Neonatal tetanus in Turkey; what has changed in the last decade?

dikici, bunyamin/0000-0001-7572-6525WOS: 000259222800001PubMed: 18713452Background: Neonatal tetanus (NT) is still considered as one of the major causes of neonatal death in many developing countries. The aim of the present study was to assess the characteristics of sixty-seven infants with the diagnosis of neonatal tetanus followed-up in the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Ward of Dicle University Hospital, Diyarbakir, between 1991 and 2006, and to draw attention to factors that may contribute (or may have contributed) to the elimination of the disease in Diyarbakir. Methods: The data of sixty-seven infants whose epidemiological and clinical findings were compatible with neonatal tetanus were reviewed. Patients were stratified into two groups according to whether they survived or not to assess the effect of certain factors in the prognosis. Factors having a contribution to the higher rate of tetanus among newborn infants were discussed. Results: A total of 55 cases of NT had been hospitalized between 1991 and 1996 whereas only 12 patients admitted in the last decade. All of the infants had been delivered at home by untrained traditional birth attendants (TBA), and none of the mothers had been immunized with tetanus toxoid during her pregnancy. Twenty-eight (41.8%) of the infants died during their follow-up. Lower birth weight, younger age at onset of symptoms and at the time admission, the presence of opisthotonus, risus sardonicus and were associated with a higher mortality rate. Conclusion: Although the number of neonatal tetanus cases admitted to our clinic in recent years is lower than in the last decade efforts including appropriate health education of the masses, ensurement of access to antenatal sevices and increasing the rate of tetanus immunization among mothers still should be made in our region to achieve the goal of neonatal tetanus elimination

The contribution of nitric oxide on the relaxation effects of diethylstilbestrol

Objectives: To evaluate the contribution of nitric oxide (NO) on the relaxation effects of diethylstilbestrol on rat uterus. Methods: Uterine rings from 8 nonpregnant Wistar Albino rats (300-350g) in the pro-estrous phase were suspended in an organ bath and electrical field stimulation applied for recording isometric tension. The influence of NO on contractile responses of rat uterine rings was investigated. The effects of NO precursor L-arginine (10(-7)-10(-4)M) concentration and NO synthase inhibitor L-nitro-arginine-methyl ester (10(-7)-10(-4)M) concentration and a combination of them on contractile responses were studied in the presence and absence of diethylstilbestrol (2x10(-4)M) concentration. The study was carried out at the Department of Pharmacology Laboratory, Faculty of Medicine, Dicle University, Diyarbakir, Turkey. Results: Totally, 30 samples were investigated (n=6 for each group, 5 groups). Diethylstilbestrol inhibited contractile responses 64.2 +/- 4.5% (n=6, p0.05). Conclusions: These data provide evidence that NO may potentiate the inhibitory effects of diethylstilbestrol by different mechanisms on the electrically induced contractions of the non-pregnant rat uterus

The Effect of Solid Surface Vitrification (SSV) Versus Classic Vitrification Technique on Survive Rate of in vitro Produced Bovine Blastocysts

The aim of this study was to compare Solid Surface Vitrification (SSV) technique and classic vitrification technique in in vitro produced 8 days old bovine blastocysts. Cryopreservation of mammalian embryo has great importance for genetic resources conservation, embryo transfer, veterinary and clinical reproductive biotechnology and animal assisted reproductive technologies. Immature oocytes were maturated then fertilized with frozen-thawed bull semen and cultured until blastocyst stage in commercial sequential culture medium for 8 days. Blastocysts were vitrified in two different groups as SSV and classic vitrification and non-vitrified blastocysts were used as control group. After vitrification, vitrified blastocysts were warmed and cultured for 1 day. For this aim, blastocyst viability rate and median cell number were investigated. The blastocyst viability rate that vitrified by classic vitrification (34.8%) were found to be lower than those vitrified by SSV (82.6%1 and control group blastocysts (100%). However, median cell numbers of vitrified-warmed blastocysts were found higher in SSV (124) than classic vitrification (104). Median cell number of control group was detected as 213. As a result blastocyst viability rate and median cell number in SSV group was higher than classic vitrification group, there was a significant difference between SSV and classic vitrification group (p<0.05)

Neonatal tetanus in Turkey; what has changed in the last decade?

Abstract Background Neonatal tetanus (NT) is still considered as one of the major causes of neonatal death in many developing countries. The aim of the present study was to assess the characteristics of sixty-seven infants with the diagnosis of neonatal tetanus followed-up in the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Ward of Dicle University Hospital, Diyarbakir, between 1991 and 2006, and to draw attention to factors that may contribute (or may have contributed) to the elimination of the disease in Diyarbakir. Methods The data of sixty-seven infants whose epidemiological and clinical findings were compatible with neonatal tetanus were reviewed. Patients were stratified into two groups according to whether they survived or not to assess the effect of certain factors in the prognosis. Factors having a contribution to the higher rate of tetanus among newborn infants were discussed. Results A total of 55 cases of NT had been hospitalized between 1991 and 1996 whereas only 12 patients admitted in the last decade. All of the infants had been delivered at home by untrained traditional birth attendants (TBA), and none of the mothers had been immunized with tetanus toxoid during her pregnancy. Twenty-eight (41.8%) of the infants died during their follow-up. Lower birth weight, younger age at onset of symptoms and at the time admission, the presence of opisthotonus, risus sardonicus and were associated with a higher mortality rate. Conclusion Although the number of neonatal tetanus cases admitted to our clinic in recent years is lower than in the last decade efforts including appropriate health education of the masses, ensurement of access to antenatal sevices and increasing the rate of tetanus immunization among mothers still should be made in our region to achieve the goal of neonatal tetanus elimination.</p

Optimal Method of Mouse Blastomere Biopsy: In vitro Developmental Potential of the Biopsied Embryo to Blastocyst Stage after Aspirated Eight-Cell Mouse Embryos

The researchers investigated the effect of blastocyst development and quality of blastomere aspiration techniques on eight-cell mouse embryos. The results clearly indicate that the in vitro development of biopsied mouse embryos depended on the suitable aspiration method. This method related to preimplantation genetic diagnosis for the genesis of animal models for animal disorders from embryos. In this study, female CB6 F1 (Balb/cXC57b1/j) hybrid mice were superovulated with hormones and superovulated females were sacrified approximately 68 h after hCG administration. About eight-cell embryos were recovered from oviducts of sacrified mouse in M2 medium. Before biopsy, all embryos were incubated to decrease cell to cell contacts to microdrops of Ca2+/Mg2+ free QAM HTF (3 mg mL(-1) BSA Fraction V) with HEPES for 90 min at 37 degrees C. A single blastomere of eight-cell embryos were aspirated by the aspiration pippetes under inverted microscope (4X). After biyopsy, embryos were cultured in SAGE medium supplemented with 5% CO2, 5% O-2 and 90% air at 37 degrees C for up to expanded blastocyst stage. After culture, 267 biopsied embryos out of 234 (88.32 +/- 7.5%) expanded blastocysts developed from the biopsy group and total cell number mean 67.8 +/- 17.2% were recorded in the experiment group and 126 non-biopsied embryos out of 118 (94.4 +/- 7.78%) expanded blastocysts developed from control embryos and total cell number mean 70 +/- 15.4% was recorded in the control group. In the present study, there was no difference in blastocysts developmental rates at post biopsy group and control group (p = 0.05). In conclusion, the biopsy the method described here is an optimal method of blastomere aspiration on in vivo mouse embryos