Diagnosing latent tuberculosis in immunocompromised patients measuring blood IP-10 production capacity: an analysis of chronic renal failure patients.

Objective: Patients undergoing haemodialysis for chronic renal failure-hemodialysis (CRF-HD) are at risk of latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). The effectiveness of using blood IP-10 production capacity to diagnose LTBI in CRF-HD patients was analysed.

Methods: The study enrolled 50 CRF-HD patients.

Pleural angiosarcoma: a rare cause of spontaneous haemothorax.

Angiosarcoma is a rare soft tissue tumour and constitutes less than 1% of all soft tissue cancers. Pleural angiosarcomas are extremely rare and have an aggressive course. We report the case of a 79-year-old female patient who presented with complaints of increasing dyspnoea on exertion and homogeneous opacification of the left hemithorax on chest radiograph.

Tumor necrosis factor gene polymorphisms in Turkish patients with sarcoidosis.

Background: As reported recently, some gene polymorphisms are suspected to determine susceptibility to sarcoidosis and are held responsible for the extent and progression of the disease. Polymorphism at -857 locus of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha gene is considered to be a predisposition factor in sarcoidosis and held responsible for pathogenesis of the disease. We compared these polymorphisms in healthy Turkish control subjects and Turkish patients with sarcoidosis.

Vascular endothelial growth factor and tumor necrosis factor genes polymorphisms in Turkish patients with sarcoidosis.

Polymorphism at -857 locus of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha gene is considered to be a predisposition factor in sarcoidosis and held responsible for pathogenesis of the disease and polymorphism at +813 locus of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) gene is thought to decrease predisposition to sarcoidosis. In our study, we examined and compared these polymorphisms in healthy Turkish control subjects and Turkish patients with sarcoidosis. We examined gene polymorphisms in 70 cases which were histopathologically diagnosed as sarcoidosis and 80 healthy subjects without any history of a chronic disease.

Nutritional and prognostic significance of sick euthyroid syndrome in non-small cell lung cancer patients.

Objectives: Our study aimed to determine the frequency of sick euthyroid syndrome (SES) among patients diagnosed as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and its association with the stage of the disease, Karnofsky index (KI), and nutritional parameters.

Methods: We enrolled 80 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed NSCLC. Cases with NSCLC were staged by using the TNM system.