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Introduction: Psychiatric disorders occurring during endocrine dysfunction and, conversely, endocrine dysfunctions associated with mental disorders were the emergence of a new discipline, psychoendocrinology. Psychiatric disorders correlated with endocrine diseases are defined as psychopathological manifestations of variable intensity and clinical symptomatology, determined by complex psycho-neuro-endocrinological interrelationships. Defining elements consist of the association between diagnosis of mental disorders and specific symptoms for endocrine dysfunction. Methods: We conducted a prospective one-year study (January 2018 - December 2018 on 112 patients hospitalized in the Clinic of Psychiatry who also had an endocrinological comorbidity. We investigated the frequency and severity of psychoendocrinological associations by studying a number of demographic and clinical items. Results: The results showed that the highest incidence belongs to thyroid disorder - 55.36%, followed by gonadal disorders - 24.11%, and, rarely, pituitary diseases and diabetes. Hyperthyroidism was associated most frequently with manic episodes, while unipolar depression prevailed in patients with hypothyroidism. In gonadal disorders, present in majority in female patients (secondary amenorrhea, menopause or erectile dysfunction in males), depression accompanied by anxiety, often severe in intensity, was the most frequent psychiatric diagnosis. Psychotic disorders were met in a smaller number of cases, especially in patients with long history of endocrine disorders and instability of biological constants. Conclusions: We may state that affective disorders are the most frequent nosologically category in patients with endocrine dysfunctions. It requires a better collaboration between specialists in endocrinology and psychiatry, to highlight the determinants which contribute to the development of psychopathological manifestations in endocrine diseases and to individualize the treatment depending on cases’ particularities.

Dosage of gaseous inflammatory markers is a promising method of evaluating various types of pediatric pathologies and not only. The fraction of exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) can be quantified by electrochemical detection using a portable analyzer that delivers fast, reproducible, and widely available results. The objectives of our study were to evaluate the accessibility of the pediatric dosing method and the utility of FeNO for the diagnosis of atopic pathology in hospitalized children. We conducted a retrospective study that included children aged over 6 years admitted to the Pediatric Department of the Municipal Hospital Filantropia in Craiova who were evaluated according to the type of training performed for the determination of FeNO and according to the diagnosis of admission. Results. Using a human model was more effective in obtaining a valid result compared to the use of the demo provided by the manufacturer, especially at younger age (p = 0.05 and respectively, 0.04 - Student t test). Among the various allergic pathologies studied, children with asthma were the ones who recorded the highest levels of nitric oxide, even when compared to the rest of atopic children (p = 0.01 - t test). Moreover, the proportion of cases with positive values was increased in asthmatic children compared to the rest of the type of allergic pathology, but these values were at the limit of statistical significance (p = 0.08 - chi square and Mid-P exact test). The conclusion of our study was that it is possible to improve compliance with FeNO assessment especially at younger age, and the utility of the method is still limited, especially in asthma cases.

As a part of non-motor symptoms in Parkinson�s disease (PD), the dysfunctions of the gastrointestinal tract are frequent, being a major complain in the majority of the patients. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of digestive dysfunctions on quality of life in Parkinson�s disease. We included in this study 60 patients with PD, with a disease severity which varied between 2 and 5 on Hoehn and Yahr Scale. Our results showed a low correlation between digestive dysfunctions and the severity of the disease, but a statistically significant correlation between quality of life and the stage of the disease. Also, we observed a statistically significant correlation between digestive dysfunctions and quality of life. Our study revealed that the frequency of digestive dysfunction has correlated with a poor quality of life in any stage of the disease.

Anorexia, as a symptom, is part of the complex picture of a large pediatric pathology. Through attentive observation, anorexia as a single sign, may announce the onset of serious and particular affections. In all 4 cases, anorexia was a singular sign for a period of time before the complete illness was established. Whether adenoid cyst, cerebral abscess, pontocerebellar atrophy, Wilms tumor, neuroendocrine system of hunger regulation, satiety, complex control achieved through interactions of the limbic-hypothalamus-cortex system, come into operation with the occurrence of organic anorexia, different of the psychogenic anorexia (usually common in adolescents). The study is an alarm signal on the importance of a symptom in early diagnosis, and the rapid establishment of therapy in severe life threatening conditions.

Alcoholism use disorders are very frequent present all over the world. The use of alcohol is responsable for many behavioral symptoms like impulsivity, violence, depressive mood and anxiety. The aim of our research was to find the clinical and the biochemical changes induced by alcohol at the patient with mental illness.

Due to the increased frequency of cardiovascular diseases in the evolution of chronic liver disease, we proposed to assess echocardiographic changes in patients with rhythm disorders associated with chronic liver disease. To analyze the degree of cardiac damage, each patient was subjected to a complete cardiovascular examination.

This review discusses and tries to demonstrate the importance of proinflammatory and antiinflammatory cytokines in HBV infection. Hepatitis B virus is a virus that is both hepatotropic and non-cytopathic. It causes the development of liver diseases which could progress into both acute and chronic versions. The virus is very widespread and results in the death of quite a number of people each year. The outcome of the viral infection is a result of immunologically mediated event. This means that the outcome is determined by the response of the immune system of the host. The infection can lead to several different liver diseases as well as fibrosis and cirrhosis. When an infection occurs, there is an attempt by the body to fight it via the use of several mechanisms. One of these is the use of cytokines (which are proteins). There exist different kinds of cytokines of which interleukin-10 and interferon gamma are very important. Interleukin-10 is an anti-inflammatory cytokine which inhibits the effector mechanism of Th1 cytokines. It performs hepatoprotective and anti-inflammatory functions and also upregulates Th2 cytokines. The function and relevance of this cytokine in the pathogenesis of liver diseases cannot be underemphasized. Interferon gamma, on the other hand, is a pro-inflammatory cytokine which seeks to eliminate and expunge the virus from the liver upon infection. It does this by congregating at the site of infection which subsequently results in inflammation and eventually liver fibrosis. This effect could be reversed by administering another type of interferon; interferon alpha.

Knowing the hepatic pathological features encountered in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and the fact that extrahepatic manifestations occur only in people with certain characteristics of the immune system, we tried to evaluate, qualitatively and semi-quantitatively, the liver pathological aspects encountered in 96 patients with CHC, previously untreated with Interferon (naive), who showed or did not show signs of thyroid disorder (TD), hospitalized in the 2nd Medical Clinic of the Emergency County Hospital, Craiova, Romania, within a period of five years (2007-2012). Following hormonal, immunological, and thyroid ultrasound investigations, 14 (14.58%) of the 96 patients showed signs of TD. The main clinical forms of TD in the studied patients with CHC were autoimmune thyroiditis and subclinical hypothyroidism. In the patients with CHC with TD, we found mild chronic hepatitis in 14.28% of cases, the appearance of moderate chronic hepatitis was found in 71.42% patients, and the appearance of severe chronic hepatitis was found in 14.28% patients, while in the patients with CHC without TD we found chronic mild hepatitis in 62.19% of cases, the appearance of moderate chronic hepatitis was met in 32.92% patients, and the appearance of severe chronic hepatitis was found in 4.87% of patients. Mild and moderate fibrosis were found only in CHC patients without TD in a percentage of 25.6% and 65.85%, respectively, while severe fibrosis was found at 12.19% among CHC patients without TD and 92.85% among CHC patients with TD. The pathological aspect of liver cirrhosis was found only in those with TD (7.14%). In conclusion, the pathological features which define the liver necroinflammatory process, as encountered at the pathological examination in CHC patients with TD are the same as in any active chronic hepatitis, the differences being represented by the higher percentage of the periportal and the preseptal necrosis (piecemeal necrosis), as well as by the higher score of portal inflammation. In addition, the severe hepatic fibrosis and the histopathological appearance of the liver cirrhosis have only defined the cases of CHC with TD.

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death globally for all ages, and as such presents a very serious problem for clinicians worldwide. However, the underlying neurobiological pathology remains to a large extent unknown. In order to address this gap, we have carried out a genome-wide investigation of the gene expression in the amygdala, hippocampus, prefrontal cortex and thalamus in post-mortem brain samples obtained from 20 suicide completers and 7 control subjects. By KEGG enrichment analysis indicated we identified novel clusters of downregulated pathways involved in antigen neutralization and autoimmune thyroid disease (amygdala, thalamus), decreased axonal plasticity in the hippocampus. Two upregulated pathways were involved in neuronal death in the hippocampus and olfactory transduction in the thalamus and the prefrontal cortex. Autoimmune thyroid disease pathway was downregulated only in females. Metabolic pathways involved in Notch signaling amino acid metabolism and unsaturated lipid synthesis were thalamus-specific. Suicide-associated changes in the expression of several genes and pseudogenes that point to various functional mechanisms possibly implicated in the pathology of suicide. Two genes (SNORA13 and RNU4-2) involved in RNA processing were common to all brain regions analyzed. Most of the identified gene expression changes were related to region-specific dysregulated manifestation of genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental disorders (SNORD114-10, SUSd1), motivation, addiction and motor disorders (CHRNA6), long-term depression (RAB3B), stress response, major depression and schizophrenia (GFAP), signal transduction at the neurovascular unit (NEXN) and inhibitory neurotransmission in spatial learning, neural plasticity (CALB2; CLIC6, ENPP1). Some of the differentially expressed genes were brain specific non-coding RNAs involved in the regulation of translation (SNORA13). One, (PARM1) is a potential oncogene and prognostic biomarker for colorectal cancer with no known function in the brain. Disturbed gene expression involved in antigen neutralization, autoimmunity, neural plasticity, stress response, signal transduction at the neurovascular unit, dysregulated nuclear RNA processing and translation and epigenetic imprinting signatures is associated with suicide and point to regulatory non-coding RNAs as potential targets of new drugs development.

Depression is a significant contributor to the overall burden of disease on a global scale. Thyroid hormones thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3) have been shown to play a critical role in the development and normal function of the brain. It has been suggested that dysregulation of thyroid function could be associated with depression, especially hypothyroidism, but not all studies support this hypothesis. We enrolled a cohort of 96 subjects with major depressive disorder and tested TSH and FT4 levels for 80 of them in order to assess the status of the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis (HPT). We found 7 cases (8.75% of the tested) of subclinical hyperthyroidism and 1 case (1.25%) of overt hyperthyroidism. While we did not find supporting evidence for association between TSH and FT4 levels and depression, our findings question whether screening depressive patients for HPT axis anomalies could be clinically relevant, if anything, in a regional context.

The prevalance of depression and anxiety is higher at the patients diagnosticated with viral liver disease. The corelation between stress and chronic liver disease is a natural, implicit one, but still insufficiently studied. The study has the objective of finding out the clinical and also biochemical correlations between stress and chronic viral diseases. Our research was realised on a group of 78 patients with chronic viral liver disease, who underwent an evaluation of the stress level, both from a subjective point of view and based on concrete methods like questionnaires. The patients were asked to espress their state more or less affected by stress, and, subsequently, they were subjected to a questionnaire that was analyzed, followed by establishing the necessary correlations. Our patients were also evaluated by cardiologicaly, psychologicaly and psyhiatricaly examinations. After the first evaluation we had these results :38 patients (49.19%) consider that they have an average stress level, 18 patients (22.58%) have a high stress level. Only 22 patients (28.22%) declared stress was at a low level. We divided the pacients in two groups, function of Qt (questionare total score) results and we observed that a number of 38 patients ( 49.19%) registered �Qt 20 and 40 patients (50.81%) had Qt � 20, 63 patients (50.81%).We found a strong correlation between the patients� subjective evaluation of the stress level and the objective evaluation of stress level according to the used questionnaire, which confirms the objectivity of our study. We found a direct corelation, with a morphological, biochemical and functional support between stress and the arrhythmia risk in the evolution of chronic liver disease. We consider very important a complex examination psychiatricaly, psychologicaly and cardiological of the pacients diagnosticated with viral liver disease in order to help them and to prevent arrhythmic events, depression, anxiety and other mood disorders.

The aim of this study was to evaluate possible correlation between routes of administration of levodopa in patients diagnosed with Parkinson�s disease and the presence of digestive symptoms. We included in this study 31 patients diagnosed with Parkinson�s disease:14 patients were on oral levodopa and 17 patients were on intrajejunal administration of levodopa/carbidopa. Each patient was assessed using Non-motor Symptoms Questionnaire for Parkinson�s Disease regarding the dysfunction of gastrointestinal tract. The results of our study indicated that there is a different distribution of the digestive dysfunction between the two groups of patients. The study indicate that the constipation was more frequent in those patients with oral medication.

International audience; Objectives: We assessed the effect of invalid responding on factor structure and on scores of schizotypy through the factor analysis of the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire-Brief (SPQ-B) in a sample of 580 Romanian students using 3 validity items and 5 social desirability items.Methods: We examined the factor structure of the SPQ-B, we compared the mean SPQ-B scores between reliable and unreliable responders and between high vs. low social desirability responders, and we re-run the factor analysis restricting the sample to the reliable or low social desirability responders.Results: Factor analysis resulted in a 3-factor solution: Cognitive-perceptual, Interpersonal and Disorganized dimensions. Unreliable responders had lower scores of positive, negative and total schizotypy. Subjects with high social desirability scores had lower scores of disorganized schizotypy. Factor analyses in the samples of "good" responders showed minor differences in reliable responders, whereas, after taking into account the effect of social desirability, 2 items correctly loaded on expected dimensions.Conclusions: Random responding and social desirability could influence scores of schizotypy and factor structure. Simple methods could be used to identify invalid responses. The effect of social desirability could be linked to the phrasing of items.

Let alone calorie restriction, life span extension in higher organisms has proven to be difficult to achieve using simple drugs. Previous studies have shown that the polyamine spermidine increased the maximum life span in C. elegans and the median life span in mice. However, younger subjects (

After cerebral ischemia, the ratio between astroglial cells and neurons in the neurovascular unit is disrupted in the perilesional area. We hypothesized that restoring the balance within the neurovascular unit may lead to an improved neurorestoration after focal ischemia. Recently, an innovative technology has been invented to efficiently convert proliferating astroglial cells into neurons in the injured young brain. However, the conversion efficacy of this technology has not been explored in the post-stroke brains of the aged rodents. To this end, we used a retroviral delivery system encoding the transcription factor Ngn2 alone or in combination with the antiapoptotic factor Bcl-2 to target proliferating astrocytes in the neocortex of young and aged mice after cerebral ischemia. Successful direct in vivo reprogramming of reactive glia into neuroblasts and mature neurons was assessed by cellular phenotyping. We found that the conversion efficacy of proliferating astrocytes into neurons after cerebral ischemia in young and aged mice is disappointingly low, most likely because the therapeutic vectors carrying the conversion gene are engulfed by phagocytes shortly after intracortical administration. We conclude that other viral vectors and combinations of transcription factors should be employed to improve the efficacy of glia-to-neuron conversion after stroke in young and aged rodents. CA - Popa-Wagner

IntroductionRecent studies in the neurobiology of schizophrenia highlighted the role of neuropsychoendocrine activations as a consequence of psychostress followed by the activation of the HPA axis with an excess of endogenous cortisol. The relation endogenous cortisol–glutamatergic hyperactivation enhances the excito-toxic mechanisms and the cortical-subcortical alterations in schizophrenia.MethodWe conducted a retrospective study on 40 patients, with ages between 25 and 55 years, admitted in the university clinic of Craiova between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015 for paranoid schizophrenia according to ICD-10 criteria and with positive history of psychotrauma and physical abuse in childhood and adolescence.ResultsThe frequency of psychotraumas, social stress and physical abuse in our group was significantly higher in women (63.33%), in patients with urban residence (80.00%) and age group 36–45 years (46.67). There was a pattern of residual defectuality reflected by positive symptoms (83.33%), alcohol abuse (80.00%), aggressive behavior (66.67%) and suicide attempts (30.00%). The poor course with minimal social functioning (GAFS < 40; 36.67%) was correlated with a high number of relapses and hospitalizations (> 9 hospitalizations; 43.33%), cognitive deficit (MMSE < 23; 76.67%). The psychosocial factors involved in the pathogenesis and course of schizophrenia were social stress (60.00%), physical abuse in childhood and adolescence (20.00%) and psychotraumas (20.00%).Conclusions.Psychotrauma and physical abuse in childhood and adolescence and during the course of paranoid schizophrenia constitute a risk factor for a poor outcome with cognitive deterioration, aggressive and suicidal behavior that call for prophylactic measures and qualified psycho-social interventions associated to the pharmacological treatments.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

BackgroundMajor depressive disorder associated the increase of cortisol level and high level of cortisolemia is correlated with the decrease of neuroprotection. Hippocampus low volume is a marker for depressive disorder. The cognitive impairment in depression is linked with hippocampus - enthorinal structures-frontal cortex disconectivity. Melatoninic agonists can increase the neuroprotection and improve depressive mood.MethodsWe formed 2 study lots each constitued of 5 male adults rats (200–250 g), held through the study duration in temperature, humidity, food and ambient stress less conditions, compared to a control lot. The studied substances were administrated intraperitoneal, daily, for 10 days, saline solution equivalent to dexametasone (0.20 mg/kg/day) (N1); 14 days we administered 10 mg/kg/daily of agomelatine through a stomach tube and the following 10 days of dexametasone and agomelatine in the same dosage (N2). The N1 lot was sacrificed in the day 11, and the N2 lot was sacrificed in the day 25.The sample brain was histopathologically processed: formalin (10%) and ethyl alcohol (96%) fixation and paraffine embeded. Microtome slices were stained in hematoxyline-eosine, trichromicGS, PAS-hematoxyline, toluidine blue and methylen blue for Nissle corpuscles. The obtained slices were studied with optical microscopy, the target of our study was hippocampus and frontal cortex.ResultsThe hippocampus and frontal cortex presents important histopathological abnormalities (neuronal death, vacuolisation, axonal fragmentation) for N1 after dexametasone. These changes are decreased in N2.ConclusionsAgomelatine on the animal model actioned with a neuroprotective effect in the hippocampus and frontal cortex front of cortisolic aggresion (marker for depression).

Diabetic neuropathy is the most common cause of neuropathy worldwide and it is estimated to affect about half of people with diabetes. The goal of our study is to compare the effectiveness of thioctic acid treatment alone versus the efficacy of thioctic acid plus vitamin B complex in patients with diabetic peripheral polyneuropathy (DPN). We conducted a prospective, observational study staring from October 2017 to December 2018, in which we included 56 DPN patients. Depending on the Michigan neuropathic screening instrument (MNSI) we divided the patients into two subgroups: patients with MNSI [7 and patients whose MNSI did not decrease sufficiently during the therapeutic protocol. 36 patients (64.2%) of the total patients enrolled in the study had an MNSI [7 at one of the follow-up meetings. These patients were also divided according to the therapeutic protocol applied in a group of patients who were treated with only thioctic acid (TA group) and in a group of patients who were treated with thioctic acid plus vitamin B complex (TA + B group). We noticed a greater proportion of patients who had a MNSI [7 in the TA + B group. This study revealed that the treatment of peripheral diabetic neuropathy with thioctic acid plus Vitamin B complex compared to thioctic acid alone was superior in terms of improving clinical features.