Timisoara Medical Journal

Peripheral nerve injuries have a significant negative impact on daily activities and quality of life. Considering that the compression of more than one peripheral nerve may have an increased negative emotional impact, it is, therefore, important to make a thorough diagnosis and speed up the surgical treatment. We present the case of a 71-year-old male patient with multiple simultaneous compression neuropathies of the distal right arm involving the posterior interosseous, median and ulnar nerves, who sought medical care during the first year of the COVID-19 outbreak. Full article

Acute necrotizing ulcerative gingivitis or Vincent’s stomatitis is a painful infectious condition of gingiva due to endogenous bacteria. It is an uncommon disease of gingiva, usually seen in patients with impaired immunity, which may be due to some underlying systemic diseases such as HIV infection, malignancy, or diabetes mellitus. Rarely, it is also seen in immunocompetent patients living a stressful life. Here, we report a case of Vincent’s stomatitis with the acute ulcerative involvement of gingiva and pseudomembranous ulceration of tonsils in a general medical practitioner living a busy life. Full article

(1) Aim of the Study: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the vascular damage and the effects of nitric oxide synthase (NOS) enzyme inhibitors in hepatic damage caused by high doses of acetaminophen (APAP). (2) Material and methods: Fifty-three Swiss albino male mice were used for this study. Hepatic and thoracic aorta toxicity caused by 2 or 6 h exposures to APAP (300 mg/kg intraperitoneally (i.p.)) were evaluated. The general NOS inhibitor N^G-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME: 25 mg/kg and 50 mg/kg, i.p.) and the neuronal NOS inhibitor 7-nitroindazole (7-NI: 15 mg/kg, i.p.) were administered one hour before APAP exposure. (3) Results: Significant morphological deteriorations were observed after 6 h of APAP exposure in histopathological examinations of hepatic sections. Pre-treatment with L-NAME (at 50 mg/kg) or 7-NI before a 6 h APAP exposure significantly decreased hepatic toxicity (p < 0.05). Significant increases in ALT levels in 6 h of APAP exposure were decreased by both L-NAME (with the 25 mg/kg but not at 50 mg/kg) and 7-NI pre-treatments. No significant change was observed in the measured nitrate/nitrite levels and total antioxidant status in either serum or liver homogenates. No significant deteriorations were observed during either hematoxylin-eosin or immunohistochemical staining in thoracic aorta sections. In the thoracic artery sections, no statistical difference was found in acetylcholine-mediated relaxation, which may indicate endothelial dysfunction. (4) Conclusions: This study demonstrated that APAP-induced hepatic toxicity, especially neuronal NOS inhibitors, may decrease hepatic toxicity. It was also shown that APAP-induced hepatic toxicity was not accompanied by vascular dysfunction. Full article

(1) Aim of the study: Our study aims to analyze the influence of biological parameters such as hemoglobin, albumin, total protein, on the management and duration of treatment of colon cancer patients who have undergone elective surgery. (2) Material and methods: Data of 147 patients from the Surgery Clinic 1 of the County Clinical Hospital of Timisoara who underwent an elective surgery for colon cancer treatment were statistically analyzed using statistical tests such as Anova or Chi square with a p < 0.05 considered to be statistically significant. (3) Results: Differences between preoperative and postoperative parameters were correlated with the duration of surgery (hemoglobin, p = 0.014). The average length of hospital stay was correlated with the difference between the preoperative and postoperative level of hemoglobin (p = 0.043). There was a direct correlation between the length of postoperative hospital stay and the difference between the plasmatic levels of albumin (p = 0.033). There were differences in the average Charlson index value of patients who required albumin, with no statistical significance. (4) Conclusions: The difference between preoperative and postoperative levels of biological parameters (hemoglobin, albumin, total protein) has an influence on the management of patients with colon cancer undergoing elective surgery, affecting the number of days the patients spend in the hospital after the surgical procedure, as well as the total number of days spent in the hospital (from day one to discharge). The greater the variation of those differences, the longer recovery period needed, showing that an early correction of those parameters can lead to a shorter hospital stay, a faster postoperative recovery and a shorter postoperative hospital stay. Full article

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic has caused worldwide losses from all points of view. Although there are efficient vaccines against this virus, rapid detection remains essential for controlling its spread. The gold standard for the COVID-19 diagnostic is the use of quantitative real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) from naso-/oro-pharyngeal swabs and, alternatively, saliva specimens. A faster alternative to the RT-qPCR method, the colorimetric reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (cLAMP) has a good sensitivity and specificity and has been proposed as an efficient screening method. In this study, we analyzed several sets of LAMP primers for COVID-19 testing using purified RNA samples and raw saliva samples, and tested several reaction conditions. Our results showed that the sensitivity of cLAMP reactions on raw saliva samples can be significantly augmented by the addition of guanidine hydrochloride to levels, which allow its use for COVID-19 screening. Full article