The effect of nonsurgical periodontal treatment on serum and gingival crevicular fluid markers in patients with atherosclerosis

Background and Aims: The aim of this study is to compare patients with atherosclerosis and chronic periodontitis and patients who are systemically healthy and chronic periodontitis using alteration of adrenomedullin (ADM), chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 28 (CCL-28), white blood cell levels, platelet levels, high-density lipoprotein, low-density lipoprotein, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, creatinine, and fibrinogen.Materials and Methods: Totally, 40 patients were involved in study; a test group of 20 patients with atherosclerosis-chronic periodontitis and a control group of 20 patients who were nonatherosclerosischronic periodontitis. Nonsurgical periodontal treatment was offered to all patients, in whom systemic markers of atherosclerosis were measured in serum; ADM and CCL-28 biomarkers were measured in gingival crevicular fluid.Results: Systemic markers of atherosclerosis, ADM, and CCL-28 levels have changed significantly in the test group compared to the control group after nonsurgical periodontal treatment.Conclusions: Treatment of local inflammation and reduction of systemic inflammatory markers are believed to lower the diagnostic criteria for atherosclerosis as well. It is possible to conclude that nonsurgical periodontal treatment of chronic periodontitis, which is a risk factor for atherosclerosis, has a positive effect on the atherosclerosis prognosis.Keywords: Adrenomedullin, atherosclerosis, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand-28, chronic periodontiti

Efficiency, Ownership and Market Structure, Corporate Control and Governance in the Turkish Banking Industry

Turkish banks are quite heterogeneous in terms of organizational form, ownership structure, size, age, portfolio concentration, growth prospects and attitude toward risk. They also exhibit strong variations in performance as measured by several efficiency indices. In the light of theoretical advances in corporate finance and financial institutions, this paper is an in-depth cross-sectional analysis of the Turkish banking sector, which explores the various bank, market and regulatory characteristics that may explain the efficiency variations across banks. Consistent with the related hypotheses investigated, the results indicate that a number of independent bank characteristics are significantly correlated with various efficiency measures. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd, 2003.