The relationship between well-being and digital health literacy in university students from Romania

Background

Digital Health Literacy (DHL) gained traction in recent years in the health promotion and well-being field as a possible protective factor.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a self-reported web-based questionnaire on students enrolled at a university from Romania between December 2020 and February 2021. Descriptive statistics, correlation tests, and logistics regressions were employed to analyze the relationship between DHL, well-being, subjective social status (SSS), and future anxiety among students.

Results

The data set included 1381 valid surveys (out of 1877 total surveys) completed by students aged between 18 and 39 years (mean = 21.9, SD = 3.701), the majority (69%) being males. Most of the students were studying at Bachelor level (83%), while the rest were Master or PhD students. Responses showed that 49% of the students expressed low well-being, 48% expressed a high level of future-anxiety and 59% considered they have a low SSS. For the DHL subscale of evaluating the reliability of the information, 56% of students had limited DHL, while for the subscale of determining the relevance of information, 64% of students presented limited DHL. The DHL subscale of adding self-generated content showed the highest correlation with well-being, followed by the determining relevance of the information subscale. Sufficient DHL was associated with higher levels of well-being when controlling for age, gender, and study program.

Conclusions

Well-being is influenced by actions such as adding self-generated health content, determining the relevance of health information, and anxiety for the future, all being important actions in health promotion. Individual factors such as age and gender are also relevant in mediating the relationship between DHL and well-being.

Increasing the capacity of community health workers to manage the COVID-19 pandemic

 

In Romania, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the community healthworkers faced high risks of infection in their efforts to protect communities, due to exposure to psychological distress, fatigue and stigma, especially as they are the grass-root healthcare delivery workers. No proper training had been delivered to community health workers. We describe an intervention aimed at increasing Romanian community health workers skills and competencies. The objective of the training was to increase the capacity of community health workers and health mediators to adequately manage the COVID-19 pandemic in their communities, through the delivery of online training sessions focused on managing their communities and themselves. The courses addressed up-to-date information on SARS-CoV-2 virus, transmission, symptoms and methods of prevention and treatment of COVID-19, to community case management and addressing cross-cutting issues such as: disability, immunization, violence against children. A total of 144 sessions were delivered, totaling 288 hours, divided between eight trainers. During these 288 hours, 1658 community health workers and health mediators were trained, accounting for 75% of the community health workers and health mediators in Romania. The overall feedback was extremely positive, as the training provided the participants very useful information. Nonetheless, several learning points have been made regarding the provision of more hands-on examples and cases, an increase in the length of the course and in the number of courses, the delivery of the course - on site courses were demanded. The training contributed to increasing the capacity of community health workers and health mediators to adequately manage the COVID-19 pandemic. The training offered the basic knowledge and skills for community healthworkers and it offered a basis for offering large scale, online training for the Romanian health workforce, which could be used as a case study for other European settings.

Key messages

COVID-19 doesn’t affect everyone equally! We ought to equip our healthworkforce in the pandemic fight.

Grass-root intervention for a better health - training the community health workers.

Transnational collaboration for global health education: Romania as West-East hub

Background

Similar to many Eastern European countries, Romania has faced significant health professional outflow in the past decades. However, in the recent global context, this pattern is slightly changing and increasingly more complex. Although Romania is not yet experiencing significant inflows of already trained health professional, it has gradually become a preferred destination country for Western students pursuing a medical degree. Moreover, Romania has become attractive as a setting for students in high income countries with an interest in global health. The aim of this paper is to describe how Eastern European countries can provide global health training opportunities for Western students.

Methods

The paper describes a case study of global health education through a global health practicum program managed by the Department of Public Health at the Babeș-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.

Results

The global health program is designed to provide a rich, hands-on practical approach to public health issues for students in health professions. The program has an internship format, with a minimum length of four weeks, organized as either a research project, medical shadowing, community practice, or rural health program. It builds on four key elements: customized placements in public health organisations; academic support and mentoring; instruction conducted in English; and additional cultural elements. For the past ten years, the program has included over 50 participants from the United States of America, UK and Denmark.

Conclusions

The program implemented by the Department of Public Health revealed the importance of a blended approach - academic-based, and practice-oriented - to providing global health training for health professionals. This approach is vital for preparing the future health workforce towards implementation of SDGs and could serve as a model for other collaborative initiatives.

Internationalisation of health workforce education: the case of medicine in Romania

Background

Long recognised as a major source country for health professionals working in Western EU Member States, Romania has become increasingly attractive for international medical students in recent years. The current study explores the drivers of this trend, its opportunities and challenges, as well as its implications on the broader health system goals.

Methods

The study used secondary data analysis and interviews with key informants. Data originated in a study conducted for the OECD (grant no. EC-2017-5304 financed by the European Commission).

Results

Since 2011, 11 of the 13 Medical Schools in Romania have opened additional study lines in foreign languages (English and French) and gradually increased the number of places allocated to international students. Of all new-entrant student places available in the medical schools in 2018/19, nearly 30% (1740 out of 6121) are in the international study programmes - a 50% increase since 2011/12. Moreover, while the total annual number of places for new medical students have increased by nearly a fifth between 2011/12 and 2018/19 (from 5,250 to 6,121), the share of new study places in the Romanian division has decreased from 80% to 70% in the same period. For Medical Schools, internationalisation has been driven mainly by financial reasons and has had a positive impact on curriculum development and improvement. For many international medical students, in particular nationals of the EU countries, the main push factors are the numerus clausus policies limiting access to medical education in their home countries.

Conclusions

Internationalisation of medical education in Romania has taken place in the absence of a formal national internationalisation strategy and efforts have not translated into significant improvements in health workforce management in Romania. This suggests that potential benefits of internationalisation of health workforce education must be assessed in context of national health systems.

Signal Informatics as an Advanced Integrative Concept in the Framework of Medical Informatics

Objectives: The main objective is to show current topics and future trends in the field of medical signal processing which are derived from current research concepts. Signal processing as an integrative concept within the scope of medical informatics is demonstrated.

Methods: For all examples time-variant multivariate autoregressive models were used. Based on this modeling, the concept of Granger causality in terms of the time-variant Granger causality index and the time-variant partial directed coherence was realized to investigate directed information transfer between different brain regions.

Results: Signal informatics encompasses several diverse domains including: processing steps, methodologies, levels and subject fields, and applications. Five trends can be recognized and in order to illustrate these trends, three analysis strategies derived from current neuroscientific studies are presented. These examples comprise high-dimensional fMRI and EEG data. In the first example, the quantification of time-variant-directed information transfer between activated brain regions on the basis of fast-fMRI data is introduced and discussed. The second example deals with the investigation of differences in word processing between dyslexic and normal reading children. Different dynamic neural networks of the directed information transfer are identified on the basis of event-related potentials. The third example shows time-variant cortical connectivity networks derived from a source model.

Conclusions: These examples strongly emphasize the integrative nature of signal informatics, encompassing processing steps, methodologies, levels and subject fields, and applications.

Electrocutions--treatment strategy (case presentation)

Electrical injuries are a form of trauma with extreme gravity and a unique pathophysiology: they affect the entire organism. A wide range of voltages may cause electrical accidents. Complications should be anticipated and prevented in order to minimize the complication risk and assure a vital, functional and esthetic prognosis as good as possible. The article presents a case treated in our clinic together with the unique particular clinical situation and algorithm that led to a favorable result.

Concepts in local treatment of extensive paediatric burns

There is a wide variety of local therapeutical methods for extensive burns. This article aims to be a general overview of the most common methods used in the local treatment for extensive burns, both in our clinic and globally. Clinical examples are shown from our clinic; cases of the last 8 years. None of the less there is no such thing as the "perfect method of treatment" but a thin balance between the clinical experience of plastic surgeons, every case particularities and specified characteristics, meaning advantages, disadvantages and limited indications of local topics or methods of skin covering.

A rare case of metastatic squamous urachal carcinoma

Squamous cell carcinoma is a very rare type of urachal malignancy, only a few cases being reported in the medical literature. We present the case of a 49-year-old male patient diagnosed with infected squamous cell urachal carcinoma with multiple pulmonary metastases, after complaints of lower abdominal pain, abdominal mass and fever, without respiratory symptoms. The abdominal ultrasonography and the CT scan revealed a tumoral mass in the lower abdomen in contact with the abdominal wall and the urinary bladder dome, displacing the small bowel. Pulmonary nodular lesions were described in the left lobe pyramid. The intraoperative diagnosis was necrotic urachal tumor with urinary bladder dome invasion and suspected pulmonary metastases, and tumor ablation with bladder dome resection and suture of the bladder were performed. The histopathological result was poorly differentiated squamous cell carcinoma (G3), with negative resection margins. The patient recovered well after surgery, but the prognosis is very poor due to the metastatic stage in which the tumor was diagnosed, no standard chemotherapy regimen for the treatment of metastatic urachal carcinoma being known as effective until now.

Epidemiology and histology of malignant thyroid nodules in North East Region of Romania (Moldavia) before and after alimentary salt universal iodination

Research on the relationship between iodine exposure and thyroid cancer risk is limited and the findings are inconclusive.

OBJECTIVES

Given this molecular data on iodine we decided to evaluate the changes of incidence and histology of thyroid cancer in the North-Eastern region of Romania (Moldavia) after the government decision from 2004 that introduced the universal iodination of alimentary salt. After this decision values of urinary iodine increased from 50 microg/L (2001-2002) to 117 microg/L (2006 -2008).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

We compared the incidence and the histology of thyroid cancer in residents living in an area known as a mild endemic goiter region (Moldavia-Romania) between 2001-2004 with the incidence and the histology of thyroid cancer between 2005-2008 in the same region after the introduction of universal iodization of alimentary salt.

RESULTS

The number of papillary cancers increased from 125 cases (2001-2004) to 276 cases (2005-2008). The number of follicular cancer decreased from 52 cases (2001-2004) to 27 cases (2005-2008). The ratio between papillary and follicular cancers increased from 4.80 / 1 (2001-2004) at 10.61 / 1 (2005-2008). The number of medullar thyroid carcinoma increased from six cases (2001-2004) to 24 cases (2005-2008). Thyroid anaplastic carcinomas number increased from 7 cases (2001-2004) to 12 cases (2005-2008). The total number of thyroid cancer has increased dramatically after the introduction of universal iodination of alimentary salt with 178% compared to 2001-2004 (from 190 cases in 2001-2004 to 339 cases in 2005-2008), despite the fact that the number thyroidectomies decreased from 1734 (2001-2004) to 1449 (2005-2008).

CONCLUSION

After the introduction the universal iodination of alimentary salt starting from 2004 the total number of thyroid cancers increased comparative with the period before universal iodination of alimentary salt.

[Liver transplantation--indications, surgical technique, results--the analysis of a clinical series of 200 cases]

INTRODUCTION

Initially considered experimental, liver transplantation (LT) has become the treatment of choice for the patients with end-stage liver diseases.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

Between April 2000 and October 2009, 200 LTs (10 reLTs) were performed in 190 patients, this study being retrospective. There were transplanted 110 men and 80 women, 159 adults and 31 children with the age between 1 and 64 years old (mean age--39.9). The main indication in the adult group was represented by viral cirrhosis, while the pediatric series the etiology was mainly glycogenosis and biliary atresia. There were performed 143 whole graft LTs, 46 living donor LTs, 6 split LTs, 4 reduced LTs and one domino LT RESULTS: The postoperative survival was 90% (170 patients). The patient and graft one-year and five-year survivals were 76.9%, 73.6% and 71%, 68.2%, respectively. The early complications occurred in 127 patients (67%). The late complications were recorded in 71 patients (37.3%). The intraoperative and early postoperative mortality rate was 9.5% (18 patients).

CONCLUSIONS

The Romanian liver transplantation program from Fundeni includes all types of current surgical techniques and the results are comparable with those from other international centers.

Signal informatics as an advanced integrative concept in the framework of medical informatics. New trends demonstrated by examples derived from neuroscience

OBJECTIVES

The main objective is to show current topics and future trends in the field of medical signal processing which are derived from current research concepts. Signal processing as an integrative concept within the scope of medical informatics is demonstrated.

METHODS

For all examples time-variant multivariate autoregressive models were used. Based on this modeling, the concept of Granger causality in terms of the time-variant Granger causality index and the time-variant partial directed coherence was realized to investigate directed information transfer between different brain regions.

RESULTS

Signal informatics encompasses several diverse domains including: processing steps, methodologies, levels and subject fields, and applications. Five trends can be recognized and in order to illustrate these trends, three analysis strategies derived from current neuroscientific studies are presented. These examples comprise high-dimensional fMRI and EEG data. In the first example, the quantification of time-variant-directed information transfer between activated brain regions on the basis of fast-fMRI data is introduced and discussed. The second example deals with the investigation of differences in word processing between dyslexic and normal reading children. Different dynamic neural networks of the directed information transfer are identified on the basis of event-related potentials. The third example shows time-variant cortical connectivity networks derived from a source model.

CONCLUSIONS

These examples strongly emphasize the integrative nature of signal informatics, encompassing processing steps, methodologies, levels and subject fields, and applications.

Synthesis and antituberculosis action of some new pyruvic acid derivatives

The present paper studies the synthesis and activity of 12 new azoic derivatives against Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

MATERIAL AND METHOD

In order to obtain new antituberculosis substances, we studied 6 thiadiazolic derivatives and 6 triazolic derivatives of pyruvic acid and we observed the influence of the different radical groups inserted in the molecule on their antituberculosis activity. For this study we developed a simple method to obtain the new derivatives. The first stage of the experiment was the synthesis of the thyosemicarbazide derivatives. In order to obtain the thiadiazolic derivatives we treated the thyosemicarbazides with concentrated sulfuric acid. The triazolic derivatives were obtained after treating the thiosemicarbazide derivatives with a diluted NaOH solution at boiling.

RESULTS

The structure of the substances was furthermore confirmed by IR and quantitative elemental analysis. The newly obtained substances were tested on the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, 6 concentrations for each substance. Early tests on Mycobacterium tuberculosis indicate that 2 of the tested substances have clear antituberculosis activity in vitro for the tested concentrations. For the other tested substances further research is needed since the CMI hasn't been reached in their cas.

CONCLUSIONS

We synthesised 12 new thiadiazolic and triazolic derivatives in order to obtain new possible antituberculosis agents. Early tests on Mycobacterium tuberculosis indicate that 2 of the tested substances have clear antituberculosis activity in vitro for the tested concentrations.

pi-electron ferromagnetism in metal-free carbon probed by soft x-ray dichroism

Elemental carbon represents a fundamental building block of matter and the possibility of ferromagnetic order in carbon has attracted widespread attention. However, the origin of magnetic order in such a light element is only poorly understood and has puzzled researchers. We present a spectromicroscopy study at room temperature of proton irradiated metal-free carbon using the elemental and chemical specificity of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism. We demonstrate that the magnetic order in the investigated system originates only from the carbon pi-electron system.

Researches concerning the synthesis and antituberculosis action of some new sulphacetamide derivatives

In the present study we emphasized the antituberculosis action of new sulphacetamide derivatives. In order o extend the research for obtaining antituberculosis substances, we decided to study the influence of the introducing of the thiourea and sulphamide groups in the molecule on the antituberculosis activity of the Isoniazid. We have developed a simple and precise method for obtaining the thiourea derivatives of sulphamides' isonicotinoilhydrazone. The structure of the newly synthesized compounds was confirmed by the quantitative elemental analysis as well as IR spectral measurements. We tested the antituberculosis action of new eight obtained sulphacetamide derivatives. Testing new substances on the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex implies the insemination of inoculums on tubes containing the new substances, in chosen concentrations. Early tests on Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains show susceptibility to these new compounds (for the tested concentrations). The new compounds represent a premise for obtaining new antimycobacterial agents.

Activité antimicrobienne in vitro de nouveaux sels diquaternaires dérivés de la 4,4’-bipyridine

The antimicrobial and antifungal activity of some 4,4'-bipyridine derivatives were studied. The diffusimetric gelose surface diffusion method with stainless steel cylinders was used to study bacteria and Sabouraud fields for Candida albicans. Comparative analysis of the results led to the following conclusions. Diquaternary salts of 4,4'-bipyridinium possess a remarkable antimicrobial and antifungal activity. The influence of R1 and R2 substitutes in the para or meta position of the benzoylic radical affects selectivity but does not greatly influence activity.

[New methyl-quinoxaline derivatives with antimicrobial activity]

This paper presents the synthesis of six new quinoxaline derivatives cycloadditions products of N-monoxide and N,N'-dioxide of 6-methyl-quinoxaline. The chemical structure of new azabicyclic products was confirmed by C, H, N elemental analysis and spectral analysis (IR and RMN). We have tested the antimicrobial activity of the new synthesized azabicyclic derivatives by the diffusimetric method. The assay was made on the seven microorganisms, gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria. The results show that the new compounds are more active against the gram-positive bacteria and Candida albicans.

[In vitro antimicrobial activity of new 1,10-phenantroline derivatives]

The antimicrobial and antifungical activities of some 1,10-phenanthroline derivatives are described. The test was performed using the diffusimetric method with stainless steel cylinders based on diffusion of the substances on the gelose surface for bacteria and Sabouraud field for Candida Albicans yeast. The comparative analysis of the obtained data leads to the following conclusions concerning the relation between structure and activity

Myoelectric signal classification using neural networks

A feed-forward neural network is used for diagnosis of spastic paralysis. It is a two-layer perceptron and it is able to classify two kinds of myoelectric signal recorded in surface electromyography: the normal EMG and the EMG in the case of spastic paralysis. The myoelectric signal was recorded with a surface electrode pair and sampled at 10 kHz. The EMG activity is stochastic and the instantaneous amplitude distribution for a fixed level of contraction is Gaussian. The signal variance is considered a measure of muscle force. We can describe any kind of this process by the AR model. For a precisely modeling of EMG there are necessary many AR model parameters. In the classification problem we have it is not necessary to use a high order AR model. We find a 4-th order AR model is good enough for this study. The Hopfield algorithm is used to calculate the parameters of the autoregressive model.

Original method for nicorandil synthesis

Nicorandil (N-(2-hydroxy-ethyl)-nicotine amide nitrate), drug recently introduced in therapy, is used as a vasodilator through potassium channel activation. Nicorandil is obtained by treating nicotinic acid chloride hydrochloride with nitro-oxy-ethyl-amine nitrate in an organic solvent. The authors suggest a method that uses ethyl nicotinate as raw material. Thus, the drug can be obtained from indigenous raw materials, at a lower price than the imported ones, with a high purity and a good yield.

[New derivatives of 1-methyl-phthalazine with antimicrobial and fungistatic action]

In this paper we present the antimicrobial and antifungical action of some new salts of 1-methyl-phtalaziniums and their corresponding ylids. We also present conclusions concerning the relation between structure and biological activity. The test was performed using the diffusimetric method with rustless steel cylinders based on the diffusion on the tested substances on gelose surface. The salts of 1-methyl-phtalaziniums are always more active comparatively than their corresponding ylids. All the compounds but not all derivatives are more active on the Candida albicans.

[Antimicrobial activity of some derivatives of pyrimidine]

In this paper the authors present the antimicrobial and antifungical tests of some new 3-methylpyrimidine compounds. The test was performed using the diffusimetric method with rustlessteel cylinders based on the diffusion of the tested substances on the gelose surface. The comparative analysis of the obtained data leads to the following conclusions concerning the relation between structure and biological activity in the pyrimidine series: 1. The pyrimidinium ylides are less active comparatively with the corresponding salts. That means that the zwitter ionic structure did not favour the activity. 2. Comparative with the corresponding pyridazine(1,2-diazine) derivatives, the pyrimidine(1,3-diazine) compounds are more active. The increase of activity of the pyrimidine compounds could be attributed of the influence of the pyrimidine ring. 3. The most active pyrimidine compound which is tested is that one in which radical R is an amide group. 4. In the case when the radical R is a phenyl ring, the substitute from para position of benzoylic radical does not appear decisive towards activity, these affecting especially the selectivity.

[Hydrazide derivatives with biologically active 1,2,4-triazole support]

This study presents the synthesis of ten new hydrazides with 1,2,4-triazole support. The structures of the obtained compounds were elucidates by means of the elemental analysis data as well as by IR spectral measurements. The antimicrobial and antifungal actions of this derivates are also tested. The results show that the compounds with the functional group 4-chlore-2-methoxyphenyle are more active.

[Antimicrobial activity of new pyridazine derivatives]

Continuing the investigations concerning synthesis-structure-biological activity in the pyridazine series, the results of the antimicrobial and antifungal tests of some new pyridazinium compounds are presented. The test was performed using the diffusimetric method with rustles steel cylinders based on the diffusion of the tested substances on the gelose surface. The comparative analysis of the obtained data leads to the following conclusions concerning the relation between structure and activity in the pyridazine series: 1. The cis-isomers are always more active comparatively with similar trans- isomers: 2. In the pyrrolopyridazine series we remark that the saturated or partial saturated compounds have always a stronger activity as the related aromatics derivatives. We also noticed that the saturated, partial saturated and aromatic compounds have different selectivity. Thus, the saturated are more active on the Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Candida albicans, the partial saturated are more active on the Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis while the aromatic compounds are active on the Bacillus subtilis. 3. The influence of the Y-substitutes of para position of benzoylic radical and the substitutes of pyrrolo ring is not decisive towards activity, these affecting especially the selectivity.

[The production of nitro esters active at the level of the cardiovascular system]

In order to obtain new compounds with cardiovascular activity, some esters of nitric acid with ethanolamine were synthesised, using some aromatic acids, acexamic acid, the natural methylxanthines-theophylline and theobromine. The melting points, yields and solubility of the new compounds were determined, and the chemical structures were confirmed by elemental analysis C, H, N, and by spectral analysis in KBr.

Derivatives of asparagic acid with hypotensive action

To obtain new compounds with biological activity, 1-[N-(p-nitrobenzoyl)-alpha-D,L- asparagyl]-benzimidazole derivatives were synthesized by decyclization of 2-(p-nitrophenyl)-4-[2'- (diethylamino) ethyl-carboxymethyl]-delta 2-oxazolinone-5 with benzimidazole, 2-methylbenzimidazole and 5,6-dimethyl-benzimidazole. The synthesized products show a hypotensive action comparable to that Hipopresol.

[The synthesis and biological activity of new disubstituted carbanion ylides from pyridazine]

Continuing the investigations in view obtaining new carbon-nitrogen stable dissiniu-ilydes, were obtained new 3-phenyle-pyridaziniu-ylides carbanion disubstituted. The antimicrobial and antifungus action of the products VIa, VIb, VIIa, VIIb and VIIc also studied.

[The antibacterial action of new hydrazide derivatives]

New derivatives of 4-aminobenzoic and 4-chlorine-2-hydroxybenzoic acids hydrazides were synthesized by the condensation reaction of these hydrazides with aldehydes and ketones, derivatives containing in their molecule azometine and hydrazone groups. The obtained products are potentially bioactive. The study of their "in vitro" biological activity was performed on some pathogenic germs, both gram-positive and gram-negative. The results show that the tested substances are more active towards the gram-positive germs.

[Phthalazinilides. The action of ethyl bromopyruvate on phthalazine]

Our investigation for obtaining carbon-nitrogen stable ilides continued by the synthesis of new phthalazinic derivatives by the action of ethyl brompyruvate. The structure of the obtained products was confirmed by chemical and spectral analyses. The results regarding their antimicrobial action are also presented.

[Ilide derivatives of pyridazines with biological activity]

Continuing the investigations on the synthesis and pharmacodynamic action of some pyridaziniu-ilides, this paper presents the results of the preliminary investigations on the antimicrobial activity of the synthetized products. Their action against Staphylococcus aureus Oxford and the anti-yeast action of the cycloimonium salts is underlined.

[The synthesis of aldoxime ester derivatives with biological activity]

Continuing our investigations for obtaining etheric derivatives from the oximes of some carbonylic compounds, five carboxymethylic ethers of some aldoximes were synthetized. Their structure was confirmed by chemical and spectral analyses. The antimicrobial activity of the obtained products towards 6 microorganisms species was determined.

[The synthesis and anti-inflammatory properties of 7-theophyllineacetic acid derivatives]

Some esters of 7-theophyllinylacetic acid were synthetized, characterized physicochemically and tested for their anti-inflammatory properties. As compared to indomethacin, reference anti-inflammatory drug, all synthetized compounds were less toxic. The anti-inflammatory properties are influenced by the nature of the ester group radicals, the more active having ramified alchils.

[The production of pharmacologically active acexamic acid derivatives. I. The production of acexamic acid and its zinc salt]

In view of studying the pharmacological properties of zinc acexamath a simple and cheap method for the synthesis of acexamic acid by re-evaluating some indigenous raw materials is presented. The conversion of acexamic acid into the corresponding zinc salt is highly efficient by reacting this acid with zinc oxide or zinc carbonate.

[Amphoteric ion intermediates in the pyrazine series. II. The action of p-nitrophenacyl bromide on pyrazine]

Continuing to present the results of the investigations carried out on the amphoteric ions intermediates of the N-heteroatomic system with 2 natrium atoms in positions 1, 4, new pyrasine derivatives synthetized with p-nitro-phenacyl bromide are described. The observations on their antimicrobial and antiyeast activities is discussed.

[Pyridazinilides (XIV). The action of p-phenyl-phenacyl bromide on 3-phenyl-pyridazine]

This time the synthesis of some new derivatives obtained by the quaternary substitution of one of the heterocyclic nitrogen atoms and by reactions of dipolar cycloaddition is presented. The results of the tests on their antimicrobial and antiinflammatory actions are discussed.

[Investigations for obtaining compounds with potential antiinflammatory action, carboxymethylic ethers of some oximes]

In this paper the synthesis of 5 etheric derivates of some aromatic oxymes: p-metoxy-benz-(sin)-aldoxyme, p-chlorine-benz-(sin)-aldoxyme, sin-piperonal-oxyme, 2,4-di- chlorinebenzaldoxyme and 3,4-dichlor-benzaldoxyme were described. In view of a subsequent study on the antiinflammatory action a simple method for obtaining these compounds based on the reaction between the sodium salt of the monochloracetic acid and the sodium derivates of the corresponding oxymes. The structure of the newly obtained products was confirmed by the elementary quantitative chemical analysis and the spectral analysis in IR.

[Studies regarding the chronicization potential of viral hepatitis in children]

Out of 205 children, former patients with viral hepatitis, investigated after the end of the follow-up period by clinical and laboratory examinations, 9 (4.4%) presented mild or moderate pathological alterations. At the second control, carried out after an another interval de 1-1½ years, the pathological alterations were refound only in 2 of the former patients, suggesting that all the others presented lasting forms of acute viral hepatitis evolving towards healing. The presence of AgHBs and the alteration of proteinogramme in the acute phase of VH can serve as criteria of unfavourable prognosis of the disease evolution and impose a preferential follow-up of this category of patients.