Vitamin D Status: A Different Story in the Very Young versus the Very Old Romanian Patients.

BACKGROUND: In Romania (latitude 48°15'N to 43°40'N), vitamin D supplementation is common practice mostly in infants 0-1 year old. No published information is available regarding epidemiological data on vitamin D status in the Romanian population for a wide age range and geographical territory. In this context, we aimed to evaluate the seasonal and age variation of vitamin D status in a large Romanian population. METHODS: 6631 individuals from across Romania had performed 7544 vitamin D assessments (2012-2014) in a chain of private laboratories. Vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin D2 and 25-hydroxyvitamin D3) was measured using High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Vitamin D levels were classified as severe deficiency<10 ng/mL, deficiency 10-20 ng/mL, insufficiency 21-29 ng/mL, sufficiency ≥ 30 ng/mL and potentially harmful>100 ng/ml. RESULTS: Male to female ratio was 1:2.9. Age ranged from 0 to 85 years. Mean vitamin D levels increased from April (26.3n g/ml) to September (35.6 ng/ml) and decreased from October (33.5 ng/ml) to March (24.4 ng/ml). Overall 40% had sufficient vitamin D, while the rest were insufficient 33%, deficient 22%, severely deficient 4% and 1% potentially harmful (of them 81% under 1 year old). Males compared to females showed higher percentages of sufficiency (47% vs. 38%). Children 0- 2 years presented the highest percentage of vitamin D sufficiency (77%). Lowest percentages (21%) of sufficiency were in people 80-84 years. CONCLUSION: In Romania, suboptimal vitamin D levels are common (59%), especially in older age, wintertime and in women. Vitamin D supplementation would be most warranted from January to April in the Romanian population. 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels > 100 ng/ml were relatively prevalent in children 0-1 year old (17.3%). This was attributed to supplementation errors and the fact that high-risk individuals were more likely to visit for medical check-up. Nonetheless, it stresses the need to increase awareness of the importance of preventing Vitamin D supplementation administration errors in the young.

Vascular morphometry and micrometry of the orbital region of the human optic nerve.

The study aims at providing data on the vascular morphometry and micrometry of the orbital region of the human optic nerve. The disposition of the microcirculatory trunk in the orbital region has been studied on 40 samples taken post-mortem, as well as on 10 pieces from subjects having undergone enucleation. Histological specimens were prepared from the optic nerves using eosinhematoxylin dye-staining, the Romhany-Bârzu staining and the Gomory trichromic staining. Functionally active capillaries make up 19.380 per cent (7-14 micro group), respectively 21.318 per cent (15-20 micro group) of the total vessels in the area, having an average diameter of 10.01 +/- 0.0826085 p, respectively 17.9272 +/- 0.0651995 micro, for P = 0.05. There are 169 reserve capillaries (with a diameter between 2-6 micron), representing 32.752 of the total of vessels counted. The existence of reserve capillaries allows, at a certain point, for the supplying of the obstruction or of the vasospasm on the territory of the functionally active capillary