Many people believe that nutrition is only important when it comes to losing weight and looking better. But what happens when the way we look is in fact a window into our own body, and we can use nutrition in order to take care of our health as a whole?

Stressful intervals of time when one crams for exams put pressure on one’s body and food, sleep management, exercising and water can make a difference in both exam results and one’s health after the exam. As schedules and activities change from one’s habits, so should nutrition, in order to reflect the different needs. Eating habits do usually change, unfortunately migrating in the wrong direction. 

This roundtable promises to target all the essential topics for a quick glance in the world of nutrition during exam season:

• What is healthy eating anyway?
• What changes when we spend our time studying?
• To fast food or not to fast food?
• What if I study during the night?
• What does the brain really need?
• Can I improve my exam results by eating the right food or by taking the right supplements?
• What can I do after the exams if I gained weight?

Mihaela Posea, MD, PhD, is a physician specialized in diabetes, nutrition and metabolic diseases. She started her work in the National Institute of Diabetes, Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases ‘N.C.Paulescu’, in Bucharest, in 2007. Her PhD thesis, ‘Evaluation of Inadequate Intake of Vitamins and Minerals to overweight and obese patients and the implications of nutritional intervention their anthropometric and biochemical characteristics’ gives us insight into her work. 

Alongside Dr. Posea, Anca Arămescu, MD and Alexandru Popa, MD, specialised in diabetes, nutrition, and metabolic diseases, will guide us through our first glance into the field of nutrition.

Performance athletes are affected by knee injuries in a way that few people can comprehend, leaving them wondering whether their career is crumbling right in front of them, or whether recovery and rehabilitation are possible so that they can reach their full potential again. 

Orthopedic surgery has evolved alongside rehabilitation for the past decades, their new technologies allowing athletes to still believe that full recovery is possible. In this roundtable, the following subjects will be covered, based on a clinical case:

• What is the path of a performance athlete from knee injury to recovery?
• Is full recovery possible in all cases? What are the favorizing factors for a full recovery?
• How can we manage articular cartilage pathologies?
• How can we apply what we learned to a clinical case? 

Asst. Lect. Radu Paraschiv, MD, PhD and Andrei Anastasiu, MD, PhD from the Orthopedics and Traumatology Department at Emergency Clinical Hospital Dr. Bagdasar Arseni will help us enter the world of orthopedic surgery, by presenting the risks of the operations, as well as their advantages, applied to a performance athlete case.

Cardiac arrhythmias are a significant concern in cardiovascular medicine, being described as disturbances in the normal rhythm of the heart. They can range from benign to life-threatening and significantly impact overall health and quality of life. Ablation therapy has emerged as a pivotal treatment option for managing various arrhythmias, offering the potential for symptom relief and improved outcomes. 

What are the key differences between basic and complex cardiac arrhythmias, and how do they impact treatment decisions?

Which patients are most likely to benefit from ablation?

How do ECG findings influence the choice of ablation strategy?

What criteria should be used to decide when a patient is a suitable candidate for ablation rather than medication or other therapies? How do you decide which ablation technique is most appropriate for a given arrhythmia?

This roundtable will answer all of your curiosities and will provide a comprehensive overview of ablation techniques. Senior Lect. Alexandru Deaconu, MD, PhD, works at Floreasca Hospital in the Interventional Electrophysiology and Cardiac Pacing Laboratory and is a Senior Lecturer at Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest. With a robust background in clinical cardiology, he has made significant contributions to the understanding and treatment of complex arrhythmias.

Alongside Senior Lect. Alexandru Deaconu, MD, PhD, we have Silvia Deaconu, MD, PhD, a cardiologist with an European Certification in congenital Heart Disease echocardiography and a Transesophageal echocardiography Certification. Silvia Deaconu is an adult and pediatric cardiologist, specialized in congenital heart disease echocardiography and periprocedural echocardiography in structural heart interventions. She works in an interventional cardiology department at Monza Hospital, Bucharest and she will lead a comprehensive discussion about the practical aspects of cardiac arrhythmias ablation.

The topic of communication in the medical field still occupies an insufficient space in the training of young doctors, therefore the approach of such a direction is necessary. Effective communication is fundamental to successful healthcare outcomes, especially in a crisis scenario.

 From a medical perspective, a crisis is, on one hand, a situation where the role of medical leaders is essential and the positioning of the team adds value to communication and, on the other hand, it involves the patient’s “personal health crisis,” a situation that, practically, is a part of our daily lives as doctors. 

Why is communication a fundamental element in medicine?

What strategies can be used to communicate clearly and calmly during a crisis situation?

How can doctors and healthcare teams debrief and reflect on their communication practices after a crisis to identify areas for improvement?

Does a medical crisis have the same impact on all the individuals involved?

Together with Lect. Beatrice Mahler, MD, PhD, a distinguished physician specializing in pulmonary medicine, Assoc. Prof. Valeriu Gheorghiță, MD, PhD, a prominent figure in the field of infectious diseases and vaccination, and the two journalists Carla Tănasie and Elena Manea, who will give interesting details about her experience as a patient who survived a medical error, you will understand the importance of communication during a crisis and you will decipher all of your uncertainties. In this roundtable, the professionals propose to create two situations as a role-play: “a crisis of the system” and “a crisis induced by a serious diagnosis”.

As we all know, asthma is a highly prevalent chronic respiratory condition affecting millions worldwide. Among its various forms, allergic asthma is particularly common and often challenging to manage due to its complex pathophysiology and the variability in patient responses to treatment. Precision medicine aims to tailor medical treatment to the individual characteristics of each patient, taking into account genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors, so it is considered that this approach holds the potential to improve patient outcomes, reduce side effects, and optimize therapeutic strategies.

What are the current known endotypes of allergic asthma ?

What challenges do we face in identifying and categorizing emerging or evolving endotypes in allergic asthma?

How can cutaneous and molecular diagnostics improve the accuracy of allergic asthma diagnosis?

What are the emerging treatment options driven by precision medicine, and how do they compare to conventional therapies in terms of efficacy and safety?

Join this roundtable event and get answers to all of your questions!  Prof. Carmen Bunu-Panaitescu, MD, PhD is a Professor at “Victor Babeș” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timișoara and she will guide an open discussion that can turn into a spirited dialogue. She is an esteemed practitioner at the Timișoara County Emergency Clinical Hospital and, as the President of the Romanian Society of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (SRAIC), Prof. Bunu-Panaitescu is an influential figure in this domain. 

Alongside Prof. Carmen Bunu-Panaitescu we have Prof. Roxana Silvia Bumbăcea, MD, PhD, a graduate of Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest and Past President of SRAIC. She works at the Allergology Clinic of the Carol Davila Clinical Hospital of Nephrology in Bucharest. Herself being a renowned allergologist and immunologist, she will help you understand the importance of personalized medicine in the treatment of complex allergic conditions.