Amoebicidal and Amoebistatic Effects of Artemisia argyi Methanolic Extracts on Acanthamoeba castellanii Trophozoites and Cysts

PurposeThe present study aimed to investigate the amoebicidal and amoebistatic efects of Artemisia argyi leaf methanolic extract by testing the effects on trophozoites and on cysts. We also determined cytotoxic effect, enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidant activities, total phenolic, lavonoid and antioxidative contents of A. argyi.MethodsA. argyi was harvested from various geographic sites in Ordu province in Turkey. The fresh leaves were subjected to methanolic extraction. In 100 l culture, different concentrations of A. argyi methanolic extract (in quantities from 1.2, 2.3, 4.7, 9.4, 18.7, 37.4, 74.8 mg/ml) and the same volume of trophozoite/cyst suspension were mixed for the determination of the amoebicidal activity of the plant extract. Human bronchial epithelial cells were treated with the same concentrations of Artemisia extracts to determine cytotoxic potential.ResultsTotal phenolic and lavonoid contents of the extract were calculated as 261 mg gallic acid/g dry extract and 29 mg quercetin/g dry extract, respectively. Total antioxidant activity was also calculated as 367 mg ascorbic acid/g dry extract. The growth of trophozoites stopped in A. argyi methanolic extract with 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50)/8 h for 37.4 mg/ ml and 74.8 mg/ml extract solution and had stronger amoebicidal activity on the cysts with IC50/72 h. Artemisia showed stronger inhibitory effects on bronchial epithelial cells at the concentrations of 9.4, 18.7, 37.4 and 74.8 mg/ml.ConclusionThe study indicated that A. argyi leaf extract has cytotoxic and anti-amoebic activities

The risk factors effecting the dry mouth in inpatients in Hospital in west Anatolia

Aim. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the inpatients with dry mouth and the associated risk factors. Background. Dry mouth is defined as the excessive decrease in the amount of saliva. Hyposalivation may lead to rapid deterioration in oral health and may facilitate the development of opportunistic oral infections. Oral hygiene and evaluation of oral health are basic nursing activities. Design. Cross-sectional. Participants. The sample size was determined to be 90 inpatients according to the power analysis calculated for the patients with dry mouth who were able or unable to take oral liquids. The study was completed with 247 inpatients in the Internal Medicine Clinic. Methods. A patient information form was used to collect the data for the present study. Saliva samples taken for analyses of flow rates. Results. The amount of saliva of patients who were unable to take oral liquid was 10 7 times lower than those taking> 1500 ml of liquids daily. The amount of saliva of patients receiving humidified oxygen was 2 3 times lower than those not receiving humidified oxygen. The amount of saliva of those receiving anticholinergic drugs was 3 64 times lower than those not receiving anticholinergic drugs. Conclusions. Inability to take oral liquids and receiving humidified oxygen and anticholinergic drug therapy were significant factors for the development of dry mouth. Relevance to clinical practice. The results are important for determining the risk factors for dry mouth. Being aware of dry mouth and knowing the associated risk factors are valuable information for nurses to initiate required procedures, as well as to prevent the development of oral health problems

Coronary artery calcification progression and long-term cardiovascular outcomes in renal transplant recipients: an analysis by the joint model

Background. Compared with the general population, the risk of death is substantially higher in renal transplant recipients than in age- and sex-matched individuals in the general population. In the general population, coronary artery calcification (CAC) predicts all-cause and cardiovascular mortality. In this study we aimed to analyse these relationships in renal transplant recipients

Impact of COVID-19 lockdown on mood status: A comparison of hemodialysis and oncology patients

Introduction Coronavirus related lockdown measures had a severe psychological toll. We investigated the effects of population-wide infection control measures on hemodialysis (HD) and oncology patients' mood statuses. Methods An electronic survey was used to collect data. We used the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to measure the mood statuses. Results The study groups composed of 400 HD, 234 oncology patients, and 276 controls. HADS anxiety and total POMS scores were significantly higher in the control group than that of both HD and oncology patients, a finding consistent with a worse mood status. In multivariate models, the male gender and the perception of having received appropriate medical support during the pandemic period were independent predictors of better POMS and HADS-anxiety and depression scores. Conclusion HD and oncology patients appear to be less affected by the psychological stress induced by social distancing and lockdown periods

Safety of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients with Behcet's syndrome and familial Mediterranean fever: a cross-sectional comparative study on the effects of M-RNA based and inactivated vaccine

Most of the published data relate to classical forms of rheumatic diseases (RD) and information on rare inflammatory disorders such as Behcet's syndrome (BS) and familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is limited. We studied the frequency of side effects and disease flares after COVID-19 vaccination with either Pfizer/BioNTech or Sinovac/CoronaVac in 256 patients with BS, 247 with FMF, and 601 with RD. Telephone interviews were conducted using a questionnaire survey in a cross-sectional design in patients with BS, FMF, and RD followed by a single university hospital. Study participants were vaccinated either with CoronaVac (BS:109, FMF: 90, and RD: 343,) or BioNTech (BS: 147, FMF: 157 and RD: 258). The majority have received double dose (BS: 94.9%, FMF 92.3% and RD: 86.2%). BioNTech ensured a significantly better efficacy than CoronaVac against COVID-19 in all patient groups (BS: 1.4% vs 10.1%; FMF: 3.2% vs 12.2%, RD:2.7% vs 6.4%). Those with at least one adverse event (AE) were significantly more frequent among those vaccinated with BioNTech than those with CoronaVac (BS: 86.4% vs 45%; FMF: 83.4% vs 53.3%; and RD: 83.3% vs 45.5%). The majority of AEs were mild to moderate and transient and this was true for either vaccine. There were also AEs that required medical attention in all study groups following CoronaVac (BS: 5.5%, FMF: 3.3%, and RD:2.9%) or BioNTech (BS: 5.4%, FMF: 1.9%, and RD: 4.7%). The main causes for medical assistance were disease flare and cardiovascular events. Patients with BS (16.0%) and FMF (17.4%) were found to flare significantly more frequently when compared to those with RD (6.0%) (p < 0.001). This was true for either vaccine. BS patients reported mainly skin-mucosa lesions; there were however, 11 (4.3%) who developed major organ attack such as uveitis, thrombosis or stroke. Flare in FMF patients were associated mainly with acute serositis with or without fever. Arthralgia/arthritis or inflammatory back pain were observed mainly in the RD group. Our study demonstrates that BS and FMF patients vaccinated with either CoronaVac or BioNTech demonstrated similar AE profile and frequency compared to RD patients. AEs that required physician consultation or hospitalization occurred in all study groups after either CoronaVac or BioNTech. Increased frequency of flares in BS and FMF compared to that seen in RD might reflect defects in innate immunity and deserves further investigation. Caution should be required when monitoring these patients after vaccination

The incidence, clinical characteristics, and outcome of COVID-19 in a prospectively followed cohort of patients with Behcet's syndrome

Initial case series of small number of patients at the beginning of the pandemic reported a rather guarded prognosis for Behcet's syndrome (BS) patients infected with SARS-CoV-2. In this prospective study, we describe the incidence, clinical characteristics, disease course, management, and outcome in a large cohort of BS patients with laboratory-confirmed infection of SARS-CoV-2. We defined a cohort of 1047 registered BS patients who were aged between 16 and 60 years and seen routinely before the pandemic at the multidisciplinary outpatient clinic. We followed prospectively this cohort from beginning of April 2020 until the end of April 2021. During 13 months of follow-up, of the 1047 (599 M/448 F) patients, 592 (56.5%) were tested for SARS-CoV-2 PCR at least once and 215 (20.5%; 95% CI 0.18-0.23) were tested positive. We observed 2 peaks which took place in December 2020 and April 2021. Of the 215 PCR positive patients, complete information was available in 214. Of these 214, 14 (6.5%) were asymptomatic for COVID-19. In the remaining, the most common symptoms were anosmia, fatigue, fever, arthralgia, and headache. A total of 40 (18.7%) had lung involvement, 25 (11.7%) were hospitalized, 1 was admitted to the intensive care unit while none died. Favipiravir was the most prescribed drug (74.3%), followed by colchicine (40.2%), and hydroxychloroquine (20.1%) in the treatment of COVID-19. After COVID-19, 5 patients (2.3%) were given supplemental O-2 and 31 (14.5%) antiaggregant or anticoagulants. During COVID-19, of the 214 PCR positive patients, 116 (54.2%) decreased the dose of their immunosuppressives or stopped taking completely; 36 (16.8%) experienced a BS flare which was mostly oral ulcers (10.3%). None of the patients reported a thrombotic event. A total of 93 (43.5%) patients reported BS flares after a median 45 days of COVID-19 infection and this was found to be significantly associated with immunosuppressive drug discontinuation. Multiple regression analysis adjusted for age and gender indicated that smoking and using interferon-alpha decreased the likelihood of getting COVID-19. The incidence and severity of COVID-19 did not differ between those who were using colchicine or not. The cumulative incidence of COVID-19 in this prospectively followed cohort of BS patients was almost two folds of that estimated for the general population living in Istanbul, Turkey, however, the clinical outcome of COVID-19 was not severe and there was no mortality. The protective effect of smoking and interferon deserves further investigation. On the other hand, colchicine did not have any positive or negative effect against COVID-19. Significant number of patients flared after COVID-19, however, this was significantly associated with immunosuppressive discontinuation during the infection. Contrary to our previous observations, COVID-19 did not seem to exacerbate thrombotic events during or after the infection

İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği Meslek Hastalıkları

Ülkemizde iş sağlığı ve güvenliği ile meslek hastalıkları konularında, kapsamlı Türkçe kitap ihtiyacı bulunmaktadır. Bu saptamadan hareketle “İş Sağlığı ve Güvenliği Meslek Hastalıkları” kitabı iki yılı aşkın bir sürede tamamlanmıştır. Mezuniyet öncesi ve sonrası eğitimlere, sertifika eğitimlerine, çalışanların sağlıklı ve güvenlikli ortamda çalışmaları hakkına, saha uygulamalarına, araştırmalara katkı sağlaması amaçlanmıştır. Kaynak kitap ihtiyacı öncelikle, müfredatlarında konuya ilişkin başlıklar bulunan, Tıp, Mühendislik, Hemşirelik, Sağlık Bilimleri ve Fen fakülteleri, ilgili yüksek lisans ve doktora programları, ilgili yüksek okullar olmak üzere yüksek öğretim öğrencileri için geçerli iken aynı zamanda iş yeri hekimleri, iş güvenliği uzmanları, diğer sağlık personeli sertifika eğitimleri, çalışanların yasal olarak zorunlu olan eğitimleri için de söz konusudur.Kitabın, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Halk Sağlığı Anabilim Dalı öğretim üyesi Prof. Dr. İsmail TOPUZOĞLU’nun 1980’li yıllarda başlattığı, Prof. Dr. Nazmi BİLİR’in emekli olana kadar 30 yılı aşkın süre ile sürdürdüğü mezuniyet öncesi ve sonrası eğitim, araştırma, uygulama ve yayın çalışmaları ile bu alanlarda öncü rolü olan Hacettepe Üniversitesi’nin yayını olması ayrı bir mutluluk kaynağıdır, kendilerine şükranlarımızı sunarız.Kitap, sayfa dağılımları farklılık gösteren, konu başlıkları itibariyle toplam 79 bölümden oluşmaktadır. Meslek hastalıklarına ilişkin bazı bölümlerde, yazarlar ikinci baskısı yapılmış olan “Yıldız, A.N., Sandal, A. (Ed.). Meslek Hastalıkları İşle İlgili Hastalıklar (Seçilmiş Başlıklarda). Ankara: Hacettepe Üniversitesi Yayını. ISBN: 978-975-491-460-3.” kitabındaki bölümlerini güncelleyerek genişletmişlerdir.Kitabın yazarları başlıca, Hacettepe Üniversitesi öğretim elemanları, Tıp Fakültesi İş ve Meslek Hastalıkları Yan Dal Uzmanlık Eğitimi Programı eğitim kadrosu ile bu kapsamda eğitim almış veya almaya devam eden uzman hekimler, ile T.C. Aile, Çalışma ve Sosyal Hizmetler Bakanlığı yönetici ve uzmanlarıdır. Bütün yazarlara katkıları için teşekkür ederiz.Kitabın elektronik kitap olarak yayınlanması, ulaşılabilirliğinin artması, içerik arama ve güncelleme gibi hususlarda kolaylık sağlayacağı kanaatindeyiz. Ayrıca kaynakları metin içinde gösterilmiş olması da ileri incelemeler için katkı sağlayacaktır.Yoğun çalışma sürecinde gösterdikleri anlayış için ailelerimize, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Hastaneleri Basım Yayın ve Tanıtım Koordinatörlüğü ile Kütüphane ve Dokümantasyon Daire Başkanlığı yetkilileri ve çalışanlarına, kitabı yayına hazırlamada katkı sağlayan Dr. A. Kadir ATLI, Dr. Buhara ÖNAL ve Özge Rojda BENZİL’e teşekkür ederiz.Saygılarımızla,Prof. Dr. Bülent ALTUN (Hacettepe Üniversitesi Tıp Fakültesi Dekanı)Prof. Dr. Ali Naci YILDIZ (Editör)Uzm. Dr. Abdulsamet SANDAL (Editör