AB0 blood group type has been linked with different types of cancer. For rectal cancer, there isn’t enough data to assess whether such risk exists. We conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the association between ABO blood type and risk of susceptibility to development, progression, or protection against rectal cancer. We analyzed the medical records of 690 patients with rectal cancer from “Prof. Dr. Alexandru Trestioreanu” Oncological Institute of Bucharest during 8 years of follow-up. Data were scraped using Python. For analysis, we used the Chi-square test. The blood group count was A (287, 41.6.%) followed by 0 (250, 36.2%), B (32, 4.6%), and AB (121, 17.5%). There are no differences in the female and male subgroups regarding blood type and the lack of evidence for the null hypothesis rejection was shown using the χ2 test statistic (χ2 = 2.1, d.f. 3, p = 0.55 for males and χ2 = 2.9, d.f. 3, p = 0.4 for females). These findings are consistent with the notion that even if AB0 blood type is a risk factor for many types of cancer, there is no specific association between rectal cancer and blood group type.
Background and Objectives: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) affects 6,7% of the adult population in Romania and is associated with high morbidity. About one out of three adults with diabetes has kidney disease. According to current literature data, the prevalence of diabetes is very high, up to 11,6%, of whom 2,4% had undiagnosed diabetes, and is the leading cause of kidney damage and the need for renal replacement therapy (RRT). COVID-19 has brought with it a lot of unanswered questions, regarding the risk factors, the disease evolution, and the treatment possibilities. It became clear that diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is among the independent risk factors that predict unfavorable outcomes upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, so we aimed to evaluate the characteristics of diabetic and non-diabetic dialyzed patients, COVID-19 positive. Materials and Methods: It is an observational, single-center study that analyzed type 2 diabetes mellitus and non–diabetic patients in maintenance hemodialysis hospitalized for SARS CoV-2 infection. Results: A total of 101 adult dialyzed patients were admitted with a SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR positive test, out of which 42 had a long history of diabetes mellitus type 2 and 59 of them have been known with other etiologies of CKD. Hypertension and heart disease were the most commonly associated comorbidities. Inflammatory markers and anemia were significantly increased in diabetic patients compared to non-diabetic. Conclusions: We found that anemia was more severe in patients COVID-19-positive MHD T2DM patients.
As general population tends to have increasing life expectancy, the risk associated with developing chronic kidney disease (CKD) with multiple incapacitating concequences, also increases. Method: For the present study, we registered the data from the observation files of 37 patients diagnosed with CKD undergoing treatment by chronic hemodialysis and noted the CKD associated diagnoses included in the notion of comorbidities. We monitored their statistical incidence both in the whole group and separately, in women and men using TTEST and CORREL. Results: The median age of the subjects was 55.86 (± 12.00) years. The study population mean weight was 74.90 (± 14.44) kg, with a mean weight of 69.33 kg for female subjects, and 77.92 kg for males, respectively. Diabetes was identified in 35.13% of patients, whilst heart failure was present in 16.21% of patients. Conclusions: Following the analysis of the information about the patients with CKD in the dialysis program, which we included in the study group, we observed the existence of variations that occur with age, significant correlations between age and weight and between albuminemia and weight. The most common comorbidity is high blood pressure followed by anemia.
The recent increase in life expectancy is the main argument for a better understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying aging. These, once known, can provide possible links to therapies to prevent aging or slow down the process. Normal aging is associated with a progressive decrease in the glomerular filtration rate. Accurate estimation of GFR in the elderly is under the suspicion of multiple errors mainly due to sarcopenia and decreased protein intake. Differentiation between chronic kidney disease and the physiological decline of GFR might be a challenge in clinical practice and this has consequences on the evolution and treatment of the numerous comorbidities of the elderly. The current trend to use non-invasive diagnostic techniques explains the need to identify a serological marker to help differentiate between decreased GFR secondary to kidney aging or the development of chronic kidney disease.
The squamous cell carcinoma antigen is a tumor marker that is receiving more interest due to its biological properties and importance in both pathological and normal physiological processes. Numerous clinical studies have been conducted to determine the potential function of squamous cell carcinoma antigen and its isoform complexes in clinical practice. These studies have been prompted by the fact that not only squamous cell carcinoma antigen but also circulating immune complexes of it and immunoglobulin M are involved in normal physiological and pathological processes. The therapeutic use of squamous cell carcinoma antigen as a tumor marker for either squamous carcinoma diagnosis or for monitoring the response to radiation or chemotherapy, tumor recurrence, and treatment failure are supported by prior investigations. The diagnostic or prognostic utility of squamous cell carcinoma antigen is debatable, nevertheless, as these investigations provide conflicting findings. A uniform detection method, scoring system, and cutoff level must be devised to limit clinical variability between studies and to provide a more accurate and trustworthy comparison of data. Additionally, even if the effectiveness of several approaches is equivalent, only one method should be used for the dynamic monitoring of tumor marker kinetics.
