The Effects of Mineral Water Drinking and Extra-abdominal Pressure in Elimination of Attenuation Artifacts on Myocardial Perfusion SPECT

Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy is often used non-invasive diagnostic test for detection of coronary artery disease, myocardial viability, risk assessment and prediction of prognosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate of mineral water drinking and extra-abdominal pressure for elimination of attenuation artifacts on myocardial perfusion SPECT. A total of 27 patients (20 males, 7 females) who have suspicious findings on stress image were included in this study. If patients were reported ischemia or infracted on myocardial perfusion SPECT, they were excluded from the study. Stress SPECT imaging was repeated continuously three times following basal imaging, application of extra-abdominal pressure and after mineral water drinking. SPECT slices were obtained and "Summed Stress Scores" were calculated from three SPECT imaging. Double-blinded two clinicians visually evaluated these slices and have rated based on ease of evaluation as "best image", "Medium" and "Low". Additionally four groups were created from 4 rating areas which had Summed Stress Scores of 3 or above on Polar Map. Mineral water drinking and application of extra-abdominal may be better than basal imaging. Although a method selecting was difficult in theassessment of inferior and inferoseptal wall. Among the three applications for "Summed Stress Scores" were statistically significant differences with Friedman's test in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th groups (p=0.03, p=0.008, p=0.005 and p=0.0001, respectively). For evaluation of suspicious lesions in the anterior and anteroseptal region, basal imaging did not significantly differ from application of extra-abdominal pressure. Mineral water drinking (and close to the pressure) was found better than basal imaging in Group 2 and 3. In Group 4, there was not significant difference between the application of extra-abdominal pressure and mineral water drinking. On static images, we did not found any significant change for intrathorasic localization and axis of left ventricul among three SPECT. The most remarkable finding among three SPECT was gradually decreasing of hepatic uptake. We though that change in Summed Stress Score in both application of extra-abdominal pressure and mineral water drinking may only be due to decreases in hepatic activity associated with time. [Med-Science 2015; 4(4.000): 2869-83

Tumor necrosis factor gene polymorphisms in Turkish patients with sarcoidosis

Background As reported recently, some gene polymorphisms are suspected to determine susceptibility to sarcoidosis and are held responsible for the extent and progression of the disease. Polymorphism at -857 locus of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha gene is considered to be a predisposition factor in sarcoidosis and held responsible for pathogenesis of the disease. We compared these polymorphisms in healthy Turkish control subjects and Turkish patients with sarcoidosis

Protective Effects of Erythropoietin and N-Acetylcysteine on Methotrexate-Induced Lung Injury in Rats

Objective: Methotrexate (MTX) is known to have deleterious side effects on lung tissue. We aimed to investigate the effects of erythropoietin (EPO) and N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) on MTX-induced lung injury in rats. Study Design: Animal experiment. Material and Methods: Twenty-six female Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into 4 groups. Sham group, 0.3 mL saline; MTX group, 5 mg/kg MTX; EPO group, 5mg/kg MTX and 2000 IU/kg EPO; NAC group, 5 mg/kg MTX and 200 mg/kg NAC were administered once daily for 4 consecutive days. Malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and inflammation and congestion scores in lung tissues were evaluated. Results: In MTX group MDA were significantly higher, CAT and SOD were significantly lower than in sham, EPO and NAC groups (p0.005). In group MTX both scores were significantly higher than in sham (p<0.005). The congestion score of group MTX was significantly higher than those of group EPO and NAC (p<0.005). Conclusion: EPO and NAC have significant preventive effects on MTX-induced lung injury in rats. Decreased antioxidant capacity and increased MDA level may cause the oxidative damage in MTX group. Also, higher antioxidant capacity and lower MDA level may be a response to oxidative stress in EPO and NAC groups

Role of host interleukin 1 beta gene (IL-1B) and interleukin 1 receptor antagonist gene (IL-1RN) polymorphisms in clinical outcomes in Helicobacter pylori-positive Turkish patients with dyspepsia

Background. Helicobacter pylori infection leads to different clinical outcomes depending on both host and bacterial factors. In a recent study, we identified H. pylori cagE and babA2 genotypes as independent predictors of duodenal ulcer (DU) and gastric cancer (GC) in dyspepsia patients, but no previous studies have examined the role of host-related genetic factors in Turkey. This time our aim was to evaluate whether polymorphisms of the interleukin 1B (IL-1B) and the interleukin 1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RN) genes are important factors in the differential expression of gastroduodenal diseases in H. pylori-positive dyspepsia patients. Methods. Ninety-three H. pylori-positive patients, 30 with nonulcer dyspepsia (NUD), 30 with DU, and 33 with GC, were investigated. The IL-1B-511 and IL-1B-31 biallelic polymorphisms, and the IL-1RN intron 2 variable number tandem repeat were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction and single-strand confirmation polymorphism analysis. Results. The IL-1RN-1/1 genotype was significantly more prevalent among patients with NUD than among those with GC (chi(2) = 9.270; P = 0.002), and the IL-1RN-1/2 genotype was significantly more common in patients with GC (chi(2) = 6.01; P = 0.014). Multivariate regression analysis showed that cagE, babA2, and IL-1RN-1/2 genotypes were independent predictors of GC, but when patients with benign disorders were grouped together (NUD + DU) and compared with patients with GC, regression analysis disclosed that babA2 (P = 0.000) and IL-1B-31 gene polymorphisms (CC or CT) (P = 0.01) were the only independent markers of GC. Conclusions. When analyzed together with host genetic factors, the wellestablished bacterial risk factor babA2 seems to be the most important predictor of malignant disorders, and the presence of the IL-1B-31TT genotype emerges as a protective factor against them

Infection and genotype relationship in multiple sclerosis: Do Chlamydophila pneumoniae and human herpes virus-6 infections together with APO E alleles have a role in the etiopathogenesis of multiple sclerosis?

Despite numerous studies in many laboratories over several years, the etiology of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is still unknown. It was suggested that some infectious agents play a role in the etiology of MS. This study included 39 patients with MS, 10 patients with other neurological disorders (OND) and a control group of 42 healthy people. There was no significant difference between MS, OND and HC groups for Chlamydophila pneumoniae based on having past infection positivity (p > 0.05). Chronic C. pneumonia infection was detected in 8 cases with MS and 3 cases in the healthy control group, and no chronic chlamydia infection was detected in patients with OND. No significant difference was found among the three groups. Antibody titres at 1/50 and higher IgG were detected in 34(87.2%), 8(80%) and 30(71.4%) of the patients with MS, OND and the healthy control group, respectively. There was no statistically significiant difference among these groups. No C. pneumoniae and HHV-6 DNA was detected in CSF samples from the patients with MS and OND. There was no significant difference for the distribution of all APO E alleles for MS and healthy control groups. Moreover, no significant difference was found in the distribution of all APO E alleles for patients who had antibody titres for past infection with C. pneumonia and HHV-6 between MS and control group. In conclusion, our data suggested that there was no contribution from the association of the C. pneumoniea and HHV-6 infections to the etiopathogenesis of the MS and our results are in concurrance with two important meta-analysis studies reported in 2006, but large scale, prospective new trials are needed to clarify this subject as proposed in meta-analysis considirations