The issue of drug disposal, as well as the development and implementation of efficient collection strategies, represents an important concern at the highest European level. This research looks into the factors that could have an impact on the efficiency of pharmacies in collecting and disposing the medicinal waste of the population. There were 521 pharmacists from all over the country who filled in a questionnaire on their opinion/attitude related to the system of collecting and disposing the pharmaceutical waste of the population. Of the surveyed pharmacists, 16% work in pharmacies that do not collect unused/expired drugs from the population, and nearly 33% of those investigated have refused, at least once, to take the unused medicines from the people. Pharmacists' most important reasons for refusing to collect the pharmaceutical waste were the lack of procedure, incomplete legislation, exceeding the amount contracted with the operators, and high costs. Results show that pharmacies in Romania face several deficiencies in the pharmaceutical waste collection services. The lack of implemented programs has contributed considerably to lower standards of pharmaceutical waste management in Romania. This study is the first research on this topic in Romania, a country where the management of drug-based waste generated by the population is at the beginning. The results shown in this survey can provide a reference point for competent authorities in developing and implementing a take-back program for waste medicine whose efficiency is superior to the existing ones.

Using different methods of statistics, this paper aims to highlight the potential link between the antioxidant activity of flavonoids and the corresponding molecular descriptors. By calculating the descriptors (van der Waals surface (A), molar volume (V), partition coefficient (LogP), refractivity (R), polarizability (a), forming heat (Hformation), hydration energy (Ehidr), the dipole moment (mt)), together with antioxidant activities (RSA) calculated or taken from the literature, number of phenolic -OH groups and the presence (2) or absence (1) of C2=C3 double bond) for 29 flavonoid compounds and by intercorrelation between the studied parameters, the link between the number of phenolic groups grafted to the basic structure of flavonoids and their antioxidant activity was confirmed. Simultaneously, by using the chi-squared test and the intercorrelations matrix, a satisfactorily correlation coefficient (r2=0.5678; r=0.7536) between the structure of the flavonoids and their activity was obtained, fact that confirms the correlation of the antioxidant activity with the number of -OH phenolic groups.

Thymus vulgaris essential oil is one of the most common oils used mainly in food industry but it could also have applications in medicine and pharmacy. The chemical composition of this essential oil depends on the plant material harvesting time, phenomenological stages, meteorological conditions and growing area of plants. In our study, four different Thymus vulgaris L. var. Donne Valley essential oils have been extracted and characterised. The essential oils have been extracted from plants before and after flowering in two different years. There is an important difference between the chemical composition of oils obtained from plants harvested before and after flowering. Thymol and carvacrol have been found as the major components, but the percentage depends on the phenological stages of the plants and the year of harvesting. Furthermore, the composition of the minor components changed.

Diclofenac, both from human and veterinary consumption, may arrive in landfills or in the wastewater treatment plants, becoming an environmental pollutant. Therefore, we aimed to study the influence of diclofenac on plants growth and development. We chose as model plant the bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) that was watered with different concentrations of aqueous diclofenac solutions (0-0.4 g/L). The plants exhibited linear decreased values of net assimilation rates and stomatal conductance to water vapors with increased diclofenac�s concentrations. Emission of 3-hexenol was determined to scale up with diclofenac concentration, therefore this compound may be proposed as stress marker. Also in the emission of bean plants were detected 3 different monoterpenes (a-pinene, camphene and 3-carene), their concentration increasing with elevated concentration of diclofenac. We can conclude that diclofenac may affect the plants photosynthetic parameters and also might disturb the methylerythritol phosphate pathway (MEP) in plastids.

Cutaneous melanoma is the most severe skin neoplasia with an increased incidence in the recent decades, particularly due to the intense exposure to sunlight. Our study analyzed the characteristics of malignant melanoma and the role of sentinel node biopsy in the diagnosis and prognosis of the patients with cutaneous melanoma by identifying the regional metastasis. The small or large clusters of circulating cancer cells are expressing epitops identified by some chemical reaction. These reagents are usually monoclonal antibodies with high sensitivity and specificity which are matching with the right receptor from the melanoma cells. The result is an antibody-antigen complex high-light in the microscopic examination by 3,3`-diaminobenzidine (DAB). The study was conducted on a sample of 151 patients diagnosed with melanoma in different developmental stages: 62 had Breslow index between 1-4 mm, 71 patients had Breslow index � 4 mm and 18 patients had Breslow index [ 1 mm. 45 patients (out of 62) with Breslow index between 1-4 mm had SLN positive. The mortality rate was 5% in the case of the patients with SLN positive. Comparing the rate of mortality by considering the Breslow index, 65% of the patients with Breslow index � 4 mm died. The correct identification of the patients with negative sentinel node or positive sentinel node improves staging and can facilitate the subsequent therapeutic decision, which is useful for early identification of the micro metastases and of the patients who require regional complete lymph node dissection.