that it is a risk factor for DKD and that he is probably implicated in glomerular hypertrophy onset at puberty. The urinary elimination levels of GH are very strong correlated with UAE being putative early marker for DKD. Also the GH deficiency seems to be a protective mechanism for DKD apparition. GH is strongly correlated with IGF-1 that has very high urinary levels in microalbuminuric patients. These levels are very well related to UAE, kidney volume--important markers for glomerular hypertrophy. The evidences accumulated until now regarding the role of masculine gender, testosterone and estrogens in DKD are inarticulate.

Asthma in children and adolescents: socio-economic and psycho-somatic considerations.

Bronchial asthma, despite the theoretical and experimental medical progress, remains the most frequently seen chronic disease of the children and has a heavy impact on global morbidity and mortality. The inadequate psychological approach to the asthmatic child and his family can be responsible for this failure in asthma control. We present here the psychosomatic characteristics of the child with asthma and his parents. Some suggestions are made, concerning the correct approach to the patient and parents: how to address parents' trust in current diagnostic and therapeutic resources (in steroids, especially), their personal beliefs regarding asthma and how to tackle the drift towards unconventional medicine.

Allergic reactions to antithyroid drugs are associated with autoimmunity a retrospective case-control study.

UNLABELLED: Thiamazole is the most used antithyroid drug for thyrotoxicosis in Basedow-Graves' (BG) (autoimmune) disease and in toxic multinodular goitre (TMG) (non-autoimmune). This study aims to find whether allergic reactions to thiamazole occur more frequently during the treatment of BG than of TMG. METHOD: Retrospective study, of 128 patients newly diagnosed and treated for thyrotoxicosis in the first 6 months of 2006, in the Endocrinology Department of "Elias" Hospital, Bucharest. Cases were all patients treated with thiamazole who developed allergic reactions. Controls were all patients treated with thiamazole without allergic reactions. Risk factor was considered to be the presence of BG. RESULTS: Cases group consisted of 6 patients. All 6 started treatment with thiamazole for BG, and developed allergic reactions after 2-4 weeks of treatment. When thiamazole was withdrawn, allergic symptoms ceased under antihistamines and steroids. In order to control the thyrotoxicosis, antihistamines and oral steroids was administered, together with thiamazole in slow increasing doses. After about 4 weeks under this combination, a tolerance to thiamazole seems to appear. Control group consisted of 122 patients who started thiamazole: 66 for BG and 56 for TMG (without allergic reactions). CONCLUSION: Allergy to thiamazole was significantly associated with the autoimmune BG, and not with TMG (p = 0.03, OR = 11.04). None of the patients with TMG developed allergic reactions to the drug. Tolerance to this drug may occur.

[Aspects of pleural/pulmonary involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus]. / Aspecte ale afectarii pleuro-pulmonare in lupusul eritematos sistemic.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) has a wide spectrum of laboratory findings and clinical manifestations. Our objective was to study the pleural/pulmonary involvement in patients with SLE. We have considered 200 patients, diagnosed according to ARA criteria for SLE. Patients were clinically examined, lab test (including immunology) of blood and pleural liquid were performed and also pulmonary biopsies were made. We found that pleurisy was the most frequent involvement, in 12% of patients. More than 50% of necropsies showed a pulmonary involvement; the most frequent aspect was of acute lupus pneumonia, with large hemorrhagic areas. Microscopy showed macrophages loaded with hemosiderin. The alveolar hemorrhage in SLE is due, possibly, to the impairment of coagulation and has a bad prognostic value.

[Lipodystrophy syndrome in HIV-infected patients. Clinical and diagnostic features]. / Sindromul lipodistrofic la pacientii infectati HIV--elemente clinice si de diagnostic.

After the introduction of HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy) in patients infected with HIV, a new syndrome--Lipodystrophy syndrome--has been described, in 1998. Lipodystrophy syndrome in patients with HIV infection comprises several conditions: lipoatrophy, lipohypertrophy, mixed syndrome (lipoatrophy and lipohypertrophy), often associated with dyslipidemia and insulin resistance. Lipoatrophy and lipohypertrophy can occur independently, being associated with different constellations of host, disease and drug risk factors. Until a working clinical definition on HIV-related lipodystrophy syndrome is developed, it will be difficult to monitor patients and compare studies, because, at present, investigators, clinicians and patients have different working definitions.

[Pathogenic mechanisms for fat redistribution in patients with HIV disease]. / Ipoteze privind patogenia sindromului lipodistrofic la pacientii infectati cu HIV.

Lipodystrophy syndrome is a common term in the literature traditionally used to describe several morphologic (lipoatrophy; lipohypertrophy; mixed syndrome) and metabolic (dyslipidemia, insulin resistance) disturbances found in patients with HIV disease, with or without treatment with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Increasing evidence suggests these disorders, though commonly clustering in a syndrome pattern, have distinct pathologic pathways and can occur independently of each other. The pathogenesis of these disorders is complex, but recent hypotheses and evidence suggest that impairment to adipocyte differentiation, in particular through alterations in the expression of the transcription factor sterol responsive element binding protein-lc (SREBP1c), impairment of adipokine regulation, unopposed production of proinflammatory cytokines, adipocyte apoptosis mediated by proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF-alpha) and IL-6, dysregulation of 1l-beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase, and mitochondrial toxicity may play a role.