Identifying certain serum biomarkers associated with the degree of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) activity can provide us with a more accurate view of the evolution, prognosis, and future quality of life for these patients. Our aim was to analyze the presence and clinical use of matrix metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13), along with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and well-known cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) for patients with RA. We also wanted to identify the possible correlations between MMP-13 and these serological markers, as well as their relationship with disease activity indices, quality of life, and ultrasonographic evaluation. For this purpose, we analyzed serum samples of 34 RA patients and 12 controls. In order to assess serum concentrations for MMP-13, VEGF, TNF-α, and IL-6, we used the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique. Our results concluded that higher levels of MMP-13, VEGF, TNF-α, and IL-6 were present in the serum of RA patients compared to controls, with statistical significance. We furthermore identified moderately positive correlations between VEGF, MMP-13, and disease activity indices, as well as with the ultrasound findings. We also observed that VEGF had the best accuracy (97.80%), for differentiating patients with moderate disease activity. According to the data obtained in our study, that although MMP-13, TNF-α and C-reactive protein (CRP) have the same sensitivity (55.56%), MMP-13 has a better specificity (86.67%) in the diagnosis of patients with DAS28_(4v) CRP values corresponding to moderate disease activity. Thus, MMP-13 can be used as a biomarker that can differentiate patients with moderate or low disease activity. VEGF and MMP-13 can be used as additional parameters, along with TNF-α and IL-6, that can provide the clinician a better picture of the inflammatory process, disease activity, and structural damage in patients with RA. Our data can certainly constitute a start point for future research and extended studies with multicenter involvement, to support the selection of individualized and accurate therapeutic management strategies for our patients.

Introduction: Gastric cancer represents a real public health problem as far as incidence, aggressiveness and unfavorable prognosis are concerned. The autonomous nervous system might be one of the major factors involved in the onset, progression, and metastasis, both sympathetically and parasympathetically. The increased activation of the M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) triggers pro-oncogenic mechanisms, especially at a gastric level, through the activation of the Hippo signaling pathway and the increase of the nerve growth factor. Patients, Materials and Methods: In this study, biopsy or postoperative gastric resection pieces have been evaluated by histopathological (HP) and immunohistochemical (IHC) examination in a group of 77 gastric patients and 23 patients without an oncological diagnosis. To quantify the IHC signal, also considering the HP aspect, light microscopy images were obtained. Results: The M3 mAChR expression analysis has been correlated with the different gastric adenocarcinoma differentiation degrees (G1–G3). M3 mAChR presence has been observed also in the non-malignant gastric tissue, but it was significantly increased in the tumor tissue. The highest receptor expression was recorded in patients with a poorly-differentiated (G3) adenocarcinoma, these expressions decreasing with the increase of the differentiation degree towards moderately-differentiated (G2) and well-differentiated (G1). Conclusions: Surgical or pharmacological parasympathetic activity inhibition could decrease the development and progression of gastric tumors and could improve the gastric cancer patient’s prognosis.

Osteopenic bone disease occurs frequently in patients with chronic liver cirrhosis, which most frequently presents with hepatic osteodystrophy. Thus, the relationship between nutritional status and bone mineral density has been poorly measured in liver cirrhosis. This single-center study consisted of a group of 70 patients diagnosed with liver cirrhosis. The nutritional status was evaluated with the Controlling Nutritional Status index, and volumetric vertebral bone mineral density was measured with quantitative computed tomography. Among the 70 patients included, osteopenia and osteoporosis were found in 71% and 24.3%, respectively. Malnutrition assessed with the Controlling Nutritional Status index was observed in 56 (80%) patients and was more frequent in alcoholic cirrhosis patients than viral cirrhosis patients (87.24% vs. 65.22%). Significant positive correlation with Controlling Nutritional Status score was found with Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (rho = 0.576, p-value < 0.0001), Child–Pugh score (rho = 0.670, p-value < 0.0001), International Normalized Ratio (rho = 0.517, p-value = 0.001), aspartate aminotransferase (rho = 0.293, p-value = 0.045), and bilirubin (rho =0.395, p-value = 0.02). Among the liver cirrhosis patients, 15 had osteoporosis and 49 had osteopenia at the lumbar spine (L1-L4 vertebrae), as determined by bone mass density via quantitative computed tomography. A non-significant relationship between Controlling Nutritional Status index-assessed nutritional status and bone mass density was documented. Regarding osteoporosis, no differences were found between the viral and alcohol types of liver cirrhosis patients (p-value = 0.870). Age, obesity, grade of varices, Child–Pugh score, and Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score were associated with osteoporosis in patients with liver cirrhosis.

Diagnosis of Graves ophthalmopathy is based on the typical eye signs and symptoms, the exclusion of other orbital pathologies and evidence of thyroid autoimmunity. We report the case of a non-smoker 61 years old woman, known with Graves disease, which performed a 3T MRI examination in order to evaluate the orbits. The MRI exam revealed eye protrusion, increased orbital fat with compression on the optic nerve and increased volume of the extraocular muscles. We concluded that MRI, using high-field 3T imaging techniques, is very important for diagnosis of these anomalies, making the differential diagnosis with other pathology and also providing additional information in the decision for therapy.

Background/Objectives: Emergency Department (ED) attendance is characterized by substantial temporal variability, creating challenges for workforce scheduling, resource allocation and short-term operational planning. This study aimed to characterize the temporal patterns of daily ED presentations and to evaluate the short-term forecasting performance of SARIMA and Prophet models in a Romanian hospital setting. Methods: Daily ED visits recorded at the Craiova County Emergency Clinical Hospital between January 2025 and April 2026 were analyzed (485 consecutive days). The analytical framework combined descriptive statistics, normality assessment, the Kruskal–Wallis test, and post hoc Mann–Whitney U tests with Holm correction and time-series modeling. A SARIMA(1,0,5)(0,0,1)₇ model incorporating a Romanian legal-holiday dummy and weekly seasonality and a Prophet model incorporating Romanian holidays and weekly seasonality without yearly seasonality were evaluated using a common rolling-origin out-of-sample framework. Predictive accuracy was assessed using RMSE and MAPE, while differences in forecasting performance were examined using the Diebold–Mariano test with a HAC/Newey–West correction. Results: ED attendance differed significantly across weekdays (H(6) = 52.365, p < 0.001), with the highest mean attendance observed on Mondays (257.6 patients/day). Post hoc analysis confirmed significant differences between several weekday distributions after Holm adjustment, supporting a structured weekly pattern. Time-series analysis demonstrated serial dependence and recurrent weekly seasonality. Both forecasting models showed good short-term predictive performance across the four common validation windows. Over the complete out-of-sample period of 1–30 April 2026, SARIMA achieved an RMSE of 22.59 patients and a MAPE of 7.46%, compared with 23.54 patients and 7.56%, respectively, for Prophet. Although the aggregate results slightly favored SARIMA, the difference in predictive accuracy was not statistically significant (Diebold–Mariano test, p-value = 0.575). Conclusions: Daily ED attendance at SCJU Craiova exhibits systematic weekly variation, serial dependence and calendar-related effects that can be incorporated into short-term forecasting models. SARIMA and Prophet provided comparable out-of-sample predictive accuracy, with neither model demonstrating statistically significant superiority. These findings support the use of short-term forecasting as an operational planning tool for anticipating variations in ED demand and informing adaptive resource allocation.