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Background/aim: Rituximab (RTX) and intravenous human immunoglobulin (IVIG) have been shown to be effective in the treatment of autoimmune bullous diseases (ABD), mainly pemphigus vulgaris (PV). The present study aimed to assess the clinical response of patients with ABD, mainly PV to RTX, IVIG and combined regimen of both. Whether adding IVIG to RTX therapy affects the achievement of complete remission off therapy (CR off), reduces time to CR off, time to steroid cessation, and decreases relapse rate was also investigated., Methods: Data of 33 patients with ABD [PV (93.9%)], including clinical response to treatment, steroid cessation time, time to CR off and relapse, were recruited from medical charts., Results: CR off and relapse rate, mean time to CR off and relapse was 86.7% (n = 13) vs 60.0% (n = 6) and 53.3% (n = 8) vs 40% (n = 4), 12.77 ± 9.30 vs 11.25 ± 13.40 and 24.1 ± 16.7 vs 13.0 ± 3.6 months in RTX and combination group, respectively. Older age (P = .005), younger age at the time of diagnosis (P = .004), lesser disease duration to the initiation of RTX (P = .004), lesser BMI (P = .026) and female gender (P = .037) were associated factors with CR off., Conclusion: Adding IVIG to RTX did not increase CR off rates; it also did not decrease time to CR off, time to steroid cessation, relapse rates and did not increase time to relapse. Patient and disease characteristics, including age, younger age at the time of diagnosis, lesser disease duration before RTX treatment, lesser BMI and female gender, are factors associated with CR off., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Lichen sclerosus et atrophicus (LSA) is a chronic inflammatory cutaneous disease., Aim: To evaluate the characteristics of paediatric LSA patients in Turkey., Material and Methods: Data for patients aged <18 years who were diagnosed with LSA by a paediatric dermatologist were retrospectively reviewed. Patient demographic characteristics, clinical features, disease duration, the vitamin D level, accompanying diseases, presence of atopy, therapeutic approach and treatment response were recorded., Results: The study included 38 patients, of whom 35 (92.1%) were female and 3 (7.9%) were male. Mean age at onset of disease was 6.4 ± 3.3 years in females versus 3.1 ± 2.6 years in males. Mean diagnostic delay was 20.6 ± 28.9 months in females and 2 ± 1.7 months in males. In 28 (80%) patients the time from onset of lesions to diagnosis was ≥3 months. The majority (76.3%) of the patients were asymptomatic, whereas five had itching, two had itching and burning, and two had pain. Among the females, 12 (34.3%) and 23 (65.7%) presented with isolated extragenital and anogenital involvement + extragenital lesions, respectively. All three males had isolated extragenital involvement. The most commonly recommended treatments were topical calcineurin inhibitors and calcipotriol/betamethasone ointment. Accompanying diseases were as follows: alopecia areata (n = 2); atopic dermatitis (n = 2); vitiligo (n = 2); ulcerative colitis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (n = 1); Hashimoto's thyroiditis (n = 1). Among the 28 patients whose vitamin D level was measured, 24 (85.7%) had vitamin D deficiency., Conclusion: LSA can be asymptomatic in the majority of affected children. Diagnostic delay was noted in 80% of the study's LSA patients, highlighting the lack of awareness of the condition among parents and clinicians., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Introduction: Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the face-to-face meetings are delayed to a future date, which is still not clear. However, seminars, meetings and conferences are necessary for updating our knowledge and skills. Web-based seminars (webinars) are the solutions to this issue. This study aimed to show the participant behaviour when webinars present at the COVID-19 pandemic era., Methods: From December 2017 to July 2020, 58 webinars were broadcasted via the Uropedia, electronic library of SUST. Data of all webinars were collected with the YouTube analytics and application of the Uropedia. Data of streaming webinars included participant behaviours such as content views, engagement time, total unique attendees, average engagement time and the number of audience to leads. Data were split into two groups; group-1 is webinars before COVID-19 (before March 2020) and group-2 is the webinars during COVID-19., Results: Total broadcast time and total page view number were found to be 112.6 hours (6761 minutes) and 15 919, respectively. The median participant age was 40.1 y. Median content view and median engagement time were found to be 261.0 and 12.2 minutes, respectively. Comparison of two groups revealed a significant increment in the content views (group-1; 134.0 range = 86.0-87.0 and group-2; 414.0 range = 296.0-602.0, P < .001) and the number of the unique attendees (group 1; 18.0 range = 10.0-26.0 and group-2; 57.0 range = 27.0-100.0, P < .001) following COVID-19. However, the median engagement time of the audience did not seem to change with the COVID-19 pandemic (group-1; 11.5 range = 10.0-13.3 minutes and group-2; 13.2 range = 9.4-18.1 minutes, P = .12)., Conclusion: The webinars are effective ways to share information and have many advantages, including low cost, reaching a high number of audiences. Audience number and page visits seemed to increase following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, this era did not seem to affect the critical attitude of the audience, which is engagement time., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objectives: To determine the efficiency of prostate health index (PHI) calculated simultaneously during an ultrasound-guided fine-needle prostate biopsy in prostate cancer diagnosis., Methods: The present study included 258 subsequent patients who underwent a TRUS-guided biopsy in our clinic between August 2015 and March 2016 due to elevated blood levels of PSA and suspicion of prostate cancer. The total PSA, free PSA and pro-PSA were analysed in all patients before the procedure., Results: The average age of 258 patients was 63.5 (36-91) years, and the mean PSA level and mean PHI values were 40.1 (0.12-2170) and 118 (0.41-1308), respectively. According to the PSA data, the patients were divided into two groups: the low PSA (<4 ng/mL) group containing ten patients with adenocancer (31.2%) and 22 patients with BPH (68.8%) and the high PSA (>4 ng/mL) group consisting of 86 patients with adenocancer (42.2%) and 118 (57.8%) with BPH. The sensitivity and specificity of PSA in detecting prostate adenocancer were calculated as 89.6% and 15.7%, respectively. Similarly, when a PHI level below 55 was accepted as low, and a PHI level at or above 55 was accepted as high, PHI's sensitivity and specificity were determined as 71.9% and 67.9%, respectively., Conclusions: The overall findings indicate that the specificity of PHI is higher than PSA in terms of prostate cancer detection., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aim: To evaluate the risk factors associated with nocturia in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS)., Materials and Methods: Patients aged over 18 years who had been diagnosed with OSAS using polysomnography (PSG) from January to December 2019 were evaluated. The number of nocturia episodes had been assessed in a 3-day bladder diary. We analysed the age, sex, body mass index (BMI) score, apnea-hypopn ea index (AHI) score and severity, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, smoking and heart diseases in all patients., Results: A total of 124 patients with a mean age of 49.9 ± 11.6 years (range: 25-81 years) were included in the study. Ninety-two (75.8%) patients had nocturia. The mean number of nocturia episodes of patients with nocturia was 2.4 ± 1.3. To determine factors affecting the risk of nocturia, the logistic regression analysis was performed. Patient age and BMI scores were found as the most effective risk factors determining nocturia (P < .05). The odds of patient age were 1.06 (odds ratio: 1.12; 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.11; P = .010) times higher for patients with nocturia. Every 1-unit increase in the BMI score increased the risk of nocturia 1.12 times. In the study period, 48 patients with nocturia had undergone the continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy or surgical treatment. The mean number of nocturia episodes of these patients was 2.3 ± 1.4 before treatment and 1.7 ± 2.2 after treatment, showing a significant decrease (P = .032). Although the total daily urine volume increased significantly with the treatment, the total night-time urine volume decreased significantly at night (P = .016 and P = .024, respectively)., Conclusion: The age and BMI score were the risk factors associated with nocturia in patients with OSAS., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)