Explaining the Unexplained: A Practical Approach to Investigating the Cardiac Arrest Survivor

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a common cause of death. The majority of SCA is caused by ventricular arrhythmia due to underlying CHD. Aborted SCA with no apparent diagnosis after initial assessment with ECG, echocardiography and coronary assessment is referred to as unexplained cardiac arrest (UCA). Systematic evaluation of such patients may reveal a specific diagnosis in up to half of patients before a diagnosis of idiopathic VF is assigned. Specific diagnoses include inherited cardiac conditions, such as latent cardiomyopathies or inherited primary electrical disease. Identifying the cause of UCA is therefore not only critical for appropriate management of the SCA survivors to prevent recurrence, but also for their family members who may be at risk of the same condition. This review provides a tiered, systematic approach for the investigation of UCA

The role of antioxidant activity in the prevention and treatment of infertility caused by cisplatin in rats

Kurt, Nezahat/0000-0002-1685-5332; AKSOY, Ayse Nur/0000-0002-3793-9797; AKSOY, Mehmet/0000-0003-0867-8660WOS: 000350267200009PubMed: 25632879Background/Aims:To investigate the importance of antioxidant activity in infertility caused by cisplatin in rats. Methods: Rats in cisplatin control (CG), Vitamin E+cisplatin (ECG), Vitamin C + cisplatin (CCG), Hippophae rhamnoides extract (HRE) + cisplatin (HRECG), and thiamine pyrophosphate (TPP) + cisplatin (TPPCG) groups were injected intraperitoneally (ip) with (100 mg/kg) Vitamin E, Vitamin C, HRE, and TPP, respectively. One hour later, ip cisplatin was administered (5 mg/kg), and then antioxidant medications were continued for 10 days. Cisplatin + Vitamin E (CEG-1), cisplatin + Vitamin C (CCG-1), cisplatin + HRE (CHREG-1), and cisplatin + TPP (TPPCG-1) rats received cisplatin (5 mg/kg, ip) and were kept for 10 days. At the end of that period, rats received antioxidant medications for 10 days. (n = 12, for each group). Six rats from each group were sacrificed. Ovaries were removed to measure malondialdehyde, total glutathione, glutathione S-transferase, and glutathione reductase levels. the remaining rats were kept in a suitable laboratory environment. Results: Cisplatin-induced oxidative stress was best prevented by HRE, Vitamin E, Vitamin C, and TPP, in that order. However, infertility caused by cisplatin was only prevented and treated by TPP. Conclusion: Oxidative stress is not a major component in the pathogenesis of cisplatin-associated infertility. (C) 2015 S. Karger AG, Base

The frequency of Duchenne muscular dystrophy/Becker muscular dystrophy and Pompe disease in children with isolated transaminase elevation: results from the observational VICTORIA study

IntroductionElevated transaminases and/or creatine phosphokinase can indicate underlying muscle disease. Therefore, this study aims to determine the frequency of Duchenne muscular dystrophy/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) in male children and Pompe disease (PD) in male and female children with isolated hypertransaminasemia.MethodsThis multi-center, prospective study enrolled patients aged 3–216 months with serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and/or aspartate transaminase (AST) levels >2× the upper limit of normal (ULN) for ≥3 months. Patients with a known history of liver or muscle disease or physical examination findings suggestive of liver disease were excluded. Patients were screened for creatinine phosphokinase (CPK) levels, and molecular genetic tests for DMD/BMD in male patients and enzyme analysis for PD in male and female patients with elevated CPK levels were performed. Genetic analyses confirmed PD. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of the patients were analyzed.ResultsOverall, 589 patients [66.8% male, mean age of 63.4 months (standard deviation: 60.5)] were included. In total, 251 patients (188 male and 63 female) had CPK levels above the ULN. Of the patients assessed, 47% (85/182) of male patients were diagnosed with DMD/BMD and 1% (3/228) of male and female patients were diagnosed with PD. The median ALT, AST, and CPK levels were statistically significantly higher, and the questioned neurological symptoms and previously unnoticed examination findings were more common in DMD/BMD patients than those without DMD/BMD or PD (p < 0.001).DiscussionQuestioning neurological symptoms, conducting a complete physical examination, and testing for CPK levels in patients with isolated hypertransaminasemia will prevent costly and time-consuming investigations for liver diseases and will lead to the diagnosis of occult neuromuscular diseases. Trial RegistrationClinicaltrials.gov NCT04120168

Yüksek güçlü ve düşük kayıplı birleştiricilerin tasarımı ve gerçeklenmesi.

In recent high power microwave systems, power generation is commonly achieved by combining a bunch of transistor amplifier. Regarding the efficiency of power combining operation, insertion loss of the combiner is a critical parameter. In this thesis, several low loss power combiners, namely, microstrip Wilkinson combiner in 6-18 GHz frequency range, suspended stripline branchline couplers in 16.5-17.5 GHz frequency range and finally, planar probe coaxial waveguide combiners in 8.5- 11.5 GHz and 15.5-17.5 GHz frequency ranges are investigated and implemented. It is shown that planar probe coaxial waveguide combiner has much lower loss compared to the other ones. Therefore, 8 identical 2 W power amplifiers are combined using planar probe coaxial waveguide combiners of two different operating frequency bands to get 15 W outputs in both 8-12 and 15-18 GHz frequency ranges successfully.M.S. - Master of Scienc

Spatial Hearing Questionnaire : Psychometric Properties of Turkish Version and Correlations with Hearing Skills

Objective: Self-report questionnaire is informative to assess general hearing disability. The aims of this study were to investigate the reliability of Turkish version of spatial hearing questionnaire (SHQ) and to analyze the validity of the SHQ by the correlation with speech, spatial, and qualities of hearing questionnaire (SSQ) and Turkish matrix sentence test (TMST). Methods: The first part of the study was the psychometric properties of the SHQ with 192 participants (137 with normal hearing, 55 with hearing loss). In the second and main part of the study, we applied two questionnaires (SHQ and SSQ) and TMST to people other than those included in the first part of the study (88 participants with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss). We compared the results of these two questionnaires and the TMST with the speech discrimination (SD) scores. Results: Turkish spatial hearing questionnaire’s internal consistency was 0.94 and 0.97 for individuals with normal hearing and for individuals with hearing loss, respectively. Moderate, positive, statistically significant correlation was observed between the SHQ and SSQ (r = 0:606, p = 0:001 in individuals with hearing loss who do not wear any hearing aid, and r = 0:627, p = 0:001 in hearing aid users), and SHQ and SD (r = 0:561, p = 0:032 in hearing aid users). According to TMST, moderate, positive, statistically significant correlation was found between SSQ and adaptive TMST in individuals with hearing loss who do not wear any hearing aid (r = 0:330, p = 0:033 for S0N90 and r = 0:364, p = 0:018 for S0N270). Conclusions: Turkish SHQ is a valid and reliable questionnaire for assessing hearing functions. SHQ, SSQ, and TMST are clinically beneficial measuring tools in planning the process of hearing rehabilitation and follow-up

Relation of metabolic syndrome with endometrial pathologies in patients with abnormal uterine bleeding

WOS: 000369949900011PubMed ID: 26182187Purpose: We aimed to investigate the association of metabolic syndrome and metabolic risk factors with endometrial hyperplasia and carcinoma among women with abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB). Methods: This study included 199 patients who had undergone endometrial curettage due to abnormal uterine bleeding. We divided the patients into two groups according to whether they had an abnormal (n = 53) or normal endometrium (n = 146). Waist circumference, blood pressure, fasting glucose and serum lipid levels were measured and statistically analyzed. The women in each group were matched with regard to mean age, gravidity, parity and menopausal status. Results: We found increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome, diabetes, general and abdominal obesity, hypertension, elevated levels of glucose, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol and reduced levels of HDL-cholesterol among women with endometrial carcinoma and hyperplasia. These results were detected particularly in postmenopausal (450 years) women compared to pre-menopausal cases (550 years). All metabolic parameters were similar between hyperplasia and cancer groups. Conclusion: Metabolic syndrome and its components have been shown to have profound impacts on initiation and progession of endometrial pathology, particularly during postmenopausal period