Urinary tract infections (UTIs) in women represent a common bacteriological finding, with negligible recent and consistent research on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the female population. We designed a retrospective study to observe the incidence of frequent uropathogens and their resistance rates to common antibiotics. We elaborated multicenter research in three different teaching hospitals in Romania, analyzing 13,081 urine samples, of which 1588 met the criteria of inclusion. Escherichia coli (58.37%) was the most frequent Gram-negative uropathogen, presenting high resistance rates to levofloxacin (R = 29.66%), amoxicillin–clavulanic ac. (R = 14.13%), and ceftazidime (R = 6.68%). We found good sensitivity to imipenem and meropenem (both 98.16%), amikacin (S = 96.0%), and fosfomycin (S = 90.39%). The second most prevalent uropathogen was Klebsiella (16.93%), with the highest resistance quota to amoxicillin–clavulanic ac. (R = 28.62%), levofloxacin and nitrofurantoin (both R = 15.61%), and ceftazidime (R = 15.24%), and good sensitivity to imipenem (S = 93.93%), meropenem (S = 91.91%), and amikacin (S = 88.47%). Enterococcus (13.35%) was the most encountered Gram-positive pathogen. It proved the highest resistance to levofloxacin (R = 32.07%), penicillin (R = 32.07%), and ampicillin (R = 14.62%) and good sensitivity to vancomycin (S = 91.98%), fosfomycin (S = 94.4%), and nitrofurantoin (S = 89.15%). Considering the lack of recent and consistent data on this topic, we find our survey a valuable starting research study in this area with high significance for an accurate clinical approach.

Sepsis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Sepsis-associated coagulation disorders are involved in the pathogenesis of multiorgan failure and lead to a subsequently worsening prognosis. Alongside the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a great number of research papers have focused on SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis and treatment. Significant progress has been made in this regard and coagulation disturbances were once again found to underlie some of the most serious adverse outcomes of SARS-CoV-2 infection, such as acute lung injury and multiorgan dysfunction. In the attempt of untangling the mechanisms behind COVID-19-associated coagulopathy (CAC), a series of similarities with sepsis-induced coagulopathy (SIC) became apparent. Whether they are, in fact, the same disease has not been established yet. The clinical picture of CAC shows the unique feature of an initial phase of intravascular coagulation confined to the respiratory system. Only later on, patients can develop a clinically significant form of systemic coagulopathy, possibly with a consumptive pattern, but, unlike SIC, it is not a key feature. Deepening our understanding of CAC pathogenesis has to remain a major goal for the research community, in order to design and validate accurate definitions and classification criteria.

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are a leading cause of morbidity for both males and females. The overconsumption of antibiotics in general medicine, veterinary, or agriculture has led to a spike in drug-resistant microorganisms; obtaining standardized results is imposed by standard definitions for various categories of drug-resistant bacteria—such as multiple-drug resistant (MDR), extensive drug-resistant (XDR), and pan drug-resistant (PDR). This retrospective study conducted in three university teaching hospitals in Romania has analyzed urine probes from 15,231 patients, of which 698 (4.58%) presented multidrug-resistant strains. Escherichia coli was the leading uropathogen 283 (40.54%), presenting the highest resistance to quinolones (R = 72.08%) and penicillin (R = 66.78%) with the most important patterns of resistance for penicillin, sulfonamides, and quinolones (12.01%) and aminoglycosides, aztreonam, cephalosporins, and quinolones (9.89%). Klebsiella spp. followed—260 (37.24%) with the highest resistance to amoxicillin-clavulanate (R = 94.61%) and cephalosporins (R = 94.23%); the leading patterns were observed for aminoglycosides, aminopenicillins + β-lactams inhibitor, sulfonamides, and cephalosporins (12.69%) and aminoglycosides, aztreonam, cephalosporins, quinolones (9.23%). The insufficient research of MDR strains on the Romanian population is promoting these findings as an important tool for any clinician treating MDR-UTIs.

Bacterial and viral sepsis induce alterations of all hematological parameters and procalcitonin is used as a biomarker of infection and disease severity. Our aim was to study the hematological patterns associated with pulmonary sepsis triggered by bacteria and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome–Coronavirus–type-2 (SARS-CoV-2) and to identify the discriminants between them. We performed a retrospective, observational study including 124 patients with bacterial sepsis and 138 patients with viral sepsis. Discriminative ability of hematological parameters and procalcitonin between sepsis types was tested using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. Sensitivity (Sn%), specificity (Sp%), positive and negative likelihood ratios were calculated for the identified cut-off values. Patients with bacterial sepsis were older than patients with viral sepsis (p < 0.001), with no differences regarding gender. Subsequently to ROC analysis, procalcitonin had excellent discriminative ability for bacterial sepsis diagnosis with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.92 (cut-off value of >1.49 ng/mL; Sn = 76.6%, Sp = 94.2%), followed by RDW% with an AUC = 0.87 (cut-off value >14.8%; Sn = 80.7%, Sp = 85.5%). Leukocytes, monocytes and neutrophils had good discriminative ability with AUCs between 0.76–0.78 (p < 0.001), while other hematological parameters had fair or no discriminative ability. Lastly, procalcitonin value was strongly correlated with disease severity in both types of sepsis (p < 0.001). Procalcitonin and RDW% had the best discriminative ability between bacterial and viral sepsis, followed by leukocytes, monocytes and neutrophils. Procalcitonin is a marker of disease severity regardless of sepsis type.

Background: Depression is a significant global mental health concern, especially among medical students. This study combines two components: (1) a cross-sectional assessment of depression and related psychological and demographic factors among students at “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galați, and (2) a systematic review and meta-analysis of published Romanian studies on depression in medical students. Methods: For the cross-sectional component, 495 students (Years I–III) completed online questionnaires assessing depressive symptoms (PHQ-9), personality traits, procrastination, and sociodemographic factors. In the systematic review, studies from PubMed and Web of Science were synthesized following PRISMA guidelines, with prevalence data being pooled via random-effects meta-analysis. Results: In the Galați sample, 34.0% of students had clinically significant depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 ≥ 10). Depression was associated with female gender, being in the third year of study, low social support, high neuroticism, and procrastination. The meta-analysis (six studies, N = 1546) yielded a pooled national prevalence of 19.99% (95% CI: 18.24–21.73%). Conclusions: Depression is highly prevalent among Romanian medical students, particularly in Galați. The findings support the need for targeted mental health interventions in Romanian universities. Registration: This systematic review has been registered in the Prospero database (registration number CRD420251056873).

Group B Streptococcus (GBS) represents one of the leading causes of life-threatening invasive disease in pregnant women and neonates. Rates of GBS colonization vary by region, but studies on maternal GBS status are limited in Romania. This study aims to identify the prevalence of colonization with GBS and whether the obstetrical characteristics are statistically associated with the study group’s antimicrobial susceptibility patterns of tested GBS strains. This observational study was conducted between 1 May and 31 December 2021 at The Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Elias University Emergency Hospital (EUEH) in Bucharest, Romania. A total of 152 samples were positive for GBS and included in the study according to the inclusion criteria. As a result, the prevalence of colonized patients with GBS was 17.3%. GBS isolated in this population had the highest resistance to erythromycin (n = 38; 25%), followed by clindamycin (n = 36; 23.7%). Regarding the susceptibility patterns of tested strains to penicillin, the 152 susceptible strains had MIC breakpoints less than 0.06 μg/μL. The susceptibility patterns of tested strains to linezolid indicated three resistant strains with low levels of resistance (MICs ranging between 2 and 3 μg/μL). Multidrug resistance (at least three antibiotic classes) was not observed. In conclusion, although GBS naturally displays sensitivity to penicillin, the exact bacterial susceptibility testing should be performed in all cases where second-line therapy is taken into consideration for treatment. We acknowledge the need for future actions to limit multidrug-resistant bacteria.