The obesity pandemic has brought forth a scientific interest in food intake and sensory perception interactions. Olfactory perception and gustatory perception are very complex and under the influence of many factors, including the menstrual cycle. This study aims to clarify conflicting findings on the influence of the menstrual cycle on olfactory and gustatory perception. Women were assessed during four consecutive phases of one complete cycle (mid-follicular, ovulatory, mid-luteal, and late luteal phases (N = 21)), in contrast to women measured across the same phases belonging to two menstrual cycles (N = 29). Additional control groups were men (N = 17), postmenopausal women (N = 14), oral contraceptive users (N = 10), and women with an anovulatory cycle (N = 8). Olfactory threshold, odor discrimination, and identification were tested using the “Sniffin Sticks“ test kit. Suprathreshold intensity and hedonic ratings for sweet, salty, sour, and bitter solutions were assessed. One-way ANOVA and ANOVA for repeated measurements was applied in the analysis, along with linear and trigonometric data fitting and linear mixed models. Linear increases in olfactory discrimination, identification, and overall olfactory performance were observed only in women followed across a complete menstrual cycle. Compared to other groups, these women displayed a cyclic pattern characterized by a predilection for sweet solution; reduced distaste for salty and sour solutions; and increased intensity perception of salty, sour, and bitter solutions towards the end of the cycle. These results suggest that a distinct hormonal milieu of a complete menstrual cycle may be affecting both olfactory and gustatory perception.

Data on the educational and Freemasonry activities of Doctor Joannis Baptistae Lalangue have been relatively modestly represented in the scientific literature until now. Based on recent research, we have come to the realizations that give us a new context for the life and work of Lalangue, especially from the aspect of his social activity. All of the above had very significant repercussions on his entire public health work and especially on his journalistic and publishing work. John the Baptist Lalangue was a successful physician. During his medical studies in Vienna, he was recognized by Baron van Swieten, the first name in medicine of the Habsburg Monarchy. Recent knowledge speaks of his very notable Enlightenment and Freemasonry work, which largely determined his life and work. Lalangue has created a truly impressive literary work, which is closely related to his active Enlightenment and public Masonry engagement. The mentioned progressive Enlightenment engagement is also responsible for the fact that thanks to Lalangue, we already had printed medical original professional literature in the Croatian language in the second half of the 18th century. This directly changed the conditions in society, primarily in the field of public health, for the better, not only in Croatia but also throughout the Habsburg Monarchy.

Advances in immunosuppressant drugs and surgical techniques enabled pregnancies in numerous women who suffer of end-stage organ disfunction worldwide. Better tolerance to allogenic grafts, and ameliorated risk of drug toxicity created a possibility of both successful reproduction and preservation of a long-time function of a transplanted organ. 75%of pregnancies in transplant patients are registered among renal transplant recipients, followed by liver and heart transplant, all of them connected into a group of solid organ transplants (SOT). Increasing number of pregnancies emerge also from the group of patients with combined simultaneous renal-pancreatic transplant (RPT), due to treatment of an end-stage organ disfunction of diabetes mellitus Type 1, and a lung transplant, due to terminal stage of cystic fibrosis. All transplant recipints have an increased risk of miscarriage, preterm birth and fetal malformations. Renal and RPT recipients are in enhanced risk of hypertensive disorders and preeclampsia. All the immunosuppressant drugs pass the fetoplacental barrier, and pose a certain risk for embryonal and fetal development. There is no absolute safe immunosuppressant. Pregnancies of women with solid organ transplantations are high-risk pregnancies, with certain peculiarities for each of different transplanted organs. These pregnancies have to be closly monitored and supervised by multidisciplinary teams consisted of transplant medicine specialists, surgeons, maternal-fetal medicine subspecialists and neonatologists. Furthermore, SOT open a new winodow of ethical concerns due to reduced maternal lifespan and different moral dilemmas connected with support of their ofspring.