Single step therapy for abscess foci localized at different parts of the body using trocar type catheter: Results of two year-experience

Objectives: The aim of this study was to emphasize the feasibility and cost effectiveness of trocar type catheter in percutaneous abscess drainage under imaging guidance and to determine the clinical efficacy of the method.Materials and methods: From June 2008 to December 2010, 48 patients who were referred to interventional radiology unit, in order to undergo percutaneous abscess drainage. All was data including age, the organ or the part of the body where the abscess was localized and size of abscess were recorded. Forty-two (87%) patients underwent drainage with ultrasonographic guidance, while 6 (13%) underwent with computed tomography guidance. One pediatric patient underwent systemic sedation anesthesia (with remiphentanyl and midazolam) and the rest of the patient with local anesthesia (with prilocain hydrochlorid). Catheterization procedure with which abscess drainage was done accepted as technically successful.Results: Imaging guided percutaneous abscess drainage procedures were performed with trocar type catheter to localized abscesses in different organs or systems in 48 patients (25 men, 23 women, mean age 52 years, range 2-82 years). Technical success was 100% in all cases. No patient had a complication during the procedure. Time to extraction of percutaneous catheter after drainage procedure was 5-28 days (mean 11.2 days). There was no recurrence except for a case, in which an abscess at the splenectomy site was successfully drained.Conclusion: Percutaneous drainage with imaging guidance using the trocar type catheter should be preferred because of its feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and reduced rate of complications in treating abscesses, which localized at different organ systems

The Association between Myocardial Iron Load and Ventricular Repolarization Parameters in Asymptomatic Beta-Thalassemia Patients

Previous studies have demonstrated impaired ventricular repolarization in patients with β-TM. However, the effect of iron overload with cardiac T2* magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on cardiac repolarization remains unclear yet. We aimed to examine relationship between repolarization parameters and iron loading using cardiac T2* MRI in asymptomatic β-TM patients. Twenty-two β-TM patients and 22 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were enrolled to the study. From the 12-lead surface electrocardiography, regional and transmyocardial repolarization parameters were evaluated manually by two experienced cardiologists. All patients were also undergone MRI for cardiac T2* evaluation. Cardiac T2* score <20 msec was considered as iron overload status. Of the QT parameters, QT duration, corrected QT interval, and QT peak duration were significantly longer in the β-TM group compared to the healthy controls. Tp − Te and Tp − Te dispersions were also significantly prolonged in β-TM group compared to healthy controls. (Tp − Te)/QT was similar between groups. There was no correlation between repolarization parameters and cardiac T2* MRI values. In conclusion, although repolarization parameters were prolonged in asymptomatic β-TM patients compared with control, we could not find any relation between ECG findings and cardiac iron load

Application of first-pass contrast bolus tracking sequence for the assessment of morphology and flow dynamics in cardiac MRI

PURPOSEThere are two well-known indications for first-pass perfusion in the literature. First is the evaluation of myocardial ischemia, and the other is the evaluation of tumor vascularity. Our aim was to assess the value of a first-pass contrast bolus tracking sequence (FPCBTS) for cases unrelated to these pathologies. MATERIALS AND METHODSA total of 35 patients (age range, 1 day to 66 years; mean age, 10.4±19.2 years; median age, 4.5 months) with suspected congenital (n=31) and acquired (n=4) heart and great vessel disease were included in the study. All the patients underwent cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and FPCBTS, and 20 patients underwent contrast enhanced magnetic resonance angiography (CE-MRA). We used cardiac MRI and CEMRA for anatomic evaluation and FPCBTS for dynamic flow evaluation. RESULTSTruncus arteriosus, double outlet right ventricle, tetralogy of Fallot, corrected transposition of great arteries, atrial and ventricular septal defect, aortic rupture, cardiac hydatid cyst, tricuspid atresia, anomalous pulmonary venous return, and interrupted aorta were detected using the technique described here. Septal defects in six patients and atrial aneurysm in two patients were excluded. The shunt gap and flow direction of the septal defects, a ruptured wall in a dissected aorta, a hydatid cyst, and the atrial relationship in two cases with paracardiac masses were diagnosed easily using this dynamic evaluation technique. CONCLUSIONFPCBTS can be performed in addition to cardiac MRI and CEMRA to reveal flow dynamics and morphology

Decoction, infusion and hydroalcoholic extract of Origanum vulgare L.: different performances regarding bioactivity and phenolic compounds

Bioactivity of oregano methanolic extracts and essential oils is well known. Nonetheless, reports using aqueous extracts are scarce, mainly decoction or infusion preparations used for therapeutic applications. Herein, the antioxidant and antibacterial activities, and phenolic compounds of the infusion, decoction and hydroalcoholic extract of oregano were evaluated and compared. The antioxidant activity is related with phenolic compounds, mostly flavonoids, since decoction presented the highest concentration of flavonoids and total phenolic compounds, followed by infusion and hydroalcoholic extract. The samples were effective against gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. It is important to address that the hydroalcoholic extract showed the highest efficacy against Escherichia coli. This study demonstrates that the decoction could be used for antioxidant purposes, while the hydroalcoholic extract could be incorporated in formulations for antimicrobial features. Moreover, the use of infusion/decoction can avoid the toxic effects showed by oregano essential oil, widely reported for its antioxidant and antimicrobial properties.The authors are grateful to Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for N. Martins Grant (SFRH/BD/87658/2012), L. Barros researcher contract under "Programa Compromisso com Ciencia - 2008" and financial support to the research centre CIMO (Strategic Project PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011)

Identification and characterization of antibacterial compound(s) of cockroaches (Periplaneta americana)

Infectious diseases remain a significant threat to human health, contributing to more than 17 million deaths, annually. With the worsening trends of drug resistance, there is a need for newer and more powerful antimicrobial agents. We hypothesized that animals living in polluted environments are potential source of antimicrobials. Under polluted milieus, organisms such as cockroaches encounter different types of microbes, including superbugs. Such creatures survive the onslaught of superbugs and are able to ward off disease by producing antimicrobial substances. Here, we characterized antibacterial properties in extracts of various body organs of cockroaches (Periplaneta americana) and showed potent antibacterial activity in crude brain extract against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and neuropathogenic E. coli K1. The size-exclusion spin columns revealed that the active compound(s) are less than 10 kDa in molecular mass. Using cytotoxicity assays, it was observed that pre-treatment of bacteria with lysates inhibited bacteria-mediated host cell cytotoxicity. Using spectra obtained with LC-MS on Agilent 1290 infinity liquid chromatograph, coupled with an Agilent 6460 triple quadruple mass spectrometer, tissues lysates were analyzed. Among hundreds of compounds, only a few homologous compounds were identified that contained isoquinoline group, chromene derivatives, thiazine groups, imidazoles, pyrrole containing analogs, sulfonamides, furanones, flavanones, and known to possess broad-spectrum antimicrobial properties, and possess anti-inflammatory, anti-tumour, and analgesic properties. Further identification, characterization and functional studies using individual compounds can act as a breakthrough in developing novel therapeutics against various pathogens including superbugs

Overin Dev Fakat Asemptomatik Musin�Z Kist Adenomu

Huge ovarian musinous cystadenomas are frequently symptomatic because of the compression effects to the other organs and decreased life quality. Here we report a case of asymtomatic musinous cyst adenoma of ovary although it is very big. It is a rare condition for a huge cystadenoma like this to be asymptomatic. It is evaluated with MRI and decided to be musinonus cyst contain. Also there is not much study about MRI images of giant ovarian cystadenomas in literature.Key words: Normal growth, Sickle cell disease, subnasale to gnathion distance, nasal index.Diğer organlara yaptıkları bası etkisi ve düşük yaşam kalitesinden dolayı dev boyutlu overyan musinöz kistadenomlar sıklıkla semptomatiktir. Bu yazıda çok büyük olmasına rağmen asemptomatik musinöz kist adenomu olan bir olgu sunulmuştur. Asemptomatik olması dev boyutlu kistadenom için nadir görülen bir durumdur. MRI incelemesi ile değerlendirilmiş ve musinöz kist içeriğine sahip olduğuna karar verilmiştir. Dev boyutlu overyan kistadenomların MRI görüntüleri ile ilgili de fazla çalışmalar yazında bulunmamaktadır

Üst katman özelliklerinin toprak sıcaklığına etkisi

Toprak sıcaklığının bilinmesi toprak kaynaklı ısı pompası uygulamaları için çok önemlidir. Toprak tek veya çoklu katmandan oluşabilir. Bu çalışmada, Adana’nın iklim verileri dikkate alınarak tek ve çok katmanlı toprak sıcaklıkları nümerik olarak hesaplanmıştır. Nümerik metottan elde edilen sonuçların doğruluğu analitik hesaplarda kullanılan basitleştirilmiş kabullerin aynısı kullanılarak elde edilen sonuçlarla kontrol edilmiştir. Analitik hesaplamalarda kullanılan basitleştirilmiş kabullerin gerçekçi olmadığı gösterilmiştir. Nümerik hesaplamalarda güneş enerjisi, bağıl nem, rüzgar hızı ve ortam sıcaklığının günlük değerleri toprak sıcaklığının yıllık hesaplamaları için kullanılmıştır. Yıl içinde aylarla toprak yüzey özelliklerini değiştirmenin toprak sıcaklık dağılımına önemli etkisi olmaktadır. Toprak içindeki maksimum ve minimum sıcaklıkların oluştuğu derinlikler doğal olarak oluşan veya suni olarak oluşturulan çok katmanlı topraklarda büyük farklılık göstermektedir. Yukarıda sözü edilen etkiler ile kış ve yaz aylarında toprak sıcaklık dağılımı kontrol edilebilmektedir.Ground temperature distribution is crucially important for ground source heat pump applications. Ground can be composed of one or multi-layers. In this study, one and multi-layer ground temperatures were calculated numerically considering the climatic conditions of Adana-Turkey. The accuracy of the results obtained from numerical method was controlled using the ones analytically obtained for exactly the same simplifying assumptions. It was shown that the simplifying assumptions for analytical calculations were not realistic. In the numerical calculations, daily values of solar energy, relative humidity, wind velocity and ambient temperature were used for yearly calculations of ground temperature distribution. Variation of ground surface properties with the months in a year has significant effects upon temperature distribution. The depths for maximum and minimum temperatures in the ground were very different in case of multi-layered grounds existing naturally or built artificially. Above mentioned effects can be used to control ground temperature distributions in winter and summer