The Hawley retainer (HR) and the vacuum-formed retainer (VFR) are the most common removable retainers in orthodontic treatments. The aim of this retrospective study was to comparatively analyze the behavior of two types of removable retainers—HRs and VFRs—in terms of retainer damage, loss, and the rate of installation of mild or severe relapse that required recourse to certain therapeutic interventions. The study was performed on 618 orthodontic patients aged 11–17 years, average age 13.98 ± 1.51, out of which 57% were patients having VFRs and the remaining 43% having HRs in the upper arch. We performed an analysis of the two groups of patients—HRs group and VFRs group—at 6 months (T1) and at 12 months (T2) after the application of the retainer. The results showed that 6% of all the retainers were damaged, mostly at T2 (54.1%). Seven percent of all the retainers were lost, mostly at T1 (58.1%). Of all the patients, 9.1% presented mild relapse, mostly at T1 (58.9%), while 2.6% presented severe relapse. The VFRs were significantly more frequently associated with the occurrence of damage than the HRs (p < 0.001). Severe relapse was more frequently associated with the HRs rather than with VFRs (p < 0.05).

Lung cancer is the first cause of death worldwide of oncological patients. Most of them are non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and many of them are characterized by different molecular markers that allow the development of personalized treatments. Epithelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) and anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) are the most frequently tested genes in lung adenocarcinoma and other lung carcinomas with glandular component. The aim of our study is to evaluate the distribution of ALK gene mutation in lung cancer patient from North West part of Romania. We analysed a number of 289 lung biopsies along 18 months. The samples have been incubated with monoclonal ALK antibodies (clone D5F3), according to the manufacturer�s instruction. The interpretation guide provided by manufacturer was used to distinguish the positives vs negative cases. In our study from a total number of 289 lung biopsies, 196 cases were carcinomas. 57.65 % from the total number of lung cancers were adenocarcinomas. A total number of 79 cases have been analysed for ALK gene supra expression. 5.08 % of adenocarcinomas were positive for ALK, but the mean age for this population is higher comparing with the data from other studies.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficiency in using intermaxillary elastics to stimulate mandibular growth and advancement in orthodontic patients diagnosed with skeletal Class II malocclusion as well as to compare the use of these Class II elastics in two different therapeutic approaches. The sample consisted of 60 orthodontic patients aged 10-15 years, 34 girls and 26 boys. The sample was divided into two equal groups (each consisting of 30 patients). Patients belonging to the first group (Group 1) were subjected to 1/4�� - 6.0 oz elastics and were advised to change the elastic every 24 hours. Patients belonging to the second group (Group 2) were subjected to 1/4�- 4.5 oz elastics but with a recommendation to change the elastics every 12 hours. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of these two types of Class II elastics on mandibular growth and advancement, the value of the SNB angle at the beginning of the treatment (T1) was compared with the value of the SNB angle after 5 months of wearing intermaxillary elastics (T2). All patients showed statistically significant increased values of the SNB angle during the orthodontic treatment (p[0.001). Patients in Group 2 showed a significantly higher statistical increase (p[0.05) than patients in Group 1.

Dental age assessment is useful in various medical fields. The Demirjian method for dental age estimation is one of the most widely used in the field of pediatric dentistry. The aim of this study was to verify the accuracy of the Demirjian method in determining age in a sample of girls and boys from Oradea, Romania. This retrospective and radiographic study was based on the evaluation of 1006 panoramic radiographs, belonging to 1006 patients (431 boys and 575 girls) with ages between 3 and 13.9 years from the city of Oradea, Romania. They were collected from three private dental practices from Oradea and were analyzed between 1 September 2021, and 10 November 2021. The patients were distributed into 11 age groups, each group spanning over one year (e.g., 3–3.9, 4–4.9). For the assessment of dental age, the Demirjian method was used, which is based on the evaluation of the developmental stages of the lower left permanent teeth. The mean chronological age of the patients was 9.496 ± 2.218 years, and the mean dental age was 10.934 ± 2.585 years. The overestimation of dental age was obtained in all age groups for the entire sample. As such, dental age was higher than chronological age, with values varying from 0.34 years in the 3–3.9 years age group to 1.7 years in the 10–10.9 years age group. In girls, dental age was higher than chronological age, with values varying from 0.46 years in the 3–3.9 years age group to 1.73 years in the 11–11.9 years age group, while in boys, the values varied from 0.15 years in the first age group to 2.02 years in the 10–10.9 years age group. The comparison of the differences between chronological age and dental age according to the gender of the patients revealed that the distribution of the differences was nonparametric in both groups according to the Shapiro–Wilk test (p < 0.05). The differences between the groups were not significant according to the Mann–Whitney U test. However, larger differences were identified for boys (1.46 years) than girls (1.417 years), with an overestimation of the dental age. The Demirjian method overestimated the age of the children included in the investigated sample, with different values for the different age groups investigated, and requires adaptations.

The assessment of an individual’s development by investigating the skeletal maturity is of much use in various medical fields. Skeletal maturity can be estimated by evaluating the morphology of the cervical vertebrae. The aim of this study was to conduct comparisons of the chronological age in different bone development stages. The retrospective study was conducted based on lateral cephalometric radiographs belonging to patients with ages between 6 and 15.9 years, from Romania. For the assessment of skeletal maturity, the Cervical Vertebral Maturation (CVM) method was used. In total, 356 radiographs were selected, but after applying the exclusion criteria, 252 radiographs remained in the study (178 girls and 74 boys). Different mean chronological age values were obtained for the general sample, as well as for the two genders. The chronological age started to be significantly different at the CS4 stage. Patients with CS4, CS5, and CS6 stages had a significantly higher chronological age compared to patients with CS1, CS2, and CS3 stages. It was noted that patients with CS1 and CS2 stages were more frequently boys, while patients with the CS5 stage were more frequently girls.