Maria Sala-Cirtog

Background/Objectives: Gestational differences in individual biomarkers have been established, but concurrent inflammatory–haemostatic correlations may partly reflect gestational timing. This study describes routine-marker differences and explored adjusted associations in pregnancies subsequently confirmed to have uncomplicated term outcomes. Methods: Sixty-six distinct women contributed one sample each: 18, 21 and 27 in the first, second and third trimesters. CRP, NLR, D-dimer and fibrinogen were the primary markers. Analyses included multiplicity-corrected comparisons, age-adjusted log-linear models and partial rank correlations adjusted for gestational week and maternal age. Cross-domain tests formed a 13-association exploratory family. A sensitivity analysis omitted five internally inconsistent differential blood counts. Results: Trimester differences remained for CRP, D-dimer and NLR after Holm correction (all adjusted p < 0.001), but not fibrinogen (p = 0.120). Adjusted fibrinogen correlations were 0.481 with white blood cell count, 0.461 with neutrophils and 0.320 with NLR (Benjamini–Hochberg-adjusted p < 0.001, p = 0.002, 0.004 and 0.042). Most cytokine values were below the effective lower calibration boundary and were not quantitatively reliable. Conclusions: This outcome-restricted cross-sectional sample showed an exploratory fibrinogen–leukocyte co-variation after limited adjustment. The overlapping indices represent one association pattern, not independent biological confirmations. Residual confounding, selection and measurement limitations preclude causal or clinical interpretation.

Background/Objectives: Psychosocial difficulties during the menopausal transition, including impaired self-esteem, perceived isolation, and perceived need for support, remain insufficiently characterized in Eastern European populations. This study estimated their prevalence among Romanian midlife women and examined their associations with demographic factors and symptom burden. Methods: This cross-sectional secondary analysis included 306 women aged 45–65 years (65 perimenopausal, 40 recent menopause, and 201 long-standing menopause), recruited voluntarily through an online questionnaire. Participants completed the 44-item Multidimensional Menopausal Burden Questionnaire and three single-item psychosocial questions. Primary analyses used ordinal and binary logistic regression; symptom clustering, mediation, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, and multinomial regression were exploratory. Results: Menopause-related self-esteem impairment was reported by 45.9% of women, perceived isolation by 47.1%, and a need for external support by 44.1%; 77.6% of women reporting a need did not report having received support, and 41.0% of them stated that they had not sought it. Psychological symptom burden was consistently associated with all three outcomes (adjusted odds ratios 1.18–1.21 per point). Long-standing menopause was associated with self-esteem impairment (OR 2.18, 95% CI 1.01–4.71), although the confidence interval included the null after multiple imputation (OR 2.10, 95% CI 0.99–4.46). In exploratory analyses, a somatic–oral–psychological symptom-burden cluster (21% of participants) showed the highest frequencies of self-esteem impairment (78%) and of need without support received (58%), and a PSY-9 threshold of ≥11 discriminated perceived support need (AUC 0.82; optimism-corrected sensitivity 0.67 and specificity 0.81). Conclusions: Psychosocial difficulties and perceived support needs were common in this voluntary sample and were closely associated with psychological symptom burden. Because the support item did not record help-seeking or access, the gap between perceived need and support received should not be read as evidence of service barriers. The symptom-burden clusters and the PSY-9 threshold are exploratory and require external validation before any clinical use.

Background/Objectives: Medication-associated xerostomia is a clinically relevant adverse effect, but its contribution to oral symptom burden in midlife women remains insufficiently characterized. This study investigated the association between xerogenic medication exposure and xerostomia burden across the menopausal transition and whether this association extended to broader oral symptoms. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 306 Romanian women aged 45–65 years. Medication exposure was assessed in two complementary ways: a medication-list-derived definition, in which reported medicines were coded into therapeutic classes with recognized xerogenic potential (n = 54; 17.6%), regarded as the pharmacological reference measure, and participant-reported use of medication potentially associated with dry mouth (n = 39; 12.7%), which additionally reflects patient recognition of xerogenic exposure. Outcomes were a six-item xerostomia symptom score (XSS-6; 0–18) and a nine-item oral symptom score (OSS-9; 0–27), both derived from the MMBQ-44. Associations were evaluated using two-part models adjusted for age, menopausal stage, body mass index, smoking, medication burden, and psychological symptom burden, with complementary sensitivity analyses. Results: Xerostomia symptoms were more frequent among women reporting xerogenic medication (94.9% vs. 71.5%; unadjusted OR 7.36, 95% CI 1.73–31.30), and participant-reported exposure remained associated with greater XSS-6 severity after full adjustment (+1.28 points, 95% CI 0.22–2.34). With the medication-list-derived definition, unadjusted associations were present (rate ratio 1.50, 95% CI 1.08–2.10) but attenuated to near-null estimates after full adjustment (severity difference 0.06 points; rate ratio 1.17, 95% CI 0.79–1.71). Psychological symptom burden was independently associated with both outcomes, and no independent association with OSS-9 was observed for either exposure definition. Agreement between definitions was moderate (85.3%; Cohen kappa 0.43); only 24/54 (44.4%) women identified from medication lists recognized taking medication capable of causing dry mouth. Conclusions: Pharmacologically defined xerogenic exposure showed weak independent associations with xerostomia burden after full adjustment, whereas the stronger associations observed for participant-recognized exposure may partly reflect symptom-driven awareness and should be read as an upper bound. Limited recognition of xerogenic exposure points to a medication-safety communication gap. Prospective studies with verified medication exposure, dose and duration data, and objective salivary measurements are needed to clarify causality.

Background and Objectives: Drug repurposing provides an opportunity to identify anticancer activities among established pharmacological agents. Labetalol (LB), an α₁- and non-selective β-adrenergic receptor antagonist, has been insufficiently investigated in melanoma. This study evaluated the potential anti-melanoma activity of LB in A375 human melanoma cells, compared its effects with those observed in HaCaT immortalized non-tumoral keratinocytes, and investigated the cellular mechanisms associated with LB-induced cytotoxicity. Materials and Methods: A375 and HaCaT cells were exposed to 75–500 μM LB for 24 h. Cell viability and lysosomal dye retention were assessed using MTT and NRU assays. A DMSO-only concentration series (0.075–0.50% v/v) was additionally evaluated by MTT in both cell lines. Mitochondrial membrane potential, mitochondrial staining patterns, nuclear morphology, cytoskeletal organization, caspase-3/7 and caspase-9 activities, and plasma membrane integrity were evaluated using JC-1, MitoTracker Red CMXRos, immunofluorescence, luminescence-based caspase assays, and AO/PI staining. The acute irritation potential of 500 μM LB was assessed using the HET-CAM assay. Results: DMSO alone did not significantly reduce viability over the investigated concentration range in either cell line. LB reduced A375 cell viability in a concentration-dependent manner, with a 24 h IC₅₀ of 422.5 μM and a viability of 33.61% at 500 μM. Under the same experimental conditions, HaCaT viability remained at 89.01% at 500 μM, and an IC₅₀ was not reached within the investigated concentration range. At the highest concentration, neutral red uptake and the JC-1 aggregate/monomer ratio decreased to approximately 33% and 24% of the corresponding control values, respectively. The apoptotic index increased from approximately 3% in control cells to 31%, while caspase-3/7 and caspase-9 activities increased to approximately 482% and 324% of the control. Qualitative imaging demonstrated mitochondrial staining redistribution, cytoskeletal disorganization, apoptosis-associated morphology, and loss of plasma membrane integrity at higher concentrations. In the HET-CAM assay, 500 μM LB produced a mean irritation score of 0.71 ± 0.27, within the non-irritant range. Conclusions: LB displayed concentration-dependent in vitro cytotoxicity in A375 melanoma cells, whereas HaCaT keratinocytes showed limited changes under the investigated conditions. LB treatment was also associated with mitochondria-associated apoptotic signaling in A375 cells. These findings provide preliminary evidence supporting further investigation of LB within a melanoma-directed drug-repurposing strategy. Additional studies are required to establish receptor dependence, achievable local exposure, safety, and translational relevance.

Background: NT-proBNP is a mechanistically grounded biomarker of ventricular wall stress with established prognostic value in cardiac surgery, but its perioperative role in lung cancer resection remains incompletely characterised. Pulmonary resection imposes unique haemodynamic stressors—including one-lung ventilation-induced right ventricular afterload increase, permanent pulmonary vascular bed reduction, and ischaemia–reperfusion injury—that create a distinct biological context for natriuretic peptide elevation not represented in general surgical cohorts. Methods: A narrative review of the literature was conducted through systematic searches of PubMed, EMBASE/MEDLINE, and the Cochrane Library (January 2000–June 2026), supplemented by manual reference screening. Approximately 135 articles were included in the final synthesis. Results: Perioperative NT-proBNP elevation predicts postoperative atrial fibrillation, major adverse cardiovascular events, and long-term survival after lung resection, with effect sizes substantially exceeding those reported in general surgical populations. The PRESAGE trial established that NT-proBNP-guided prophylaxis reduces postoperative atrial fibrillation from 40% to 6% in high-risk patients. No thoracic surgery-specific NT-proBNP threshold has been prospectively validated in a multicentre setting, and approximately half the evidence base derives from BNP rather than NT-proBNP assays, precluding direct threshold synthesis. Surgical approach—particularly robot-assisted thoracoscopy—modulates postoperative biomarker elevation through OLV duration rather than inflammatory burden alone. The combination of NT-proBNP with high-sensitivity troponin identifies a dual-elevation subgroup with a MACE rate of 18.4%. Conclusions: NT-proBNP measurement is clinically actionable in thoracic surgery but requires assay-standardised, multicentre validation of population-specific thresholds stratified by resection extent and surgical approach. A dual biomarker strategy combining NT-proBNP with high-sensitivity troponin represents the most evidence-based perioperative risk stratification framework currently available.

Depression and vitamin D deficiency are often co-occurring pathologies, the common pathogenetic ground of which includes an augmented inflammatory response. However, the molecular details of this relationship remain unclear. Here, we used a bioinformatic approach to analyze GEO transcriptome datasets of major depressive disorder (MDD) and vitamin D deficiency (VDD) to identify the hub genes within the regulatory networks of commonly differentially expressed genes (DEGs). The MDD-VDD shared regulatory network contains 100 DEGs (71 upregulated and 29 downregulated), with six hub genes (PECAM1, TLR2, PTGS2, LRRK2, HCK, and IL18) all significantly upregulated, of which PTGS2 (also known as COX2) shows the highest inference score and reference count. The subsequent analysis of the miRNA-transcription factors network identified COX2, miR-146a-5p, and miR-181c-5p as key co-regulatory actors in the MDD-VDD shared molecular pathogenic mechanisms. Subsequent analysis of published MDD and VDD transcriptome data confirmed the importance of the identified hub genes, further validating our bioinformatic analytical pipeline. Our study demonstrated that PTGS2 was highly upregulated in both depressive patients and patients with low vitamin D plasma levels. Therefore, regulators targeting PTGS2, like miR-146a-5p and miR181c-5p, may have great potential in controlling both diseases simultaneously, accentuating their role in future research.

Left ventricle remodeling (LVR) after acute myocardial infarction (MI) leads to impairment of both systolic and diastolic function, a significant contributor to heart failure (HF). Despite extensive research in the field, predicting post-MI LVR and HF is still a challenge. Several circulant microRNAs have been proposed as LVR predictors; however, their clinical value is controversial. Here, we used real-time quantitative PCR to quantify the plasma levels of hsa-miR-101, hsa-miR-150, and hsa-miR-21 on the first day of hospital admission of MI patients with ST-elevation (STEMI). We analyzed their correlation to the patient’s clinical and paraclinical variables and evaluated their ability to discriminate between post-MI LVR and non-LVR. We show that, despite being excellent MI discriminators, none of these microRNAs can distinguish between LVR and non-LVR patients. Furthermore, we found that diabetes mellitus (DM), Hb level, and the number of erythrocytes significantly influence all three plasma microRNA levels. This suggests that plasma microRNAs’ diagnostic and prognostic value in STEMI patients should be reevaluated and interpreted in the context of associated pathologies.

Whether eaten, drank, or taken in the form of supplements, soybean has been a part of the human diet for centuries. The dietary use of soybean has been extensively proven to be beneficial for human health, protecting against a wide range of chronic diseases. However, our knowledge regarding the impact of soy intake on global gene expression is still incomplete. The present review summarizes and compares data describing the transcriptional changes in several tissues from two different phyla (fish and mammals) upon soybean diet supplementation. We performed comparative STRING-based pathway enrichment analysis of both individual and aggregated soy-induced transcriptome data in fish and mammals and identified the signaling pathways common between the two datasets. We hypothesize that these pathways represent a conserved transcriptome response to the soy-enriched dietary challenge.