Podophyllotoxin, along with its various derivatives and congeners are widely recognized as broad-spectrum pharmacologically active compounds. Etoposide, for instance, is the frontline chemotherapeutic drug used against various cancers due to its superior anticancer activity. It has recently been redeveloped for the purpose of treating cytokine storm in COVID-19 patients. Podophyllotoxin and its naturally occurring congeners have low bioavailability and almost all these initially discovered compounds cause systemic toxicity and development of drug resistance. Moreover, the production of synthetic derivatives that could suffice for the clinical limitations of these naturally occurring compounds is not economically feasible. These challenges demanded continuous devotions towards improving the druggability of these drugs and continue to seek structure-optimization strategies. The discovery of renewable sources including microbial origin for podophyllotoxin is another possible approach. This review focuses on the exigency of innovation and research required in the global R&D and pharmaceutical industry for podophyllotoxin and related compounds based on recent scientific findings and market predictions.

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Background: Obesity and overweight have increased prevalence in children during the last decades all over the world. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of overweight/obesity through the 12-18 year old schoolchildren in Brasov district and to describe eating patterns and the possible relationship between overweight/obesity and eating pattern. Material and Method: There were recruted 250 children for a cross-sectional study in Brasov district, Romania. Alimentary habit, snaking, meal frequencies were declared by the subjects using a retrospective questionnaire. Parents were asked to give information about family history regarding the presence of cardio-vascular risk factors. There were measured weight and height for all children and it was calculated body mass index calculated using international standard cutoff points (International Obesity Task Force values). It was also evaluated the level of phisical activityfor each children. Results: Positive family hystory for cardio-vascular risk factor, eating pattern and physical activity were associated with overweight. Healthy eating pattern including fresh fruits and vegetables loses ground in favour of fast-food as the age increases. Conclusions: The main finding was that, eating pattern in schoolchildren should worry both parents and school authorities. The family influence on children̓ s eating pattern decreases as the age grow, the busy school program determine lack of phisical activities and failure of and the healthy alimentation. The prevalence of overweight was high and connected with dietary behaviour, independent associations were evident between eating patterns and overweight, indicating the need of the need for a common intervention on nutrition both from the family and from the educators.

Hypertension is a major risk factor for progression of the atherosclerotic process and for developing of degenerative cardiovascular diseases in adulthood. The aim of this study is to evaluate how the measurement of carotid intima - media thickness for prediction of essential hypertension in children can be used.The study group included 81 children and the control group 61 children, all aged between 5 - 17 years and 11 months old, and admitted in Children Hospital Brasov in the period of 2009 � 2014. The study protocol included: BMI, blood pressure and Doppler echography of the common carotid artery for each group. Mean age of the patients from the study group was 13.67 years, 43.20 % girls and 56.80 % boys, while in the control group, the mean age was 14.07 years, 54.10% girls and 45.90 % boys. 70.37% of the children from the study group presented obesity, while in the control group 40.98% were obese. The IMTC study group ranged from 0.52 - 0.69 mm and the limits of the normotensive subjects were 0.32 -0.54 mm. In both groups the obese patients were found to have increased carotid artery intima-media, which means that IMTC was positively correlated with BMI (p=0.000001).It is necessary to identify diagnostic methods easily applicable for children, allowing involvement of the characteristics of the arterial wall in the degenerative pathological processes. Increased intima-media ratio is positively correlated with high values of blood pressure.

Aicardi is a rare and sporadic syndrome characterized by agenesis or dysgenesis of corpus callosum, infantile spasms and chorioretinal lacunae [5]. This syndrome is supposed to be due to a X-linked spontaneous, monogenic mutation [16]. We report a 3 month-old girl with agenesis of corpus callosum, infantile spasms, ocular abnormalities and other complex malformations.