Cut-Off Values of Specific IgE and Skin Prick Test to Predict Oral Food Challenge Positivity in Children with Cow's Milk Allergy

Objective: The cut-off values for the skin prick test diameters and cow's milk-specific IgE measurements are used to predict the result of the oral food challenge test for the diagnosis of cow's milk allergy. This study aimed to determine the diagnostic values of skin prick test and cow's milk-specific IgE according to age groups and compare the diagnostic powers of these 2 methods. Materials and Methods: In total, 153 children who had a preliminary diagnosis of cow's milk allergy were evaluated. Group A (n = 90) consisted of cow's milk allergy patients whose diagnosis was confirmed by a positive oral food challenge or a history of anaphylaxis. Group B (n = 63) was composed of patients with a negative oral food challenge. The demographic, clinical, and laboratory findings of 2 groups were compared. Results: The cut-off points for cow's milk-specific IgE and cow's milk-skin prick test were determined as >2.12 kUA/L and >5 mm, respectively. The area under the curve was 0.844 for cow's milk-skin prick test (sensitivity 73%, specificity 84%) and 0.745 for cow's milk-specific IgE (sensitivity 67%, specificity 86%). The diagnostic power of skin prick test was determined to be higher when compared to cow's milk-specific IgE (P=.02). According to the predicted probability curves, decision points for cow's milk-specific IgE and cow's milk-skin prick test with 95% probability were determined as follows, respectively: for 24 months: 44.1 kUA/, 15.1 mm. The lowest cut-off value with a positive predictive value of 95% and a specificity of 96% was found in patients 3.3 kUA/L) Conclusion: The use of high probability diagnostic values of communities for specific IgE and skin prick test along with a significant clinical history may provide accurate and rapid diagnosis of cow's milk allergy and facilitate patient follow-up

Towards an ınformation extraction system based on ontology to match resumes and jobs

2013 IEEE 37th Annual Computer Software and Applications Conference Workshops, COMPSACW 2013 -- 22 July 2013 through 26 July 2013 -- Kyoto -- 100165While Internet takes up by far the most significant part of our daily lives, finding jobs/employees on the Internet has started to play a crucial role for job seekers and employers. Online recruitment websites and human resources consultancy and recruitment companies enable job seekers to create their résumé, a brief written formal document including job seeker's basic information such as personal information, educational information, work experience and qualifications in order to find and apply for desirable jobs, whereas they enable companies to find qualified employees they are looking for. However résumés may be written in many ways that make it difficult for online recruitment companies to keep these data in their relational databases. In this study, a project that Kariyer.net (largest online recruitment website in Turkey) and TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey) have been jointly working is proposed. In this mentioned project, a system enables free structured format of résumés to transform into an ontological structure model. The produced system based on ontological structure model and called Ontology based Résumé Parser (ORP) will be tested on a number of Turkish and English résumés. The proposed system will be kept in Semantic Web approach that provides companies to find expert finding in an efficient way

Hışıltılı Çocukların Genel Özellikleri

Amaç: Tekrarlayan hışıltı okul öncesi çocuklarda önemli birklinik sorundur. Çocukların yaklaşık üçte biri 3 yaşından önceen az bir hışıltı atağı geçirmektedir. Bu çalışmada departmanımızda tekrarlayan hışıltı nedeniyle izlenen hastaların genelözelliklerinin tanımlanması amaçlanmıştır.Gereçler ve Yöntem: Alerji polikliniğine yılda 3 veya daha fazla hışıltı yakınması ile başvuran 691 hasta retrospektif olarakdeğerlendirilmiştir. Hastaların demografik, klinik ve laboratuvar özellikleri anket formları doldurularak tespit edilmiştir.Bulgular: Tekrarlayan hışıltısı olan 215 (%31) kız, 476 (%69)erkek, 691 hasta retrospektif olarak değerlendirildi. Semptomlar hastaların %52,5’unda 0-1 yaş, %76.4’ünde 0-3 yaşta, %9,9 hastada 6 yaşından sonra başlamıştı. Ataklar sıklıklakış mevsiminde (%54,4) olup, %19 oranında ataklar arasındasemptom mevcuttu. Hospitalizasyon oranı %49 (ort. 1.19±0.86)olup, <1 yaşta en sıktı (%71). Ailede akrabalık, atopi ve astım oranları sırasıyla %11.2, %42,2 ve %22,4 olup hastaların%54,8’i ailenin ilk çocuğuydu.Hastaların %3,9’unda atopik dermatit, %17,9’undaalerjik rinit öyküsü vardı. Eozinofili %32,4,IgE: 335±839 kU/L, spIgE ile %40,8 aeroalerjen %30,6 gıda alerjen duyarlılığıbulunmuştur. Hastaların %23,1’inde immun bozukluk saptanmıştır. Deri prick testi (DPT) %31 hastada pozitif olup, dermatofagoid (%46), ot polen (%51), zeytin (%24), kedi (%23,7),alternaria (%13,8) en sık duyarlı olunan alerjenlerdi.Hastaların %34.9’unda hışıltı ataklarının 6 yaşından önce gerilediği, %11,1’inde 3 yaşından sonra başladığı,%11.7’sinde ise 6 yaşından sonra başladığı görüldü. Üç yaşından önce başlayan ve 6 yaşından sonra devam eden grubun isebir kısmının atopik olduğu bir kısmının ise non-atopik olduğugörüldü

Effects of Cow's Milk Components, Goat's Milk and Sheep's Milk Sensitivities on Clinical Findings, and Tolerance Development in Cow's Milk Allergy

Objective: Cow's milk (CM) contains some proteins capable of causing an allergic reaction in a sensitized individual and one of the most common causes of food allergy in childhood. Most of the patients will develop tolerance by the age of 3. In this study, we aimed to evaluate sensitivity to CM allergen components as well as goat's milk (GM) and sheep's milk (SM) cross reactions in cow's milk allergic (CMA) patients and to figure out the risk factors for tolerance non-development. Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional study including 66 patients for IgE-mediated CMA with mean age of 38 months. We evaluated the patients in two groups: Group 1 (n=50): Patients who have no tolerance in oral food challenge test; Group 2 (n= 16): Patients who were found tolerant to CM after elimination diet. CM-sIgE, alpha-lactalbumin (ALA)-sIgE, beta-Lactoglobulin (BLG)-sIgE, casein (CAS)-sIgE, GM-sIgE, and SM-sIgE, skin prick tests with CM and GM, and eosinophils in peripheral blood were all compared between two groups. Results: In the whole group, GM-sIgE and SM-sIgE were positive in 84.8% and ALA-sIgE, BLG-sIgE, and CAS-sIgE were positive in, respectively, 69.7%, 62.7%, and 77.3% of the patients. Two groups were similar in terms of age at onset and diagnosis, gender, median elimination period, total IgE levels, CM-sIgE, and eosinophilia (p>0.05). Mean wheal diameters of CM and GM in SPT (p<0.001), GM-sIgE (p=0.03), and SM-sIgE (p=0.01) were significantly higher in Group 1. There was a positive correlation between CM-sIgE and total IgE (p=0.001), eosinophilia percentage (p=0.04), CM wheal diameter in SPT (p=0.001), CAS-sIgE (p<0.001), GM-sIgE (p<0.001), and SM-sIgE (p<0.001) in Group 1. Patients with respiratory symptoms and history of anaphylaxis had higher CM-SPT, CM-sIgE, CAS-sIgE, GM-sIgE, and SM-sIgE (p<0.05) levels. Gastrointestinal and skin symptoms showed no relation with laboratory findings. Tolerance was not developed in any patient with a history of anaphylaxis. Conclusions: As with CM-sIgE levels and high induration diameters in SPT, high CAS-sIgE, SM-sIgE, and GM-sIgE levels are also risk factors for persistence of CMA; anaphylaxis, as a first reaction, may also be a risk factor. High CM-sIgE, CAS-sIgE, SM-sIgE, and GM-sIgE levels are associated with respiratory symptoms

Acute effects of hypercholesterolemic diet on erectile responses in rats.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the acute effects of a high cholesterol diet (HCD) on erectile and endothelial functions in Sprague-Dawley rats. Materials and Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 2 groups as control and HCD groups. The control group was fed on a normal diet and the hypercholesterolemia group was fed a 1% cholesterol-enriched diet daily for 2 weeks. Total cholesterol levels were measured at the end of 2 weeks in both groups. To examine the effect of HCD on erectile function, electric cavernous nerve stimulation (CNS) at 20 Hz with a pulse duration of 1 ms for 1 min at 5 V was performed. During CNS, we measured intracavernous pressure (ICP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), detumescence time and area under the curve (AUC). To evaluate the endothelial responses, acetylcholine (Ach) was applied cumulatively (1 nM to 1 mu M) to thoracic aorta tissues contracted with 60 m M KCl. Results: In the HCD group total cholesterol levels were significantly higher than in the control group (148.1 +/- 18.9 vs. 55.7 +/- 8.1 mg/dl, p = 0.002). The detumescence time was significantly decreased after HCD compared to the control diet (19.3 +/- 3.6 vs. 78.6 +/- 12.8 s, p < 0.001). The decreases in the HCD group were also significant in terms of ICP (53.4 +/- 4.5 vs. 35.6 +/- 5.5 mm Hg; p < 0.05), ICP/MAP (55.9 +/- 3.9 vs. 38.2 +/- 5.2%; p < 0.05) and AUC (1,404 +/- 197.1 vs. 2,250 +/- 253.7, p < 0.05) values. There were no significant changes in maximum relaxation responses of the thoracic aorta to Ach. Conclusion: These results suggest that erectile functions were significantly damaged early in HCD rats. However, endothelial functions, evaluated in the thoracic aorta, were not affected simultaneously with erectile functions in rats fed a low concentration of HCD. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Base

Clinical features and accompanying findings of Pseudo-Bartter Syndrome in cystic fibrosis

Background Pseudo-Bartter syndrome (PBS) is a rare complication of cystic fibrosis (CF) and there are limited data in the literature about it. We aimed to compare clinical features and accompanying findings of patients with PBS in a large patient population