Cyclospora cayetanensis associated with diarrhea in a patient with idiopathic compensated hepatic cirrhosis

A 52 year-old male patient with idiopathic hepatic cirrhosis complaining of diarrhea and weakness was accepted to the gastroenterology clinic. In order to rind out the causative etiologic agent of diarrhea, stool samples were examined by different methods and stained using modified Kinyoun's acid-fast stain. Following examination, approximately 9 mum diameter, acid-fast variable wrinkled spheres were seen and diagnosed as Cyclospora cayetanensis. Confirmation of the diagnosis was established by fluorescent microscope (380 to 420 nm excitation filter), which showed bright green to intense blue autofluorescent oocysts

Investigation of probable relationship between Toxoplasma gondii and cryptogenic epilepsy

Purpose: Cryptogenic epilepsy, defines a group of epilepsy syndromes for which an aetiology is unknown but an underlying brain disease is suspected. We selected patients in this subgroup of epilepsy and investigated the sero-positivity rate for anti-Toxoplasma IgG antibodies by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). We investigated the probable relationship between Toxoplasma gondii and cryptogenic epilepsy

Serotype distribution and antibiotic susceptibility of invasive Streptococcus pneumoniae disease isolates from children in Turkey, 2001-2004

PubMedID: 16602003[No abstract available

Macroscopic Portal Vein Thrombosis in HCC Patients

Macroscopic portal vein invasion (PVT) by hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the liver is one of the most important negative prognostic factors for HCC patients. The characteristics of a large cohort of such patients were examined. We found that the percent of patients with PVT significantly increased with increasing maximum tumor diameter (MTD), from 13.7% with tumors of MTD 10cm. There were similar numbers of HCC patients with very large tumors with and without PVT. Thus, MTD alone was insufficient to explain the presence of PVT, as were high AFP levels, since less than 50% of high AFP patients had PVT. However, the percent of patients with PVT was also found to significantly increase with increasing blood alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels and tumormultifocality. A logistic regressionmodel that included these 3 factors together showed an odds ratio of 17.9 for the combination of MTD >5.0cm plus tumor multifocality plus elevated AFP, compared to low levels of these 3 parameters. The presence or absence of macroscopic PVT may therefore represent different HCC aggressiveness phenotypes, as judged by a significant increase in tumor multifocality and AFP levels in the PVT positive patients. Factors in addition to MTD and AFP must also contribute to PVT development