As populations age, micronutrient deficiencies increase and are linked to frailty, functional decline, cognitive impairment, anemia, and a higher healthcare burden. This review synthesizes evidence from the past five years on adults ≥65 years, comparing residents of nursing homes/assisted-living facilities with community-dwelling peers. Community-dwelling older adults show high prevalence of deficiencies—particularly vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, folate, and zinc—while vitamin B12 deficiency is less common overall but increases with age due to malabsorption. Institutionalized adults face higher risk, driven by limited dietary variety, reduced sunlight exposure, greater multimorbidity, and polypharmacy. Reported rates include vitamin D deficiency in 70–94% of institutionalized adults (≈6.3-fold higher odds), zinc deficiency in 50–66% (vs. 31–49% in the community), iodine deficiency in 67–78% (vs. 22% in the community), and a Mini Nutritional Assessment classification of severe malnutrition/at risk in 67.9% (vs. 28% in the community). Consequences encompass frailty, falls, infections, higher costs, and increased institutionalization. Recommended actions include routine biomarker screening, improving access to vitamin D (supplementation/fortification), individualized care for micronutrient deficiencies—including vitamin B12 when relevant—multidisciplinary nutrition support, and long-term targeted research to guide best practices for healthy aging and equity.

Coffee is a very popular psychoactive beverage with a complex composition. Besides its stimulant effect due to caffeine, it contains several bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties and potent metabolic activity. Its clinical efficacy is fundamentally determined by the bioavailability and metabolic fate of its constituents. The bioactive components of coffee, such as polyphenols, melanoidins, phytosterols, biogenic amines, and carotenoids, have notable antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory effects. This review aims to present the main bioactive components of coffee, their biological effects, mechanisms of action, and the influence of preparation methods and individual variability on metabolic outcomes in common chronic diseases. The data are synthesized from clinical, prospective, and interventional studies to examine how processing variables and biological metabolism influence the health-promoting potential of coffee antioxidants. Brewing methods like hot filtration optimize the extraction of these antioxidants. Individual clinical outcomes are further modulated by genetic polymorphisms and gut microbiota variability, which influence the activation of the cellular Nrf2 antioxidant defense pathway.

Background and Objectives: Rumors, disinformation, and fake news are problems of contemporary society. We live in a world where the truth no longer holds much importance, and the line that divides the truth from lies, between real news and disinformation, becomes increasingly blurred and difficult to identify. The purpose of this study is to describe this concept, to draw attention to one of the “pandemics” of the 21st-century world, and to find methods by which we can defend ourselves against them. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional study was conducted based on a sample of 442 respondents. Results. For 77.8% of the people surveyed, the concept of “fake news” is important in Romania. Regarding trust in the mass media, a clear dominance (72.4%) was observed among participants who have little trust in the mass media. Although 98.2% of participants detect false information found on the internet, 78.5% are occasionally deceived by the information provided. Of the participants, 47.3% acknowledged their vulnerability to disinformation. The main source of disinformation is the internet, as 59% of the interviewed subjects believed. As the best measure against disinformation, the study group was divided almost equally according to the three possible answers, all of which were considered to be equally important: imposing legal restrictions and blocking the posting of certain news (35.4%), imposing stricter measures for authors (33.9%), and increasing vigilance among people (30.5%). Conclusions. According to the statistics based on the participants’ responses, the main purposes of disinformation are propaganda, manipulation, distracting attention from the truth, making money, and misleading the population. It can be observed that the main intention of disinformation, in the perception of the study participants, is manipulation.

Background/Objectives: Cardiovascular disease remains the leading global cause of death, with atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability, rather than stenosis severity, playing a central role in acute coronary events. Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) has emerged as a key contributor to coronary atherosclerosis and myocardial ischemia. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between EAT thickness and the development and severity of atherosclerotic plaques in these coronary arteries, and to evaluate the influence of demographic factors on EAT thickness and plaque vulnerability. Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on autopsy data from 245 sudden cardiac death (SCD) cases (2021–2023). EAT thickness was measured at the left anterior descending artery (LAD) and left circumflex coronary artery (LCx) levels. From each artery, one segment that showed evidence of an atherosclerotic plaque was collected and sent for histological examination. Additionally, we documented demographic data, including age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) for each case. Results: In the present study, we enrolled 245 subjects with SCD, among whom 175 (71.42%) were male, and 70 (28.58%) were female. The mean age was 62.31 ± 12.69 years, and the mean BMI was 26.12 ± 4.16. We observed a mean EAT thickness value of 0.74 ± 0.26 cm at the LAD artery level and 0.71 ± 0.27 cm at the LCx artery level. We observed a positive correlation between BMI and EAT thickness at the LAD level (r = 0.260, p < 0.001) and similarly at the LCx level (r = 0.260, p < 0.001). Additionally, advancing age is associated with an increase in EAT thickness at both the LAD level (r = 0.188, p = 0.003) and the LCx level (r = 0.242, p < 0.001). Furthermore, we observed a higher EAT thickness at the LAD level (p = 0.0019) and the LCx level (p = 0.0225) among subjects with unstable atherosclerotic plaques. In the logistic regression analysis, the elevated value of EAT thickness was associated with unstable atherosclerotic plaque at LAD (OR: 1.88, p = 0.002) and LCx (OR: 1.51, p = 0.010) for the entire study cohort. Conclusions: Our data revealed that higher baseline values of EAT LCx and EAT LAD are associated with unstable plaque at the level of the left coronary arteries. Furthermore, our findings indicate that male individuals are more susceptible to developing unstable plaques in the coronary arteries.

Urinary incontinence, the involuntary leakage of urine, significantly impacts middle-aged women. Background/Objective: In response to the failure of traditional diagnostic methods, transperineal ultrasound (TPUS) imaging was developed. The aim of our study was to identify the utility of TPUS in combination with a quality-of-life questionnaire in stress urinary incontinence evaluation and its reflection in clinical outcomes. Methods: This retrospective study was conducted between 18 March 2022 and 31 December 2024 in the County Hospital Hunedoara, Romania, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. It included 58 patients who underwent surgery for stress urinary incontinence and a control group consisting of 50 patients without SUI. Quality of life scores were recorded preoperatively and 6 months postoperatively, and ultrasound examination was performed. Four variables (Q-type test, the expansion of the funnel shape of the proximal urethra, Doppler assessment, and bladder neck descent) were measured, and their preoperative and postoperative values were compared in the study and control groups. Results: Significant statistical differences were observed in the variables measured through TPUS before and after surgery in the study group (p = 0.0001). These characteristics were significantly different in the study group compared with control group (p = 0.0001). All women in the study group reported a severe impact on their quality of life compared with the control women (10% reported a moderate level) (p = 0.000). Additionally, quality of life was significantly improved in the study group after surgery (p = 0.0001). Conclusions: Transperineal ultrasound is a noninvasive, cost-effective, and highly reliable imaging technique used to assess SUI. Questionnaires are also useful in evaluating patients’ quality of life and satisfaction after surgery.