Immune and inflammatory gene expressions are different in Behçet's disease compared to those in Familial Mediterranean Fever.

Objective: The immune classification of Behçet's disease (BD) is still controversial. In this study, we aimed to compare the immune/inflammatory gene expressions in BD with those in familial Mediterranean fever (FMF), an autoinflammatory disorder with innate immune activation.

Material And Methods: CD4+ T cells and CD14+ monocytes were isolated from the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Behçet's disease patients (n=10), FMF (n=6) patients, and healthy controls (n=4) with microbeads, and then, the mRNA was isolated.

Effects of rapamycin and tacrolimus on mature endothelial cells and endothelial progenitor cells.

Objective: To investigate the effects of the potent immunosuppressive agents tacrolimus and rapamycin on the number of circulating mature endothelial cells and circulating endothelial progenitor cells in an experimental model.

Methods: It was an experimental study performed from December 2007 to January 2008 in which the effects of the immunosuppressive agents tacrolimus and rapamycin on endothelial progenitr cells and circulating mature endothelial cells were analysed on 24 male wistar albino rats in a controlled environment model. Circulating cell populations were measured by flow-cytometric analysis.

Resveratrol ameliorates oxidative DNA damage and protects against acrylamide-induced oxidative stress in rats.

Acrylamide (ACR), used in many fields from industrial manufacturing to laboratory personnel work is also formed during the heating process through interactions of amino acids. Therefore ACR poses a significant risk to human health. This study aimed to elucidate whether resveratrol (RVT) treatment could modulate ACR-induced oxidative DNA damage and oxidative changes in rat brain, lung, liver, kidney and testes tissues.

Use of T cell-based diagnosis of tuberculosis infection to optimize interpretation of tuberculin skin testing for child tuberculosis contacts.

Background: Treatment of recent tuberculosis infection in children aged <2 years is essential, because of high risk of progression to disease, but diagnosis is hindered by the inaccuracy of the tuberculin skin test (TST). More-accurate T cell-based tests of infection could enhance diagnosis by optimizing interpretation of the TST results.

Methods: A total of 979 child tuberculosis contacts in Istanbul underwent the TST and enzyme-linked immunospot assay.

Prevalence and levels of serum antibodies to gram negative microorganisms in Turkish patients with HLA-B27 positive acute anterior uveitis and controls.

Purpose: Acute anterior uveitis (AAU), seronegative spondyloarthropathies such as ankylosing spondylitis and reactive arthritis form the group of "HLA-B27-associated diseases." The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence and levels of serum antibodies against gram negative bacteria in Turkish patients with AAU.

Methods: Twenty-five patients each with previously diagnosed HLA-B27 positive and negative AAU and 25 age-and sex-matched healthy control subjects were included in the study.

Transforming growth factor beta-1 level in pleural effusion.

Objective: Transforming growth factor-beta1 is an important immunomodulator. The diagnostic role of TGF-beta1 has not been systematically investigated in pleural effusion.

Methodology: A prospective clinical study of 45 patients (23 men, 22 women; mean age 49 +/- 21 years) with pleural effusion was performed.

Effects of coronary artery bypass grafting on cellular immunity with or without cardiopulmonary bypass: changes in lymphocytes subsets.

Cell-mediated immunity responses decrease after all kinds of surgical procedures. Either anesthesia or surgical trauma plays an important role in this effect. Identification of functional lymphocyte subsets, by using appropriate monoclonal antibodies and analysis of flow cytometry data, appears to provide an accurate measurement of cellular immune competence.

Flow cytometric assay of platelet glycoprotein receptor numbers in hypercholesterolemia.

In this study, platelet glycoprotein (Gp) receptor numbers were measured by a flow cytometric assay using Cytoquant Gp in seven hypercholesterolemic and five normal subjects. Thrombin receptor agonist peptide (TRAP) was used to activate platelets. In hypercholesterolemia the Gp receptor numbers per resting platelet were found to be: 38,629 +/- 8,538 (GpIIb/IIIa), 22,269 +/- 5,628 (GpIb), 37,037 +/- 9,810 (GpIIIa), 224 +/- 504 (CD62-P).

Optimal timing and temperature for hyperthermic preconditioning in an animal model of fecal peritonitis.

The impact of immune parameters in the mechanism of hyperthermia is yet to be explained. In this study, the optimal timing and temperature of thermal treatment for reversing the abnormal immunologic parameters obtained in a rat model of peritonitis were planned to be determined. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were grouped as sham, control peritonitis, and thermally treated rats at the time of peritonitis or 4 h prior to induction of peritonitis both at 40 and 42 degrees C.