Climate change and its extensions in infectious diseases: South-Eastern Europe under focus

Climate change is a result of natural processes and human-made activities influencing the atmosphere. Many infectious diseases are climate-sensitive and their nature and epidemiology are changing in parallel with the change in climatic conditions and global warming. Increased replication rates of pathogens at higher temperatures, extended transmission seasons, migration of vectors or human populations are some outcomes of the changing climate, to trigger new concerns including new epidemics with old or new pathogens. Climate change is presenting itself today as an urgent global health threat and it requires immediate international action with high priority. Infectious diseases in relation to changing climatic conditions are reviewed with predominating current examples, keeping a focus on Europe with particular emphasis on South-Eastern European and Eurasian regions

Climate change and its extensions in infectious diseases: South-Eastern Europe under focus

Climate change is a result of natural processes and human-made activities influencing the atmosphere. Many infectious diseases are climate-sensitive and their nature and epidemiology are changing in parallel with the change in climatic conditions and global warming. Increased replication rates of pathogens at higher temperatures, extended transmission seasons, migration of vectors or human populations are some outcomes of the changing climate, to trigger new concerns including new epidemics with old or new pathogens. Climate change is presenting itself today as an urgent global health threat and it requires immediate international action with high priority. Infectious diseases in relation to changing climatic conditions are reviewed with predominating current examples, keeping a focus on Europe with particular emphasis on South-Eastern European and Eurasian regions

Twenty-Five years of Intestinal Parasite Prevalence in İstanbul University, İstanbul Faculty of Medicine: A Retrospective Study

Amaç: Bu çalışma, Avrupa ve Asya’nın ortak coğrafik özelliklerine sahip olan İstanbul ilinde bulunan İstanbul Üniversitesi İstanbul Tıp Fakültesi hastanesindeki 25 yıllık intestinal parazit prevalansının belirlenmesi amacıyla yapılmıştır. Yöntemler: Ocak 1988-Aralık 2012 tarihleri arasında İstanbul Üniversitesi İstanbul Tıp Fakültesi hastanesine başvuran 111,889 olguya ait dışkı örnekleri nativ-lugol ve formol-eter konsantrasyon tekniği ile mikroskobik olarak incelenmiş, olguların perianal bölge incelenmesinde ise selofan bant tekniğinden yararlanılmıştır. Bulgular: Çalışmamızda, intestinal parazit prevalansı %5 (5486/111,889) olarak hesaplanmıştır. En sık saptanan 4 tür sırasıyla, Giardia intestinalis (%62), Enterobius vermicularis (%16), Ascaris lumbricoides (%7) ve Blastocystis hominis (%6) olarak belirlenmiştir. 2000 yılı öncesi ve sonrası karşılaştırıldığında, 2000 ve sonrasında saptanan intestinal parazit prevalansında anlamlı bir azalma olduğu belirlenmiştir (p<0,001). Sonuç: Genel intestinal parazit prevalansının; Türkiye’nin geneline kıyasla Marmara bölgesinde bulunan hastanemizde düşük olması ve 2000’li yıllarda bu oranın giderek azalmasında, sosyoekonomik koşulların önemli rol oynadığı düşünülmektedir. Paraziter hastalık kontrolündeki başarının artması, bu konuda daha ileri çalışmaların yapılmasını gerekli kılmaktadır

Surgical Treatment Results of Young and Adult Cats with Pectus Excavatum

Pectus excavatum (PE) is an uncommon, congenital thoracic wall deformity that has been previously documented in a variety of species. Most of the time, the preferred treatment modality is surgical. External and internal splints may also be used according to the age of the patient and pliability of the sternum. In this study, the authors have aimed to share the clinical and radiographic results obtained in the treatment of PE by traditional external splintage, internal splintage and sternal turnover techniques in cats. For this purpose, PE was treated using the sternal turnover technique in 8 patients, internal splint in 1 patient and external splint in 9 patients. Ages of the patients varied between 2-24 months. The external splint technique was preferred to treat cats aged younger than 12 months. Frontosagittal indices (FSI), vertebral indices (VI) and clinical severity scores (CSS) were determined before and after surgical interventions. Mean FSI, VI and CSS values were 2.1, 10.0 and 0.8 and 1.8, 11.3 and 0.4 in external splint and sternal turnover groups, respectively. At the end of the study, FSI and VI values did not reach the reference interval, however, CSS values were improved in both the external splint and sternal turnover groups. In conclusion, results of the sternal turnover technique, used for the first time in feline patients with PE, were satisfactory even though complete recovery in FSI and VI values could not be achieved. Also, in the opinion of the researcher, results of using sternal turnover technique in feline PE patients younger than 12 months of age should be further investigated

The detection of urinal neopterin concentration increases the efficiency of cervical smear in the diagnosis of cervical cancer.

PubMed: 15446363OBJECTIVE: To investigate the importance of urinal neopterin detection carried out together with cervical smear test, in the diagnosis of cervical cancer. METHODS: In this study, urine samples were collected from randomly selected vulvovaginitis' women who attended hospital and an independent control group. The participants were classified into two representative sample groups and a control group; 1st Group: 35 women with vulvovaginitis, whose ages varied from 21 to 42 and who had no viral infections, and chronic inflammatory diseases and no smoking habit, but had complaints of vaginal discharge. 2nd Group: 25 women aged between 38-52 with no smoking habit, who applied to hospital with complaints of vaginal discharge, and cervical cancer was diagnosed for them as the result of biopsy, but no associated treatment of cancer had been carried out yet. 3rd Group: A control group with 30 women who aged between 20 and 28, with no smoking habit, and who had not taken part in sexual activities yet. They had no complaints from any type of tumors, and viral infections or chronic inflammatory diseases. Urinalysis was carried out for each group member's urine sample in order to measure the level of neopterin. Neopterin was estimated by HPLC. Some statistical analyses were done by SPSS Windows 10.0 and were analyzed by Oneway Annova test. (p=0.000) Meaningful differences between the groups were determined by Post Hoc Tukey Test. RESULTS: The mathematical results of neopterin levels for the groups revealed that the level of Group 1 was significantly higher than the level of Group 3 (p= 0.0001). When the levels of Group 1 and 2 were compared with each other, a significant difference was determined (p=0.004). Also, the difference in the levels of Group 2 and 3 was found to be significant (p=0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: If the results of this study were not confounded by another factor, then we can deduce that an increment in the level of neopterin may be considered as a risk factor that should warrant further investigation of cervical cancer. Then, the detection of urinal neopterin level as a noninvasive test done together with cervical smear can increase the sensitivity of smear test

Urinary neopterin levels in the different stages of pregnancy

Yucel, Aykan/0000-0002-5888-692XWOS: 000228257200011PubMed: 15692214Background/Aims: Neopterin is a biochemical marker of activated cell-mediated immune response which increases in pathological conditions associated with cellular immune activation as well as in pregnancy where cellular immune response is predominant. The aim of this study was to determine the urinary neopterin level in each trimester of pregnancy and to determine if it can be used as a marker. Methods: 104 healthy pregnant women ( mean age 22.10 +/- 4.39 years; 36 in the first, 30 in the second and 38 in the third trimester) and 16 nonpregnant healthy women ( mean age 20.94 +/- 4.48 year) were included. Results: The mean urinary neopterin concentration of all pregnant women was higher than that of non-pregnant women (166.4 +/- 31.7 and 103.1 +/- 27.5 mu mol/mol creatinine respectively, p < 0.01). The mean urinary neopterin levels in each trimester and nonpregnant women were 139.8 +/- 49.6, 131 +/- 40.2, 227.9 +/- 86.5 and 103.1 +/- 27.5 mu mol/mol creatinine, respectively. Urinary neopterin levels were not significantly different between non-pregnant, first and second trimester groups, but were significantly higher in the third trimester than each of these groups ( p < 0.05, p < 0.01 and p < 0.01 respectively). Conclusion: Urinary neopterin levels increase significantly in the third trimester probably due to more predominated cellular immunity. The pathologies causing cellular immune activation, especially in the first two trimesters can be predicted with urinary neopterin levels. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel

The Detection of Urinal Neopterin Concentration Increases the Efficiency of Cervical Smear in the Diagnosis of Cervical Cancer

Summary: Objective: To investigate the importance of urinal neopterin detection carried out together with cervical smear test, in the diagnosis of cervical cancer. Methods: In this study, urine samples were collected from randomly selected vulvovaginitis’ women who attended hospital and an independent control group. The participants were classified into two representative sample groups and a control group; 1st Group: 35 women with vulvovaginitis, whose ages varied fro 21 to 42 and who had no viral infections, and chronic inflammatory diseases and no smoking habit, but had complaints of vaginal discharge. 2nd Group: 25 women aged between 38–52 with no smoking habit, who applied to hospital with complaints of vaginal discharge, and cervical cancer was diagnosed for them as the result of biopsy, but no associated treatment of cancer had been carried out yet. 3rd Group: A control group with 30 women who aged between 20 and 28, with no smoking habit, and who had not taken part in sexual activities yet. They had no complaints from any type of tumors, and viral infections or chronic inflammatory diseases. Urinalysis was carried out for each group member’s urine sample in order to measure the level of neopterin. Neopterin was estimated by HPLC. Some statistical analyses were done by SPSS Windows 10.0 and were analyzed by Oneway Annova test. (p=0.000) Meaningful differences between the groups were determined by Post Hoc Tukey Test. Results: The mathematical results of neopterin levels for the groups revealed that the level of Group 1 was significantly higher than the level of Group 3 (p= 0.0001). When the levels of Group 1 and 2 were compared with each other, a significant difference was determined (p=0.004). Also, the difference in the levels of Group 2 and 3 was found to be significant (p=0.0001). Conclusions: If the results of this study were not confounded by another factor, then we can deduce that an increment in the level of neopterin may be considered as a risk factor that should warrant further investigation of cervical cancer. Then, the detection of urinal neopterin level as a noninvasive test done together with cervical smear can increase the sensitivity of smear test

Susceptibility to downy mildew (Plasmopara Viticola) and powdery mildew (Erysiphe necator) of different vitis cultivars and genotypes

Turkey has a very old history of viticulture and also homeland of the grapevine (Vitis spp.). Vitis cultivars belonging to different species are grown in almost every region in the country. However, particularly downy mildew and powdery mildew diseases affect the cultivars belonging to Vitis vinifera. In northern of Turkey Vitis labrusca and hybrids between V.vinifera and V.labrusca are rather common. V.labrusca cultivars or genotypes exhibit generally higher degree of resistance than V. vinifera cultivars. However, resistance level can vary from cultivar to cultivar and even from clone to clone within one cultivar. In this study, different Vitis hybrids and genotypes which exhibit different downy and powdery mildew susceptibility are compared for two years. Especially some V.labrusca hybrids and genotypes appeared resistance for both diseases. On the other hand, interspecific crosses and V.vinifera cultivars were found to be more susceptible. Using resistant lines as parent in later breeding activities, it could be possible grow high quality table cultivars with much fewer pesticide applications or possibly without them