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Objective We aimed to find out the asymptomatic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) seroprevalence among pediatric patients with rheumatic diseases and healthy children and to compare them with each other. Methods Patients with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA), and juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus (jSLE) and healthy children as healthy control (HC) group who remained asymptomatic during the pandemic are examined by ELISA immunoglobulin (Ig) A and IgG tests in this cross-sectional study. Results Overall, 149 subjects (90 females) were included in the study. While IgA was positive in 15 subjects (10%) (HC: 8, jSLE: 3, FMF: 2, JIA: 2; p = 0.196), IgG was positive in 14 subjects (9.4%) (HC: 7, JIA: 5, FMF: 1, jSLE: 1; p = 0.156). Nineteen subjects (12.75%) were IgA or IgG positive (HC: 8, JIA: 5, jSLE: 3, FMF: 3; p = 0.644). Although not significant, seropositivity was more often in HC group. Both IgA and IgG positivity were not found to be related to age, sex, underlying rheumatic diseases, and received treatments of the patients. Conclusion We revealed that patients with childhood-onset rheumatic diseases, even if they receive immunosuppressive medication such as biologic or conventional disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, might have an asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, similarly to their healthy peers. Key points• Although it has been already known that children are most likely to have asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, there is a lack of data on the disease course of children with rheumatic disease.• There was no significant difference regarding the asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity rates between healthy children and the patients with childhood-onset rheumatic diseases.• Patients with childhood-onset rheumatic diseases, even if they receive immunosuppressive medication, might have asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, similarly to their healthy peers.

The gold standard in the definitive diagnosis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) is nucleic acid amplification tests (NAAT) due to their high sensitivity and specificity in detecting viral ribonucleic acid. However, while leaving two years behind in the pandemic, resources have come to the point of exhaustion in terms of both the economy and the manpower working in the field of health services. Therefore, the need for rapid, simple and accurate tests to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 infection continues. In this study, it was aimed to compare the performance characteristics of SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen tests (RAgT) in the diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases with the real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) method. In Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine COVID-19 Molecular Diagnosis Laboratory, SARS-CoV-2 RNA positive respiratory tract samples with viral loads of

Amaç: Günümüzde COVID-19 aşılaması ya da geçirilmiş enfeksiyon sonrasında humoral immün yanıtı değerlendirmek amacıyla pek çok immünolojik test yöntemi kullanılmaktadır. Çalışmamızda CoronaVac, veya BNT162b2 ile aşılanan ve COVID-19 geçiren kişilerde SARS-CoV-2 humoral immün yanıtı üç farklı immünolojik test yöntemiyle değerlendirmeyi amaçladık. Materyal ve metod: COVID-19 tanısı alan 30, CoronaVac aşısı olan 35 ve BNT162b2 aşısı olan 35 kişinin 28 gün sonra alınan serum örnekleri çalışmaya dahil edilmiştir. SARS-CoV 2’nin spike proteini S1 alt biriminin reseptör bağlayıcı bölgesine (RBD) karşı nötralize edici antikorlar üç farklı prensibe yönelik (CMIA, ELISA, LFA) antikor testleri ile (ARCHITECT IgG II Quant test, Abbott, USA/SARS-CoV-2 NeutraLISA, Euroimmun, Lübeck, Almanya/ NeutraXpress™, JOYSBIO Biotechnology Co. Ltd., Tianjin China) çalışıldı. Verilerin istatistiksel değerlendirmesinde IBM SPSS 21.0 paket programı kullanıldı. Bulgular: Tüm olguların SARS-CoV-2 kantitatif antikor titreleri 2635,150 (391,1-8053,425) AU/mL olarak saptandı. Gruplar arasındaki istatistiksel değerlendirmede, COVID-19 geçiren ve BNT162b2 aşısı olan kişilerin SARS-CoV-2 kantitatif antikor titreleri, CoronaVac ile aşılı gruba kıyasla anlamlı olarak yüksek saptandı (p

We aimed to detect EBV/Hp (Epstein-Barr Virus/Helicobacter pylori) co-infection by determining the number of copies of EBV/EBER-1 in the gastric biopsy samples of the Hp (+) GC, peptic ulcer (PU), and non-ulcer dyspepsia (NUD) cases.

Amaç:Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori), tüm dünya popülasyonunun %50’sinin mide mukozasını enfekte eden bir bakteridir ve bölgesel farklı tedavi uygulamaları, hem virülans genleri, hemde antimikrobiyal direnç genlerini etkileyerek, bakteriye coğrafik olarak farklılaşma kazandırdığı bilinmektedir. Çalışmamızda, dünyanın farklı kıtalarında yaşayan insanlardan elde edilen H. pylori kökenlerinin filogeni, virülans ve antimikrobiyal direnç genleri açısından in silicoanalizinin yapılması amaçlanmıştır.Gereç ve Yöntem: Altı kıtadan, toplam 18 H. pylori kökenine ait tüm genom dizileri NCBI veritabanından indirilerek çalışmamıza dahil edildi. Kökenlerin evrimsel yakınlıkları, direnç gen belirteçleri ve virülans genleri, sırasıyla CSI filogeni, CARD ve VFanalyzer online yazılımları ile gerçekleştirildi.Bulgular: Avrupa kökenine göre en uzak benzerlik Afrika kökenleriydi. Klaritromisin direnci ile ilişkili A2147G tek nokta polimorfizmi Güney Amerika ve Asya kökeninde saptandı. Suşların 8 başlık altın-da toplam 95 ilişkili virülans geni taşıdığı belirlendi. Asya'daki tüm suşlarda cagA, cagE, cagL ve vacA genleri bulundu.Sonuç: Sonuç olarak, çalışmamızın verileri, farklı kıtalarda tespit edilen H. pylori kökenlerinin birbirinden farklılıklar gösterdiği ve özellikle virülans genleri açısından ciddi farklılık içerdiğini ortaya koymuştur., Objective:Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) is a bacterium that infects the gastric mucosa of 50% of the world population. It is known that different regional treatment practices used against the infections of H. pylori affect both the expression of virulence and antimicrobial resistance genes, giving the bacteria geographic differentiation. The aim of this study was to perform in silico analysis of virulence, resistance genes and phylogeny of H. pylori strains obtained from people living in different continents. Material and Method: Complete gene sequences of 18 H. pylori strains from six continents were downloaded from the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) database. The phylogeny of the strains, resistance and virulence genes were analyzed by CSI phylogeny, CARD and VFanalyzer, respectively. Results: African strains were the most distant identity to European strains. A2147G single nucleotide polymorphism associated with clarithromycin resistance was detected in South American and Asian origin. It was determined that strains were differentiated by a total of 95 related virulence genes under eight headings. The cagA, cagE, cagL and vacA genes were found in all strains in Asia. Conclusion: In conclusion, our study demonstrated that H. pylori strains, whose data were collected in different continents, differ from each other in terms of similarities and there is a serious differ-ence especially in terms of virulence genes.

Following the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS CoV-2) and using only PCR for diagnosis, antibody tests have been rapidly developed by various commercial companies. There are differences between the sensitivity and specificity of these tests due to the usage of different viral target proteins and antibody subclasses. In order to evaluate the diagnostic use of these tests, we aimed to examine the diagnostic performance, especially sensitivity and specificity, of SARS-CoV-2 IgM, IgA and IgG tests of various companies (Abbott, Roche, Euroimmun, Dia.Pro, Anshlabs, Vircell, UnScience and RedCell), which have different principles (ECLIA/CLIA, EIA, LFA). Current (n= 180) and past (n= 180) COVID-19 patients with clinical and molecular diagnosis of COVID-19 admitted to Istanbul University-Cerrahpasa, Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine Hospital, Pandemic Polyclinic with suspected COVID-19 infection, were included in our study. The patients admitted within the first 3 weeks after the onset of symptoms were included in the current patient group, and those admitted at the third and after the third week were included in the past patient group. Serum samples (n= 180) obtained from Istanbul Sisli Hamidiye Etfal Training and Research Hospital, Blood Center between April and June 2018 before the COVID-19 pandemic were included in the study as a control group. All the tests included in our study were studied with the recommendations of the manufacturer companies. Between the IgG detection tests with different principles in patients with past COVID-19, the sensitivity and specificity values of the most effective tests were; 86.7%/99.4% (Abbott), 86.1%/98.9% (Dia.Pro), 91.3%/95% (RedCell). Between the IgM detection tests with different principles in current COVID-19 patients, the sensitivity and specificity values were; 67.8%/99.4% (Abbott), 68.9%/98.6% (Vircell), 50%/97.5% (RedCell). Abbott IgM with a kappa coefficient of 0.67 and Vircell IgM + IgA test with a kappa coefficient of 0.65 showed the best fit in patients with current COVID-19 infection. In patients with past COVID-19, Abbott IgG with 0.86 kappa coefficient and Dia.Pro IgG test with 0.85 kappa coefficient showed the best match. Due to the low sensitivity of IgM detection antibody tests, they should not be preferred instead of real-time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction in routine diagnosis. IgG detection tests may be preferred to detect the antibody response and the titers in people who have had COVID-19 for population seroprevalence and especially therapeutic immune plasma production. However, it is thought that the combined use of both ECLIA/CLIA-based and EIA/ELISA-based tests together may be more effective in routine use for SARS-CoV-2 IgG tests.

Giriş ve Amaç: Hepatit Delta Virüsü, Hepatit B virüs varlığında koenfeksiyon, süperenfeksiyon ve kronik hepatit delta enfeksiyonu yapabilen defektif bir virüstür. Bu çalışmada, Ocak 2014-Eylül 2019 tarihleri arasında İstanbul Üniversitesi-Cerrahpaşa, Cerrahpaşa Tıp Fakültesi Mikrobiyoloji Laboratuvarına HBV ve/veya HDV enfeksiyonu şüphesi ile başvuran olgularda retrospektif olarak HDV enfeksiyonu seroprevalansının belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır.Gereç ve Yöntemler: Ocak 2014-Eylül 2019 tarihleri arasında HBV ve/veya HDV enfeksiyon şüphesi ile başvuran 1374 hasta kanında HBsAg, anti-HBc IgM, anti HBc(total) HBeAg, anti HBe, anti HBs, anti HDV, HBV DNA ve HDV RNA test sonuçları olarak değerlendirilmiştir.Bulgular: Çalışmaya alınan HBV tanılı 1374 hastanın yaşları 8-87 arasında olup, 585’inin(%42.6) kadın, 789’unun(%57.4) erkek olduğu belirlenmiştir. Yapılan analizler sonucunda 1374 hastanın %7.9’unda anti HDV pozitifliği saptanmıştır. 2014 yılında pozitif saptanan hastaların %1.2’sinin akut HBV, %27.3’ünün kronik HBV ve %5.7’sinin inaktif taşıyıcı olduğu belirlenmiştir. 2015-2019 yılları arasında pozitif saptanan hastaların ise %7.2’sinin akut HBV, %8.3’ünün kronik hepatit ve %9.9’unun kronik enfeksiyonu olduğu belirlenmiştir. Anti HDV pozitif saptanan olgular içerisinde kadın bireylerde anti-HDV pozitifliği erkeklere göre anlamlı düzeyde yüksek bulunmakla birlikte(p, Objective: Hepatitis Delta Virus is a defective virus that can cause co-infection, superinfection and chronic hepatitis delta infection with Hepatitis B Virus. In this study, it was aimed to retrospectively determine the seroprevalence of HDV infection in patients who applied to Istanbul University-Cerrahpaşa, Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty Microbiology Laboratory with suspected HBV and / or HDV infection between January 2014 and September 2019.Material and Method: HBsAg, anti-HBc IgM, anti HBc (total) HBeAg, anti HBe, anti HBs, anti HDV, HBV DNA and HDV RNA test results were evaluated in the blood of 1374 patients who were admitted with the suspicion of HBV and / or HDV infection between January 2014 and September 2019.Results: The age range of 1374 patients diagnosed with HBV was to 8 to 87 years and 585(%42.6) were female and 789(%57.4) were male. As a result of the analysis, anti HDV positive was detected in 7.9% of 1374 patients. In 2014, it was determined that 1.2% of the patients with positive were acute HBV, 27.3% were chronic HBV and 5.7% were inactive carriers. Between 2015-2019, it was determined that 7.2% of the patients with positive were acute HBV, 8.3% had chronic hepatitis and 9.9% had chronic infection. Although anti-HDV positive was significantly higher in females than males (p