The harmful effects of smoking cigarettes on human health are well documented; thus various smoking cessation methods have been assessed and new options are currently under development to provide a “better’ alternative to the “worse” one, namely smoking. However, no ideal method of ending or replacing conventional smoking has been developed so far, and actually, none of them has been proven entirely effective or safe. The laxity, or rather the absence of regulations in the first decade of existence of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) allowed their use with prohibited substances instead of nicotine or other substances with detrimental effect, with the emergence of a severe syndrome - e-cigarette and vaping-associated lung injury (EVALI), whose treatment required even lung transplantation in young people without any prior underlying lung disease. This narrative review aims to provide a brief overview of concerns about medical issues associated with e-cigarette use, particularly cardiovascular and respiratory panels. We organized the data in several micro-sections varying from practical aspects of understanding ENDS to clinical issues. To combat tobacco addiction, electronic cigarettes are increasingly widely accepted. A global regulatory framework is required to prevent the emergence of an illicit e-cigarette business with detrimental impacts on health.
We aim to introduce a 2022 update on CHD (carcinoid heart disease) considering a multidisciplinary perspective. This is a narrative mini-review. We searched English, full-length papers (PubMed). Inclusion criteria: original articles regardless of the level of statistical significance. We identified 44 papers and manually selected those with CHD, as follows: 8 original studies, 1 case series (N=9 patients), 16 case reports (N=1 patient/paper), and a total of 1,030 patients on published studies. The most remarkable results are the longest period of enrolment of 3-4 decades; CHD ratio among carcinoid syndrome of 37%; 30-day mortality post-cardiac surgery of 12%; median survival in CHD from 1.3 to 3.9 years (more than 2 years if valve intervention is provided); most useful prognostic markers: 5HIIA, NT-pro-BNP, but, potentially, chromogranin A. The specific protective role of somatostatin analogs against developing CHD is yet to be determined. CHD in the absence of carcinoid syndrome/liver metastasis may be related to ovarian NEN (neuroendocrine neoplasia) with a better outcome if prompt intervention. Remarkably, 3 guidelines are released regarding CHD on behalf of ENETS (European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society), and ESC (European Society of Cardiology). CHD still represents a most challenging entity situated at the crossroads of surgery, cardiology, oncology, endocrinology, and gastroenterology.
Objective: Currently, the global epidemiologic impact of obesity requires continuous seeking of practical biomarkers; hence, this current study aimed to address the gap of chemerin assays in obese versus non-obese females and to analyze its circulating levels in relationship with the glucose profile and other circulating adipokines. Methods: This is an exploratory, prospective, cross-sectional analysis in females aged between 50 and 80 years. We excluded individuals with diabetes, cancers, endocrine, kidney, cardiovascular, and bone conditions. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-based circulating adipokines testing was performed. The final analysis was focused on circulating chemerin (ng/mL) in the obese [body mass index (BMI) ≥ 30 kg/sqm] versus non-obese (BMI < 30 kg/sqm) group. Results: The obesity (N=12) versus the non-obesity (N=12) group showed a statistically significantly higher HOMA-IR (p=0.04), fasting insulin (p=0.01), but similar circulating chemerin. Chemerin positively correlated with BMI only in the obesity group (r=0.881, p=0.0039), but not with patients’ age and glucose profile-based features in any group. Chemerin showed a statistically significant positive, strong correlation with VEGF-A level (r=0.857, p=0.0065) and an inverse statistically significant strong association with circulating leptin (r= -0.713, p=0.0092) and circulating IL-12 p40 (r= -0.829, p=0.0416) in the obesity group. Conclusion: As a potential hypothesis-generating analysis, this pilot study showed different statistical results in BMI-based groups, despite the fact that direct comparison of circulating chemerin and even leptin, VEGF-A, and IL-12 p40 did not reach between-group statistical significance. A larger sample size and a multimodal integration of the adipokines panel might serve for practical points in addressing obesity. Citation: Schipor SV, Manda D, Ciobica ML, Sima OC, Preda EM, Ciuche A, et al. Exploratory results of circulating chemerin testing in humans. R. J. Mil. Med. 2026, CXXIX(4): 404-412 https://doi.org/10.55453/rjmm.2026.129.4.6 Academic Editor: Raluca Mititelu
