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The aim of the current study was to determine the frequency of the Mediterranean fever (MEFV) gene pathogenic variants in 60 children diagnosed with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) and to compare the phenotype-genotype correlation. Genomic DNA was isolated by the spin-column method from peripheral blood samples (collected in vacutainers containing EDTA) and buccal smears. The MEFV gene profiles for the current FMF cohort were genotyped by pyrosequencing and direct Sanger sequencing techniques for the target pathogenic variants. The most prominent clinical symptoms were abdominal pain (53.4%), fever (23.4%) and arthritis (23.3%). Eighteen different pathogenic variants were identified and the most frequent were p.Met694Val (20.0%), p.Glu148Gln (13.3%), p.Met680 Ile (11.7%) and p.Arg202Gln (11.7%). Abdominal pain, fever and arthritis were the most common presenting clinical characteristics. Results showed that not only clinical characteristics, but also genotyping of the MEFV gene is needed to establish the correct diagnosis of FMF in children and other family members.

Mustafa Tekin, Şule Yıldırım, Hakan Aylanç, Nazan Kaymaz, Fatih Battal, Naci Topaloğlu, Esra Başer, Fatih Köksal Binnetoğlu Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University, Çanakkale, Turkey Background: This study aimed to assess whether there was a difference in the pain-perception levels of newborns born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy and newborns born to mothers who were not exposed to active or passive smoking during pregnancy. Materials and methods: A total of 60 newborns born by normal spontaneous vaginal birth between June 2013 and June 2014 were included in the study: 30 born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy, and 30 born to mothers not exposed to smoking. Mothers or newborns who had taken analgesics or sedative medications in the previous 24 hours, newborns not born at term, and sick newborns were not included in the study. During the routine hepatitis B-vaccination injection given at postnatal 48 hours, the newborns’ behavior was monitored and recorded by video camera. The data obtained from the recordings were evaluated according to the Neonatal Pain, Agitation, and Sedation Scale and analyzed with SPSS 20. Results: The median pain score of the group exposed to tobacco smoke in utero was 8.5, while the median pain score of the unexposed group was 6 (P

This study aims to investigate the expression pattern of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) in the tissue of endometrioid type endometrial cancer (EEC) using immunohistochemistry, and also to investigate the effect of hCG expression pattern on prognosis and survival in EEC. We evaluated patients who were operated between 2010 and 2020 in the obstetrics and gynecology clinic of our center due to EEC. In total, 194 women were determined to be in either the hCG-negative group (n=137) or the hCG-positive group (n=57). The detection rate of deep myometrial invasion (16.8% vs. 36.8%; P=0.002), lymphovascular space invasion (10.9% vs. 24.6%; P=0.015), and metastatic lymph node (6.7% vs. 21.8%; P= 0.003) in patients with hCG-positive staining were analyzed to be significantly higher. Five-year disease-free survival (DFS) (P= 0.015) and overall survival (OS) (P= 0.024) rates were found to be higher in the hCG-negative group. hCG expression was found to be an independent risk factor for recurrence, and DFS in grade I-II EEC was limited to the uterus and with superficial myometrial invasion (low risk). No independent risk factors for OS were analyzed. hCG positivity is a risk factor with poor prognostic factors in endometrial cancer. It was concluded that hCG expression in low-risk EEC is a valuable negative prognostic factor for recurrence and DFS., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2025 by the International Society of Gynecological Pathologists.)

Cancer is a global concern worldwide. Prostate cancer has high prevalence and mortality rates among men. Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an alternative treatment that is promising and effective with fewer side-effects than conventional therapies. However, some factors may limit its efficacy. For this, PDT can be combined with other modalities such as photobiomodulation (PBM) which is commonly used for increased cell proliferation/differentiation and wound healing. In this study, PBM pre-treatment at 655 nm of wavelength with 1, 3, and 5 J/cm 2 energy densities was applied to prostate cancer cells to investigate its role in indocyanine green (ICG)-mediated PDT applications. Following PBM treatment, various analyses were assessed including cell viability, cellular uptake of ICG, ATP production, nitric oxide release, reactive oxygen species generation, and the changes in mitochondrial membrane potential. Increased cell death was observed with the PBM pre-treatment at 1 and 3 J/cm 2 energy densities depending on ICG incubation time. Intracellular ROS generation and nitric oxide release by PBM had a significant impact on anticancer PDT action. An enhanced anticancer PDT effect was obtained with the PBM pre-treatment which may become a valuable modality to increase the sensitivity of the cancerous cells to PDT applications., Competing Interests: Declarations Conflict of interest The authors have no competing interest to declare that is relevant to the content of this article. Ethical approval This study does not involve any study with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors. Consent for publication All authors agreed with the content and all gave explicit consent to submit the manuscript for publication., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Several types of myometrial invasion in endometrioid-type endometrial adenocarcinoma (EEC) have been identified: adenomyosis-like changes; adenoma malignum; broad front, single-cell/cell clusters; and the microcystic elongated and fragmented (MELF) pattern. This study aims to investigate the effect of the MELF pattern on recurrence type and survival rate among patients with EEC. We retrospectively reviewed the records of patients diagnosed with EEC over a 10-year period from January 2011 to January 2021. Among 108 patients with EEC, 54 had recurrence (study group), and 54 did not (control group). The MELF pattern was more common in the group with recurrence than in the group without recurrence (40.7% vs. 14.8%; P=0.002). The MELF pattern was observed in 60.0% of patients with local recurrence and 29.4% of patients with extrapelvic or distant organ metastases (P=0.027). Evaluation of 5-year disease-free survival (P=0.003) and overall survival (P=0.001) rates showed that MELF positivity was associated with decreased survival. Among patients with grade I-II EEC lacking uterine-localized myometrial invasion, the MELF pattern was less common in the nonrelapsed group than in the local relapse group (10.0% vs. 60.0%; P<0.001). The MELF pattern (odds ratio=19.4, 95% CI=1.2-31.2) was a significant independent negative predictor for local recurrence. The MELF pattern was more common in patients with recurrence, especially local recurrence. This finding suggests that the MELF pattern primarily impacts direct local invasion rather than hematogenous or lymphatic spread., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 by the International Society of Gynecological Pathologists.)

The incidence and prevalence of neuroendocrine neoplasms (NENs) in many organs are increasing. Although such NENs have similar grades, they may exhibit quite different behaviors. In this multicenter study, we aimed to investigate the prevalence and distribution of different morphological NEN variants in the non-pancreatic gastrointestinal (GI) tract and determine whether they can guide prognosis prediction. Two hundred and fifty-six patients diagnosed with NENs originating from the GI tract from 7 different centers were included in the study. In 89 (36.6%) cases, different morphological variants were detected. When the variants were grouped according to their aggressiveness as described in the literature, a statistically significant relationship between aggressiveness and the variables organ and age was found ( p < 0.05). The oncocytic variant was found to metastasize more than the other aggressive types (42.9%). The paraganglioma-like variant was found to have a smaller size, lower proliferation index, and a more benign clinical course. This study demonstrated that well-differentiated GI neuroendocrine tumors (GI-NETs) have considerable morphological diversity. Generally, case reports of rare morphological variants of GI-NETs are available in the literature. We believe that our study contributes to a better understanding of the prevalence, localization, and significance of morphological variations in GI-NETs.

Bones have an important role in the human body with their complex nature. Mesenchymal stem cells and endothelial cells together support their unique and complex nature. Photobiomodulation (PBM) is a promising method that provides cell proliferation, osteogenic differentiation, and bone regeneration. However, there are still unknowns in the mechanism of osteogenic differentiation induced by PBM. The main aim of the study is to understand the molecular mechanism of PBM at 655 and 808 nm of wavelengths and identify the most effective energy densities of both wavelengths for osteogenic differentiation. The effect of PBM on osteogenic differentiation of Human Bone Marrow Stem Cell (hBMSC) and Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cell (HUVEC) co-culture was examined at 1, 3, and 5 J/cm 2 energy densities of red and near-infrared light through different analysis such as cell viability, scratch assay, intracellular reactive oxygen species production, and ATP synthesis, nitric oxide release, temperature monitoring, and osteogenic differentiation analyses. Even though all PBM-treated groups exhibited better results compared to the control group, 5 J/cm 2 energy density induced faster cell proliferation and migration at both wavelengths. The increases in ATP and NO levels as signaling molecules, and the increases in DNA, ALPase, and calcium contents as osteogenic markers were higher in the groups treated with 5 J/cm 2 energy density at both wavelengths. Only a slight change was obtained in the level of intracellular ROS after any light applications. It can be concluded that NO release has a very important role together with ATP production in PBM therapy to trigger DNA synthesis, ALPase activity, and mineralization for osteogenic differentiation of the hBMSC and HUVEC co-culture at 655 and 808 nm of wavelengths., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Bone tissue engineering aims to diversify and enhance the strategies for bone regeneration to overcome bone-related health problems. Bone mimetic peptides such as Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp-Ser (RGD) are useful tools for osteogenic differentiation. Similarly, photobiomodulation (PBM) at 600-800 nm of wavelength range improves bone tissue healing via the production of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS), ATP synthesis, and nitric oxide (NO) release. Besides, traditional monolayer cell culture models have limited conditions to exhibit the details of a mechanism such as a peptide or PBM therapy. However, scaffold-free microtissues (SFMs) can mimic a tissue more properly and be an efficient way to understand the mechanism of therapy via cell-cell interaction. Thus, the synergistic effects of RGD peptide (1 mM) and PBM applications (1 J/cm 2 energy density at 655 nm of wavelength and 5 J/cm 2 energy density at 808 nm of wavelength) were evaluated on SFMs formed with the co-culture of Human Bone Marrow Stem Cells (hBMSC) and Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC) for osteogenic differentiation. Cell viability assays, mechanistic analysis, and the evaluation of osteogenic differentiation markers were performed. Combined therapies of RGD and PBM were more successful to induce osteogenic differentiation than single therapies. Especially, RGD + PBM at 655 nm group exhibited a higher capability of osteogenic differentiation via ROS production, ATP synthesis, and NO release. It can be concluded that the concomitant use of RGD and PBM may enhance bone regeneration and become a promising therapeutic tool to heal bone-related problems in clinics., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

One of the novel strategies for bone tissue regeneration is photobiomodulation (PBM) which depends on the red and near-infrared light absorption by mitochondria and may trigger bone tissue regeneration via the production of intracellular ROS and ATP, NO release, etc. It is also important to identify the changes in those signal molecule levels in an in vivo mimicking platform such as 3-Dimensional (3D) Scaffold Free Microtissues (SFMs) that may serve more natural osteogenic differentiation responses to PBM. Herein, we aimed to increase the osteogenic differentiation capability of the co-culture of Human Bone Marrow Stem Cells (hBMSC) and Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVECs) on 3D SFMs by triple light treatment at 655 and 808-nm of wavelengths with the energy densities of 1, 3, and 5 J/cm 2 . We performed the analysis of cell viability, diameter measurements of SFMs, intracellular ROS production, NO release, ATP activity, temperature measurements, DNA content, ALPase activity, calcium content, and relative gene expressions of ALP, Collagen, and Osteopontin by qRT-PCR. It was found that both wavelengths were effective in terms of the viability of SFMs. 1 and 5 J/cm 2 energy densities of both wavelengths increased the SFM diameter with significant changes in intracellular ROS, ATP, and NO levels compared to the control group. We concluded that PBM therapy was successful to induce osteogenesis. 1 J/cm 2 at 655 nm of wavelength and 5 J/cm 2 at 808 nm of wavelength were the most effective energy densities for osteogenic differentiation on SFMs with triple light treatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Ozan Karaman reports financial support was provided by Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Antimicrobial photodynamic inactivation (aPDI) of multidrug-resistant (MDR) wound pathogens was evaluated with cationic porphyrin derivatives (CPDs). MDR bacterial strains including Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Klebsiella pneumoniae were used. The CPDs named PM, PE, PN, and PL were synthesized as a photosensitizer (PS). A diode laser with a wavelength of 655 nm was used as a light source. aPDI of the combinations formed with different energy densities (50, 100, and 150 J/cm²) and PS concentrations (ranging from 3.125 to 600 µM) were evaluated on each bacterial strain. Dark toxicity, cytotoxicity, and phototoxicity were determined on fibroblast cells. In the aPDI groups, survival reductions of up to 5.80 log₁₀ for E. coli, 5.90 log₁₀ for P. aeruginosa, 6.11 log₁₀ for K. pneumoniae, and 6.78 log₁₀ for A. baumannii were obtained. The cytotoxic effect of PL and PM on fibroblast cells was very limited. PN was the type of CPD with the highest dark toxicity on fibroblast cells. In terms of providing broad-spectrum aPDI without or with very limited cytotoxic effect, the best result was observed in aPDI application with PL. The other CPDs need some modifications to show bacterial selectivity for use at 50 µM and above., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest No conflict of interest declared should appear within this section., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: Photodynamic therapy is a promising invention to treat infections and cancer where conventional treatments are insufficient and have many side effects. Photodynamic therapy is mainly emphasized as having minimal side effects on healthy cells during local applications, even so photosensitizer can accumulate in any cell and unwanted deaths may occur upon irradiation. This study focused on the degree of photodynamic action with indocyanine green against healthy cells, when it has phototoxic effects on pathogens., Methods: Healthy mouse skin fibroblast and human skin keratinocyte cells were exposed to energy densities of 84 and 252 J/cm 2 with 4, 10, 25, 50,100, 125 and 150 μg/mL indocyanine green which have efficiently killed gram-positive and gram-negative pathogens. Cell Viability, Lipid Peroxidation and Live/Dead Cell Staining analysis were performed to assess the phototoxicity with defined parameters on the healthy cells., Results: 84 J/cm 2 energy density was quite safe for keratinocytes with indocyanine green concentrations ranging from 4 to 125 μg/mL. When 252 J/cm 2 energy density was used, most of the keratinocytes were damaged with any photosensitizer concentration. Fibroblasts only tolerate these energy densities together with 4 and 10 μg/mL indocyanine green. Increasing photosensitizer concentrations resulted in high phototoxic effect on them., Conclusion: Photodynamic therapy applications, which destroy pathogens, may also kill healthy eukaryotic cells. While some energy densities are safe, but others cause serious mortality rate on fibroblasts and keratinocytes. Therefore, harm to healthy cells related to photodynamic therapy parameters should be minimized by the optimization of energy densities and photosensitizer concentration properly., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cerebrovascular accident due to carotid artery disease is the most common cause of death in developed countries following heart disease and cancer. For a reliable early detection of atherosclerosis, Intima Media Thickness (IMT) measurement and classification are important. A new method for decision support purpose for the classification of IMT was proposed in this study. Ultrasound images are used for IMT measurements. Images are classified and evaluated by experts. This is a manual procedure, so it causes subjectivity and variability in the IMT classification. Instead, this article proposes a methodology based on artificial intelligence methods for IMT classification. For this purpose, a deep learning strategy with multiple hidden layers has been developed. In order to create the proposed model, convolutional neural network algorithm, which is frequently used in image classification problems, is used. 501 ultrasound images from 153 patients were used to test the model. The images are classified by two specialists, then the model is trained and tested on the images, and the results are explained. The deep learning model in the study achieved an accuracy of 89.1% in the IMT classification with 89% sensitivity and 88% specificity. Thus, the assessments in this paper have shown that this methodology performs reasonable results for IMT classification.

Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) with multiple drug resistance patterns is frequently isolated from skin and soft tissue infections that are involved in chronic wounds. Today, difficulties in the treatment of MRSA associated infections have led to the development of alternative approaches such as antimicrobial photodynamic therapy. This study aimed to investigate photoinactivation with cationic porphyrin derivative compounds against MRSA in in-vitro conditions. In the study, MRSA clinical isolates with different antibiotic resistance profiles were used. The newly synthesized cationic porphyrin derivatives (P M , P E , P PN , and P PL ) were used as photosensitizer, and 655 nm diode laser was used as light source. Photoinactivation experiments were performed by optimizing energy doses and photosensitizer concentrations. In photoinactivation experiments with different energy densities and photosensitizer concentrations, more than 99% reduction was achieved in bacterial cell viability. No decrease in bacterial survival was observed in control groups. It was determined that there was an increase in photoinactivation efficiency by increasing the energy dose. At the energy dose of 150 J/cm 2 a survival reduction of over 6.33 log 10 was observed in each photosensitizer type. While 200 μM P M concentration was required for this photoinactivation, 12.50 μM was sufficient for P E , P PN , and P PL . In our study, antimicrobial photodynamic therapy performed with cationic porphyrin derivatives was found to have potent antimicrobial efficacy against multidrug resistant S. aureus which is frequently isolated from wound infections.

Background: This study aims to investigate the early- and late-term effects of pharmacological inhibition of cysteinyl leukotriene activity by using montelukast in bleomycin-induced inflammatory and oxidative lung injury in an animal model., Methods: The study included 48 male Wistar albino rats (weighing 250 g to 300 g). Rats were administered intratracheal bleomycin or saline and assigned into groups to receive montelukast or saline. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and lung tissue samples were collected four and 15 days after bleomycin administration., Results: Bleomycin resulted in significant increases in tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels (4.0±1.4 pg/mL in controls vs. 44.1±14.5 pg/mL in early-term vs. 30.3±5.7 pg/mL in late-term, p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively), transforming growth factor beta 1 levels (28.6±6.6 pg/mL vs. 82.3±14.1 pg/mL in early-term vs. 60.1±2.9 pg/mL in late-term, p<0.001 and p<0.001, respectively), and fibrosis score (1.85±0.89 in early-term vs. 5.60±1.14 in late-term, p<0.001 and p<0.01, respectively). In bleomycin exposed rats, collagen content increased only in the late-term (15.3±3.0 ?g/mg in controls vs. 29.6±9.1 ?g/mg in late-term, p<0.001). Montelukast treatment reversed all these biochemical indices as well as histopathological alterations induced by bleomycin., Conclusion: Montelukast attenuates bleomycin-induced inflammatory and oxidative lung injury and prevents lung collagen deposition and fibrotic response. Thus, cysteinyl leukotriene receptor antagonists might be regarded as new therapeutic agents for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article., (Copyright © 2018, Turkish Society of Cardiovascular Surgery.)

We report a case of 11-year-old girl with growth retardation and 46, XX, Xq27-qter deletion. The endocrinologic evaluation revealed growth hormone deficiency. In karyotype analysis  46, XX, Xq27-qter deletion was determined. The deletion of terminal region of chromosome 27 is most commonly being detected during the evaluation of infertility, premature ovarian insufficiency or in screening for fragile X carrier status. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case with 46, XX, Xq27-qter deletion and growth hormone deficiency. Furthermore, this case might facilitate future search for candidate genes involved in growth hormone deficiency.

Aim: Our aim is to measure asymmetric dimethyl arginine and nitric oxide levels in rats with induced unilateral acute ureteral obstruction to research the effects on the kidney., Material and Methods: The study included 21 adolescent (average age 6 weeks) Sprague-Dawley male rats weighing between 240-290g divided at random into 3 groups. Group-1: Control group (n=6): underwent no procedures. Group-2: Sham group (n=6): underwent the same procedures as the experimental group without ureter and psoas muscle dissection. Group-3: Group with induced partial unilateral ureteral obstruction (n=9). All rats were sacrificed after 12 weeks. Superoxide dismutase enzyme activity and nitrite and nitrate salt levels were measured in renal tissue. Plasma nitrite-nitrate and ADMA levels were examined., Results: In the experimental group histopathological changes observed included renal pelvis dilatation, flattened papillae, sclerotic glomerulus and fibrosis. In the experimental group tissue SOD and blood ADMA levels were higher than the control and sham groups (p<0.05) while tissue NO and plasma NO values were lower than in the sham and control groups (p<0.05)., Conclusion: Oxidative stress and disruption of NO synthesis play an important role in renal function and histopathological changes after obstructive renal disease. To prevent renal complications developing after obstructive nephropathy we believe that a new strategy may be research on reducing ADMA.

Background: It is known that the biochemical marker linked to tissue ischemia, ischemia-modified albumin (IMA), is related to oxidative stress. Cigarette smoking is a situation with increased oxidative stress causing cell damage and it is thought that many of the negative effects linked to smoking may occur after the biological material in the body is exposed to oxidative damage. This study aimed to identify variability in serum IMA levels in adolescents who smoke., Methods: This case-control study comprised 60 adolescents without any chronic disease. The smoking group was 30 adolescents between the ages of 14 and 17 years who smoked, while the control group was 30 healthy adolescents who did not smoke. Blood samples were collected from all subjects and serum IMA levels and serum nicotine metabolites were determined., Results: The serum IMA levels in the adolescents who smoked were 0.452±0.094 absorbance unit (ABSU), while the control group had ASBU levels of 0.427±0.054. There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of serum IMA levels (p=0.210). There was a significant difference between the control and smoking groups in terms of serum nicotine metabolite levels (p<0.001)., Conclusions: Among adolescents who smoke, serum IMA levels may not be a good marker for oxidative stress.

Background: The aim of this paper was to evaluate the level of knowledge and general attitude to acute respiratory diseases and behavior of antibiotic usage and related factors., Methods: The study included 122 mothers of children between 2 and 16 years of age who applied the complaint of respiratory infections and experienced the respiratory infections previous year, to policlinics between January and May 2012. A survey form was used to evaluate the sociodemographic properties of the mothers, and the level of knowledge, attitude and behavior of mothers to childhood acute respiratory infections, fever and antibiotic use., Results: Of the children, 58.1% applied with cough, and 40.9% applied with fever to the doctor. Before attendance 28.6% of mothers had used antibiotics and 27.8% antipyretics. The rate use of not prescribed antibiotics was 12.3%. Before medical evaluation of children, the use of a variety of traditional and alternative medical methods was at the high rate of 57.4%. The average attitude scores of mothers about the antibiotics use for acute respiratory infections fell into the category of being against antibiotic use and income level toward antibiotic use and a correlation between duration of mother's education against antibiotic use., Conclusions: We found that the level of knowledge of parents about medications used by their children was insufficient and there is a high percentage of non-prescription use of antibiotics. In low income and low education level of parents the use of antibiotics increased. Health workers must correctly inform parents about symptoms, course and medication. The effects of health education in the management of common diseases must be evaluated with studies.

Objective: The goal was to establish the role of intravenous hydration therapy on mild bronchiolitis., Methods: This was a retrospective case control study. Infants between 1 month and 2 years of age admitted to our general pediatrics ward between June 2012 and June 2013 with a diagnosis of uncomplicated acute bronchiolitis were enrolled to the study. Hospital medical files were reviewed to get information about children personal history, symptoms of the disease, disease severity scores and their management. Patients were classified into 4 groups according to the management; nebulized short-acting β2-agonist (salbutamol) +hydration; nebulized short-acting β2-agonist (salbutamol); hydration and neither bronchodilator nor hydration. We examined length of stay in the hospital as an outcome measure., Results: A total of 94 infants were studied. There was no significant difference between groups in terms of length of stay in hospital., Conclusions: IV hydration is not effective on length of stay in hospital in mild acute bronchiolitis patients.

Introduction: We aimed to evaluate the relation between QT variables and left ventricular geometry in athletes and obese children., Material and Methods: This study included 209 children and adolescents. Thirty-eight of them were obese, 140 were athletes and 31 were normal weighted. Children with history of functional and structural cardiovascular diseases (acquired and congenital), chronic systemic diseases, hypertension, sleep apnea, endocrinological disorders were excluded. All subjects underwent detailed electrocardiographic and echocardiographic examination., Results: QT dispersion was significantly higher in obese children, basketball players, football players and swimmers compared to control group (p < 0.05, p < 0.001, < 0.001 and < 0.01 respectively). Basketball players had the highest QT dispersion. Left ventricular endsystolic diameter (mm/m2) was higher in footballers, swimmers, wrestlers and tennis players compared to obese subjects. Interventricular septal thickness at diastole was highest in swimmers compared to control group (p < 0.001) and left ventricular posterior wall thickness was significantly higher in footballers and swimmers compared to healthy subjects (p < 0.01 and p < 0.001 respectively). Left ventricular geometry was normal in 84 patients (47.1%), but 34 patients (19.1%) had concentric remodelling, 20 (22.4%) had concentric hypertrophy and 40 (28.6%) had eccentric hypertrophy. No concentric and eccentric hypertrophy was observed in obese subjects. Left ventricle hypertrophy was prominent in dynamic and combined groups but it was not statistically significant (p = 0.204). QT dispersion was statistically higher in obese, dynamic sports and combined sports compared to control group (p < 0.05, p < 0.001 and p < 0.001 respectively)., Discussion: In this study we determined that QT dispersion is elevated in dynamic and combined sports types and obese children., Conclusion: QT dispersion is prolonged in obese and athletes who participate dynamic and combined sports.

Background: Childhood obesity is one of the important risk factors for early atherosclerosis. We aimed to evaluate the effect of obesity on abdominal aortic intima media thickness (aaIMT) in children., Methods: We consecutively recruited 60 obese and 28 healthy children from the outpatient clinic of pediatrics. In all patients, BMI, waist circumference (WC) and hip circumference (HC) were measured, and fasting serum lipid profile, plasma glucose and plasma insulin were studied. Homeostasis model assessment-estimated insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) was calculated for the obese group. All children underwent ultrasonography to evaluate hepatosteatosis and to measure aaIMT., Results: There was a significant difference between the groups in terms of aaIMT, insulin, glucose, HOMA-IR, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, triglyceride and hepatosteatosis. aaIMT was 1.12 ± 0.25 and 0.61 ± 0.18 mm in the obese and nonobese groups, respectively (p < 0.001). In the obese group, there was a positive correlation between aaIMT and WC, WC/height ratio, BMI, HC and hepatosteatosis (p < 0.05 for all), with the highest significance for WC., Conclusions: This study showed that aaIMT was significantly higher in obese children than in nonobese children, and that WC was a strong predictor for aaIMT. Early detection of an increased aaIMT in obese children may guide the follow-up of these patients in terms of developing atherosclerosis and its complications., (© 2015 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Objective: It is known that general and local anesthesia practices disrupt the delicate balance of thermoregulation center which is already sensitive to very tiny differences of temperatures in a normal subject. We aimed to evaluate and compare the rectal temperatures of newborns born with normal vaginal delivery and cesarean section., Methods: We performed a prospective study of 106 term newborn - 40 born with normal vaginal delivery (group 1) and 66 born with cesarean section [51 spinal anesthesia (group 2), 15 general anesthesia (group 3)]. Only term babies were included in the study. Babies of eclamptic, pre-eclamptic and diabetic mothers and babies with chronic systemic diseases were excluded. Pregnants who underwent elective cesarean section were included in the study. Adolescent pregnants, pregnants with increased risks and pregnants with complicated operations were excluded. Mothers' temperatures were measured before and after the interventions. Rectal temperatures of the babies were measured immediately after birth., Results: Environmental temperature was maintained at 22-24 °C. Pre-operative mother temperatures were 36.31 ± 0.30 °C in group 1, 36.36 ± 0.26 °C in group 2 and 36.39 ± 0.19 °C in group 3 (p = 0.414). Post-operative mother temperatures were 36.39 ± 0.27 °C in group 1, 36.29 ± 0.31 °C in group 2 and 36.25 ± 0.28 °C in group 3 (p = 0.215). Rectal temperatures of the babies born with normal vaginal delivery were significantly higher than the others. It was lowest in the general anesthesia group (37.5 ± 0.6 °C, 37.2 ± 0.2 °C and 36.8 ± 0.4 °C in group 1, 2 and 3, respectively). The temperature differences between groups were statistically significant p < 0.001)., Conclusions: In conclusion, it is worthy to note that temperatures of the newborns can differ according to the delivery mode. Physicians and health professionals that take care of the newborns should be aware of this difference.