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ABSTRACT Introduction Restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a frequently encountered neurological illness that has no effective treatment and imposes an enormous socioeconomic burden. Autophagy is essential for the maintenance of healthy cellular physiology, cell viability, and defense against pathogenic conditions. However, there is no study investigating the possible role of autophagy‐related proteins (ATGs) in RLS patients. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the expression and diagnostic potential of ATG3 and ATG5, as well as the relationships between these proteins and laboratory markers, depression, disease score, quality of life, and sleep in RLS patients. Methods A total of 49 patients with RLS and 26 healthy individuals were recruited for the current study. The severity of the disease was assessed using the international RLS rating scale. All participants were administered the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, the Quality‐of‐Life Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory. The enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay was employed to quantify the expressions of ATG3 and ATG5. Results Serum ATG3 and ATG5 expressions were significantly upregulated in RLS patients compared to healthy controls (p = 0.005) and upregulated ATG3 and ATG5 expressions were relationship with the severity of the disease (p < 0.05). ATG3 was substantially correlated with the quality of sleep, whereas ATG5 was correlated with the quality of life and depression status (p < 0.05). The ROC curve analysis demonstrated that ATG3 expressions over 3146.5 ng/mL and ATG5 expressions over 4732.5 ng/mL may predict the presence of RLS (p < 0.01). Conclusion We report for the first time that autophagy may have a significant impact on the development of RLS.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate the frequency, clinical and genetic characteristics, and therapeutic options associated with Fabry disease (FD) in individuals with acute stroke and concomitant renal insufficiency. Material and Methods: An FD screening was performed on adult patients with renal dysfunction who were admitted to the neurology clinic due to acute stroke between 2015 and 2021. Screening was performed by a leukocyte α-galactosidase A (α-Gal A) enzyme activity assay using dried blood spot (DBS) samples from male patients. In cases where the enzyme activity was less than 2.5 nmol/ml/h, genetic analysis was performed. Female patients underwent direct genetic analysis. Results: Renal dysfunction was detected in 39 ischemic stroke patients and 5 hemorrhagic stroke patients out of a total of 401 cases. The enzyme level was found low in only one of the male patients. The c.680G>A (p.R227Q) mutation was observed in this male patient and a female patient. In the later stages of the study, it was realized with the help of pedigree analysis that these two cases were first-degree relatives. The same mutation was also detected in 13 first-degree and 2 second-degree relatives. The frequency of FD in our study group, which included patients with cerebral and renal involvement regardless of consanguinity, was 4.54%. Conclusion: Rapid detection of FD cases can be achieved by screening individuals presenting with multiple end-organ damages. To the best of our knowledge, this study highlights the underemphasized association between renal involvement and stroke in FD.

Objective: Previous research suggests that high levels of fibrinogen and low levels of albumin are associated with the occurrence of ischemic stroke and the severity of the disease. As a recently described rational parameter, the fibrinogen-to-albumin ratio (FAR) has been studied in several conditions associated with inflammation and pro-coagulation, such as retinal venous occlusion, coronary artery disease, and cancers. This study aims to research the usefulness of FAR when diagnosing ischemic stroke and the prediction of its severity and prognosis. Materials and Methods: The study involved 52 patients with acute ischemic stroke and 39 control cases between the ages of 18 and 80. The demographics, medical history, primary diagnosis, examination findings, imaging findings, and laboratory tests of all patients were derived from our hospital records. Stroke severity was classified into three groups: mild, moderate, and severe. The FAR values were compared between the stroke and control groups and between the stroke severity groups. For statistical analysis, SPSS 23.0 (IBM) was used, and P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Fibrinogen levels and FAR values were significantly higher and albumin levels lower in the patients with stroke than in the control group (P < 0.001). The FAR cut-off value was 6.65 for the diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke; it was more sensitive and specific than albumin and fibrinogen. There were no significant differences between the severity stages of stroke, the etiologic subgroup of stroke, length of hospitalization, and short-term prognostic effect on patients with stroke in terms of FAR, fibrinogen, and albumin (P > 0.05). Conclusion: This study suggests that FAR would be an innovative, sensitive, and specific diagnostic marker for patients with acute ischemic stroke. However, it would be insufficient to predict stroke severity, etiology, and short-term prognosis.

Aim: Fibrinogen and albumin are proteins that play a role in inflammation. In this study, it was aimed to investigate the role of fibrinogen, albumin, and fibrinogen/albumin ratio (FAR) levels as markers of disease severity and prognosis in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients. Material and Methods: Seventy-one patients aged between 19 and 84 years diagnosed with COVID-19 who were hospitalized in Sakarya University Training and Research Hospital, Neurology Department between March and May 2020 were analyzed retrospectively. Fibrinogen, albumin, FAR, D-dimer, platelet, and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels of the patients were compared according to the length of hospitalization duration, survival, and clinical severity of COVID-19. Results: Twenty-eight (%39.4) of the patients were male and 43 (%60.6) were female, and the mean age was 55.7±20.7 years. There was a significant difference between the groups of COVID-19 clinical severity in terms of age, fibrinogen, albumin, FAR, D-dimer, and CRP values (all p values were

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short non-protein coding and single-stranded small RNA molecules with a critical role in the regulation of gene expression. These molecules are crucial regulatory elements in diverse biological processes such as apoptosis, development, and progression. miRNA genes have been associated with various human diseases, particularly cancer, and considered as a new biomarker. After the discovery of miRNAs, many researches have focused on identifying and characterizing miRNA genes in cancer. The various expression levels of miRNAs between cancer cells and normal cells are very crucial to diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of many cancers. Many computational and experimental tools have been employed to characterize miRNAs. However, there exist some challenges in identifying miRNA using both computational and experimental tools due to miRNA features. The present review briefly introduced miRNA biology and certain computational and experimental tools for identifying and profiling miRNAs in cancer. Furthermore, we presented the advantages and challenges of these tools.

Tertiary education is accepted as one of the engines of economic growth at national level. However, as far as is known, there have been only a few research studies in literature on efforts to increase quality level of tertiary education institutions that have both an extensive data set and are based on the context of a developing country. Therefore, this study aims to examine the current situation of quality management efforts in Turkish tertiary education Institutions. The data for this study were collected from 672 units of 149 Turkish universities. According to the findings, more than half of the participating organizations did not have any quality management certificate, nor were they making any quality management efforts. Therefore, the findings indicated that there is still a very long and arduous way to be covered by Turkish tertiary education ınstitutions in spite of some important developments.