Background and Objectives: The occurrence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in children in Romania has been reported since 1989. This retrospective study was aimed at assessing clinical and biological risk factors for mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) of HIV in two HIV-acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) Regional Centers (RCs), Constanta and Craiova in Romania. Materials and Methods: During the study period (2008–2019), 408 HIV-positive pregnant women, 244 from Constanta RC and 164 from Craiova RC who attended antenatal visits, were included. All HIV-positive pregnant women were under combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) during pregnancy and childbirth, being followedup with their infants up to 18 months after delivery. We investigated the clinical as well as biological risk factorsassociated with increased MTCT of HIV. Results: Comparing different variables of HIV-positive pregnant women from the two HIV-AIDS CRs, we find that there are significant differences between the mean value of hemoglobin, CD4 level, environmental area, marital and amniotic membranes status, and HIV patient stage in the last trimester of pregnancy (p < 0.05), but without any differences in mother’s mean age, education level, type of delivery, breastfeeding, the duration of cART administration, HIV viral load, and survival rate. Conclusions: In 408 HIV-positive pregnant women followed up at two HIV-AIDS RCs in Romania, the most important clinical and biological risk factors associated with increased MTCT of HIV are represented by anemia, CD4 level, and HIV patient stage.

Left ventricular ejection time (LVET) is an important parameter for assessing cardiovascular disorders. In a medical office, it is typically measured using the Tissue Doppler Imaging technique, but new wearable devices have led to a growing interest in integrating this parameter into them, increasing accessibility to personalized healthcare for users and patients. In the cardiovascular domain, photoplethysmography (PPG) is a promising technology that shares two distinctive features with invasive arterial blood pressure (ABP) tracing: the tidal wave (TDW) and the dicrotic wave (DCW). In the early years of cardiovascular research, the duration of the dicrotic point was initially linked to the ending phase of left ventricular ejection. Subsequent studies reported deviations from the initial association, suggesting that the ejection period is related to the tidal wave feature. In this current study, we measured left ventricular ejection time in both ABP and PPG waveforms, considering recent research results. A total of 27,000 cardiac cycles were analyzed for both afore-mentioned signals. The reference value for ejection time was computed based on the T-wave segment duration from the electrocardiogram waveform. In lower blood pressure, which is associated with decreased heart contractility, the results indicated an underestimation of −29 ± 19 ms in ABP and an overestimation of 18 ± 31 ms in PPG. On the other side of the spectrum, during increased contractility, the minimum errors were −3 ± 18 ms and 4 ± 33 ms, respectively. Since the tidal wave feature is strongly affected by arterial tree compliance, the population evaluation results indicate a Pearson’s correlation factor of 0.58 in the ABP case, and 0.53 in PPG. These findings highlight the need for advanced compensation techniques, in particular for PPG assessment, to achieve clinical-grade accuracy.

Bone is a complex material that can be regarded as an anisotropic elastic composite material. The problem of crack propagation in human bone is analyzed by using a generalization of the maximum tensile stress criterion (MTS). The results concern the critical stress for crack propagation and the direction of the crack path in Iliac bone.

Background/Objectives: Sepsis is defined as life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. Identifying reliable biomarkers that reflect the underlying immune pathophysiology of sepsis and support early risk stratification remains a major clinical priority. This prospective study aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of interleukin-6 (IL-6) measured at ICU admission in patients with sepsis and septic shock. Methods: This prospective observational study included adult patients with sepsis and septic shock admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Clinical Hospital of Infectious Diseases Constanța between 2021 and 2025. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis with DeLong comparisons, Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, and Cox proportional hazards regression modeling were performed to assess the association between baseline IL-6 levels, in-hospital mortality, and time to death. Results: Among the analyzed biomarkers, IL-6 demonstrated the highest discriminatory performance for in-hospital mortality (AUC = 0.956; 95% CI: 0.893–0.987; p < 0.0001). The optimal cut-off value (>135.14 pg/mL) yielded a sensitivity of 87.65% and specificity of 92.86% (Youden index = 0.805). However, despite this excellent discrimination between survivors and non-survivors, baseline IL-6 levels were not significantly associated with time-to-death in Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Conclusions: Admission IL-6 showed excellent discriminatory performance for mortality risk stratification but was not associated with survival duration in time-to-event analyses. These findings suggest that IL-6 should be interpreted primarily as an early risk stratification biomarker rather than a predictor of survival duration in patients with sepsis.

(1) Background: Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is one of the most frequent opportunistic infections in immunosuppressed patients. Romania has one of the highest incidences of patients living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which determines an immunosuppressive state. The aim of this study was to establish the prevalence of CMV infection among women living with HIV in Southeastern Romania and also to evaluate and correlate antiretroviral therapy (ART) with CD4 level and CMV disease evolution. (2) Methods: Seventy women living with HIV from Southeastern Romania were screened for CMV infection using antigen quantification. Of these, 50 were included in the study. First, the patients filled out a questionnaire regarding social conditions and other associated diseases. Then, we explored the statistical correlations between the data and HIV status, CD4+ cell counts, viral load, and antiretroviral therapy (ART). (3) Results: Median age of the patients was 33 years. Twenty-nine cases were diagnosed with HIV after sexual life beginning and 21 before. Most of the patients had a CD4 level over 200 cells/µL. ART duration in the CD4 under 200 cells/µL group was a bit longer than that in the CD4 over 200 cells/µL group. Forty-one patients had undetectable viremia. CD4 average value in the lot of patients with undetectable viremia was 704.71 cells/µL and in the lot with detectable viremia was 452.44 cells/µL. Viremia values correlated negatively with CD4 level. A positive correlation between IgG CMV values and ART therapy length was identified. A negative significant correlation between values of IgG CMV and values of CD4 was identified. CD4 value correlated negatively with IgG CMV values and with CMV avidity. (4) Conclusions: IgG CMV values had a weak positive correlation with ART therapy length, and a negative statistically significant correlation with values of CD4. CMV avidity has a negative correlation with CD4 value.

Tigecycline is the first agent in the new class of glycylcycline antibiotics. It’s expanded broad spectrum of activity, with demonstrated efficacy as monotherapy against clinically important Gram-positive and Gram-negative pathogens include also anerobes and antibiotic-resistant isolates. It is presented the case of a 54 years old man, recently diagnosed with HIV infection, that had high fever and skin abscesses. The laboratory investigations showed a Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome. After 10 days of treatment with Tygacil, 100 mg at first, then 50 mg/12 hours, surgical incision and drainage, antiinflammatory and symptomatic treatment, the patient’s symptoms disappeared and we started also the antiretroviral therapy.