The relationship between serum FGF-23 concentration and insulin resistance, prediabetes and dyslipidemia in obese children and adolescents.

Background Obesity is known to cause metabolic disturbances including insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and alters bone mineralization. The effects of obesity on fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF-23), which is important in bone mineralization, have not yet been clarified. Our aim was to investigate the association between FGF-23 concentration and obesity-associated dysmetabolism.

Atorvastatin exerts anti-nociceptive activity and decreases serum levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein and tumor necrosis factor-α in a rat endometriosis model.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of atorvastatin in the treatment of experimental endometriosis.

Methods: Endometriosis was induced in 24 female rats. 4 weeks after the procedure dimensions of the foci were recorded.

Nuclear transcription factor-kappa beta-dependent ultrastructural alterations within the placenta and systemic inflammatory activation in pregnant patients with hemolysis, elevated liver functions and low thrombocyte count (HELLP) syndrome: a case-control study.

Objective: Preeclampsia appears to be associated with a higher extent of inflammation than in uncomplicated pregnancies. We aimed to test whether this was the case in patients with hemolysis, elevated liver functions and low platelet count (HELLP) syndrome and to clarify the contribution of placental and systemic inflammatory variables in the development of this syndrome.

Materials And Methods: Thirty healthy pregnant women (control group) and 20 patients with HELLP syndrome (study group) were included in the study.

Amniotic fluid urocortin-1 concentrations for the prediction of preterm delivery.

Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze whether urocortin-1 concentration in midtrimester amniotic fluid could serve as an indicative marker of preterm labor.

Material And Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted. Urocortin-1 concentrations in midtrimester amniotic fluid were measured in 22 pregnant women with preterm deliveries and 45 women who delivered at term using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Prevalence and antibiotic susceptibility of Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum in pregnant women.

Background: Mycoplasma hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum are important opportunistic pathogens implicated in urogenital infections and complicated pregnancy. We aimed to study the role of these pathogens in symptomatic and asymptomatic pregnant women and determine their clinical significance and antibiotic susceptibility.

Methods: One hundred pregnant women were included in the study, 50 symptomatic patients and 50 asymptomatic controls.

The role of ghrelin in weight gain and growth in epileptic children using valproate.

Ghrelin is a major hormone, regulating the energy balance of the body. Weight gain is a significant side effect of valproic acid, which has not been clearly identified pathogenetically. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of valproic acid on ghrelin and its potential effects on weight gain and growth.

[Investigation of serum IgG subclass distributions and anti-HBs response in healthy adults after hepatitis B vaccination].

The aim of this study was to evaluate the distribution of serum total IgG (tIgG) subtypes before and after hepatitis B vaccinations in young adults and the relationship between anti-HBs titers and tIgG subtypes. Thirty-eight young adults (29 female, 9 male; age range: 18-20 years) who were the students of Malatya Health Care Profession High School were included in the study. Their anti-HBs and total anti-HBc markers' were negative.

The level of endothelin-1 and nitric oxide in patients with chronic viral hepatitis B and C and correlation with histopathological grading and staging.

Background And Aim: The aim of this study was to estimate the serum levels of endothelin-1 (ET-1) and nitric oxide (NO) and to analyze the correlation of their levels with histopathological grading and staging of the liver in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and C (CHC).

Methods: Eighty-nine patients who were either HBsAg positive (45 CHB patients, 34 inactive carriers (IC)) or had CHC (10 patients) and 36 healthy volunteers as a control group were included in this study. Fifty patients from the CHB (n=43) or CHC (n=7) groups with elevated serum alanine transaminase (ALT) levels underwent a liver biopsy.

The prevalence and molecular typing of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli strains isolated from diarrheic stools in Malatya, Turkey.

This study was performed from June 2002 to November 2003 year in Malatya, eastern Turkey. Stools of 172 diarrheic patients and 90 healthy controls were analysed for enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli (ETEC). Heat-labile (LT) and heat-stable (ST) toxins were investigated by passive latex agglutination and enzyme immunoassay, respectively.

The prevalence of fecal colonization of enterococci, the resistance of the isolates to ampicillin, vancomycin, and high-level aminoglycosides, and the clonal relationship among isolates.

The gastrointestinal tract carriage of enterococci was searched in 150 hospitalized patients and 100 outpatients, and clonal relatedness of the isolates and their resistance to ampicillin, vancomycin, and high-level streptomycin and gentamicin were investigated. A stool sample or rectal swab collected from each patient was inoculated into appropriate media within an hour. Enterococcus species were identified by using conventional biochemical tests, API-20 Strep assay, and BBL crystal kit.

Homocysteine, lipid profile, nitric oxide, vitamin B12, and folate values in patients with premature coronary artery disease and their children.

The plasma concentrations of homocysteine and lipoprotein A are independent risk factors for atherosclerotic vascular disease. Nitric oxide (NO) and folate values are also important in atherogenesis. The authors aimed to evaluate these parameters in patients having coronary artery bypass surgery (CABS) before 50 years of age and in their children.

Primary drug resistance and molecular epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from patients in a population with high tuberculosis incidence in Turkey.

To determine the rate of primary drug resistance and compare the fingerprint pattern diversity of the resistant and sensitive Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates, antituberculosis susceptibility testing and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis were performed on 88 M. tuberculosis isolates of the patients who were diagnosed as new tuberculosis cases in 2000. Primary resistance to isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, and streptomycin were determined by the BACTEC method.

Prevalence of group A streptococcal carriers in asymptomatic children and clonal relatedness among isolates in Malatya, Turkey.

In our study, the prevalence of nasopharyngeal Streptococcus pyogenes was 130 (14.3%) of 909 healthy children. Isolates were found to be susceptible to all antibiotics tested.