Performance evaluation of MR-proadrenomedullin and other scoring systems in severe sepsis with pneumonia.

Background: In sepsis, risk assessment is as crucial as early and accurate diagnosis. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of mid-regional proadrenomedullin (MR-proADM) with other scoring systems in severe sepsis and septic shock patients due to community acquired pneumonia (CAP).

Methods: Patients were divided into 2 groups as severe sepsis and septic shock due to CAP (group 1, n=31) and only CAP group (group 2, n=26).

Evaluation of IL-8 nasal lavage levels and the effects of nasal involvement on disease severity in patients with stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Interleukin 8 (IL-8) is used to evaluate the severity of inflammation in the airways. The aim of this study was to evaluate patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) for the presence of upper respiratory tract involvement by questioning patients regarding nasal symptoms and by measuring levels of IL-8 in nasal lavage material. A total of 47 COPD patients and 23 healthy controls were enrolled in this study.

Clinical importance of serum neopterin level in patients with pulmonary tuberculosis.

Objective: Neopterin is a sensitive marker for cell-mediated immune response. Because of this, the neopterin levels of body fluids show cell-mediated immune response in different infectious diseases which involve T cells and macrophages. The aim of this study was to determine the clinical importance of neopterin levels in patients with tuberculosis and compare with those levels of healthy subjects.

Pulmonary involvement in sea-blue histiocytosis.

Sea-blue histiocytosis is one of the six types of Niemann-Pick disease. It is characterized by childhood onset of hepatosplenomegaly, lack of neurological involvement and diminished sphingomyelinase activity. Pulmonary system is rarely involved sea-blue histiocytosis.

Endobronchial cryobiopsy or forceps biopsy for lung cancer diagnosis.

Background: Invasive procedures such as bronchoscopic biopsy, bronchial washing, and bronchial brushing are widely used in diagnosis of lung cancers. The mean diagnostic rate with bronchoscopic forceps biopsy is 74% in central tumors. This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of cryobiopsies in histopathological diagnosis.

The diagnostic role of capnography in pulmonary embolism.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic contribution of alveolar dead space fraction (AVDSf) measured using capnography in patients admitted with suspected pulmonary embolism (PE). A total of 58 patients who were admitted to our hospital with suspected PE between October 2006 and January 2008 were included in this study. All patients were assessed using the Wells clinical score, capnography, computed tomographic pulmonary angiography, D-dimer measurement, lower-extremity venous Doppler ultrasonography, and V/Q scintigraphy.

Spindle cell sarcomatoid carcinoma: first case reported in the trachea.

A 78-years-old man presented with weight loss, dyspnea, cough and hemoptysis. He was an ex-smoker with a smoking history of 30 pack-years. Imaging studies revealed an endoluminal carinal mass and a tumoral mass arising from the posterior wall of the trachea was observed bronchoscopically.

[Airway inflammation and lymphocyte subset analysis in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and healthy smokers].

Chronic airway inflammation is reported to have an important role for the development of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), in addition to smoking, genetic and environmental factors. The present study was aimed to investigate whether the airway inflammation differed in subjects with stable COPD and healthy smokers. A total of 35 subjects (18 patients with COPD and 17 healthy smokers) were enrolled in this study.

Analysis of patients with hemoptysis in a reference hospital for chest diseases.

Chest physicians frequently come across with the symptom hemoptysis, an alerting symptom which may result from a wide variety of disorders. In this study, we aimed to determine the main causes of hemoptysis in a reference hospital for chest diseases. All the patients who admitted to our emergency clinic with hemoptysis during three months of study period were included in the study.

The value of serum interferon-gamma level in the differential diagnosis of active and inactive pulmonary tuberculosis.

Interferon (IFN)-gamma plays a pivotal role in protective immunity against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Elevations of IFN-gamma have been found in the affected lung and bloodstream of patients with pulmonary tuberculosis. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of serum IFN-gamma level in the differential diagnosis of active and inactive pulmonary tuberculosis.

[The comparison of nicotine replacement therapy and behavioral education in smoking cessation: a study of naturalistic follow-up].

In this study, we aimed to compare quitting smoking rates after behavioral education (BE) and/or nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). 610 patients applied between October 1999-April 2002 have been acknowledged and evaluated by a questionnaire including demographic variables, smoking history, smoking habits and attitudes, motivation; biochemical assay and spirometric measures were examined. One-year follow-up results and demographic variables of patients who recruited to treatment (n= 435) were analyzed by chi-square, Student-t test, one-way ANOVA and post-hoc tests.

[The features of cases of intrathoracic lymphomas].

In this study, 18 patients who had been diagnosed as intrathoracic lymphoma between January 1999 and August 2001 had been evaluated retrospectively to guide the diagnostic approaches. 12 (66.6%) of the patients were male and 6 (33.

Comparative efficacy of once-daily therapy with inhaled corticosteroid, leukotriene antagonist or sustained-release theophylline in patients with mild persistent asthma.

The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy and safety of the inhaled budesonide, sustained-release theophylline and montelukast, a leukotriene receptor antagonist, in patients with mild persistent asthma. In this single-center, randomized, parallel-group study that not designed blindly and placebo-controlled manner, 74 patients with mild persistent asthma were treated with either inhaled budesonide 400 microg once daily, oral montelukast 10 mg once daily, or sustained-release theophylline 400 mg once daily for 3 months. In all three treatment groups, improvements were attained in overall asthma control.