Erol BASUGUY, Mehmet Hanifi OKUR, Aziz Serkan ARSLAN, Hikmet ZEYTUN, Gülay AYDOĞDU, Aysın EKİNCİ
Erol BASUGUY, Mehmet Hanifi OKUR, Aziz Serkan ARSLAN, Hikmet ZEYTUN, Gülay AYDOĞDU, Aysın EKİNCİ
Aim: To investigate the hepatoprotective, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of gallic acid (GA) against obstructive cholestasis (OC) -induced liver damage in rats. Methods: Thirty female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups. Group 1 (n=10) was the sham-operated group. In group 2 and group 3, hepatoduodenal ligament dissection was performed after laparotomy. Once the common bile duct was made apparent, it was ligated with 4/0 silk surgical suture and cut between both sutures. Group 2 (n=10) was the control group. Group 3 (n=10) was the GA group. GA (50 mg/kg) was administered by oral gavage daily for 10 days. At the end of the experiment on day 10, the rats were anesthetized. Fibrosis, inflammation, ductal proliferation and necrosis were evaluated histopathologically. Serum levels of AST, ALT, TBIL, DBIL, LDH and GGT levels were determined. In the serum and liver, TAS, TOS, MDA, TNF-α, IL-1, IL-6, and IL 10 levels were evaluated. Results: When group 2 and group 3 were compared histopathologically, fibrosis and inflammation were significantly lower in group 3. In group 3, all LFTs (except DBIL), liver and serum IL-6, IL-1, TOS, MDA, and TNF-α levels were significantly lower than group 2, whereas IL-10 and TAS values were increased. Conclusion: Findings of this research indicate that GA may be effective against OC-induced liver damage in a rat model. We presume that the beneficial effects of GA are closely associated with its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Therefore, we think that using GA can save us time before resorting to the surgical method.
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Aim: The identification of cellular pathways in colorectal tumor biology is essential for early diagnosis,
treatment, and post-treatment follow-up. Osteopontin is an extracellular matrix protein that has regulatory
physiological functions and roles in apoptosis, proliferation, adhesion, invasion, and tumor metastasis. In this
study, we aimed to determine the prognostic and predictive value of osteopontin in colon adenocarcinoma.
Our study investigated whether osteopontin expression had any prognostic or predictive use in colon
adenocarcinoma and also if there were any differences between adenocarcinoma and adenoma.
Methods: Fifty of these colonic specimens were adenocarcinoma, 16 were adenomatous polyps, and 10 were
nontumoral colonic tissue that served as a control group. We used a two-tiered evaluation system that examined
both the staining intensity and the percentage of staining.
Results: The staining scores of tumors with vascular invasion were significantly higher than those of tumors
without vascular invasion. In addition, the tumoral tissues’ osteopontin staining scores were significantly
higher than the score of polyps.
Conclusion: If future studies support our results, we suggest that osteopontin may be an important biomarker
for predicting or detecting vascular invasion in tumors and could be useful in tumor-adenomatous polyp
differentiation. Therefore, osteopontin can provide helpful information in the diagnosis and prognosis of colon
adenocarcinoma.
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Aim: To investigate the effects of polypharmacy and vitamin D levels on the risk of falls in the elderly.
Methods: The prospective study included 201 patients (F/M: 155/46) aged 65 years and older who presented
with nonspecific musculoskeletal pain. The demographic and laboratory data of the patients, as well as the
results of a single leg stance test (SLST), a timed up and go (TUG) test and levels of vitamin D were recorded.
Results: The percentage of patients with polypharmacy is 15.9 percent and 29.4 percent used no medications.
The SLST score was the lowest and the TUG test score was significantly higher in the polypharmacy group
(p<0.05). Vitamin D levels were significantly higher in patients with normal SLST times than those with
abnormal SLST times (p<0.05). The risk of falls was significantly higher among patients with a previous
history of a fall (p<0.05). Polypharmacy and the female gender appeared as the most significant factors
affecting the risk of falls (p<0.05), while vitamin D level was found to have no effect (p>0.05).
Conclusion: Medical therapies for the treatment of diseases in the elderly should have a rational basis, as this
may reduce falls, particularly in the elderly population, that can have serious consequences, and may even lead
to death.
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Aim: To examine the relationship between the SYNTAX score (SS) and cardiac repolarization parameters
such as cQTd and Tp-e values, and Tp-e/QT, Tp-e/JT, Tp-e/QTc, and Tp-e/JTc ratios in patients who have
stable angina pectoris.
Methods: 12-lead resting electrocardiograms (ECGs) and SS of 160 patients (51 female and 109 male)
undergoing coronary angiography with the pre-diagnosis of stable angina pectoris were evaluated. Patients
with a SS below 22 were classified as Group 1 (low-SYNTAX), and those above 22 (high-SYNTAX) as Group
2. Forty-four patients with normal coronary angiography were included in Group 3.
Results: Mean age of the patients was 62.4±9.1 years. The heart rate, QRS, QT, cQT and JT durations between
the groups were similar. In addition, relatively recent ventricular repolarization indices such as Tp-e interval
and Tp-e/QT, Tp-e/JT, Tp-e/QTc, and Tp-e/JTc ratios were also not substantially different between groups.
Conclusion: Several surface ECG predictors of ventricular arrhythmias, including QTd, JT and Tp-e intervals
and their ratios to QT and JT, are not significantly correlated with SYNTAX score-assessed CAD severity in
patients with stable angina pectoris
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Aim: Differentiation of thyroid nodules, either as benign or malignant, is a real diagnostic challenge.
Inflammation has an important role in development of the malignancy. Therefore, inflammatory markers are
associated with malignant thyroid nodules. Platelet /lymphocyte ratio (PLR) is also one of the novel
inflammatory indices derived from hemogram tests. We hypothesized whether PLR was associated with
malignant thyroid nodules. For this purpose, we compared PLR levels of the patients with benign thyroid
nodules to the PLR of the subjects with malignant nodules.
Methods: The subjects who visited outpatient internal medicine clinics of our institution with a diagnosis of
thyroid nodule were enrolled to the present retrospective study. According to the examination of the fine needle
aspiration cytology (FNAC) specimen of the nodules, patients grouped into benign or malignant nodule groups.
PLR of groups were compared.
Results: Median PLR values of the benign and malignant thyroid nodule groups were 106 (48-432) % and 119
(48-365) %, respectively (p=0.001). PLR value higher than 106% has 69% sensitivity and 51% specificity in
detecting malignant nodules (AUC: 0.59, p=0.001, 95% CI: 0.54-0.65). PLR was positively correlated with
TSH level (r=0.10, p=0.34).
Conclusion: We suggest that elevated PLR could be an additional tool to differentiate malignant thyroid
nodules from benign ones in supportive of sonography, scintigraphy and cytology.
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Aim: To construct a perfusion circuit for experimental open hyperthermic intraperitoneal perfusion (HIPEP)
and to evaluate the antitumor effects of regional hyperthermia in a model of advanced syngeneic high-grade
ovarian carcinoma in vivo.
Method: 24 mature female Wistar rats underwent intraperitoneal transplantation of ascitic ovarian tumor
1×107 cells per rat. 48 hours after transplantation the animals were randomized into two groups: I. NIPEP
group (12 rats) – normothermic intraperitoneal perfusion (NIPEP) with normal saline at room temperature
during 45 minutes; II. HIPEP group (12 rats) – open hyperthermic intraperitoneal perfusion (HIPEP) with
normal saline (40.5-41.5 °C) during 45 minutes. Endpoints included overall survival (OS), the total peritoneal
cancer index (PCI), ascites weight and the grade of ascites hemorrhage.
Results: In both groups all animals survived the procedure, in the HIPEP group one rat died due to infectious
complications on day 32. Compared with NIPEP group HIPEP with normal saline significantly increased the
median OS from 19 to 39 days (log-rank test, P=0.0013), reducing the risk of death by 68% (HR=0.32; 95%
CI 0.13-0.82). The open HIPEP without a cytostatic was associated with significantly lower total PCI (14 vs 5
points, P=0.0155). In the HIPEP group 3 of 12 animals had intrathoracic tumor spread with malignant pleural
effusion without signs of peritoneal carcinomatosis and ascites.
Conclusion: The transplanted syngeneic tumor is a valid model that allows to quantitatively assess antitumor
activity of intraperitoneal perfusion therapy. Our preclinical data confirmed the role of regional hyperthermia
in the treatment of peritoneal carcinomatosis in ovarian tumors.
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Aim: To evaluate the possible effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection on retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and
ganglion cell complex layer (GC-IPL) thicknesses.
Method: Patients who had been infected by SARS-CoV-2 and hospitalized because of severe pneumonia were
found out from the database of COVID-19 pandemic hospital and formed the patient group. The control group
was composed of non-COVID-19 age-matched subjects. The mean and fragmented RNFL and GC-IPL
thicknesses were measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT), and compared between two groups,
statistically.
Results: Patient group 34 eyes of 34 subjects (18 male, 16 female) and 31 eyes of 31 subjects (14 male, 17
female) in the control group were enrolled. The mean age and gender were not statistically different between
groups (p:0.56, 0,57, respectively).A statistically significant difference was not found between groups in terms
of mean, superior, inferior, temporal, nasal RNFL thicknesses and mean superior, inferior, temporal, and nasal
GC-IPL thicknesses.
Conclusion: The mean and fragmented RNFL and GC-IPL thicknesses measured by OCT were not
statistically different in patients who had moderate disease course and recovered from COVID-19 infection.
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Aim: To evaluate the predictive roles of biochemical and complete blood count parameters in the
diagnosis of febrile seizures by comparing these between patients with simple febrile seizures and
febrile patients without seizures.
Methods: One hundred fifty-two children (66 girls and 86 boys), aged 6-60 months presenting with
fever symptoms presenting to our hospital’s pediatric emergency department between January 2015
and January 2020 were included in the study. Demographic data, complete blood count parameters
and biochemical parameter levels were compared between the two groups. These were divided into a
patient group with simple febrile seizures (n = 74) and a febrile control group without seizures (n =
78).
Results: Comparison of biochemical parameters revealed significantly higher glucose, CRP, and
ALT levels in the febrile seizure group, while Ca and Na were significantly lower. Comparison of
complete blood count parameters revealed significantly higher white blood cell (WBC), neutrophil,
red cell distribution width, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio
(PLR) values in the febrile seizure group, while hemoglobin, hematocrit, mean corpuscular volume,
lymphocytes, and mean platelet volume were significantly lower.
Conclusions: We think that in addition to markers such as WBC, leukocytes, and CRP for evaluating
inflammation in patients with febrile seizures, simple, easily available, and inexpensive tests such as
NLR and PLR can also be useful for assessing inflammation.
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Aim: To investigate the position of the heart after pneumonectomy and, also to find out how the changes in
the electrical axis of the heart contribute for the possible electrocardiographic and echocardiographic changes.
Methods: Ninety-eight patients with pneumonectomy were included to this observational study. To calculate
the rotation of the heart and angle measurement two perpendicular lines, one septal and another
atrioventricular, were drawn on the images acquired from thoracic computed tomography. Thoracic CT were
taken at every 3 months for the first two years. On electrocardiograms net QRS vectors, amplitudes of p waves,
findings of right and left ventricular hypertrophy, and other possible changes were recorded.
Results: The mean age of all patients was 55.51 ± 8.9. Right pneumectomy was performed in 40 (57%) and
left pneumonectomy in 30 cases (43%) cases. There was no significant change regarding both the angle of
rotation and the amount of pleural effusion between the findings of the second and first year after the operation.
The QRS shift was significantly more pronounced in patients with left pneumonectomies than right
pneumonectomies. On echocardiography these cases showed right ventricular hypertrophy and increased
pulmonary artery pressures in the second year when compared to the preoperative period.
Conclusions: The current study showed that many significant changes occurred in the electrocardiographic
and echocardiographic parameters of the heart after pneumonectomy.
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Aim: In this study, the serological values of our patients followed up with a diagnosis of migraine were
compared with the results of healthy controls in terms of possible association with intracellular pathogens,
Toxoplasma gondii and Borrelia burgdorferi.
Methods: Fifty patients with migraine, randomly selected among migraine patients without any additional
disease, who applied to Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal Training and Research Hospital between January 1, 2015 and
August 31, 2019 were included in the study. Fifty subjects without headache were included as control group.
The history of infectious diseases of the patient and control groups (Toxoplasma gondii, Borrelia burgdorferi-
causing Lyme disease) was determined by serological diagnostic methods.
Results: The study group consisted of 64 women with a mean age of 45.5±13.1 (15-76) years. Migraine and
control groups were found to be similar in terms of age (p=0.059) and gender (p=0.211) distributions. The
frequency of Toxoplasma gondii positivity in the migraine group was 28% (n=14) and 10% (n=5) in the control
group. The frequency of Lyme was 19.6% (n=11) in the migraine group and 14.3% (n=8) in the control group.
The frequency of Toxoplasma gondii positivity was statistically significantly higher in the migraine group
(p=0.022), while the frequency of Lyme was found to be similar in the migraine and control groups (p=0.450).
Conclusion: The results of our study suggest that there are statistically significant differences between
migraine and control groups only in terms of Toxoplasma gondii positivity rates, not Lyme. However, we
believe that larger sample studies are needed to determine the detailed relationship between migraine and
Toxoplasma gondii infection.
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