Beer is one of the most consumed drinks worldwide. It contains numerous categories of antioxidants, phenolic products, traces of group B vitamins, minerals (selenium, silicon, potassium), soluble fibers and microorganisms. Low or moderate beer consumption, with or without alcohol, showed positive effects on health by stimulating the development of a healthy microbiota. In the present review we focused on four components responsible with interaction with gut microbiota: microorganisms, polyphenols, fiber and melanoidins, their presence in usual beers and on perspectives of development of fortified beers with enhanced effects on gut microbiota. Though microorganisms rarely escape pasteurization of beer, there are new unpasteurized types that might bring strains with probiotic effects. The polyphenols from beer are active on the gut microbiota stimulating its development, with consequent local anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Their degradation products have prebiotic action and may combat intestinal dysbiosis. Beer contains dietary fiber such as non-starchy, non-digestible carbohydrates (β-glucans, arabinoxylans, mannose, fructose polymers, etc.) that relate with gut microbiota through fermentation, serving as a nutrient substrate. Another type of substances that are often considered close to fiber because they have an extremely low digestibility, melanoidins (melanosaccharides), give beer antioxidant and antibacterial properties. Though there are not many research studies in this area, the conclusion of this review is that beer seems a good candidate for a future functional food and that there are many pathways by which its ingredients can influence in a positive manner the human gut microbiota. Of course, there are many technological hinderances to overcome. However, designing functional beers fortified with fiber, antioxidants and probiotics, with a very low or no alcoholic content, will counteract the negative perception of beer consumption, will nullify the negative effects of alcohol, while simultaneously exerting a positive action on the gut microbiota.

Background: COVID-19 vaccination started in Romania in December 2020. Child vaccination started in 2021 with children aged 12–15 years in August. For children aged 5–11 years, vaccination started in January 2022. The aim of our study was to describe COVID-19 vaccination hesitancy in Romanian children and vaccine acceptability in the general population. As parental consent is required for child vaccination in Romania, these aspects have a significant association. Methods: An analytical cross-sectional survey was conducted in October and November 2021 during the peak of the 4th COVID-19 wave. Results: After validation, 1645 participants formed the main study group: median age 35 years, 72.83% women, and 35.44% from the medical domain. In total, 1311 (79.70%) participants were vaccinated against COVID-19 and 188 (11.42%) had vaccinated their 12–18-year-old children against COVID-19. Parents’ level of education, geographic area of residence, and COVID-19 vaccination status were significantly associated with COVID-19 vaccination. The hesitancy factors of child vaccination included the novelty of COVID-19 vaccines (62, 47.32%), fear of adverse reactions (32, 24.42%), and anti-vaccinism in general (29, 22.13%). In the studied group, only 188 (11.42%) participants recommended vaccination of 5–11-year-old children. Vaccine acceptability was higher in the general population (1311, 79.70%) than in the medical domain (326 out of 583, 55.91%). General vaccine hesitancy was based mainly on beliefs regarding inefficiency (131, 39.22%) and fears about the side effects of the vaccine (76, 22.75%). Conclusions: Overall, the acceptability of COVD-19 vaccines in the Romanian population was influenced by the level of education, area of residence, and being a COVID-19-vaccinated parent. Public health intervention programs are essential.

Despite rapid proliferation of AI applications in prostate MRI showing impressive technical performance, clinical adoption remains limited. We conducted a comprehensive narrative review of literature from January 2018 to December 2024, examining AI applications in prostate MRI with emphasis on real-world performance and implementation challenges. Among 200+ studies reviewed, AI systems achieve 87% sensitivity and 72% specificity for cancer detection in research settings. However, external validation reveals average performance drops of 12%, with some implementations showing degradation up to 31%. Only 31% of studies follow reporting guidelines, 11% share code, and 4% provide model weights. Seven real-world implementation studies demonstrate integration times of 3–14 months, with one major center terminating deployment due to unacceptable false positive rates. The translation gap between artificial and clinical intelligence remains substantial. Success requires shifting focus from accuracy metrics to patient outcomes, establishing transparent reporting standards, developing realistic economic models, and creating appropriate regulatory frameworks. The field must combine methodological rigor, clinical relevance, and implementation science to realize AI’s transformative potential in prostate cancer care.

(1) Background: Computed tomography (CT) imaging challenges in diagnosing renal cell carcinoma (RCC) include distinguishing malignant from benign tissues and determining the likely subtype. The goal is to show the algorithm’s ability to improve renal cell carcinoma identification and treatment, improving patient outcomes. (2) Methods: This study uses the European Deep-Health toolkit’s Convolutional Neural Network with ECVL, (European Computer Vision Library), and EDDL, (European Distributed Deep Learning Library). Image segmentation utilized U-net architecture and classification with resnet101. The model’s clinical efficiency was assessed utilizing kidney, tumor, Dice score, and renal cell carcinoma categorization quality. (3) Results: The raw dataset contains 457 healthy right kidneys, 456 healthy left kidneys, 76 pathological right kidneys, and 84 pathological left kidneys. Preparing raw data for analysis was crucial to algorithm implementation. Kidney segmentation performance was 0.84, and tumor segmentation mean Dice score was 0.675 for the suggested model. Renal cell carcinoma classification was 0.885 accurate. (4) Conclusion and key findings: The present study focused on analyzing data from both healthy patients and diseased renal patients, with a particular emphasis on data processing. The method achieved a kidney segmentation accuracy of 0.84 and mean Dice scores of 0.675 for tumor segmentation. The system performed well in classifying renal cell carcinoma, achieving an accuracy of 0.885, results which indicates that the technique has the potential to improve the diagnosis of kidney pathology.

Pregnancy is a transformative stage in a woman’s life, marked by significant physical, emotional, and social changes. This study had three main objectives: (1) to assess the quality of life (QoL) of pregnant women in Romania, (2) to identify the sociodemographic, health, and obstetric factors influencing their QoL and (3) to examine the psychometric properties of the WHOQOL-BREF questionnaire within the Romanian context, determining its effectiveness in evaluating QoL during pregnancy. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical survey was conducted between January and July 2023 among pregnant women in Romania, targeting a geographically diverse sample from urban and rural areas. Eligible participants were Romanian citizens aged 18 or older. Data were collected through an online self-administered questionnaire using Google Forms, with informed consent obtained electronically. The survey included demographic, obstetric, and health-related variables alongside the WHOQOL-BREF tool, which evaluates QoL across four dimensions: Physical, Psychological, Social Relationships, and Environment. Statistical analysis involved confirmatory factor analysis, reliability testing (Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω), and comparisons using Welch’s t-tests and ANOVA. Results: A total of 1550 valid responses were analyzed. The WHOQOL-BREF demonstrated excellent internal consistency (Cronbach’s α > 0.9 across all dimensions). Women with higher education and stable employment reported significantly higher QoL scores in physical and psychological dimensions. No significant differences were found based on pregnancy trimester, previous births, or participation in prenatal classes, although trends suggested slight advantages for participants in prenatal education. Women delivering in private hospitals or non-hospital settings reported better psychological and physical QoL than those delivering in public hospitals. Support from partners and urban residency positively influenced perceived QoL. Conclusions: The WHOQOL-BREF is a reliable tool for assessing QoL in pregnant women in Romania. The study highlights the role of education, employment, and delivery location in influencing QoL, emphasizing the need for targeted support for vulnerable groups during pregnancy.

The discovery of a resident urinary microbiome has significantly altered the understanding of urolithiasis, expanding its etiology beyond metabolic and dietary factors to include microbial contributions. This review highlights how specific uropathogens—particularly Proteus mirabilis, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Escherichia coli—facilitate stone formation through mechanisms such as urease activity, citrate degradation, urine alkalinization, biofilm development, and inflammatory signaling. We critically examine how antibiotic therapies, while essential for treating urinary tract infections (UTIs), disrupt microbial homeostasis by depleting beneficial taxa like Lactobacillus and enabling colonization by lithogenic and resistant strains. Recurrent or broad-spectrum antibiotic use is linked to persistent dysbiosis and increased risk of stone recurrence. Additionally, this paper explores emerging microbiome-targeted strategies—such as probiotics, prebiotics, bacteriotherapy, and precision antimicrobials—as potential interventions to restore microbial balance and mitigate stone risk. Recognizing the urinary microbiome as a therapeutic target opens new avenues for personalized, microbiota-conscious strategies in the prevention and management of kidney stone disease.