Elektrik Yaralanmasının Ölümcül Olmayan Bir Komplikasyonu; Katarakt

Yirmi üç yaşında erkek hasta her iki gözünde görme kaybı şikayeti ile kliniğimize başvurdu. Hastanın alınan öyküsünde 5 yıl önce elektrik akımına kapıldığı ve bu beş yıl içerisinde görme keskinliğinin giderek azaldığı öğrenildi. Oftalmolojik muayenede sağ gözde en iyi düzeltilmiş görme keskinliği 6/10 iken sol gözde 2/10 idi. Göz içi basınç her iki gözde normaldi. Biomikroskopik muayenede iki taraflı ön subkapsüler ve kortikal lens kesafetleri izleniyordu. Fundus muayenesi her iki gözde normaldi. Hastanın öyküsü ve göz muayene bulguları ile elektrik kataraktı tanısı kondu. Hastaya topikal anestezi altında sol göz öncelikli olmak üzere katarakt cerrahisi önerildi. Cerrahi tedaviyi kabul etmeyen hasta takibe alındı

A Major Public Health Problem: Uncontrolled Wearing of Contact Lenses

Pur po se: To evaluate the behavior, attitude and point of view of contact lens wearers attending Mersin University. Ma te ri al and Met hod: Our study included students from the Faculty of Medicine whom we assumed to have the highest awareness about health topics and also students from the Faculty of Education whom we expected to have the similar awareness. Considering the total number of students, we calculated the minimum number of students attending the Faculty of Education (n: 213) and the minimum number of students attending the Faculty of Medicine (n: 230) that must be included to the study. Then, we asked the students to answer our questionnaire. Re sults: The mean age of the students attending the study was 21.29±2.14 years, and 62.5% of the participants were female. Among all of the students, 81% were wearing contact lenses to correct their refractive errors and 12% of the students were wearing the contact lenses to enhance appearance for cosmetic reasons. Also, 51% of the students were getting the contact lenses with prescription and the rest of the students without it. Furthermore, 47.3% of the participants had received the basic information about contact lenses from their doctors, while the rest had accessed this information through other sources. 43.9% of the participants were visiting their doctors regularly while wearing contact lenses. Dis cus si on: Serious complications and irreversible visual loss as a result of this serious complications can occur due to contact lens wear. So, we think that contact lenses should not be accepted as simple medical devices. (Turk J Ophthalmol 2012; 42: 84-7

Identification of AKT1/β-catenin mutations conferring cetuximab and chemotherapeutic drug resistance in colorectal cancer treatment

In anticancer therapy, the effectiveness of therapeutics is limited by mutations causing drug resistance.KRASmutations are the only determinant for cetuximab resistance in patients with colorectal cancer(CRC). However, cetuximab treatment has not been fully successful in the majority of patients with wild‑type(WT)KRAS. Therefore, it is important to determine new predictive mutations in CRC treatment. In the present study, the association betweenAKT1/β-catenin (CTNNB1) mutations with the drug resistance to cetuximab and other chemotherapeutics used in the CRC treatment was investigated by using site‑directed mutagenesis, transfection, western blotting, and cell proliferation inhibition assay. Cetuximab resistance was higher in the presence ofAKT1E17K, E49K, and L52R mutations, as well asCTNNB1T41A, S45F, and S33P mutations compared with that of respective WT proteins.AKT1/CTNNB1mutations were also associated with oxaliplatin, irinotecan, SN‑38, and 5‑fluorouracil resistance. Furthermore, mutant cell viability in oxaliplatin treatment was more effectively inhibited compared with that of the other chemotherapeutic drugs. In conclusion,AKT1/CTNNB1mutations may be used as an important predictive biomarker in CRC treatment

Antioxidant activities of the methanol and water extracts from Ornithogalum umbellatum

Ornithogalum (Asparagaceae) species are consumed both as a food and as a therapeutic agent for their medicinal properties in many countries, including Turkey. The aim of the study was to investigate the in vitro antioxidant activities in aerial parts and bulbs of Ornithogalum umbellatum comparatively. The plant materials were collected from Agva (Istanbul). Methanol and water extracts were prepared from the aerial parts and bulbs of the plant. Antioxidant capacities of the extracts were evaluated by using DPPH radical scavenging activity and ferric reducing antioxidant power assays along with the determination of total phenolic compounds. Quercetin was used as a standard antioxidant and total phenolic compounds were estimated as gallic acid equivalents. The results showed that the methanol extracts from the aerial parts of O. umbellatum have the highest total phenolic content and the strongest antioxidant activity. However, the water extracts from bulbs of the plant did not possess any antioxidant activity. We can conclude that, in view of the antioxidant effect of O. umbellatum, the plant may be a natural source of antioxidant

The cytotoxic effects of Ornithogalum oligophyllum and Ornithogalum umbellatum extracts

Ornithogalum (Asparagaceae) is a genus with more than 100 species are used in traditionally in many countries, also consumed in Turkey both as food and for therapeutic purposes. In Turkey, the genus is represented by 36 species and its regional name is “tükrük otu”. This study aimed to investigate the cytotoxic effects of Ornithogalum oligophyllum and Ornithogalum umbellatum. In this context, methanol and water extracts were prepared from the aerial parts and bulbs of the plants using the Soxhlet apparatus. The cytotoxic activities of the extracts on prostate (PC-3), lung (A549), endometrium (ECC-1) cancer cell lines and human umbilical vein/vascular endothelium (HUVEC) control cell line were determined using [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3- carboxymethoxyphenyl)-2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS) cell viability assay. According to the our findings, water extracts of O. oligophyllum and O. umbellatum had no remarkable cytotoxicity. However, methanol extracts of O. oligophyllum and O. umbellatum showed the cytotoxic effect on ECC- 1 cell line. In addition to that, methanol extract of O. umbellatum aerial parts exhibited cytotoxic activity on PC-3 cancer cell line. In summary, methanolic extracts from O. oligophyllum and O. umbellatum showed medium cytotoxic activity against the endometrium and prostate cancer cell line. These findings might be a database for future studies