Is serum iron responsive protein-2 level associated with pulmonary functions and frequent exacerbator phenotype in COPD?

Introduction: Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) exacerbations contribute to the overall severity in individual patients because they are associated with airway inflammation, pulmonary function loss, decreased quality of life and increased mortality. Although, identifying frequent exacerbator patients is important due to severe outcomes associated with frequent exacerbator phenotype in COPD patients there is no single biomarker which can differentiate this phenotype. Iron responding protein-2 (IRP2) is the protein product of IREB2 gene, which is a COPD susceptibility gene that regulates cellular iron homeostasis and has a key role in hypoxic conditions.

ACE gene I/D polymorphism and risk of sarcoidosis development in Turkish patients.

Introduction: Etiology of sarcoidosis is unknown but the prevalence of disease in different ethnic groups and identical twins, family characteristics indicate that genetic predisposition is a possible factor. The angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) has been implicated in the pahophysiology of sarcoidosis. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of a polymorphism in I/D (Insertion/Deletion) of the ACE gene on the susceptibility to sarcoidosis.

Clinical presentations and diagnostic work-up in sarcoidosis: a series of Turkish cases (clinics and diagnosis of sarcoidosis).

Sarcoidosis is an idiopathic granulomatous disease. It usually affects the lung. The diagnosis may be problematic since the known causes of granulomatous inflammation must be excluded.

Increased pleural soluble fas ligand (sFasL) levels in tuberculosis pleurisy and its relation with T-helper type 1 cytokines.

Tuberculosis (TB) pleurisy is accepted to be the best model for evaluating the local protective cellular immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) since it can be spontaneously self-cured. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the involvement of cytokines and the soluble apoptosis-modulating factors sFas and sFasL in local protective cellular immunity to MTB. Pleural fluid samples were collected from 35 patients with TB pleurisy, 39 patients with malignant pleurisy, and 14 patients with non-TB nonmalignant (n-TB n-M) pleurisy and were evaluated for the levels of several cytokines, soluble Fas (sFas), and sFas ligand (sFasL) by using ELISA.

Prevalence and risk factors of allergies in Turkey: Results of a multicentric cross-sectional study in children.

The Prevalence And Risk Factors of Allergies in Turkey (PARFAIT) study was planned to evaluate prevalence and risk factors of asthma and allergic diseases and also to find out which geographical variables and/or climatic conditions play a role determining the prevalence of allergic diseases in Turkish school children. Study was planned as cross-sectional questionnaire-based. About 25,843 questionnaires from 14 centers were appropriate for analysis.

Interleukin-10 (IL-10) gene polymorphism as a potential host susceptibility factor in tuberculosis.

Several genes encoding for different cytokines may play crucial roles in host susceptibility to tuberculosis (TB), since the cytokine production capacity varies among individuals and depends on the cytokine gene polymorphism. The association of the cytokine gene polymorphisms with the development of TB was investigated in this study. DNA samples were obtained from a Turkish population of 81 patients with the different clinical forms of TB, and 50 healthy control subjects.

Clinical effectiveness of nebulised budesonide in the treatment of acute asthma attacks.

Nebulized budesonide (NB) might offer topical anti-inflammatory activity and be an alternative to systemic corticosteroid (SC) in the treatment of acute asthma. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of NB with SC on lung function and clinical findings of adult patients with acute asthma. Thirty patients admitted to clinic with asthma attack (F/M: 26/4; mean age: 47.

Tuberculosis presenting as immune thrombocytopenic purpura.

Background: Although various hematologic abnormalities are seen in tuberculosis, immune thrombocytopenic purpura is a rare event.

Case Presentation: We report a case of a 29 year-old male who was presented with immune thrombocytopenia-induced hemoptysis, macroscopic hematuria and generalized petechiae. The patient was found to have clinical, microbiological and radiological evidence of active pulmonary tuberculosis.