Background: The deficit of medical staff in various health care systems points out the need for a more detailed strategic management toward sustainability in human resources. The purpose of this study is to explore the relationships linking self-esteem, self-efficacy, general attitudes, and career preferences among medical students, aiming to provide insights that could support sustainable career development. Methods: We performed a monocentric observational study that included 157 students. The participants completed four standardized questionnaires evaluating the self-efficacy, the self-esteem, the general attitudes and beliefs, and the perception of medical career specialty. We assessed the relationships between the psychological variables and career preferences. Results: Significant correlations emerged between the students' year of study and the need for achievement, the importance of mentorship, and career decision-making. Clinical students, in particular, placed greater emphasis on gaining practical experience in their chosen field. Conclusions: Our results reaffirm the impact of occupational psychology in the health care system, providing more sustainability in career decisions. Further research involving larger and more diverse samples is recommended to gain a more comprehensive understanding of how the study of various psychological factors could impact human resources management in the field.
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.
Liver pathology represents, nowadays, a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Since MRI helps in limited cases in the differential diagnosis of various pathologies concerning liver tumors, other modern diagnostic strategies should be prioritized. Besides various tumoral biomarkers, contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) plays a substantial role in differentiating various liver pathologies due to its availability and specificity. Various contrast-enhanced substances used for CEUS assist mainly in detecting focal liver lesions and differentiating their malignant character. This review focuses on the main indications and limits of this novel investigation, considering that patients presenting with various liver pathologies are more challenging. We highlighted in our review the similarities with the CT/MRI imaging methods in reference to the specificity and sensitivity of the method, in its potential ability to detect various liver tumors. Moreover, the contrast agents used by CEUS are eliminated throughout the lungs, showing no evidence of hepatotoxic, nephrotoxic, or cardiotoxic events. In conclusion, the accessibility and safety of the procedure and the absence of the use of ionizing radiation point out that CEUS could be a stand-alone technique in the diagnosis and evaluation of complex liver pathologies.
