Polymorphism Patterns and Socioeconomic Characteristics and Their Influence on the Risk of Preeclampsia.

Background: Preeclampsia (PE) is a critical condition affecting pregnancies worldwide. Understanding its etiology, particularly the genetic factors, is vital. This study aims to investigate the association between ACE gene polymorphisms, specifically the ACE G2350A (rs4343) variant, and the predisposition to PE, offering insights into the genetic predisposition towards this complex condition. Methods: A case-control study was conducted with 140 participants without PE (Control Group) and 128 participants diagnosed with PE (PE Group). The study focused on comparing the prevalence of the rs4343 polymorphism between the groups. Results: The analysis identified a significantly reduced risk associated with the AG genotype and an insignificant increase in risk with the AA genotype. Statistically significant differences in demographic and clinical characteristics, such as BMI and marital status, were observed between the groups, suggesting a multifaceted risk profile for PE that includes genetic, environmental, and socio-economic factors. Conclusions: The study highlight the significant role of genetic variations, specifically the ACE G2350A (rs4343) polymorphism, in influencing PE predisposition. It highlights the intricate interplay between genetic predispositions and other risk factors in the development of PE. Further research is encouraged to expand on these findings and explore a wider range of genetic polymorphisms and their interactions with environmental factors.

Mindful Eating, Nutrition Knowledge, and Weight Status among Medical Students: Implications for Health and Counseling Practices.

Academic stress and transitioning to young adulthood can lead medical students to develop inadequate eating habits, affecting both their physical and mental well-being and potentially compromising their ability to offer effective preventive counseling to future patients. The primary objective of this study is to analyze the levels of mindful eating and nutrition knowledge in Romanian medical students and their associations with various sociodemographic variables. Additionally, we explore the relationship between mindful eating and nutrition knowledge while accounting for sociodemographic factors and examine the impact of these factors on excess weight. Significant predictors of excess weight include high weight gain in the past year (OR = 15.8), the mindful eating questionnaire (MEQ) score (OR = 0.131), male gender (OR = 2.5), and being in the clinical years of medical school (OR = 2.2). While nutrition knowledge levels do not directly impact weight status, they share a 4% common variance with mindfulness in multivariate analysis. Notably, high weight gain is independent of the levels of mindful eating, but univariate testing links it to disinhibition and emotional response, components of mindfulness. Mindful eating stands out as independently associated with both nutrition knowledge and excess weight among medical students. Thus, interventions to address obesity should consider incorporating mindfulness training to enhance food intake awareness and improve weight management outcomes in Romanian medical students.

Mindful Eating Questionnaire: Validation and Reliability in Romanian Adults.

Mindful eating may play an important role in long-term weight maintenance. In interventions aiming at weight reduction, increasing the levels of mindful eating was associated with higher levels of success and lower levels of weight rebound in the long run. This study aimed to determine the validity and reliability of a mindful eating questionnaire for Romanian adults using Framson's Mindful Eating Questionnaire (MEQ). To calculate the internal (n = 495) and external (n = 45) reliability, a general population sample was taken. Construct validity was assessed using the "known groups" method: dietitians (n = 70), sports professionals (n = 52), and individuals with overweight and obesity (n = 200). Convergent validity tested the association between the MEQ score and demographic characteristics of the total sample (n = 617). The internal (0.72) and external (0.83) reliability were adequate. Dietitians and sports professionals had overall lower scores, meaning more mindful eating compared to the group of individuals with overweight and obesity. The lower mindful eating practice was associated with the presence of excess weight, suboptimal health status perception, higher levels of stress and younger age. The Romanian version of the MEQ is a reliable and valid tool for measuring mindfulness of eating in adults.

Clinical features and management of trophoblastic epithelioid tumors: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to systematically review the existing literature on epithelioid trophoblastic tumors (ETTs), the rarest type of gestational trophoblastic neoplasia. METHODS: A systematic review according to PRISMA guidelines was performed, using ScienceDirect, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. The only filter used was the English language. Eligibility/inclusion criteria: retrospective observational studies (case reports, case series) including full case description of epithelioid trophoblastic tumor lesions. RESULTS: Seventy studies were assessed for synthesis, including 147 cases. 66.7% of patients with ETT presented with irregular vaginal bleeding. Pretreatment ß-hCG levels ranged up to 1000 mIU/mL in 58.5% patients. Of most patients, 42.2% had stage I disease, 10.9% stage II, 25.2% stage III, and 21.8% of patients had stage IV. The most common sites of metastatic disease were the lungs, followed by the liver and brain. After treatment, complete remission was achieved in 75.5% of patients, partial remission in 10.2% of patients, and 14.3% of patients died. On univariate and multivariate analyses, stage IV disease was an independent prognostic factor for overall and disease-free survival. CONCLUSIONS: Hysterectomy and metastatic lesion resection are essential for controlling ETT. Investigational studies on molecules like EGFR, VEGF, PD-1, CD105, and LPCAT1 are potential therapeutic targets for metastatic ETT.

Reliability and Validity of the Emotional Eater Questionnaire in Romanian Adults.

Negative emotions and chronic stress trigger abnormal compensatory behaviors known as emotional eating (EE). EE is a well-known mediator for increased body mass index and weight gain. Our aim was to analyze the factor structure and validity and reliability of the Emotional Eater Questionnaire (EEQ) in a sample of 200 Romanian adults with excess weight. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to assess the construct validity. The mindful eating questionnaire (MEQ) was used to test concurrent validity. Cronbach's alpha and Spearman correlations were used to analyze internal and external reliability. The socio-demographic characteristics were used as factors for convergent validity. PCA revealed the existence of three major factors, disinhibition, type of food, and guilt, which accounted for 64.9% of the variance. Concurrent validity showed medium to large associations with MEQ (r = 0.650; p < 0.001) and a large association with the emotional subscale of MEQ (r = 0.732; p < 0.001). Reliability was adequate with Cronbach's alfa = 0.841 and ICC = 0.775. In a multivariate model, the highest contribution to the EE score was the age (beta = −0.327), followed by feminine gender (beta = 0.321), high levels of perceived stress (beta = 0.215), BMI (beta = 0.184) and lower perceived health status (beta = 0.184). The Romanian version of the EEQ is a reliable and valid tool for measuring emotional eating in adults with excess weight.

Hysteroscopy as a Primary Tool in Exploration and Treatment of Infertility: Single Center Experience in Western Romania.

(1) Background: Infertility is a disease that affects millions of individuals worldwide. Intrauterine lesions are common in infertile women, hysteroscopy being considered the gold standard for assessing them, even if in routine clinical practice indirect imaging techniques are the first-line investigative tools. The aim of the study was to evaluate hysteroscopic findings among women with unexplained infertility and to analyze fertility outcomes after operative hysteroscopy; (2) Methods: a retrospective cohort study was conducted among 198 women with infertility that had undergone hysteroscopy as the first step of their infertility workup. (3) Results: The median age of the participants was 34 years, 67.7% of them being diagnosed with primary infertility. The most common abnormalities were endometrial polyps, uterine synechiae and uterine fibroids. In addition, pregnancy rates were 23.1% after hysteroscopic polypectomy, 11.1% after hysteroscopic myomectomy and 23.8% after uterine synechiae resection; (4) Conclusions: Endometrial polyps were the most common uterine abnormality found in women with infertility. Hysteroscopic interventions appeared to increase pregnancy rates and outcomes among these women.

Ovarian dysgerminoma in pregnancy: A case report.

RATIONALE: Although dysgerminomas are relatively uncommon among all ovarian neoplasms, representing for only about 2%, they account for 32.8 percent of malignant ovarian germ cell tumors. Their association with pregnancy is extremely rare; due to the low frequency of occurrence, there are few recommendations regarding pregnancy management; therefore, it is important to discuss and summarize the treatment strategy. PATIENT CONCERNS: We present the case of a 25 years patient, gestation 1, para 1, who was hospitalized in the clinic at 38/39 weeks of gestation at the beginning of labor. Following the ultrasound examination, a hypoechogenic lesion on the uterine fundus was found, suggestive of subterranean fibroid. After caesarean section, right adnexectomy was performed; the histopathological examination revealed, unexpectedly, the diagnosis of dysgerminoma. DIAGNOSES: Dysgerminoma as associated with pregnancy. INTERVENTIONS: Birth by Caesarean section and right adnexectomy. No other medical complications occurred. OUTCOMES: The histopathological and immunohistochemical examinations were consistent with the pure dysgerminoma. Oncology was staged AI, with the monitoring of markers and abdominal and pelvic magnetic resonance imaging at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. LESSONS: Dysgerminoma is the most common ovarian malignancy associated with pregnancy with a good fetal maternal outcome. If these tumors are discovered accidentally during caesarean section, tumor markers and magnetic resonance imaging scanning should be done postoperatively to plan optimal treatment.

Craniofacial morphology and its relation to the eruption pattern of permanent teeth in the supporting zone of the dentition in a group of Romanian children in Timisoara.

The purpose of this study is to determine the cephalic and facial morphological typology in prepubertal children from Timisoara (Romania) and to develop a population-specific reference for the dental eruption of permanent teeth in the supporting zone of the dentition, in relation to the facial morphological typology. Using cephalic and facial indexes in a group of 234 preadolescents with mixed dentition, we quantified morphological associations between cephalic and facial types, using a cross-sectional design. The prepubertal children in Timisoara have a dominant mesoprosopic facial type and mesocephalic type. For supporting zone of the dentition, the presence of permanent teeth, the canine, the first premolar and the second premolar was recorded, for all four quadrants. Dental eruption in the supporting zone of the dentition has particularities depending on population group, gender, dental arch, but also facial type. From the data of this study, the following patterns of eruption, specific to each facial type, have resulted: for leptoprosopic facial type - first upper premolar (UP1), second upper premolar (UP2), upper canine (UC)∕first lower premolar (LP1), lower canine (LC), second lower premolar (LP2); for mesoprosopic facial type - UP1, UP2, UC∕LC, LP1, LP2; and for euryprosopic facial type - UP1, UP2, UC∕LC, LP1, LP2. The leptoprosopic and euryprosopic facial types have a delayed and accelerated eruption compared to the mesoprosopic facial type. The euryprosopic facial type has more intense mandibular eruption. The leptoprosopic facial type registers the largest percentage of children requiring orthodontic treatment. Monitoring the sequence of eruption of the permanent teeth is very important to ensure the balanced development of the dental occlusion, mandible and facies as a whole.

Spontaneous postnatal complete resolution of an antenatally diagnosed fetal hepatic cyst: A case report.

RATIONALE: Antenatal diagnosis of a fetal hepatic cyst is rare. Since in most cases the lesion is treated after birth by surgery only a few reports present a complete spontaneous resolution of an antenatally diagnosed hepatic cyst. PATIENT CONCERNS: A single hepatic cyst (1.34/1.47 cm) was diagnosed in a fetus at 36 weeks of pregnancy while mother was in labor. After an uneventful vaginal birth, a multidisciplinary evaluation of the newborn confirmed the presence of the cyst. DIAGNOSES: Single hepatic cyst INTERVENTIONS:: Passive approach; periodic ultrasound monitoring of the cyst OUTCOMES:: The latest ultrasound examination performed at 18 months of age confirmed complete resolution of the cyst. No other medical complications occurred before 18 months of age. LESSONS: The management of such a case depends on the cyst dimensions, the types of involved structure and could require urgent prenatal or neonatal treatment. In our case a complete spontaneous resolution of the hepatic cyst was achieved before 18 months of age.

miRNAs Expressions and Interaction with Biological Systems in Patients with Alzheimer`s Disease. Using miRNAs as a Diagnosis and Prognosis Biomarker.

BACKGROUND: A high percentage of patients develop Alzheimer`s disease (AD). The main signs are loss of memory and cognitive functions which have a significant impact on lifestyle. Numerous studies have been conducted to identify new biomarkers for early diagnosis of patients with AD. An ideal biomarker is represented by the expression of miRNAs. In this paper, we want to summarize expressions miRNAs in AD. We also want to present the pathophysiological and genetic interactions of miRNAs with protein systems in these patients. METHODS: For the study, we examined available studies in scientific databases, such as PubMed and Scopus. The studies were searched using the keywords "miRNAs expression", "Alzheimer`s disease", "genetic polymorphisms", and "genetic biomarkers". RESULTS: For the assessment and monitoring of patients with AD, the expression of miRNAs can be used successfully due to increased specificity and selectivity. Moreover, the expression of miRNAs can provide important answers regarding possible genetic interactions and genetic therapeutic regimens. CONCLUSIONS: For the evaluation and non-invasive monitoring of patients with Alzheimer`s disease the expression of miRNAs can be successfully used.