BIOTERRORISM AND BIOSECURITY – RISK ANALYSIS AND SPECIFIC PREVENTION

Microorganisms with lethal potential for human body and the toxins they produce have their own place in history, because of the numerous epidemics they have caused and because of the large number of human lives they have taken. They are a hidden enemy, extremely insidious and with high mortality rates and they can destroy all the defence, control, and medical systems of a state; they can kill many people before anyone can realise the true phenomenon; they can hide the criminals before even suspecting the crime, and they can create chaos, terror, and even economic collapse. Furthermore, we have to analyse the conceptual mutations of the terrorist phenomenon in the last decade. It tends to be a mass destruction act rather than a manipulation and ideologic movement. We can truly say that bioterrorism is the scariest scenario of all existing threats and the main question remains: are all international systems ready to face this enemy and is there a prevention protocol that could be adapted realistically to these threats?

COMPLEX MECHANISMS IN ROAD TRAFFIC ACCIDENTS CONCERNING PEDESTRIANS. A CASE STUDY

Pedestrian injuries vary according to vehicle type, position during the accident, and pedestrian’s age, thus determining complex aspects by associating multiple types of traumas. In forensic practice, it should be noted that the lesion-producing mechanisms recorded among pedestrians are most frequently mixed, reason for which a correct and careful examination of the victim must be supported by the characteristics of the vehicle involved in the accident, as well as by other elements at the crime scene. It is necessary to thoroughly examine the injuries, an analysis that should always be characterized by a dynamic interpretation, directly related to the mechanism of accident occurrence, with case-by-case individualization, to result in the clarification of conditions difficult to grasp at a superficial interpretation. This article aims to briefly review the main lesion mechanisms in case of pedestrians, to emphasize on the importance of understanding the complexity of these injuries, in order to elucidate – as accurately as possible – the circumstances of such an ill-fated event.

STUDY ON THE RHINOPHARYNX NEOPLASMS

In order to receive the food bolus, the muscular-fibrous walls of the pharynx contract by reflex, first widening the pharynx, and the palatine veil rises, closing the passage to the rhinopharynx. Then the base of the tongue rises, the piers approach, closing the bucco-pharyngeal passage in the isthmus. The airway is simultaneously interrupted by the posterior displacement of the base of the tongue, the folding of the mucosa of the posterior pharynx, and the lifting and closing of the larynx. The food bolus is thus forced to follow the hypopharyngeal-esophageal pathway, the only one that remains open. In case of paralysis of the nerves that coordinate the swallowing process, the laryngeal sphincter remains open, favoring the false pathway and aspiration bronchopneumonias. The paralysis of the palatine veil prevents its horizontalization during swallowing, which favors the discharge of fluids into the nose, which is significant when the paralysis is bilateral and more discrete when it is unilateral. The clinical prospective and retrospective study material was represented by a number of 190 individuals aged 0 to 80 years, who were hospitalized between 01.01.2011 and 31.12.2019 in the ENT Department of the Teaching Hospital in Galați for follow-up of malignant rhinopharyngeal tumors. Most of these patients subsequently underwent sequential examination to determine their treatment response. Due to its deep location and limited clinical accessibility, onset symptoms are often absent or inconclusive for both the physician and the patient. CT scan is superior to clinical examination in primary tumor evaluation, especially in advanced T3 and T4 cases, which are largely clinically under-rated. Performing the coronal rhinopharynx sections and double-window recording greatly increase the accuracy of examination and they should be considered at least for the initial assessment procedure.

THE CLINICAL-BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF PERIODONTAL CURETTAGE IN DENTAL PRACTICE

Periodontal curettage is one of the basic procedures in marginal periodontium surgery. It is performed during the initial treatment phase of periodontal diseases, which occurs after emergency treatment (when appropriate) of acute complications of chronic marginal periodontal diseases. Periodontal curettage may be divided according to the area where it is performed in: gingival periodontal curettage, subgingival periodontal curettage. Gingival periodontal curettage is performed in the gingival groove and in the false gingival pockets, without usually exceeding the junctional epithelium insertion area. The main objective of subgingival periodontal curettage is to restore gingival health by removing from the root surface the factors that can cause gingival inflammation. The personal study was performed on two groups which included 82 patients. When analyzing the results, we relied on the justified assumption of the study that each case in the large framework of periodontal diseases represents a particular clinical-radiological and etiological reality as concerns its frequency and evolution (especially in terms of complications). The social origin and the cultural background play a very important role in the development of this relationship, which is at its best when both the doctor and the patient are closer from these points of view.

DIGESTIVE DISORDERS IN THE ORAL CAVITY

The progress made in fundamental medical research over the past decades, the scientific acquisitions in the field of genetics, molecular biology and biochemistry in relation to the explosive development of investigative technologies have revolutionized the clinical approach to many pathological entities, practically opening a new era in the evolution of clinical medicine. Dental medicine, as a science, feels the massive impact of the needs for knowledge and relaunches the interest of research in all its subspecialties. From this perspective, these are legitimized not only through the crisis in managing the immense volume of information, but also through the openings offered to the framework of conceptualizing and defining the identity of this branch of medicine, related to the need to particularize the specific problems in this discipline. Digestion is a fundamental process in the survival of an organism. It begins in the oral cavity, where the bolus is formed, and continues in the stomach, forming the chyme, which then reaches the small intestine and transforms into the chyle. Through mastication, the surface of food increases, thus the enzymes are able to act more easily on the substrate. The first enzymes to act on food are the salivary ones - salivary amylase, lingual lipase. Mastication is regulated through the contact of food with receptors in the oral cavity. These will send impulses by way of the trigeminal nerve towards the centre of mastication - located in the bolus. From the bolus, they will start the signals on the efferent pathway (trigeminal, hypoglossal and facial nerves) that will reach the masticatory muscles. Mechanical digestion (mastication) can thus begin. Mechanical digestion in the oral cavity results from mastication. During mastication, the food is manipulated by the tongue, crushed by the teeth and mixed with saliva. Concomitant with mechanical digestion, the chemical digestion takes place through the action of saliva. There are two types of salivary glands in the oral cavity: large glands - parotid, sublingual, submandibular and small glands - disseminated throughout the oral cavity. Within 24 hours, up to 1.5 liters of saliva are secreted, 99% of which is represented by water. The remaining 1% consists of enzymes, mucus, nitrogen content. After finalizing mastication, deglutition begins. This mechanical process consists of thrusting the bolus from the mouth towards the stomach, using the esophagus.