Role of Adipokines and Hormones of Obesity in Childhood Asthma

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate serum levels of leptin, ghrelin, and adiponectin in obese and non-obese children with asthma and in healthy non-asthmatic children, and analyze their relationships with clinical outcomes. Methods: This study enrolled 40 obese and 51 non-obese children with asthma and 20 healthy children. Body mass index and serum leptin, ghrelin, and adiponectin levels were determined in all children. Asthma symptom scores and lung function test results were recorded for subjects with asthma. Results: Serum leptin levels (11.8 +/- 7.9, 5.3 +/- 6.8, and 2.1 +/- 2.4 ng/mL in the obese asthmatic, non-obese asthmatic, and control groups, respectively) and adiponectin levels (12,586.2 +/- 3,724.1; 18,089.3 +/- 6,452.3; and 20,297.5 +/- 3,680.7 ng/mL, respectively) differed significantly among the groups (P<0.001 for all). Mean ghrelin levels were 196.1 +/- 96.8 and 311.9 +/- 352.8 pg/mL in the obese and non-obese asthmatic groups, respectively, and 348.8 +/- 146.4 pg/mL in the control group (P=0.001). The asthma symptom score was significantly higher in the obese children with asthma than in the non-obese children with asthma (P<0.001). Leptin and adiponectin levels were correlated with the asthma symptom score in non-obese children with asthma (r=0.34 and r=-0.62, respectively). Conclusions: Obesity leads to more severe asthma symptoms in children. Moreover, leptin, adiponectin, and ghrelin may play important roles in the inflammatory pathogenesis of asthma and obesity co-morbidity

Assessment of the requisites of microbiology based infectious disease training under the pressure of consultation needs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Training of infectious disease (ID) specialists is structured on classical clinical microbiology training in Turkey and ID specialists work as clinical microbiologists at the same time. Hence, this study aimed to determine the clinical skills and knowledge required by clinical microbiologists.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was carried out between June 1, 2010 and September 15, 2010 in 32 ID departments in Turkey. Only patients hospitalized and followed up in the ID departments between January-June 2010 who required consultation with other disciplines were included.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 605 patients undergoing 1343 consultations were included, with pulmonology, neurology, cardiology, gastroenterology, nephrology, dermatology, haematology, and endocrinology being the most frequent consultation specialties. The consultation patterns were quite similar and were not affected by either the nature of infections or the critical clinical status of ID patients.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of our study show that certain internal medicine subdisciplines such as pulmonology, neurology and dermatology appear to be the principal clinical requisites in the training of ID specialists, rather than internal medicine as a whole.</p

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 primary headaches: genetics, epigenetics and a behavioural genetic model

The primary headaches, migraine with (MA) and without aura (MO) and cluster headache, all carry a substantial genetic liability. Familial hemiplegic migraine (FHM), an autosomal dominant mendelian disorder classified as a subtype of MA, is due to mutations in genes encoding neural channel subunits. MA/MO are considered multifactorial genetic disorders, and FHM has been proposed as a model for migraine aetiology. However, a review of the genetic studies suggests that the FHM genes are not involved in the typical migraines and that FHM should be considered as a syndromic migraine rather than a subtype of MA. Adopting the concept of syndromic migraine could be useful in understanding migraine pathogenesis. We hypothesise that epigenetic mechanisms play an important role in headache pathogenesis. A behavioural model is proposed, whereby the primary headaches are construed as behaviours, not symptoms, evolutionarily conserved for their adaptive value and engendered out of a genetic repertoire by a network of pattern generators present in the brain and signalling homeostatic imbalance. This behavioural model could be incorporated into migraine genetic research

The Effects of Power, Speed, Skill and Anaerobic Capacity of Different Training Models in Young Male Basketball Players

WOS: 000348487900024The purpose of the present study is to examine the power, speed, skill and anaerobic capacity on men's basketball for 16 weeks endurance training along with the general basketball training. The study involved 36 male basketball players such as, Control Group (CG), Endurance Group (PE) and the General Endurance Group (GE). The shot test, 20 m running test, squat jump, countermovement jump, running-based anaerobic sprint tests were applied to the groups during the Pre- Exercise and Post-Exercise. Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine the differences between evaluations of the groups. While considering the Running Based Anaerobic Speed Test of the Difference among groups in the evaluation of 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th in run evaluation Pre-Exercise was between CG and PE and between CG and GG, Post-Exercise was in favor between CG and PE in all miming values, When considering the Power Index Between Difference Groups, In evaluation of The Pre-Exercise, values were 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th runs, and there was significant difference between the groups CG and GD and CG and PE. As a result, it is considered to be appropriate for practicing the method in the development of young basketball players of the cardiovascular and metabolic stability in addition to specific agent's interval training

20-300 MHz Frequency Generator with-70 dBc Reference Spur for Low Jitter Serial Applications

This paper presents a frequency synthesizer based on a phase locked loop (PLL) targeting low jitter applications. The frequency generator covers a range wider than a decade, more explicitly from 20 to 300 MHz. Thanks to a 4-stage ring oscillator, it can provide quadrature signals and exhibit a -117 dBc/Hz phase noise at an offset of 1 MHz from the carrier. Settling time simulations on MATLAB and Cadence Spectre match with measurement results, which yield maximum 1.3 mu s (or 26 reference cycles) for N to N+1 switching, while N denotes the integer division ratio. PLL core draws a current less than 5 mA when it is supplied from a 1.8 V dc supply. PLL is driven by a 20 MHz clock source having 0.67 ps rms jitter. At 200 MHz, the circuit provides a differential output with 2.05 ps rms jitter (equivalent to 0.41 mUI) within an integration window from 10 Hz to 40 MHz and creates a reference spur lower than -70 dBc

Wireless Energy and Data Transfer for Neural Recording and Stimulation Applications

This study presents design and implementation of a wireless energy and transfer system. The system is targeted to work in accordance with neural recording and stimulation purposes, more specifically for in-vivo epilepsy monitoring. A brief overview of the system is given and supported with detailed explanations of functional blocks. An in-vitro experimental setup has been designed and used for performance characterization while mimicking tissue absorption. 35% power transfer efficiency has been achieved to transfer 10 mW to the implant unit from 10 mm. Moreover, 50 kbit/s and 500 kbit/s downlink data communication has been realized with 19% and 33% power transfer efficiencies, respectively

Capacitive Detuning Optimization for Wireless Uplink Communication in Neural Implants

This study presents a wireless energy and data transfer system for neural implants with an emphasis on epilepsy monitoring. A wireless uplink data transmission system is built upon a remote powering system based on magnetic coupling which has been implemented previously. Uplink communication from the implant unit to the external base station is realized by shifting the resonance frequency of the load coil in the implant side. Effect of different detuning capacitances on power transfer efficiency and energy per bit is investigated. The in-vitro measurements of the system exhibits 32% power transfer efficiency while transferring 1 Mbit/s data from 10 mm distance at 8.5 MHz using a detuning capacitance of 120 pF. Furthermore, an optimization based on data rate, energy per bit, and power transfer efficiency has been proposed for the resonance frequency shift keying method