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Aim: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the hemostatic efficacy of a novel plant originated blood stopper which is called Algan Hemostatic Agent (AHA) in uncontrolled kidney incision bleeding model. Methods: The study was conducted with thirty-two rats 5-7 weeks old. The rats were randomly divided into 4 groups, each consisting of eight rats (Group 1: heparinized saline, 2: heparinized AHA, 3: non-heparinized saline, 4: non-heparinized AHA). Experimental kidney incision was made, and saline soaked sponge was applied to the control group and AHA to the study group. Results: The duration of bleeding was significantly shorter in the AHA group compared to the control group. The AHA has controlled the bleeding in the heparinized and non-heparinized groups 5±1.19 and 3±0.91 seconds respectively (p<0.001). In the control group, hemorrhage was controlled in the heparinized and non-heparinized group 180.6±25.4 and 125.4±21 seconds respectively. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that the AHA is useful in controlling bleeding in the Rat kidney incision model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article describes the case of a 72-year-old male patient who was selected for carotid body tumor (CBT) with intraoperative intratumoral injection of gelatin-thrombin matrix (III-GTHM) ) following the discovery of a mass at the side of the bifurcation of the common carotid artery. Topics covered include the details of the surgical technique that was performed, the decrease in blood loss associated with the use of III-GTHM, and the success of the technique.

PurposeTo search subclinical platelet activation via detecting three important platelet activation parameters; mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW), and plateletcrit (PCT) in diabetic retinopathy (DR) in comparison with those in healthy adults as controls.MethodsThis prospective study included 140 patients who were followed-up at the Ankara Ulucanlar Eye Education and Research Hospital, and 40 normal subjects. All patients and control subjects underwent complete ophthalmologic evaluation. Of patients with type 2 diabetes, 43 cases with diabetes mellitus (DM) have no DR (Group 1), 45 cases with DM have nonproliferative DR (NPDR) (Group 2), and 52 cases with DM have proliferative DR (PDR) (Group 3). In addition, 40 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (Group 4) were included into the study. MPV, PDW, and PCT were measured in the studied groups.ResultsThe MPV levels were significantly altered in Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3 patients when compared with those in the controls (P<0.05), whereas PDW and PCT levels were not significantly changed among groups (P>0.05).ConclusionThe data provided a significant association between MPV levels and DM. Diabetic patients have increased MPV values compared with healthy subjects, but MPV levels were not altered together with the DR stage. Diabetic and DR patients have no different PDW and PCT values compared with healthy subjects. MPV may be a clue for the reflection of subclinical platelet activation in DM regardless of the DR stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: von Willebrand disease (vWD) is the most common hereditary bleeding disorder. The purpose of this investigation was to determine the prevalence of vWD among adolescents in İzmir and to assess the sensitivity and specificity of PFA-100 as a screening method in detecting this disease. Material and Methods: Our study was conducted on adolescents in the city of İzmir between October 2006 and March 2007. A total of approximately 1500 high school students between 14 and 19 years of age were planned to be included in the investigation. Survey forms prepared for assessing hemorrhagic diathesis were completed by 1339 individuals (512 males, 827 females). The necessary laboratory tests were performed after having obtained written informed consent from 40 individuals suspected to have hemorrhagic diathesis. Results: Based on the von Willebrand factor antigen (vWF:Ag) and ristocetin cofactor activity (vWF:RCo) levels and bleeding symptoms, vWD type-1 was diagnosed in 14 individuals (4 males, 10 females; prevalence: 1.04%). The most common bleeding symptom in these patients was found to be epistaxis (10/14). Screening with PFA-100 revealed prolongation in both cartridges (Col/ADP and Col/Epi) in 3 of the 14 patients. PFA-100 was determined to exhibit 21.4% sensitivity and 100% specificity in the diagnosis of vWD. Conclusion: The PFA-100 device was found to have high specificity but to have exhibited low sensitivity. Therefore, its utilization as a screening test may be problematic in patients with mild type-1 vWD. Specific tests (vWF:RCo, vWF:Ag) are required for the definite diagnosis of vWD. However, further studies with a large number of patients are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adrenoceptors (ARs) consist of nine subtypes, which are involved in a wide spectrum of physiological functions and are the site of action for a considerable percentage of currently prescribed therapeutics. All AR subtypes (except UID) can be polymorphic because of the genetic variations in the coding and non-coding regions. Sixteen sequence variations were identified in a-adrenergic 2A (ADRA2A) gene. Among them, ADRA2A C1291G polymorphism is one of the most important polymorphisms, which plays a major role in regulating neurotransmitter release, blood pressure, lipolysis, insulin secretion, and platelet aggregation. A C-G transversion results in an MspI restriction fragment length polymorphism located at 1291 bp upstream of the origin of transcription. Because Medline search showed no study showing the allelic frequencies, and no information is available on inter-individual variability of ADRA2A C1291G polymorphism in Turkish population, we genotyped 203 healthy Turkish subjects. Because of large genetic variation of the polymorphism, we aimed to find out the distribution of C1291G polymorphism in Turkish population. Further- more, we evaluated the possible association between the C1291G polymorphism in the ADRA2A receptor gene and smoking. The frequencies for the 1291C and 1291G alleles were 64% and 36%, respectively. The genotype frequencies for C1291C, C1291G, and G1291G were 35.5%, 57.6%, and 6.9%, respectively, in Turkish population. The allelic frequencies (1291C and 1291G) and G1291G homozygous variant genotype were similar to those reported in different Caucasian populations; however, C1291C and C1291G genotypes were different. We also observed that the frequency of the G allele was slightly higher in smoker subjects and lower among controls. The ADRA2A G allele may play a role in the predisposition to smoking. There is a need for expanding genotype and haplo-type studies because of its importance in various physiological disorders and to confirm the association of this polymorphism with smoking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]