Value of brain natriuretic peptide after acute myocardial infarction

Objective: Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) is secreted predominantly from the ventricles in response to increased wall stress, which is known to be one of the major forces driving left ventricular (LV) remodeling. In this prospective study, we evaluated value of BNP levels in acute myocardial infarction (MI) patients for the prediction of heart failure during one year of follow-up

The effects of physical and social health components on quali̇ty of life in Turkish mothers with disabled children

BACKGROUND: Parenting children who are physically or intellectually impaired is known to be linked to the impaired well-being of the parent’s themselves.Parents face a number of common tasks in managing their child's afflicted health.However, there is still little available data on quality of life (QOL) in parents of disabled children in Turkey. This cross- sectional study was conducted to describe the effects of some variables, which would interfere with the general health, on QOL of mothers with disabled children (MDC). METHOD: Three hundred and seventy two MDC living in the Western of Turkey region with a mean age of 34,73± 7,5 years completed the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36).All gave their informed consent for participating to the study. We also recorded demographics of the MDC. The effects of 10 variables such as; motor developmental level of children, low back pain (LBP), gender of child, clinical type of disability of child, exercise habit of mother, educational level of mother (ELM), occupation of mother, involved extremities of child (IEC), age of mother (AM),and parity on four domains of the SF- 36 including, general health (GH), physical functioning (PF), emotional well being (EWB), and social functioning (SF) were analyzed using backward multiple linear regression. RESULTS:LBP and ELM were found as common significant variables affecting the QOL of MDC regarding the following domains; GH, PF, and EWB. However, LBP and ELM were not found as significant variables for the SF domain. IEC and AM were found as significant variables for the SF domain. CONCLUSION: In our context, we found that LBP is the most common significant factor affecting QOL of the MDC in the sample. Since, MDC have to adapt to new roles, reorganize their lives and cope with care, parents with disabled children, especially mothers may benefit from an intensive family competence programme

Comparison of quality of life of mothers with children with/ without disabilities: A sample based on Turkish population

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to compare quality of life (QOL) of mothers of children with disabilities with mothers of healthy children. METHOD: Five hundred and eighteen mothers living in Western of Turkey region completed the Short Form Health Survey (SF- 36). The mothers with children aged 8 to 312 months (190 mothers with physically disabled children, 182 mothers with intelligent disabilities children, and 146 mothers with healthy children) participated in the study. The mean age of the mothers was 33,89 ±7,2 years (ranges; 18- 68 years). RESULT: The motor developmental level of the children with disabilities described as follows; 43 apedal (11.5%), 87 quadripedal (23.3%), and 242 bipedal (65%). While significant differences among mothers in the following domains; “role limitations due to physical health”, “energy and fatigue”, “emotional well being”, and “general health” were found, no significant differences were detected concerning “physical functioning”, “role limitation due to emotional problems”, “social functioning”, and “pain”. These results show that the mothers with physical disabled children had less scores of the SF-36. When the mothers compared based on the motor developmental level of the children, significant differences were found in domains of the SF-36 Survey such as; “energy- fatigue”, “emotional well being”, and “general health”. Namely, the mothers with children with disabilities at apedal level had less scores of the SF-36 compared with mothers with children at bipedal or quadripedal level. CONCLUSION: Having a child with disability decreases QOL of the Turkish mothers. Also, the children at apedal level much more affect the QOL of the mothers than the children at bipedal or quadripedal level. The mothers with healthy children had better scores in domains of the SF- 36 compared to the mothers with disabled children

Clinical and echocardiographic risk factors for embolization in the presence of left atrial thrombus

Aims: The aim of our study was to evaluate the factors leading to embolization in patients with left atrial thrombi (LAT). With this purpose, we retrospectively analyzed clinical, transthoracic, transesophageal echocardiographic data of patients with LAT in the transesophageal echocardiographic evaluation. Methods and Results: One hundred ninety-two patients with LAT not on anticoagulant therapy were divided into two groups according to the presence of prior ischemic stroke. The group with ischemic stroke included more patients with sinus rhythm and less patients with mitral stenosis. They had smaller left atrial diameter, more left atrial appendage spontaneous echo-contrast, higher appendage ejection fraction, and emptying velocity. Conclusion: Once the thrombus has been formed, cerebral embolization seems to be higher in patients with relatively preserved appendage ejection fraction and emptying velocity. Presence of atrial appendage spontaneous echo-contrast also favor embolization. Factors leading to embolization seem to differ in some respects from the causes of thrombus formation