Medicina
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Background and Objectives: Nandrolone decanoate (ND) is the most widely used among the anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS), synthetic substances derived from testosterone, to improve muscular and health gains associated with exercises. The AAS leads to physical performance enhancement and presents anti-aging properties, but its abuse is associated with several adverse effects. Supraphysiological doses of AAS with or without physical exercise can cause morphological and functional alterations in neuromuscular interactions. ⋯ Conclusions: The supraphysiological ND exposure in the sedentary rats promoted an increase in muscle oxidative pattern and adverse morphological alterations in skeletal muscle, resulting from damage or post-injury regeneration. In the ND-exercised rats, no major morphological changes were found. Thus, the physical exercise partially reversed the alterations caused by ND in sedentary rats.
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Oligometastasis is defined as the presence of several limited metastatic lesions and is generally limited to three or fewer than five metastatic lesions. Previously, the treatment of metastatic cancer aimed to alleviate symptoms rather than cure them; however, the use of immunotherapy or targeted therapy has greatly improved patient life expectancy. Additionally, the effectiveness and safety of local treatment have recently been proven for oligometastatic cancers and have significantly improved patient survival and decreased recurrence rates. ⋯ It is well known that oligometastasis has better clinical results than polymetastasis; however, research on the biological profile of oligometastasis is still lacking. Studies using circulating tumor DNA and circulating tumor cells are at the initial stages of providing a better understanding of oligometastatic cancers, and the biological characteristics of these cancers may be revealed based on more diverse studies. With the development of these treatments, the prognosis for patients with oligometastatic cancers is steadily improving, and if the biological profile is revealed, customized treatment may be provided.
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Observational Study
Ultrasound Prevalence and Clinical Features of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Diseases: A Real-Life Cross-Sectional Study.
Background and Objectives: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a condition characterized by chronic intestinal inflammation. We can identify two major forms: Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). One of the extraintestinal manifestations of IBD is nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). ⋯ Conclusions: We suggest performing liver US screening in subjects affected by IBD to detect NAFLD earlier. Also, patients with NAFLD present several metabolic comorbidities that would fall within the new definition of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease. Finally, we encourage larger longitudinal studies, including healthy controls, to provide further confirmation of our preliminary data.
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Observational Study
Implementation of the Baveno Classification in Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Its Correlation with Symptoms of Anxiety and Depression.
Background and Objectives: The Baveno classification represents a new approach to the assessment of the severity of OSA (Obstructive sleep apnea), which takes significant comorbidities into account: atrial fibrillation, arterial hypertension, heart failure, stroke, diabetes mellitus, and OSA symptoms expressed through the Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS). The authors believe that the Baveno classification facilitates a better stratification of patients with OSA and can be a good guide for deciding on the therapeutic approach and clinical monitoring of patients with OSA, compared to the AHI (apnea-hypopnea index) itself. The aim of this paper is to confirm the advantage of applying the Baveno classification to the evaluation of symptoms of anxiety and depression in the OSA patients compared to the application of the AHI as a single parameter. ⋯ In the total sample, AHI did not correlate with the depressive episodes, but individually, the highest frequency of the depressive symptoms was precisely in the categories with the highest AHI (group D and B), where more than half of the subjects had an abnormal score. The frequency of the anxiety disorder (HADS-A) between the analyzed groups did not differ significantly, although the largest number of patients with significant anxiety were in category B, according to the Baveno classification. Conclusions: We proved that the Baveno classification is applicable in real life, and it is better at evaluating anxiety and depression using questionnaires and can identify new patients who need CPAP therapy, independently of other OSAS symptoms, primarily daytime sleepiness.
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Background and Objectives: One's quality of life depends on overall health, and in particular, oral health, which has been and continues to become a public health issue through frequent manifestations in various forms, from simple oral stomatitis (inflammations of the oral cavity) to the complicated oral health pathologies requiring medical interventions and treatments (caries, pulp necrosis and periodontitis). The aim of this study focused on the preparation and evaluation of vitamins (vitamin A, B1 and B6) incorporated into several silicone-based lining materials as a new alternative to therapeutically loaded materials designed as oral cavity lining materials in prosthodontics. Materials and Methods: Silicone-based liners containing vitamins were prepared by mixing them in solution and becoming crosslinked, and then they were characterized using Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy to confirm the incorporation of the vitamins into the silicone network; scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to evidence the morphology of the liner materials; dynamic vapor sorption (DVS) to evaluate their internal hydrophobicity, swelling in environments similar to biological fluids and mechanical test to demonstrate tensile strength; MTT to confirm their biocompatibility on normal cell cultures (fibroblast) and mucoadhesivity; and histopathological tests on porcine oral mucosa to highlight their potential utility as soft lining materials with improved efficiency. ⋯ The appearance of some pathological disorders with autolysis processes was more pronounced in the case of vitamin A liners. Conclusions: The addition of the vitamins was shown to have a beneficial effect that was mainly manifested as increased biocompatibility, hydrolytic stability and mucoadhesiveness with the mucosa of the oral cavity and less of an effect on the mechanical strength. The obtained lining materials showed good resistance in simulated biological media but caused a pronounced autolysis phenomenon, as revealed by histopathological examination, showing that these materials may have broad implications in the treatment of oral diseases.