The predictors of health care seeking behavior in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

A majority of individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) do not seek health care. To better understand why not, health care-seekers (HCS) with OCD (n = 25) were compared with non-health care-seekers (NHCS) with OCD (n = 23) regarding their sociodemographic variables, symptom severity, types of obsessions and compulsions, insight degree, comorbid diagnosis, and quality-of-life (QOL) level. There was no significant difference for sociodemographic characteristics between the groups.

Cutaneous manifestations of anthrax in Eastern Anatolia: a review of 39 cases.

Anthrax is essentially a disease of grazing herbivorous animals. The most common form of the disease is cutaneous anthrax, which accounts for 95% of all cases. We report here 39 cutaneous anthrax cases in humans that were seen in Eastern Anatolia over a six-year period.

Clinical importance of nightmare disorder in patients with dissociative disorders.

In the present study the prevalence of nightmare disorder (ND) was examined in patients with dissociative disorders (DD), and comparison was made between those with ND and those without nightmares in terms of clinical characteristics. The 30 patients with DD (5 male and 25 female) were recruited over 12 months in the Yüzüncü Yil University Research Hospital Department of Psychiatry. The subjects were diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn) criteria for ND.

Report of three children with leptospirosis in rural area of the east of Turkey.

Leptospirosis is a systemic infection usually producing fever with hepatorenal involvement, meningoencephalitis, and hemorrhage. In this article, we present three children between 10 and 13 years of age with leptospirosis. The purpose of this paper is to emphasize that leptospirosis is a problem in our country with farmers/cattle and that leptospirosis should be considered in certain ill children.

Dietary nitrate and nitrite levels in an endemic upper gastrointestinal (esophageal and gastric) cancer region of Turkey.

Background/aims: The aim of this study was investigate nitrate and nitrite levels in some traditional foods and drinking water in Van, an endemic upper gastrointestinal (esophageal and gastric) cancer region of Eastern Turkey.

Methods: Cheese with added herbs, drinking water, bread baked by wood fire and bread baked by burning animal manure specimens collected in the Van region were analyzed by Stahr's modification method. Nitrite was reduced to nitrate by the following three reagents: hydrazine sulphate ((NH2) 2SO4), CuSO4 and NaOH.

Prognostic factors in children with purulent meningitis in Turkey.

In this study the clinical and laboratory findings of 48 children with purulent meningitis were examined, prospectively, to determine the prognostic factors in childhood meningitis in a developing country. Patients were examined for the following variables: history of antibiotic use; period between onset of symptoms and hospital admission; age at presentation; sex; fever; convulsion; level of consciousness; malnutrition; anemia; leukocyte and thrombocyte counts; erythrocyte sedimentation rate; serum C-reactive protein (CRP) level; and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) including white blood cell count; glucose, protein, and CRP concentrations; antibiotic treatment; neurological sequelae; and fatality rate during the hospital stay. Most of these parameters were re-evaluated in all patients 36-48 h after admission.

Infected myocardial hydatid cyst imitating left ventricular aneurysm.

We report a case of infected intracardiac hydatid cyst in a patient who had complaints of chest pain, exertional dyspnea, palpitation, evening fever and fatigue. Echocardiography demonstrated a left ventricular apical cystic mass in 7 cm diameter. Magnetic resonance imaging and hemagglutination test confirmed the diagnosis.

Primary malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the small intestine presenting as an intussusception: report of a case.

Malignant fibrous histiocytoma occurs most commonly in the extremities and trunk, but rarely in the visceral organs. Malignant fibrous histiocytoma of the small intestine is an extremely rare condition. To our knowledge, only ten cases of primary tumors involving the small intestine have been described up to now.

Comparing open surgery with endoscopic releasing in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Aim: The aim of this study is to retrospectively assess the complications and result of cases that underwent open surgery or endoscopic releasing for carpel tunnel syndrome.

Method: A total of 50 cases of carpel tunnel syndrome, 30 of whom underwent endoscopic release using the biportal extrabursal technique described by Chow, and the other 20 that underwent open surgery were included in the study. Average age of the cases was 41 (24 - 62), 44 of them were females and 6 males.

Hyponatremic dehydration: an analysis of 78 cases.

Our purpose was to determine the frequency of convulsion in children with hyponatremic dehydration (HD). We also investigated whether or not there was a relationship between the severity of hyponatremia and the degrees of malnutrition in our region (Eastern Anatolia of Turkey) in where malnutrition is frequently observed. In this study, the clinical and laboratory findings of 78 patients with diarrhoea (acute, persistent or chronic diarrhoea) and HD were studied.

Sleep-related violence and low serum cholesterol: a preliminary study.

To examine whether there is a relationship between serum cholesterol level and sleep-related violence, we evaluated 15 patients with violent behavior during sleep (VBS) and 15 normal control subjects. The patient and control groups were matched for sex, age, and weight. There were 13 women and two men in each group.

Effects of sildenafil citrate, acetylcholine, and sodium nitroprusside on the relaxation of rabbit cavernosal tissue in vitro.

Objectives: To investigate the effect of sildenafil together with the influence of sodium nitroprusside and acetylcholine and further discuss its mechanism of action in vitro.

Methods: Isolated strips of rabbit corpus cavernosum were stimulated isometrically with phenylephrine. Graded relaxations were induced using increasing concentrations of acetylcholine, sodium nitroprusside, and sildenafil alone and in combination.

Cutaneous anthrax in eastern Turkey.

Anthrax, caused by the spore-forming bacterium Bacillus anthracis, is rarely seen in industrial nations but is common in developing countries. Cutaneous anthrax (CA), the most common form of the disease, accounts for 95% of cases and usually develops on exposed sites. This study reviews the clinical and laboratory findings of 21 patients diagnosed with CA during 2 separate epidemics in the Van region of Turkey.

Transverse uterine incision non-closure versus closure: an experimental study in sheep.

Subject: This study was designed to investigate whether the non-closure of the layers of the uterus during low transverse cesarean section would result in healing and have advantage on closure.

Material And Method: Thirty pregnant ewes randomly divided into two groups. Each group included 15 ewes.

Urinary tract infection and antibiotic susceptibility in malnourished children.

In this study, 31 (30%) cases of urinary tract infection (UTI) of 103 patients with malnutrition, who were admitted to our hospital, were investigated prospectively. Our purpose was to determine the frequency of UTI, species of bacteria caused to infection and their antibiotic susceptibility in infants with malnutrition. The mean age of the patients with UTI was 11.

Immunoglobulin subgroups in children with febrile seizures.

Background: The aim of the present study was to determine whether or not there was a role for immunoglobulin (Ig) or IgG subgroups in the pathogenesis of febrile seizures (FS).

Methods: Serum levels of IgA, total IgG, IgM, IgE, IgGI, IgG2, IgG3 and IgG4 were measured in 34 children with FS and in 37 healthy children used as a control group. Both patients and controls were divided into two groups according to age (group I, 6-24 months; group II, 25-72 months).

Repair of large incisional hernias with multiple small relaxing incisions technique.

We report our results in repairing wide incisional hernial defects without using any prosthetic synthetic material, but expanding rectus sheaths by multiple small, 8 to 10 mm, relaxing incisions. In this way, hernial defect becomes smaller and fascial flaps are sutured to each other in an overlapping manner. These relaxing incisions are filled with collagenous connective tissue, and consequently do not cause any abdominal wall weakness.

Septic arthritis in childhood.

Background: The purpose of the present study was to determine whether there was a difference between septic arthritis (SA) combined with osteomyelitis and SA alone with regard to clinical and laboratory findings, such as symptoms on admission, age, sex, joint involvement and isolated micro-organisms, and a relationship between age and joint involvement in SA. In addition, we also aimed to determine the prognostic factors in SA.

Methods: The clinical and laboratory findings of 40 patients who were diagnosed with SA in our hospital were reviewed retrospectively.

Micro-spoon technique in estimation of sperm concentration in rat epididymis.

Several technical procedures were described for estimation of epididymal sperm concentration until today. In all of the described techniques, epididymal material was drawn into a micro-pipette before counting procedure. We aimed to proceed this stage without using any pipette because of the difficulty in aspirating very viscous epididymal material into a micro-pipette.

Pulmonary complications in patients with staphylococcal sepsis.

Background: The aim of the present study was to determine the pulmonary findings in patients with sepsis caused by Staphylococcus aureus.

Methods: The clinical and laboratory findings of 32 cases (82%) of pulmonary involvement (secondary pneumonia) of 39 patients with sepsis caused by S. aureus were studied retrospectively.