The effect of pulmonary rehabilitation on COPD exacerbation frequency per year.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the effect of pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) on the number of exacerbations in chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD) patients.

Methods: The study included 82 patients referred to our hospital's PR Unit between June 2013 and June 2014. Patients were divided into two groups, including those with low exacerbation risk (low number of exacerbations) (Groups A + B) and those experiencing frequent exacerbations (Groups C+ D) according to the combined COPD assessment.

Is a pulmonary rehabilitation program effective in COPD patients with chronic hypercapnic failure?

Objectives: Our study aimed to compare the effectiveness of a pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) program between hypercapnic and normocapnic patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Methods: Hypercapnic (Group 1) and normocapnic (Group 2) patients with COPD who participated in this study underwent a comprehensive 8-week out-patient PR program.

Results: A total of 122 patients were enrolled in the study; (n:86, n:36 groups 1 and 2, respectively.

Five Years' Evaluation of the BD ProbeTec System for the Direct Molecular Detection of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex in Respiratory and Nonrespiratory Clinical Samples.

In this study, Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex was detected by BD ProbeTec ET system in 4716 respiratory and 167 nonrespiratory samples [mostly (98%) smear negative). Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were 81.8%, 98.

Prognostic factors affecting survival in malignant pleural mesothelioma: analysis of 125 subjects.

Aim Of The Study: Determining the pre-treatment prognostic factors in malignant pleural mesothelioma is important in terms of estimating the course of the disease and selecting patients who are candidate for multimodal therapy. The aim of the study was to determine the prognostic factors affecting survival in patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma.

Study Design: One hundred and twenty-five patients who had been diagnosed histologically as having malignant pleural mesothelioma over the past 5 years were evaluated retrospectively.

Pulmonary Strongyloides stercoralis infection.

The 17-year-old male patient presented with fever, weakness, dyspnea and weight loss. His chest radiography demonstrated diffuse reticulonodular density, and high-resolution lung tomography indicated diffuse micronodules and prevalent ground-glass pattern. The findings were consistent with miliary involvement.

[Comparison of the performances of MTD Gene-Probe® test, BACTEC 960™ system and Löwenstein-Jensen culture methods in the diagnosis of smear-negative tuberculosis cases].

The aim of this study was to compare the results of nucleic acid amplification-based MTD (Mycobacterium tuberculosis direct test) Gene-Probe® method in samples obtained from acid-fast bacilli (ARB) smear-negative patients with suspected tuberculosis (TB), with the culture results obtained from automated BACTEC 960™ (MGIT) system and Löwenstein-Jensen (LJ) medium. In addition, the contribution of molecular methods in early diagnosis of pulmonary TB and the effect of radiological prevalence of the disease associated with or without cavity to the molecular diagnosis and/or growth time in culture media have been evaluated. A total of 107 patients (86 male, 21 female; mean age: 49.

[Diagnostic value of pleural fluid and serum procalcitonin levels in the diagnosis of parapneumonic pleural effusion].

Introduction: To determine the diagnostic value of pleural fluid procalcitonin (PF-PCT) and serum PCT (S-PCT) levels in the diagnosis of parapneumonic pleural effusion (PPPE).

Materials And Methods: Sixty five inpatients with exudative pleural fluid were consecutively included in this prospective study. Biochemical (total protein, albumin, LDH, glucose, pH, PCT) studies were performed in concurrently obtained pleural fluid and venous blood samples, cytologic and microbiologic (acid-fast bacillus smear/culture, nonspecific bacterial Gram stain/culture, fungal culture) studies were performed in pleural fluid.

Molecular diversity of drug resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis strains in Western Turkey.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the molecular diversity and clonal relationship of drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains isolated in Western Turkey.

Materials And Methods: A total of 87 strains isolated between 2006 and 2009, eight of which were rifampicin monoresistant and 79 were multidrug resistant, were analyzed with IS6110 RFLP and spoligotyping methods.

Results: The results of spoligotyping showed that 7% of the strains were orphans, and 8% were undefined for family in the SpolDB4 database.

Molecular detection and identification of mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and four clinically important nontuberculous mycobacterial species in smear-negative clinical samples by the genotype mycobacteria direct test.

Although the sensitivity and specificity of nucleic acid amplification assays are high with smear-positive samples, the sensitivity with smear-negative and extrapulmonary samples for the diagnosis of tuberculosis in suspicious tuberculosis cases still remains to be investigated. This study evaluates the performance of the GenoType Mycobacteria Direct (GTMD) test for rapid molecular detection and identification of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and four clinically important nontuberculous mycobacteria (M. avium, M.

Survival from severe pandemic H1N1 in urban and rural Turkey: a case series.

Background: Pandemic influenza A (H1N1) was a serious health problem during the winter of 2009-2010 in Turkey.

Objective: To clarify the clinical and demographic characteristics of patients who needed intensive care in our region.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study from November 2009 to February 2010 of demographic characteristics, clinical course, management strategies, 28-day mortality, and stay in the intensive care unit (ICU).

[Investigation of pyrazinamide resistance in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis cases in Hospital of Pulmonary Diseases, Izmir, Turkey].

Pyrazinamide (PZA) is one of primary drugs for antituberculous treatment. The aim of this study was to determine the rates of PZA resistance in multidrug-resistant (MDR) and susceptible Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) strains isolated from patients who were admitted to our hospital. MDR strains have been isolated between 2005-2007 years, and susceptible strains were chosen randomly among the collection of the strains of the same period.