Association of oxidative stress with clinical characteristics in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

BackgroundFew studies examining the association between oxidative stress and clinical parameters or disease activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are available. Therefore, the objective of this study was to test whether oxidative stress has any association with clinical parameters and disease activity in patients with RA

PLASMA ADA AND PON1-ARYLESTERASE ENZYME ACTIVITIES IN LUNG CANCER PATIENTS

GURBUZ, ASLIHAN/0000-0002-5089-3965WOS: 000264089500214

Effect of spa therapy with saline balneotherapy on oxidant/antioxidant status in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: a single-blind randomized controlled trial

Oxidative stress has been shown to play a contributory role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Recent studies have provided evidence for antioxidant properties of spa therapy. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether spa therapy with saline balneotherapy has any influence on the oxidant/antioxidant status in patients with RA and to assess clinical effects of spa therapy. In this investigator-blind randomized controlled trial, we randomly assigned 50 patients in a 1:1 ratio to spa therapy plus standard drug treatment (spa group) or standard drug treatment alone (control group). Spa group followed a 2-week course of spa therapy regimen consisting of a total of 12 balneotherapy sessions in a thermal mineral water pool at 36-37 A degrees C for 20 min every day except Sunday. All clinical and biochemical parameters were assessed at baseline and after spa therapy (2 weeks). The clinical parameters were pain intensity, patient global assessment, physician global assessment, Health Assessment Questionnaire disability index (HAQ-DI), Disease Activity Score for 28-joints based on erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28-4[ESR]). Oxidative status parameters were malondialdehyde (MDA), nonenzymatic superoxide radical scavenger activity (NSSA), antioxidant potential (AOP), and superoxide dismutase (SOD). The NSSA levels were increased significantly in the spa group (p = 0.003) but not in the control group (p = 0.509); and there was a trend in favor of spa therapy for improvements in NSSA levels compared to control (p = 0.091). Significant clinical improvement was found in the spa group compared to the control in terms of patient global assessment (p = 0.011), physician global assessment (p = 0.043), function (HAQ-DI) (p = 0.037), disease activity (DAS28-4[ESR]) (0.044) and swollen joint count (0.009), and a trend toward improvement in pain scores (0.057). Spa therapy with saline balneotherapy exerts antioxidant effect in patients with RA as reflected by the increase in NSSA levels after spa therapy; whether this antioxidant effect contributes to the clinical improvements observed remains to be verified

A Comparative Study on Thyroid Function in Alzheimer's Disease: Results From a Turkish Multi-Centre Study

WOS: 000361529400006Alzheimer's disease is a very severe degenerative disease that affects brain function. Neuronal loss, accumulation of extracellular amyloid beta containing plaques and accumulation of intracellular (tau) neurofibrillary tangles are the hallmarks of this disease. We aim to investigate serum thyroid function tests in Alzheimer's disease, in addition to other dementias, and geriatric Turkish patients. We evaluated patients from Ankara, Dokuz Eylul, Cukurova University Hospitals. 357 female and male geriatric subjects were enrolled. All the cases were selected from three different geographical regions irrespective of sex and socioeconomic status. In this study, we evaluated the results of thyroid functions in Alzheimer disease patients as well as in other dementias and geriatric patients. In patients from Ankara, Central Anatolia region, no significant difference between groups regarding the routine control of biochemical parameters was observed. However, thyroid function results revealed that hypothyroidism in Alzheimer's disease patients from Mediterranean region, Adana and Aegean region, Izmir is a recurrent medical condition and is often an embedded side of the normal aging process. We concluded that currently, routine thyroid functions tests should be a part of all geriatric patients for screening presymptomatic Alzheimer's disease. There might be an interplay between reduced thyroid function and Alzheimer's disease that could be exploited for diagnostic purposes

Potential associations between alterations in gut microbiome and obesity-related traits after the bariatric surgery

Background This study aimed to examine the effects of both obesity and bariatric surgery on gut microbiome, dietary intake, as well as metabolic and inflammatory parameters. Methods All participants (15 with morbid obesity who had bariatric surgery, 8 with morbid obesity and 11 non-obese) were followed up for a 6-month period with interviews at baseline (M0), at the end of 3 (M3) and 6 months (M6). Dietary assessment was done, and blood and faecal samples were collected. Results Dietary energy and nutrient intakes as well as serum glucose levels, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels decreased after surgery (p 0.05) after the surgery, leading to a significant decrease in Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio (p = 0.01). At sub-phylum level, the abundances of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium decreased, whereas those of Akkermansia increased after the surgery (p 0.05) at M3 and M6. Similarly, alpha-diversity indices were lower in subjects with morbid obesity at M0, but became similar to levels in non-obese controls at M6. Conclusion This study confirmed that bariatric surgery has substantial impacts on gut microbiome's composition and diversity, as well as anthropometrical measurements and biochemical parameters, which were associated with the alterations in dietary intake patterns

Evaluation of photodynamic therapy and nuclear imaging potential of subphthalocyanine integrated TiO2 nanoparticles in mammary and cervical tumor cells

###EgeUn###This study, subphthalocyanines (SubPc) and SubPc integrated TiO2 nanoparticles (SubPc-TiO2) were synthesized as novel photosensitizers. Their PDT effects were evaluated. Furthermore, nuclear imaging potential of I-131-labelled SubPc/SubPc-TiO2 were examined in mouse mammary carcinoma (EMT6) and cervix adenocarcinoma (HeLa) cell lines. The uptake results show that SubPc labelled with I-131 radionuclide ((131) I-SubPc) in EMT6 and HeLa cell lines was found to be approximately the same as in the WI38 cell line. However, the uptake values of SubPc-TiO2 labelled with I-131(I-131-SubPc- TiO2) in EMT6 and HeLa cell lines were determined to be two times higher than in the WI38 cell line. In other words, the target/non-target tissue ratio was identified as two in the EMT6 and HeLa cell lines. I-131-SubPc-TiO2 is promising for imaging or treatment of breast and cervix tumors. In vitro photodynamic therapy studies have shown that SubPc and SubPc-TiO2 are suitable agents for PDT. In addition, SubPc-TiO2 has higher phototoxicity than SubPc. As a future study, in vivo experiments will be held and performed in tumor-bearing nude mice.Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, TUBITAKTurkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK) [114Z430]The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey, TUBITAK (Grant no: 114Z430)