Romanian Journal of Morphology and Embryology最新文献

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) remains a critical public health problem, prompting efforts to understand its underlying causes and identify patients at risk. Despite declining cardiovascular mortality in developed nations, SCD still claims millions of lives annually, disproportionately affecting men and older individuals with a higher prevalence of ischemic heart disease. This study aimed to investigate the potential association between macroscopic and microscopic diagnoses in SCD cases based on a cohort of 3438 medico-legal autopsy reports collected at the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, between 2014-2018. By analyzing representative heart tissue samples collected during autopsies, particularly from areas exhibiting visible abnormalities, we aimed to establish a link between macroscopic observations and microscopic confirmation. A detailed histopathological analysis on archived tissue samples focused on both ventricles, on areas with potential macroscopic indicators like myocardial ischemia, coronary atherosclerosis, and interstitial fibrosis. Standard techniques were employed to prepare tissue sections for microscopic examination, allowing for the evaluation of various parameters such as the presence and extent of atherosclerosis, necrosis, fibrosis, lipomatosis, edema, and blood stasis. This study investigated the correlation between macroscopic observations of potential SCD risk factors, such as ischemia, atherosclerosis, and fibrosis, and their microscopic confirmation through detailed tissue analysis. Our analysis revealed that circulatory-metabolic lesions of the heart, lung and brain are central and strongly correlated both macroscopically and microscopically with a SCD event, while non-circulatory pathology needs to pass the threshold for macroscopic diagnostics before being able to significantly influence the chances for developing a SCD event. Establishing such associations could improve the accuracy of high-risk SCD factors identification, potentially leading to more effective preventive strategies.

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is the most prevalent chronic liver disease worldwide and has become a major public health problem. MASLD frequently progresses to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, but recent studies also show a frequent association with extrahepatic cancers. One of the mechanisms involved in both locations is insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia. The aim of this narrative review was to present the main etiopathogenic mechanisms involved in cancer development in patients with MASLD.

Lung cancer continues to have the highest mortality rate in the world, non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) representing the most common tumor form. The therapeutic interference of the tumor intercellular adhesion disruption mechanisms can provide therapeutic targets to improve the patients' prognosis. The study included 52 cases diagnosed with NSCLC, for which the immunohistochemical expressions of E-cadherin, β-catenin and Ezrin were analyzed in relation to the epidemiological and histological prognostic parameters. The histopathological analysis indicated the predominance of high-grade acinar adenocarcinoma (ADK) and non-keratinizing squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), with frequent vascular invasion and in stages II-IV. Final staining scores (FSS) of E-cadherin were superior in the case of acinar, lepidic and papillary ADK, with a high degree of differentiation, without vascular invasion and in initial tumor stages. The same aspect was also observed in the case of β-catenin reactions, which were present only at the membrane level, increased FSS being also present in the case of mucinous carcinomas. The membrane/cytoplasmic immunoexpression of Ezrin was superior in the case of cribriform, solid, micropapillary, lepidic and non-keratinized squamous carcinomas, with vascular invasion and in advanced tumor stages. Membrane reactions of Ezrin prevailed only in the case of acinar, lepidic and papillary ADK. The negative linear correlation of E-cadherin and β-catenin with Ezrin and the relationships of the markers with the histological parameters of NSCLC indicate their utility potential for the identification of aggressive malignant lung tumors.

The lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), platelet-to-neutrophil ratio (PNR), C-reactive protein (CRP)-to-lymphocyte ratio (CLR) and fibrinogen-to-albumin ratio (FAR) are well-known indicators of the systemic inflammatory response (SIR). Less is known about the association of SIR with the echocardiographic parameters and the histopathological (HP) aspects of the mitral valve in patients who have undergone cardiac surgery to repair or replace the mitral valve. Information on serum parameters, transesophageal echocardiography findings, and HP results was obtained from 166 patients who had undergone cardiac surgery to address mitral valve regurgitation. Among these patients, 30 were diagnosed with mitral valve prolapse, with 15 cases showing mitral valve flail or chordae rupture. The possible association between SIR, echocardiographic aspects of mitral valve flail and the HP aspect was checked. Fibrosis, hyalinization and myxoid degeneration of the valve were scored under microscope. Hyalinization of the mitral valve had a significant positive association with LMR and PLR (p=0.041 and p=0.03, respectively) and with NLR (p=0.093). A higher fibrosis degree was present in the valves without flail compared with those with flail (p=0.000). The monocyte average values of the group without flail were statistically significantly higher than those in the flail group (p=0.029). An increase of one unit in the value of monocytes was found to decrease the chances of flail [odds ratio (OR) 0.017, p=0.068, significant at p<0.1 level]. SIR parameters can be used to appraise inflammation status in mitral valve disease and to establish the risk of chordae rupture/flail in the case of mitral valve prolapse.

Introduction: The incidence of renal tumors increased substantially in the past decades, being responsible for 3% of deaths caused by cancer globally. They constitute a diverse group with varying morphological, immunohistochemical, and molecular characteristics. The severity and prognosis are directly correlated with tumor stage, histopathological aspect, sarcomatoid/rhabdoid features, fat or vascular invasion.

Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the prevalence trend, as well as demographic and pathological characteristics of renal tumors in Mureş County Clinical Hospital, Romania, and border areas.

Patients, materials and methods: In this retrospective study, all patients who underwent a total or partial nephrectomy for renal tumors were analyzed over a five-year period. The data was collected from the Pathology Department of Mureş County Clinical Hospital.

Results: Among 220 patients, 138 (62.72%) were males and 82 (37.27%) females. The mean age was 62.63 years (range: 33-84 years). The majority of the tumors found were malignant: 204 (92.72%) vs 16 (7.27%) benign. The most common subtype within malignant tumors was clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC) (n=181), 13.25% cases with sarcomatoid/rhabdoid features. pT3a stage was frequently identified. Vascular invasion and necrosis were observed in a large number of cases, especially for CCRCC with sarcomatoid/rhabdoid features.

Conclusions: The spectrum of adult renal tumors in our region aligns with the data reported in the literature. CCRCC was the most frequent histological subtype and pT3a the most common stage identified. Our study contributes to the understanding of renal tumors characteristics, identifying potential factors with impact in the progression and prognosis of the disease.

We studied the influence of maternal hypothyroidism on progeny skin morphogenesis by means of histological, histochemical and lectin-histochemical methods. Hypothyroid conditions in rats were achieved by daily food supplementation with antithyroid drug Mercazolil. The experiment was conducted on 10 control and 10 hypothyroid rats, which delivered 70 and 46 offsprings, respectively. We discovered that maternal hypothyroidism induces the accumulation of mast cells (MCs) in the skin of progeny on the 1st, 10th and 20th postnatal days, with decrease of these cell's count returning to control level on 40th postnatal day. These results indicate that offsprings developing under conditions of maternal hypothyroidism are a risk group for changes in immune status and the occurrence of allergic reactions. The stratum corneum of epidermis, its lipid barrier as well as pilosebaceous units, in both control and experimental group animals, at the early stages of postnatal ontogenesis are enriched with carbohydrate determinants of αDMan, βDGal, βDGal(1-3)DGalNAc, αLFuc, αDGalNAc, αDGlcNAc, Neu5Ac. Galanthus nivalis agglutinin (GNA) is a selective histochemical marker of MCs, while Lactarius torminosus fungus agglutinin (LTFA) is a selective label of Langerhans cells. Maternal hypothyroidism resulted in reduction of lectin binding with the structural components of progeny skin and its derivatives. We speculate that alterations in glycoconjugate processing and degradation sequences have an impact on the cell signaling, formation of adhesive contacts, cellular proliferation and differentiation. The lectin set we used clearly demonstrated specific labeling of cellular subpopulations, monitoring glycoconjugates processing and degradation under physiological and pathological conditions in all skin components.

Green tea, derived from Camellia sinensis, contains polyphenolic active compounds that exhibit diverse pharmacological effects including anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory properties. Employing various concentrations of green tea polyphenols (GTPs; 0, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 μg∕mL), human normal lung epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cells (A549) underwent treatment. The cell viability was assessed using the cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, proliferation was examined through the colony formation assay, apoptosis was monitored via flow cytometry, cell migration, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-associated proteins (E-cadherin, N-cadherin) were determined by Western blot. A549 cells were subjected to Cisplatin (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 μM) and X-ray irradiation (0, 2, 4, 6 Gy) for treatment to probe the influence of GTPs on A549 cells in response to chemoradiotherapy. The functioning mechanism of GTPs in the context of NSCLC was validated using lithium chloride (LiCl) [a glycogen synthase kinase-3 beta (GSK-3β) inhibitor], which activates the Wnt∕β-catenin pathway. GTPs suppressed NSCLC cell viability in a concentration-dependent pattern, with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 362.5 μg∕mL, while showing little impact on BEAS-2B cells' viability (at concentrations not exceeding 500 μg∕mL). Treatment with GTPs dampened colony formation of NSCLC cells, while promoting apoptosis. LiCl treatment vigorously attenuated the inhibitory impact of GTPs on the malignant phenotype of NSCLC cells. Mechanistic studies suggested that GTPs strengthened GSK-3β stability, thereby impeding the Wnt∕β-catenin pathway. Tea polyphenols (TPs) in conjunction with concurrent radiochemotherapy (CRCT) enhance the stability of GSK-3β and dampen the Wnt∕β-catenin pathway, hence exerting anticancer effects in NSCLC.

Nonimmune hydrops fetalis (NIHF) is a condition that can occur at any stage of pregnancy and is linked to a variety of disorders, resulting in severe perinatal complications and increased mortality risk. NIHF refers specifically to cases where maternal antibodies against red blood cell antigens are excluded. Early identification of the underlying causes is essential for managing pregnancy and deciding on treatment. The prognosis depends on the causes, both in the short and long term. Each case should be considered individually. We describe a case of severe fetal hydrops first identified at 35 weeks of gestation. In this instance, a definitive diagnosis could not be reached during pregnancy. An accurate diagnosis combined with early prenatal detection of NIHF is vital for reducing neonatal mortality associated with this condition.

Introduction: The accurate grading of cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) is crucial for effective treatment and patient care, but the current method, relying on pathologist visual assessment, can be subjective.

Aim: This study aimed to quantitatively investigate nuclear morphometrics in cSCC tumor cells, specifically examining potential differences between established histological grades and exploring the utility of digital morphometrics in characterizing nuclear morphology.

Materials and methods: We analyzed 47 cSCC cases, utilizing whole slide images and CellProfiler software to extract nuclear morphometric features from a total of 519 828 nuclei.

Results: The results showed significant differences in nuclear size, shape, and spatial arrangement between different tumor grades. Notably, grade 3 tumors exhibited distinct characteristics compared to grades 1 and 2, suggesting a potential shift towards a simplified, 2-tier grading system.

Conclusions: The study highlights the potential of digital morphometrics as a valuable tool for enhancing the accuracy and objectivity of cSCC grading, ultimately improving patient care.

The paper provides an overview of the current understanding of different cells and structures' biology [e.g., blood-retinal barrier, Bruch membrane, Clara (club) cells, brush cells and tuft cells, Merkel cells, Hofbauer cells, cytokeratins], including their origin, structure, function, and role in disease pathogenesis, and of the latest findings in the medical literature concerning the paracortex of the lymph nodes.