Background/Objectives: Complete blood count (CBC)-derived markers such as the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) have gained increasing attention as accessible indicators of systemic inflammation. These parameters, calculated from routine blood tests, are widely available in clinical settings and are potentially relevant for a variety of chronic diseases. This review aims to explore current evidence and highlight potential future directions regarding the use of hematologic inflammatory biomarkers in chronic disease. Methods: We performed an extensive literature search on PubMed to identify full-text original studies published in the past five years, focused on investigating the clinical applications of hematologic inflammatory markers in chronic conditions. Results: CBC-derived inflammatory markers have been studied in a wide range of chronic diseases, including autoimmune diseases, metabolic disorders, chronic kidney disease, chronic infections, psychiatric diseases, and other conditions. These markers have been evaluated for multiple clinical purposes, such as aiding diagnosis, monitoring disease status, assessing disease activity, disease subtype characterization, predicting prognosis, and evaluating associations with disease outcomes. Conclusions: As chronic diseases affect millions of individuals globally, placing a burden for the healthcare system, patients, and their families, simple and cost-efficient tools like CBC-derived inflammatory markers have the potential to improve clinical case management.

Psoriasis is an immune-mediated chronic inflammatory skin disease with extracutaneous manifestations, that affects about 1–3% of the world’s population. The disease is not life-threatening, but the disability which comes with it is comparable to the disability caused by other serious chronic diseases, such as oncologic or cardiovascular disease. Several risk factors, such as infections, stress, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption and genetic predisposition have been involved in inducing psoriasis. Smoking status is a risk factor for many chronic diseases, including psoriasis. Moreover, recent studies have tried to answer the question of whether smoking also influences the response to biologic therapy in patients with psoriasis. Through the current study, our intention is to find out how smoking affects the response to biologic treatment. A hospital-based cross-sectional, observational, non-interventional, retrospective study of moderate and severe psoriasis patients receiving biologic treatment was developed. Two groups were defined based on smoking status: group 1 included smokers (more than 10 cigarettes/day) and former smokers, and group 2 included non-smokers. The data that resulted from the analysis of the cohort of patients demonstrate that smoking status does not affect the response of biologic therapy in patients with moderate and severe psoriasis.

The microbiota–gut–brain axis (MGBA) comprises a complex bidirectional communication network integrating neural, immune, metabolic, and endocrine pathways. Dopamine, traditionally viewed as a central neurotransmitter, also plays essential roles in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, where it regulates motility, secretion, barrier homeostasis, and mucosal immunity. Growing evidence indicates that the gut microbiota significantly contributes to intestinal dopamine metabolism through specialized enzymatic pathways, particularly tyrosine decarboxylase in Enterococcus species and catechol dehydroxylase in Eggerthella species. These microbial reactions compete with host processes, alter dopaminergic tone, and degrade orally administered levodopa (L-DOPA), providing a mechanistic explanation for the variability in treatment response in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Beyond PD, microbially mediated alterations in dopaminergic signaling have been implicated in mood disorders, neurodevelopmental conditions, metabolic dysfunction, and immune-mediated diseases. This review synthesizes current mechanistic and translational evidence on the dopamine–microbiota interface, outlines microbial pathways shaping dopaminergic activity, and highlights therapeutic opportunities including microbiota modulation, dietary strategies, fecal microbiota transplantation, and targeted inhibitors of microbial dopamine metabolism. Understanding this interface offers a foundation for developing personalized approaches in neurogastroenterology and neuromodulatory therapies.

Rationale: Defensive caesarean section (CS) has become one of the most common medical procedure worldwide. Additionally, performing CS in accordance with the patient's choice is an appropriate professional practice.Aims and Objective: This paper reports a prospective, observational, multicenter study to quantify the use of this type of practice that is performed by obstetricians to avoid medico‐legal complaints and decrease the frequency of malpractice litigations.Methods: We interviewed 73 obstetricians from three distinct units of obstetrics and gynaecology, to assess their opinion regarding defensive caesarean delivery and caesarean delivery performed upon maternal request. We conducted an opinion‐based survey using questionnaires based on nine, close‐ended questions.Results: Out of 73 respondents, 51 (69.9%) stated that they perform defensive CS; 63 (86.3%) declared that their choice of birth delivery is influenced by the risk of being accused of malpractice; 60 (82.2%) indicated that it is normal for the patient to be able to decide on the type of delivery; and 63 (86.3%) declared that they consult their patients regarding their delivery preferences. We found statistically significant differences between the respondents who declare that they perform defensive CS (69.9%) and those who said that they are influenced by the risk of malpractice when they choose the method of delivery for their patients (86.3%) (P < .001; McNemar Test).Conclusions: The results of our study indicate that defensive caesarean section is a widespread practice among obstetrics practitioners in Romania.

At the level of skin wounds, an electrical potential difference develops between the edges of the wound and the center of the wound, which favors the migration of cells in the process of their healing. Cells migrate in an electric field because they have a certain electrical membrane potential. This potential is due to differences in the transmembrane electrochemical gradient. The transmembrane electrochemical gradient is due to the migration of sodium, potassium, and calcium ions into the corresponding ion channels. If this is the case, the modification of the functionality of these ion channels should influence the membrane potential and, as a consequence, the wound healing process. In this experiment, we set out to investigate whether the chemical manipulation of ion channels by amiodarone influences the wound healing process. Amiodarone blocks several types of ion channels, but at different concentrations: at low concentrations, it blocks only potassium channels; at medium concentrations, potassium and calcium channels; and at high concentrations, it blocks potassium, calcium, and sodium channels. We worked on rats that were given experimental skin lesions and evaluated the influence of the healing of these lesions upon the topical administration of amiodarone in three concentrations, 200 nM, 2000 nM and 200,000 nM, compared to an untreated group and a group treated with benzyl alcohol, the amiodarone solvent. In our experimental conditions, low concentration amiodarone promoted wound healing both in terms of duration of healing and also in terms of speed of healing. This means that blocking some ions, possibly potassium channels, might promote wound healing.