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Objective: Currently there are two major types of antiviral therapy in HBV chronic liver disease: PegInterferon alpha-2a and nucleoside/ nucleotide agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the response to PegInterferon alfa-2a treatment, in patients with chronic hepatitis B. Material and Methods: We performed a retrospective study on a group of 277 patients with chronic hepatitis B. The indication for treatment was made according to national and international guidelines. Only patients treated for 48 weeks with PegInterferon alpha-2a and in whom a viral load at least 6 months after the end of treatment was available, were included in our study. We defined as complete sustained viral response (complete SVR) an undetectable viral load at least 6 months after the end of treatment and as a partial sustained viral response (partial SVR) a viral load less than 2000 IU/mL (10000 copies/ml) at 6 months or more after the end of treatment. Results: Of the 277 patients, 206 (74.4%) were HBeAg negative and the remaining 71 (25.6%) HBeAg positive. 17.4% (36/206) of HBeAg negative patients treated had SVR, while 11.3% (8/71) of the HBeAg positive patients had SVR (p=0.2612). Among HBeAg negative patients, 2.9% (6/206) had complete SVR and 14.5% (30/206) had partial SVR. In patients with positive HBeAg, complete SVR occurred in 1.4% (1/71) cases and partial SVR in 9.9% (7/71). Conclusion: Our study showed a low rate of SVR in patients with HBV chronic liver disease following PegInterferon treatment, with no significant differences between those with HBeAg + or HBeAg-.

PhD student time is very interesting in the life of researchers. Many of them are young graduates, without or with very few experience in the field of scientific research. During four years, they must become experts in a narrow field (virtually, the subject of their PhD thesis), but at the same time they have to be trained for research and for publishing. Is it possible? It is mandatory! PhD students start with a one year training in the basic field of research during which they attend different courses regarding how to search the literature, how to perform research, how to perform statistical analysis, how to prepare a paper, where and how to publish and so on. Following this training year, together with their mentor (the coordinator of the PhD thesis), the PhD student starts working on the thesis. And this means reading as much as possible significant published data regarding his/her subject, proper research (basic, experimental, or clinical), and finally preparing papers for publication (in the beginning as abstracts for different meetings and later as original articles in dedicated journals).Participation of PhD students to different meetings is important to improve the quality of their research as an exercise for oral presentations. On the other hand, oral presentation is useful because the paper is open for discussion and corrections can be made during and after the oral presentation. During last ten years, there were organized conferences for PhD students and young doctors, particularly in Târgu Mureș and Timișoara. It was a good opportunity to show results, to discuss and to cooperate.This is why in December 2016, the Doctoral School of Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy decided to organize a scientific competition between PhD students, in an interesting scientific session. The top 10 PhD students (according to the cumulative Impact Factor of their first author publications) were invited to present their scientific research in a 12 minutes oral presentation followed by discussions, in an open scientific session. Also, the other PhD students were invited to send abstracts for a poster session. The best papers from both oral and poster sessions were rewarded with consistent prizes. This supplement of Research and Clinical Medicine journal is the result of the PhD poster scientific session. It is in the intention of the Doctoral School to follow very closely the scientific results (published papers) of our PhD students, and the best publications will be rewarded. The abstracts published in this supplement can be read and discussed by the other PhD students, by the Academic society and maybe followed by interesting suggestions for the authors. It is our intention to continue to organize such scientific meeting and to transform them from events to a tradition.

OBJECTIVES AND BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to find an alternative to Transient Elastography when its’ application is impossible or when no valid and reliable measurements can be obtained through its usage. MATERIALS AND METHODS Liver stiffness values were assessed with transient elastography [TE- (Fibroscan)], 2D shear wave elastography (SuperSonic Shear Imaging-SSI) and point shear wave elastography (pSWE) using VTQ and ElastPQ, in a cohort of 90 patients with chronic liver diseases. With the help of linear regression, we made a multivariate analysis in order to test the relationship between TE and the other three methods (ElastPQ, SSI, VTQ). Given the very well correlated factors, we consider them predictors for our model. RESULTS The model conducted with all the used factorsElastPQ+SSI+VTQ compared with TE explained the 90.7% of the model variability (R=0.907). We tempted the probability to exclude the factors one by one. SSI+VTQ explained 90% of the model variability (R=0.90). ElastPQ+VTQ explained 77% of the model variability (R=0.77) and SSI+ElastPQ explained 89% of the model variability (R=0.89). CONCLUSIONS SSI in combination with ElastPQ or VTQ is as good as the TE single use. Therefore, these combinations can be applied when TE can’t be performed or is not valid. REFERENCES 1.Tsochatzis EA el al,.Elastography for the diagnosis of severity of fibrosis in chronic liver disease: a meta-analysis of diagnostic accuracy. J Hepatology. 2011;54:650-9. 2.Nierhoff J et.al . The efficiency of acoustic radiation force imaging for the staging of liver fibrosis: a meta-analysisEurRadiol. 2013;23:3040-53. 3.Ferraioli G et al. Performace of ElastPq Shear Wave Elastography Technique for Assessing Fibrosis in Chronic Vira Hepatitis. J. Hepatology. 2013;58:S7. 4.Herrmann E et al. 2D-shear wave elastography is equivalent or superior to transient elastography for liver fibrosis assessment: an individual patient data based meta-analysis . EASL 2015

OBJECTIVES AND BACKGROUND To evaluate the performance of 2D share wave elastography from General Electric (2D-SWE.GE) for the noninvasive assessment of liver fibrosis and to identify liver stiffness (LS) cut-off values for predicting different stages of fibrosis, using Transient Elastography (TE) as the reference method. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study group included 331 consecutive subjects with or without chronic hepatopathies in whom liver stiffness (LS) was evaluated in the same session by means of 2 elastographic techniques: TE (FibroScan, EchoSens, Paris, France, M or XL probes) and 2D-SWE.GE (LOGIQ E9, GE Healthcare, Chalfont St Giles, United Kingdom, C1-6-D convex probe). Reliable LS measurements were defined as follows: for TE – the median value of 10 measurements with a success rate of ≥60% and an interquartile range

OBJECTIVES CEUS improved the characterization of focal lesions of the liver (FLLs), but it remains an operator-dependent method. The goal of this scientific paper was to test a computer assisted diagnosis (CAD) prototype. MATERIALS AND METHODS 97 CEUS videos [34% hepatocellular carcinomas (HCC), 12.3% hypervascular metastases (HiperM), 11.3% hypovascular metastases (HipoM), 24.7% hemangiomas (HMG), 17.5% focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH)] were used to develop a CAD prototype based on an algorithm that tested a binary decision classifier. Two young MDs, two experts and the CAD prototype, reevaluated 50 CEUS videos (diagnosis of benign vs. malignant lesions), in order to evaluate the beginner vs. expert diagnostic gap, the first being blinded by clinical data. RESULTS I-Beginner misdiagnosed 4/10-FNH, 3/10-HCC, 2/10-HMG, 1/10-HiperM, 1/10-HipoM. After being informed about the clinical data 2/10-FNH, 1/10-HCC. II-beginner misdiagnosed: 3/10-FNH; 3/10-HCC, 2/10- HMG, 1/10-HiperM. Unblinded: 1/10-HCC, 1/10- HMG. I-Expert: only 1/10-FNH, 1/10-HCC, 1/10- HMG misdiagnosed. Unblinded: all lesions were correctly diagnosed. II-Expert: 1/10-FNH, 1/10-HCC misdiagnosed. Unblinded: only 1/10-FNH was misdiagnosed. The CAD classifier managed a 75.2% overall correct classification rate. The overall classification before and after the uncovering of clinical data was: I beginner 78 %; 94%, II 82%; 96%. I expert 94%; 100%. II 96%; 98%. CONCLUSIONS The CAD prototype can assist a beginner for a better CEUS diagnostic accuracy. The integration of clinical data in the CAD algorithm is essential. Graphical abstract: Average Intensity variation in Arterial and Late Phase with supra unitary (meaning wash in) and sub unitary pattern (meaning washout). REFERENCES 1.Sugimoto K, Shiraishi J, Moriyasu F, Doi K. Computer-aided diagnosis for contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the liver. World J Gastroenterol. 2010;2:215-223. 2. Gatos I, Tsantis S, Spiliopoulos S, Skouroliakou A, Theotokas I, Zoumpoulis P, Hazle JD, Kagadis GC. A new automated quantification algorithm for the detection and evaluation of focal liver lesions with contrastenhanced ultrasound. Med Phys. 2015;42:3948-59.

OBJECTIVES AND BACKGROUND To assess the variability of a new point shear wave elastography that uses ARFI technique – ElastPQ, as a non-invasive method for liver fibrosis assessment. MATERIALS AND METHODS The study included 88 consecutive subjects (43.2% women, 56.8% men, mean age 52.2±14.7 years old, 20.5% with BMI ≥ 30kg/m2 ), with or without chronic viral hepathopaties and healthy volunteers. Two operators, with at least 2 years of experience in the field of liver elastography, performed 10 consecutive valid elastographic measurements in the liver parenchyma using ElastPQ (Philips, Affinity) technique (Fig1). Large vessels were avoided. Reliable liver stiffness measurements (LSM) were defined as the median value of 10 LSM expressed in kPa. The intra and interobserver variability of ElastPQ technology was analyzed with intraclass correlation (ICC) coefficient. RESULTS The overall intra- and interobserver agreement was excellent: ICC 0.97 vs. ICC 0.89. A strong correlation was obtained between measurements assessed by both operators (r=0.84, p