Characteristics of Covid-19 infection with the original SARS-Cov-2 virus and other variants: A comparative review

The novel coronavirus infection (Covid-19) had enormous effects on global health. Since it first emerged (in China, three more clinically significant variants developed, which were differentiated from the original virus in terms of clinical course, hospitalization, mortality, and overall outcome. These variants are Alpha (British), Delta, and Omicron variants. Each variant was the prominent infectious variant of the Covid-19 virus for a specific time. While some variants were associated with higher mortality, others were associated with a higher spreading rate compared to the rest of the variants. The present review aimed to summarize the clinical characteristics, symptoms, need for hospitalization and intensive care, mortality, and overall outcomes of the original and other three significant variants of the Covid-19 infection. We also aimed to present a brief review of post covid syndrome

Time domain (TD)-NMR relaxometry as a tool to investigate the cell integrity of tomato seeds exposed to osmotic stress (OS), ultrasonication (US) and high hydrostatic pressure (HHP)

NMR relaxometry was used to investigate the proton relaxation distribution of the tomato seeds and analyze the damages of the three different processes on the cell membrane integrity of the tomato seed. Tomato seeds were subjected to osmotic stress (OS) (10, 20, 30% NaCl solutions), ultrasonication (US) (5, 10 and 20 min) and high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) (300, 400 and 500 MPa for 15 min at 20 degrees C). Four peaks were observed in the NMR relaxation spectra of tomato seeds due to multiexponential relation behavior of the plant cell. Each peak corresponds to different water proton compartment within the cell. According to the results, all the three treatments resulted in cell permeabilization and disruption of cellular compartmentalization. Among the treatments, HHP at 500 MPa for 15 min at 20 degrees C resulted in the most detrimental effect in the cell structure and OS treatment with 10% NaCl solution caused the least changes in the cell structure. In order to further analyze the extent of damage to the cell, tomato seeds exposed to OS, US and HHP were also analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). These results have demonstrated that NMR relaxometry is a useful tool to investigate the cell integrity of tomato seeds subjected to different treatments

Ventricular fibrillation development following atrial fibrillation after the ingestion of sildenaphil in a patient with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome

Complications in the accessory pathway in Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome could cause different clinical conditions by inducing different arrhythmias. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of these arrhythmias and is important as it causes life-threatening arrhythmias. It is known that some drugs, underlying cardiac diseases, and the number of accessory pathways, cause a predisposition to this condition. In the current report, we presented a patient with WPW who was admitted to the emergency department with AF, wide QRS and a rapid ventricular response that progressed to ventricular fibrillation

Do we know properly young age breast cancer patients: a double centre study

Background: According to American Cancer Society, an estimated 268,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer was diagnosed among women, and nearly 50,000 women were under age 50 years. Therefore, the identification of young age breast cancer patients can have a collosal impact on treatment, and medical follow-up. The present study aimed to understand the young age breast cancer pathophysiology and redound new BRCA variants to literature. Methodology: This was a double-centre study performed in the Medical Genetics Department of Kahramanmaras Necip Fazıl City Hospital. In this study, sixty female patients, who are under 45 years old, diagnosed with primer breast cancer in the oncology clinic of the same hospital and Kahramanmaraş Sutcu İmam University were included. The patients were selected for BRCA mutation testing based on NCCN Guideline Version 3.2019 BRCA1/2 Testing Criteria. Relatives who meet the same criteria from the same family were not included to prevent repetition. Patients with known other cancer syndromes were also excluded. Results: We found that Luminal-B type breast cancer was the most frequent subtype (p < 0.001), patients with Luminal-A subtype breast cancer had significantly smaller tumor size and smaller grade than those had other subtypes of breast cancer at diagnosis stage (p = 0.03 and p < 0.001, respectively). Regarding tumor localization, the breast carcinomas were mostly localized in the right breast (53.3%). Two patients (3.3%) had BRCA1 pathogenic mutation and five patients (8.3%) had BRCA2 pathogenic mutation. Additionally, we found two new variations in BRCA2 gene (c.478_488delGTATGTGGGAG and c.8830 A>T (rs4987047). All BRCA1/2 MLPA results were normal. Conclusion: The incidence of young age breast cancer varies among countries, and it is higher in developing countries. Understanding of young age breast cancer cases will be helpful to provide suitable treatment options and will help to reduce the death rate of these patients. [JBCGenetics 2021; 4(1.000): 35-41

Micronucleus evaluation in mitogen-stimulated lymphocytes of PUVA treated patients

PUVA describes the treatment of patients with psoralens plus an exposure to a source of UV light of 320-400 nm (UVA). Contradictory results have been reported on the chromosomal damage of PUVA when assayed by sister chromatid exchange (SCE) method. Micronucleus (MN) test is used to detect both clastogenic (breaking) and aneugenic (abnormal segregation) effect of physical/chemical agents on the chromosomes. No data have been found on the MN formation in the cells of PUVA treated patients. Frequency of micronuclei in 72 hours cultivated/mitogen-stimulated lymphocytes of patients have been evaluated at zero time and after 20, 40, 60 sessions of PUVA treatment. While the beginning MN frequency was similar to0.22% (n = 23), it raised to similar to0.32 (n = 23), similar to0.42 (n = 14) and similar to0.53% (n - 10) corresponding respectively to 20, 40 and 60 sessions. These sessions correspond reciprocally to 54+/-23, 172+/-48, 300+/-61 joules/cm(2) of UVA and 13, 26, 39 mg/kg of 8-metoxypsoralen (8-MOP). While large interindividual. variances were apparent, highly significant differences have been observed between initial MN frequency and after that of the 20, 40 and 60 sessions, (p = 0.000, p = 0.004, p = 0.005, reciprocally, Wilcoxon two-related samples test). The coefficient of correlation between MN frequency and UVA doses starting from zero to 60 sessions of treatment has been found as r = 0.61. This indicates a significant relationship between UVA doses and MN frequencies. However, MN inducibility and synergistic property of 8-MOP with UVA should be taken into account. Gradual MN increase during different sessions of PUVA treatment shows that -once appeared-, a part of MN at least persist in the cells of patients from a few days to a few weeks. Smoking as a confounding factor seems to increase MN frequency (p = 0.053, Mann-Whitney U-test) in the beginning population, taken as the control population. This is the first report on the kinetics of MN formation during different sessions of PUVA treatment. Based on our results, we concluded that PUVA treatment causes a detectable chromosome damaging effect on the relatively profound cells/tissues of its human users. Therapists should be careful with its use, especially on the patients who may be more susceptible to carcinogenesis (e.g. immunosuppressed and/or elderly subjects)

Reversible Immobilization of Urease by Using Bacterial Cellulose Nanofibers

WOS: 000327494800030PubMed ID: 24068477In this work, bacterial cellulose nanofibers were produced by using the Gluconacetobacter hansenii HE1 strain. These nanofibers were derivatized with dye affinity ligand Reactive Green 5, and these newly synthesized dye-attached nanofibers were used for affinity adsorption of urease. Reactive Green 5-attached nanofibers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, SEM, and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy analysis. Some adsorption conditions which significantly affect the adsorption efficiency were investigated. The maximum urease adsorption capacity was found to be 240 mg/g nanofiber in pH 6.0 and at room temperature. Dye-free plain nanofibers also used for studying nonspecific urease adsorption onto plain nanofibers and nonspecific adsorption were found to be negligible (3.5 mg/g nanofiber). Prepared dye-attached nanofibers can be used in five successive adsorption/desorption steps without any decrease in their urease adsorption capacity. The desorption rate of the adsorbed urease was found to be 98.9 %. The activity of the urease was also investigated, and it was found that free and desorbed urease from the dye-attached nanofibers showed similar specific activity

Effect of Modified Global Risk Classification on Prognosis at Patients Undergoing Bypass Surgery and Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with Multi-vessel Disease

WOS: 000436145200010Objective: The aim of this study was to compare mortality and myocardial infarction in patients with multi-vessel disease using "Modified Global Risk Classification" (mGRC). Methods: We divided 579 patients into low, intermediate risk with a high EuroSCORE (IE), intermediate risk with a high SYNTAX score (IS), and high Modified Global Risk groups. Patients were evaluated for death, myocardial infarction, cerebrovascular events, need for re intervention, and a primary endpoint, which denotes the occurrence of any one of the four events. Results: Comparing the bypass surgery and percutaneous coronary intervention groups using mGRC showed significantly better prognostic results in the bypass surgery patients for the rate of the occurrence of the myocardial infarction for the IS group (p=0.047). In terms of the primary endpoint, the EuroSCORE, SYNTAX score, and Global Risk Classification (GRC) were found to be independent risk factors in logistic regression analysis. The ability of GRC to discriminate for the 1-year mortality was found to be better than that of the EuroSCORE and SYNTAX score. Conclusion: With the evaluation of the EuroSCORE and SYNTAX score together, the modified GRC, which includes both anatomical and clinical risk factors, provides an additional benefit for predicting the prognosis and decision of treatment in patients with multi-vessel disease

The association between serum vitamin B-12 deficiency and tension-type headache in Turkish children

WOS: 000433091600004PubMed: 29520674This study aimed to determine the relationship between serum vitamin B12 level and tension-type headache. The study groups consisted of 75 patients (40 females, 35 males) with headache and a control group of 49 healthy children (25 females, 24 males). Serum vitamin B12 level < 200 pg/ml was defined as deficient, and < 160 pg/ml as severely deficient. The serum vitamin B12 level was measured by the electrochemiluminescence (ECLIA) method. The serum vitamin B12 levels in the headache and control groups were 273.01 +/- 76.77 and 316.22 +/- 74.53 pg/ml, with the difference determined as statistically significant (p = 0.003). In the case group, 18/75 patients (24%) had a serum vitamin B12 level below the normal of 200 pg/ml, and in the control group 4/49 (8%) patients were also below the normal range (p = 0.021). The serum vitamin B12 level in the children with tensiontype headache was significantly lower than that in the control group. Fromthe results of the study, itwas concluded that there may be an association between vitamin B12 level and tension-type headache. However, further clinical studies are needed