Unilateral primary pulmonary hypoplasia is rare in adulthood (UPHA); it is characterized by a decreased number of bronchial segmentation and decreased/absent alveolar air space. Classical chest X-ray may be confusing, and the biological tests are unspecific. We present a case of UPHA in a 60-year-old female, smoker, with 3 term normal deliveries, who presented with late recurrent pneumonias and bronchiectasis-type symptomathology, arterial hypertension, and obesity. Chest X-rays revealed opacity in the left lower pulmonary zone, an apparent hypoaerated upper left lobe and left deviation of the mediastinum. Preoperatory multidetector computer tomography (MDCT) presented a small retrocardiac left lung with 5-6 bronchial segmentation range and cystic appearance. After pneumonectomy the gross specimen showed a small lung with multiple bronchiectasis and small cysts, lined by hyperplasic epithelium, surrounded by stromal fibrosclerosis. We concluded that this UPHA occurred in the 4–7 embryonic weeks, and the 3D MDCT reconstructions offered the best noninvasive diagnosis.

Context:The recent introduction of elastography has increased the specificity of USG and enabled early diagnosis of breast cancer. Quantitative elastography, especially with strain ratio (SR) index, improves diagnostic accuracy and decreased number of biopsies.Aims:The purpose of this study was to assess the role of USG elastography in the differential diagnosis of breast lesions.Settings and Design:This prospective study was conducted in the University of Medicine and Pharmacy Research Centre of Craiova.Materials and Methods:Fifty-eight patients diagnosed with breast lesions between January 2009 and January 2010 were included in this prospective study. All the patients were examined in the supine position, and the B-mode USG image was displayed alongside the elastography strain image. For obtaining the elastography images we used a EUS Hitachi EUB 8500 ultrasound system with a 6.5-MHz linear probe. The elastography strain images were scored according to the Tsukuba elasticity score.Statistical Analysis:We performed receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis for assessment of the role of USG elastography in the diagnosis of breast lesions.Results:We obtained a sensitivity of 86.7% and a specificity of 92.9% for elasticity score and a sensitivity of 93.3% and a specificity of 92.9% for SR (when a cutoff point of 3.67 was used). There was very good correlation between SR and elasticity score (Spearman coefficient of 0.911).Conclusions:Elastography is a fast, simple method that can complement conventional USG examination. This method has the lowest cost/efficiency ratio and it is also the most noninvasive and accessible imaging method, with an accuracy comparable to MRI.

In recent decades, traumatic brain injury (TBI) has become one of the most important health problems worldwide and is a major cause of morbidity, mortality and economic losses. Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) is less considered, with clinical underestimation leading to an epidemiological underevaluation of its incidence. Many of the signs and symptoms induced by mTBI are difficult to highlight clinically, especially those related to cognitive, behavioral, or emotional impairment. The complexity of the biological mechanisms induced by mTBI in the elderly determines synchronous pathogenic actions in which the vascular, inflammatory and neurodegenerative elements are intertwined. It is difficult to highlight a major pathogenic factor, since they act simultaneously, multimodally, in a real pathogenic cascade. The identification of mTBI and cerebral vascular changes by neuroimaging techniques, transcranial Doppler (TCD) or biological markers, suggests a potential prophylactic intervention by using neuroprotective factors as early as possible. Proper prophylaxis measures with neurotrophic treatment, rebalancing the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)/glutamate balance and combating the chronic inflammatory process, can become important pharmacological therapeutic targets.

Parkinson’s disease is a chronic, progressive, and neurodegenerative disease, and yet with an imprecise etiopathogenesis. Although neuroinflammation was initially thought to be a secondary condition, it is now believed that microglia-induced inflammation could also contribute to the degeneration of the nigrostriatal pathway. Here, we aimed to establish the feasibility of basic inflammatory biomarkers as prognostic factors in PD. The study was based on retrospective analyses of blood samples taken from patients diagnosed with PD, as well as from healthy subjects. Complete medical records, total leukocyte count with subpopulations, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were analyzed. We calculated the serum neutrophils-to-lymphocytes ratio (NLR) and platelet-to lymphocytes ratio (PLR), and also compared the laboratory data between the PD group and the control group. Only PLR and NLR showed statistically significant differences (p < 0.001 and 0.04, respectively). In our study, ESR did not show statistically significant correlations with motor score or with disability. In our research, ESR was correlated with the disease duration (p = 0.04), and PLR showed a significant correlation with disease stage (p = 0.027) and disease duration (p = 0.001), but not with motor state. These biomarkers could prove to be effective tools for a primary evaluation of inflammation in PD, but further tests are required to properly investigate the neuroinflammatory status of these patients.

The goal of our study was to assess the cognitive state in patients with Parkinson′s disease (PD). We studied 62 patients (30 men and 32 women, mean age 71.1± 4.5 years and mean educational level 11.5 ± 1 years). They were admitted to the Clinic of Neurology from Craiova between January 2015 – January 2016 for Parkinson’s disease. All the patients met the diagnostic criteria for Parkinson′s disease. In this study we included only patients in stage I and II on Hoehn and Yahr scale. 35 patients were in stage I and 27 patients in stage II. The patients were treated with levo-dopa monotherapy or dopaminergic agonists monotherapy. We have also included in our study a control group composed of 70 control subjects with the same range of educational level and age. To assess the cognitive state we tested the patients using Cambridge Cognitive Examination (CAMCOG) and the revised version of the Addenbrooke′s Cognitive Examination (ACE-R) at baseline, after 6 months and one year later. For the statistical analyse, we used Student test (p<0.05 statistically considerable). At baseline the patient group showed a mean CAMCOG score 92.5 and a mean ACE-R score 89.6. The control subjects showed a mean CAMCOG score 94.3 and a mean ACE-R score 90.2. One year later the patient group showed a mean CAMCOG score 83.5 and 84.3 mean ACE-R score. The control group showed a mean CAMCOG score 90.2 and mean ACE-R score 88.3. The patients with PD showed a greater cognitive impairment than the control subjects. We observed that the patients in stage II Hoehn and Yahr had a greater cognitive impairment than patients in stage I. We have also seen in patient group a cognitive decline across every ACE-R and CAMCOG cognitive domaine.