Assessment of the Relationship between Diabetic Retinopathy and Nailfold Capillaries in Type 2 Diabetics with a Noninvasive Method: Nailfold Videocapillaroscopy

Background and Objectives. Nailfold capillaroscopy is an easy and noninvasive technique used to investigate dermal microvasculature. Traditional investigations of vascularity do not detect changes until they are well-established in type 2 diabetics. The objective of the current study was to evaluate nailfold capillaries in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients and to determine the association of retinopathy with changes in the nailfold capillaries. Materials and Methods. Capillaroscopic findings by nailfold capillaroscopy and fundoscopic examinations were assessed in 216 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 101 healthy controls included in this prospective study. Results. Retinopathy was detected in 43.05% of diabetic patients (n=93). Capillaroscopic findings including tortuosity (p<0.001), bushy capillary (p<0.001), neoformation (p<0.001), bizarre capillary (p<0.001), microhemorrhage (p=0.001), capillary ectasia (p=0.002), and aneurysm (p=0.004) were significantly higher in diabetic group than control group. In logistic regression analysis, only tortuosity was shown significant (OR, 2.16; p=0.036). There was also a significant relation between diabetes duration and most of the capillaroscopic findings. Conclusion. Capillaroscopic changes were found to be correlated with diabetic retinopathy, in particular with longer disease duration in our study. Capillaroscopic imaging could be a useful new technique for assessment of diabetic microvascular changes

Metabolic dysfu nctio n-As socia ted fatty liver disease and fibrosis status in patients with Type 2 Diabetes Treated at Internal medicine clinics: Türkiye DAHUDER awareness of fatty liver disease (TR-DAFLD) study

Background/Aims: This awareness study aimed to determine the ultrasound (US) examination rates in relation to US-confirmed metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD) diagnosis in internal medicine outpatients with type 2 diabetes (T2D) across Turkiye. Materials and Methods: A total of 6283 T2D patients were included in this multicenter retrospective cohort study conducted at 17 internal medicine clinics across Turkiye. The presence and indications for US performed within the last 3 years were recorded along with US-confirmed MAFLD rates, laboratory findings on the day of US, and referral rates. Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index was calculated to estimate the risk of advanced liver fibrosis (FIB-4 index ≥ 1.3). Results: Overall, 1731 (27.6%) of 6283 patients had US examination, which revealed MAFLD diagnosis in 69.9% of cases. In addition, 24.4% of patients with US-confirmed MAFLD were at risk of advanced fibrosis (FIB-4 index ≥ 1.3), and the referral rate was 15.5%. Conclusion: In conclusion, our findings emphasize an insufficient MAFLD awareness among clinicians and the likelihood of most of T2D patients to be at risk of living with an unknown status regarding their MAFLD and advanced fibrosis ris

Tenofovir in the Management of Chronic Hepatitis B Infection During Pregnancy

Chronic hepatitis B infection has a worldwide distribution, with approximately 350 million infected persons. While become more of an issue during pregnancy concerning maternal and fetal well-being and the influence of pregnancy itself on the course of the disease; the natural history of chronic hepatitis B infection during pregnancy has not been clearly established. This paper reports the outcome of pregnancy in a patient with chronic hepatitis B infection who discontinued double antiviral treatment since she wanted to get pregnant but then was administered tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF; 245 mg/day) monotherapy at the 32nd gestational week

Antalya eğitim ve araştırma hastanesinde kronik hepatit C hastalarının genotip dağılımının araştırılması

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major global health problem due to high chronicity rates, occurrence of severe hepatic diseases, and absence of an accurate therapy and effective vaccine. It is well known that viral genome is highly variable and HCV has at least six genotypes, each of them containing a series of subtypes. HCV genotypes exhibit geographical and epidemiological distribution. Genotype identification is clinically important to decide the dosage and duration of treatment since different geno- types exhibit variable response to treatment. the aim of this study was to determine the HCV genotypes in chronic HCV patients who were followed-up in Antalya Research and Training Hospital, Turkey. Anti- HCV and HCV-RNA positive blood samples obtained from 148 chronic hepatitis C patients (67 female, 81 male; mean age: 50.5 ± 10.8, age range: 17-73 years) who were admitted to Antalya Research and Training Hospital Microbiology Laboratory during January 2011-June 2013, were included in the study. Epidemiological data of the patients and HCV genotype results were evaluated retrospectively. Viral genotypes were determined by real-time (Rt) PCR assay (Abbott Molecular Diagnostic, USA). HCV genotype (Gt)-1 was detected in 119 (80.4%) of the patients, of them 15.9% (19/119) were identified as subtype 1a and 75.6% (90/119) were subtype 1b. the prevalence rates of Gt-2, -3, and -4 were found as 3.4% (n= 5), 11.5% (n= 17), and 2% (n= 3), respectively. Gt-6 was not detected in our patients. Mixed infection with HCV types was detected in four patients (2.7%) by Rt-PCR; of these three were detected as Gt-1 and one was Gt-2 by RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) and sequenc- ing. the high prevalence of Gt-3 (11.5%) obtained in this study was attributed to the determination of Gt-3 in seven of 13 foreign national subjects. Rt-PCR method used in this study is user independent, standardized, automated, rapid and reliable method, however in case of detection of mixed types, the samples should be confirmed by other methods. in conclusion, we reported that the majority of the chronic hepatitis C infected patients had Gt-1b, and Gt-3 exhibited the highest rate ever reported by other studies from Turkey.Hepatit C virusu (HCV), yüksek kronikleşme oranı, ciddi karaciğer hastalıklarına neden olması, kesin bir tedavi ve etkin bir aşısının olmaması gibi nedenlerden dolayı tüm dünyada ciddi bir sağlık sorunudur. HCV genomu yüksek derecede değişkenlik göstermekte olup, filogenetik olarak HCV’nin en az altı majör genotipi ve birçok alt tipinin bulunduğu bilinmektedir. HCV genotip dağılımı coğrafi ve epidemiyolojik farklılık göstermektedir. Doz ve tedavi süresi farklı genotipler için değişken olabileceğinden, tedavi öncesinde genotiplerin belirlenmesi klinik açıdan önemlidir. Bu çalışmada, hastanemizde izlenen kronik hepatit C’li hastalarda HCV genotiplerinin belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır. Çalışmaya, Antalya Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi Mikrobiyoloji Laboratuvarına, 01 Ocak 2011-30 Haziran 2013 tarihleri arasında, farklı servislerden gönderilen anti-HCV ve HCV-RNA pozitif toplam 148 kronik hepatit C’li hasta (67 kadın, 81 erkek; yaş ortalaması: 50.5 ± 10.8, yaş aralığı: 17-73 yıl) dahil edilmiştir. Hastaların epidemiyolojik verileri ve HCV genotip çalışmaları retrospektif olarak değerlendirilmiştir. Viral genotipler gerçek zamanlı polimeraz zincir reaksiyonu (Rt-PCR) yöntemiyle (Abbott Molecular Diagnostic, ABD) belirlenmiştir. Bu yöntemle her örnek, 6 genotip (Gt) ve alt tip 1a ve 1b için test edilmiştir. Hastaların 119 (%80.4)’unda Gt-1 saptanmış; bunların %15.9 (19/119)’u 1a, %75.6 (90/119)’sı 1b olarak tiplendirilmiştir. Gt-2, -3 ve -4 prevalans oranları sırasıyla %3.4 (n= 5), %11.5 (n= 17) ve %2 (n= 3) olarak bulunmuş; Gt-6’ya ise rastlanmamıştır. Rt-PCR yöntemiyle çalışılan hastaların 4 (%2.7)’ünde karışık tip tespit edilmiş; bu örnekler RFLP (Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism) ve dizi analizi yöntemiyle çalışıldığında üçü Gt-1, biri ise Gt-2 olarak tiplendirilmiştir. Çalışmamızda saptanan yüksek Gt-3 prevalansının (%11.5), yabancı uyruklu 13 hastanın yedisinde saptanan Gt-3 pozitifliğinden kaynaklanmış olabileceği düşünülmüştür. Bu çalışmada kullanılan Rt-PCR yöntemi, kullanıcıdan bağımsız, standart otomatize ve hızlı sonuç veren güvenilir bir yöntemdir; ancak karışık tip saptanan örneklerin başka bir yöntemle doğrulanması gerekmektedir. Sonuç olarak, hastanemizde izlenen kronik hepatit C’li hastalar arasında en yaygın genotipin Gt-1b olduğu, Gt-3’ün ise şimdiye kadar bildirilmiş en yüksek oran olduğu söylenebilir