Left ventricular mechanics in Behcet’s disease: A speckle tracking echocardiographic study

Although cardiac involvement is rarely seen in Behcet’s disease (BD), it is essential to detect subclinical left ventricular (LV) dysfunction for prognostic purposes. Herein we aimed to show the role of two dimensional (2D) speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) in determination of  subclinical LV dysfunction in patients with BD. 30 patients diagnosed as BD due to International Study Group Behcet’s diagnostic criteria and 25 control subjects underwent Doppler echocardiography including pulsed tissue Doppler of the mitral annulus and speckle-tracking echocardiography. LV peak longitudinal strain and strain rate (SR) was calculated in four-chamber (4C), apical long-axis (LAX), and two-chamber (2C) views, and values of the three views were averaged LV global longitudinal strain (LV-GLS) and SR. LV torsion was determined as the net difference in the mean rotation between the apical and basal levels. There was not any significant difference in age and gender between groups. Patients with BD had significantly lower LV longitudinal strain and Sr measurements than the control group. Although LV basal rotation (LVR) basal values were similar in both groups, LVR-apical and LV torsion (LVTR) values were significantly higher in patient group. LVR-apical and LV-GLS were found to have a good positive corelation (r:0.44, p<0.001) (r: -0.56, r: -0.65,respectively. p<0.001). There was a weak positive correlation between LVTR and LV-GLS (r: 0.29, p<0.05). We demonstrated that combined assessement of LV-GLS, LV-GLSR, LVTR and LVR-apical values detected by STE can be useful in determination of subclinical left ventricular dysfunction in BD

Is There any Relationship Between Myocardial Repolarization Parameters and the Frequency of Ventricular Premature Contractions?

Abstract Background: Ventricular premature contractions (VPCs) may trigger lethal ventricular arrhythmias in patients with structural heart disease. However, this role of VPCs in healthy people remains controversial once that not enough clinical trials are available. Recently, some myocardial repolarization markers, such as Tp-e interval, Tp-e/QT, and Tp-e/QTc ratios, have been reported to be useful for predicting lethal ventricular arrhythmias in various clinical disorders without structural heart disease. Objective: In this study, we aimed to investigate the relation between VPC frequent and myocardial repolarization markers in individuals without structural heart disease. Methods: This study included 100 patients who had complaints of dizziness and palpitations. Twelve-lead electrocardiography and 24-hour ambulatory Holter recordings were obtained from all patients. VPC burden was calculated as the total number of VPCs divided by the number of all QRS complexes in the total recording time. P-values < 0.05 were considered significant. Results: Tp-e interval and Tp-e/QTc ratio were significantly higher in patients with higher VPC burden than in patients with lower VPC burden, and a positive correlation was found between these markers and VPC burden. Tp-e (β = 1.318, p = 0.043) and Tp-e/QTc (β = -405.136, p = 0.024) in the lead V5 were identified as independent predictors of increased VPC burden. Conclusions: Tp-e interval and Tp-e/QTc ratio increased in patients with high VPC number. Our study showed that VPCs may have a negative effect on myocardial repolarization. This interaction may lead to an increased risk of malignant arrhythmias

Assessment of myocardial repolarisation parameters in patients with familial Mediterranean fever

Background: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is a chronic, recurrent auto-inflammatory disease characterised by self-terminating attacks of fever and sterile polyserositis. The main cause of death in auto-inflammatory diseases is cardiovascular events. Additionally, auto-inflammatory diseases have potential effects on the myocardial repolarisation parameters, including the T-wave peak-to-end (Tp-Te) interval, cTp-Te interval (corrected Tp-Te) and the cTp-Te/QT ratio. The aim of this study was to analyse the efficacy of myocardial repolarisation alterations in anticipation of cardiovascular risks in patients with FMF

Evaluation of left ventricular diastolic function in nonhypertensive nondiabetic hemodialysis patients

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Nosocomial infections in neonatal units in Turkey: epidemiology, problems, unit policies and opinions of healthcare workers

WOS: 000276572900008PubMed ID: 20402067Turkish Neonatal Society Nosocomial Infections Study Group. Nosocomial infections in neonatal units in Turkey: epidemiology, problems, unit policies and opinions of healthcare workers. Turk J Pediatr 2010; 52: 50-57. The epidemiology of nosocomial infections in Turkish neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) shows that nosocomial sepsis is an important problem, especially for very low birth weight (VLBW) infants, and gram-negative agents, particularly Klebsiella species, are still the major causes of nosocomial infections. Sepsis frequency was 6.4%, ranging from 2.1 to 17%, in 16 centers in Turkey. Sepsis frequency was 22% in infants 2500 g. Sepsis-related mortality was 24.4 for 100 sepsis cases, ranging from 0 to 75 for 100 cases. Ventilator-associated pneumonia frequency was 1.7%, catheter-related infection frequency was 0.14% and urinary tract infection frequency was 3.7%. Healthcare workers (HCWs) complain of the inadequacy of some basic facilities and of staffing; however, they are aware of the causes and solutions and are willing to overcome this major health problem. We conclude that Turkish neonatal HCWs are quite optimistic about preventing neonatal nosocomial infections