Perinatal Transmission of Hepatitis B Virus

Perinatal transmission of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is the predominant mode of transmission in countries with a high prevalence of hepatitis B surface antigen carriage. Perinatal transmission can occur via three modalities: intrauterine transmission; transmission during delivery; and postpartum transmission and perinatal transmission results in a high frequency of chronic infection. Therefore, it is important to prevent perinatal transmission. At-birth prophylaxis with hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) and the first dose of the HBV vaccine can prevent transmission during delivery or in the postpartum period, but it has no effect on the intrauterine route of transmission. Due to the residual risk of perinatal transmission despite correct use of birth prophylaxis with HBIG and vaccine, other strategies (namely, antiviral drugs, HBIG to the mother, and mode of delivery) have been tested in several studies. [Archives Medical Review Journal 2016; 25(3.000): 304-318

Could mean platelet volume be a useful marker for infectious diseases? a review of literature

Mean platelet volume (MPV), a parameter of complete blood count analysis, measures the average size of platelets. The alterations of MPV levels have been described as a diagnostic or prognostic predictor in patients with infectious diseases including sepsis, infective endocarditis, pneumonia, brucellosis, cellulitis, acute pyelonephritis, ascites fluid infection, hepatitis B or hepatitis C in recent studies. Although some matters still remain unclear, it can be said that MPV, especially in a score system, may be a cost-effective and useful marker for monitoring and predicting outcomes in patients with some infectious diseases in the future. [Med-Science 2016; 5(4.000): 1059-62

The value of indirect serum markers in predicting severity of fibrosis in treatment naive patients with non-cirrhotic hepatitis C virus infection

We conducted this study for determining the value of indirect serum markers such as aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), INR (International Normalized Ratio) and platelet counts and the roles of the scores such as AST-to-ALT ratio (AAR), AST-to-platelet ratio index (APRI), FIB-4 index, Kings score, Goteborg University Cirrhosis Index (GUCI) and FibroQ in predicting severity of fibrosis in treatment naive patients with non-cirrhotic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Treatment naive non-cirrhotic chronic HCV patients who underwent percutaneous liver biopsy between 01 January 2012 and 01 June 2015 were included in the study. For evaluating the difference in variables, patients were divided into 2 groups such as no or minimal fibrosis group (fibrosis score [Med-Science 2017; 6(2.000): 189-94

Mortality indicators in community-acquired pneumonia requiring intensive care in Turkey

Background: Severe community-acquired pneumonia (SCAP) is a fatal disease. This study was conducted to describe an outcome analysis of the intensive care units (ICUs) of Turkey