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Objective: Immunoglobulin A vasculitis/Henoch-Schönlein purpura (IgAV/HSP) is a systemic vasculitis involving small vessels with the deposition of immune complexes containing IgA. It is the most common primary systemic vasculitis of childhood and is much less common in adults. Our aim was to investigate the differences and similarities between adult and paediatric patients with IgAV/HSP.Method: We retrospectively evaluated the medical records of 35 adult and 159 paediatric (˂ 18 years old) patients with a clinical diagnosis of IgAV/HSP who were seen at the Departments of Rheumatology and Pediatric Rheumatology, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. The paediatric and adult patients were classified with IgAV/HSP according to the Ankara 2008 and American College of Rheumatology 1990 criteria, respectively.Results: Upper respiratory tract infection was a common predisposing factor for both adults (34.3%) and children (21.4%). Creatinine and C-reactive protein were higher; and skin biopsy, hypertension, renal involvement, haematuria, proteinuria, and renal insufficiency at diagnosis were more frequent in adults than in children. Thrombocyte count was higher in children than in adults. Follow-up without treatment and complete recovery were more frequent in children, while persistent haematuria, chronic renal failure, relapse, and the use of corticosteroids/azathioprine were more frequent in adults. The only independent predictive factor for relapse was persistent haematuria.Conclusion: Various clinical and laboratory characteristics differ between children and adults with IgAV/HSP. Overall, IgAV/HSP has a self-limiting course in children but represents a more severe form of disease in adults, with more severe renal involvement. Persistent haematuria is a predictive factor for relapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey having a long history of large earthquakes have been subjected to progressive adjacent earthquakes. Starting in 1939, the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ) produced a sequence of major earthquakes, of which the Mw 7.4 earthquake that struck western Turkey on 17 August 1999. Following the Erzincan earthquake in 1992, the soil liquefaction has been crucial important in the agenda of Turkey. Soil liquefaction was also observed widely during the Marmara and the Düzce Earthquake in 1999 (Sönmez, 2003). Aksaray city center locates in the central part of Turkey and the Tuzgolu Fault Zone passes through near the city center. The fault zone has been generated to moderate magnitude earthquakes. The geology of the Aksaray province basin contains Quaternary alluvial deposits formed by gravel, sand, silt, and clay layers in different thickness. The Tuzgolu Fault Zone (TFZ) came into being after the sedimetation of alluvial deposits. Thus, the fault is younger from lithological units and it is active. In addition, the ground water level is very shallow, within approximately 3 m from the surface. In this study, the liquefaction potential of the Aksaray province is investigated by recent procedure suggested by Sonmez and Gokceoglu (2005). For this purpose, the liquefaction susceptibility map of the Aksaray city center for liquefaction is presented. In the analysis, the input parameters such as the depth of the upper and lower boundaries of soil layer, SPT-N values, fine content, clay content and the liquid limit were used for all layers within 20m from the surface. As a result, the category of very high susceptibility liquefaction class was not observed for the earthquake scenario of Ms=5.2, 4.9% of the study area has high liquefaction susceptibility. The percentage of the moderately, low, and very low liquefied areas are 28.2%, 30.2%, and 36.3%, respectively. The rank of non-liquefied susceptibility area is less than 1%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hypertension is an important public health problem, with some variability of its epidemiological properties in different populations. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to estimate the prevalence of hypertension and to determine the hypertension awareness, treatment and control rates in Aydin, a Turkish province. Methods: Of 1600 coincidentally selected people aged over 18 years in Aydin, 1480 (92.5%) had their blood pressure (BP) measured and answered a standard questionnaire in 1995. Results: Estimates of the prevalence of hypertension and its control were computed using two different criteria to define hypertension: BP >140/90 mm Hg or on treatment and BP &ges;160/95 mm Hg or on treatment. Overall, the estimated prevalence of hypertension was 29.6% (for BP &ges;140/90 mm Hg or on treatment). Hypertension prevalence increased progressively with age, from 9% in 18- to 29-year-olds to 70.6% in those 70-79 years of age. Women had a significantly higher prevalence than men (34.1% vs 26.0% respectively). Overall, 57.9% of hypertensive individuals were aware that they had high BP, and 82.1% of aware hypertensives were being treated with antihypertensive medications, but only 19.8% of treated hypertensives were under control (systolic pressure <140 mm Hg and diastolic pressure <90 mm Hg). In addition, housewives, unemployed, and the less educated individuals had greater mean systolic and diastolic BP. Conclusions: Our results indicate that hypertension is highly prevalent in Aydin, Turkey, and the detection and control of hypertension is unsatisfactory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate via a questionnaire the knowledge level of primary school teachers in Ankara, Turkey, regarding dental trauma; to inform them on the subject through a leaflet; and to evaluate the effectiveness of the leaflet by reapplying the questionnaire., Materials and Methods: A questionnaire was distributed to 500 teachers in seven randomly selected primary schools. The questionnaire consisted of four different scenarios presented with photographs and a total of eight questions on crown fracture, lateral luxation, root fracture, and avulsion. After responding to the questionnaire, teachers were given a leaflet containing information about traumatic dental injuries and their emergency management. After 1 month, the same questionnaire was distributed, and the responses collected., Results: A total of 450 of 500 teachers responded to the questionnaire. Initial responses indicated the knowledge level of teachers to be quite low. Following the distribution of the information leaflet, the rate of correct answers increased for each of the individual questions, and the total scores for the questionnaire increased significantly (P = 0.0001)., Conclusion: There is a clear need to inform teachers about traumatic dental injuries. The use of educational leaflets can be a successful and appropriate means of providing teachers with information., (© 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S.)

Objective: It is known that QT intervals might differ from each other on electrocardiogram (ECG). It is also known that diversity of QT interval between derivations is an indicator of heterogeneity of repolarization and it is a leading electrophysiological cause of ventricular arrhythmias and sudden heart death. In this study, we evaluated the effects of the Turkish bath on QT dispersion., Methods: A total of 47 healthy volunteers were enrolled in the prospective study. The 12-lead ECG recordings were taken in all subjects before and after bath and QT dispersions were calculated. Blood pressure and the heart rate of each patient were recorded. QT dispersion was defined as the difference between the maximum and minimum QT intervals occurring in any of the 12 leads. Statistical analysis were performed using Wilcoxon rank test and paired t test., Results: The mean age was 49.47+/-11.64 years; range was between 23-70 years. The mean temperature of the bath was 39.72+/-1.75 degrees C, mean humidity percent was 84.42+/-4.74%. QTc dispersion were respectively determined as 0.047+/-0.025 sec and 0.047+/-0.019 sec (p=0.981) before and after bath. We determined no correlation between duration time at bath and QTc dispersion (r=-0.069 p=0.646)., Conclusion: In our study we found no meaningful difference in QTc dispersion in individuals who take bath. Our study is the first study in which we evaluated QTc dispersion in high temperature and humidity environment of the bath and we did not determine any effect on QTc dispersion.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the type and prevalence of dental injuries referred to Ankara University, School of Dentistry, Department of Pedodontics, Turkey. One hundred and forty-seven patients with 234 traumatized teeth presented during 18-month interval. Of the 147 patients, 85 were boys and 62 were girls. The most frequent trauma occurred in the age of 11 years. The maxillary central incisors were found to be the most affected tooth in both primary and permanent dentition injuries. The maxillary arch is involved in a higher percentage of trauma cases (95.72%). The most common cause of injuries are falls (67.34%). In the primary dentition, the most common type of injury is extrusive luxation (38.23%) and in the permanent dentition, it is fracture of enamel-dentin without pulpal involvement (50.5%). From 147 patients, only 82 presented to our clinic within 1 h and 10 days after the injury time. It reveals that there is a need to inform the public of what they should do in cases of dental trauma, and how important it is to contact a dentist immediately.

Background: We aimed to investigate the relation of coronary risk factors in children to coronary heart disease (CHD) or coronary risk factors in their parents., Methods: A sample of 252 parents of 164 children with two or more coronary risk factors were included in this study. The control group consisted of 175 parents of 114 children with no risk factors. Both groups were evaluated for coronary risk factors and CHD. The children in the groups were separated into sex and age groups consisting of 7 to 11-years-olds, 12 to 15-years-old and 16 to 18-years-old., Results: Many lipid parameters related with coronary risk factors in the mothers of 7 to 11-year-old girls, in the fathers of 7 to 11-year-old girls and 16 to 18-year-old boys were at higher levels than in the control group. Anthropometric parameters, especially those of reflecting body fatness such as skinfold thickness measurements and total bodyfat percentage values were at higher levels in the fathers of 12-15- and 16 to 18-year-old girls. The higher levels of most of the anthropometric and biochemical parameters in the fathers of 16 to 18-year-old boys were striking. Hyperlipidemia prevalences in the fathers of 7 to 11-year-old girls and boys were higher than the control parents. In the study group, the girls positively correlated with both their parents for total cholesterol levels and positively correlated with only their mothers for height, bodyfat percentage, triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein- cholesterol (LDL-C) levels. However, the boys positively correlated with their mothers for weight and with their fathers for bodyfat percentage, diastolic blood pressure (BP) values and serum LDL-C levels. The proportion of individuals who had ischemic findings on treadmill exercise testing was significantly greater than control group in only the fathers of 12 to 15-year-old boys (P<0.05)., Conclusions: The parents, especially the fathers of children with coronary risk factors have higher levels of coronary risk factors than those in the control group. There is a familial aggregation of body fatness and adverse lipid levels in the families of the children with coronary risk factors. The parents of children recognized as having coronary risk factors should be evaluated for these risk factors too.

This study was carried out to determine the prevalence of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction in mixed and permanent dentition and to evaluate the sex distribution in Turkish children. One hundred and eighty-two children with mixed dentition and 212 with permanent dentition were selected for the study, which used a questionnaire and clinical examination. Children with one or more signs (TMJ sounds, TMJ tenderness, muscle tenderness, restricted mouth opening) and/or symptoms (TMJ pain during mastication and mouth opening, restriction of the jaw opening and TMJ sounds) met the criterion of TMJ dysfunction. The total prevalence of signs and symptoms of TMJ dysfunction in the studied population was 68% (68% in girls and 68% in boys) in mixed dentition and 58% (61% in girls and 56% in boys) in permanent dentition. The Z-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for statistical analysis of the difference between the results. The total prevalence of signs and symptoms of TMJ dysfunction in mixed dentition was found to be higher than in permanent dentition (P < 0.05). No statistically significant difference was found in the total prevalence of TMJ dysfunction between girls and boys.