PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A Yüce

Publications and source records attributed to A Yüce.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Effect of vitamin E on ruminal fermentation in vitro.

The effects of vitamin E on pH value, total protozoa counts, volatile fatty acid (VFA), ammonia nitrogen and lactate levels were examined using an in vitro ruminal incubation system. The ruminal fluid (100 ml) of the first and second group was supplemented with 0.4 mg or 0.8 mg of vitamin E, respectively. Samples were taken immediately before and following 3, 6, 12 and 24 h of incubation at 39 degrees C and analysed for the total protozoa counts, the pH and the levels of ammonia nitrogen, lactate and VFA. Levels of propionate at 24 h and ammonia nitrogen at 12 and 24 h were significantly higher in the second group than in the control. In contrast, the levels of butyrate at 6, 12 and 24 h and lactate at 6, 12 and 24 h were lower in the second group than in the control. Propionate at 24 h, acetate levels at 6, 12 and 24 hand ammonia nitrogen levels at 6, 12 and 24 h and total rumen protozoa counts at 6, 12 and 24 h were significantly higher in the second group as compared with control. In contrary, butyrate levels at 6, 12 and 24 h, lactate levels at 6, 12 and 24 h were lower in second group than in control. There was no statistically significant difference among the groups in the pH values. In conclusion, the addition of vitamin E to in vitro ruminal fluid was found to increase the concentrations of acetate and propionate, total counts of protozoa, levels of ammonia nitrogen, but to decrease the butyrate and lactate levels of the ruminal aliquots in in vitro ruminal fermentation.

Ammonia↗

Autoimmune hepatitis.

Autoimmune hepatitis is one of the causes of chronic progressive liver disease in childhood. Here we report 14 cases with clinical findings, therapeutic management and prognosis, in order to define the course of the disease. Diagnosis of autoimmune hepatitis was done with the presence of at least one of these autoantibodies; antinuclear antibody, smooth muscle antibody, liver-kidney microsomal type 1 antibody, and perinuclear antineutrophilic cytoplasmic antibody. Patients were seen every 3 to 6 months. After doing a complete physical examination, biochemical parameters and autoantibodies determined at each visit. Mean age at diagnosis was 10.9 +/- 2.6 years (range, 7-15.5 years) and female to male ratio was 1:3. Thirteen patients had jaundice and all had high levels of ALT, AST and gammaglobulin. Hepatomegaly was found in 71.4% and splenomegaly in 64.3% of the patients. All patients were classified as type 1 autoimmune hepatitis. Liver biopsies revealed severe active hepatitis with mononuclear cell infiltration in portal areas, piecemeal necrosis. Drug therapy consisted of prednisone (2 mg/kg/day) per oral at the beginning, and addition of azathioprine (1.5 mg/kg/day) per oral at the 3rd-6th month with slow tapering of prednisone in 12 children. Both drugs were started together to two patients. Follow-up period was 30.7 +/- 15.6 months (range, 12-72 months). Sustained normalization of ALT could not be obtained with tapering doses of prednisone alone. Decrease in ALT levels did not correlate with disappearance of serum autoantibodies. None of the patients showed decompensation of liver disease. Azathioprine administration is necessary to decrease prednisone dose and to maintain a sustained normal transaminase values.

Adolescent↗

Brucellar spondylitis: MRI findings.

This study was carried out to identify the distinguishing features of brucellosis on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI examinations were performed in 14 patients with spinal brucellosis. A 1-T Magnetom (Erlangen, Siemens) was used to obtain T1-weighted (TR/TE 500/30) and T2-weighted (TR/TE 2000/80/20) spin echo sequences, in both sagittal and axial planes. Thirty-three percent of the vertebrae and 18 levels of disc were involved in the 14 brucellar spondylitis cases. Eleven patients (79.8%) with discitis revealed anterior superior vertebral body involvement. Fourteen (77.7%) of the levels with discitis displayed soft tissue swelling without presence of abscess formation. Seven facet joints of five patients with discitis displayed signal increase after contrast enhancement. Vertebral body signal changes without morphologic changes marked signal increase in the intervertebral disc on T2-weighted and contrast-enhanced sequences, and soft tissue involvement without abscess formation can be accepted as specific MRI features of brucellar spondylitis. The facet joint signal changes following contrast enhancement is another MRI sign of spinal brucellosis, which has not been mentioned so far.

Adolescent↗

Mutation analysis in Turkish patients with hereditary fructose intolerance.

Thirteen Turkish patients with hereditary fructose intolerance (HFI) were screened for the three common mutations, A149P, A174D and N334K, in the aldolase B gene that have been detected frequently in European population. We found that nine of the patients carry the A149P mutation in both alleles, which corresponds to a frequency of about 55%. Single-strand conformation analysis of all coding exons of the gene was also performed to detect unknown mutations in four patients not carrying the three common mutations. No aberrant migration patterns were observed in these patients.

Alleles↗

Helicobacter pylori infection and recurrent abdominal pain in Turkish children.

BACKGROUND: Helicobacter pylori infection is primarily acquired in childhood. However, the association between H. pylori infection and recurrent abdominal pain (RAP) remains unclear. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred and forty-one children with and 21 without RAP underwent upper gastrointestinal endoscopy. At least five antral gastric biopsies were obtained from each patient and the presence of H. pylori infection was accepted when at least two out of four tests (histology, direct antral smear, culture, and rapid urease test) were positive. Patients with H. pylori infection underwent triple therapy with omeprazole, clarithromycin, and metronidazole. RESULTS: Eighty-five out of 141 (60.3%) patients with RAP were H. pylori positive whereas 5 out of 21 (20.8%) patients without RAP were (p =.0037). Symptoms were disappeared in 87% of children whose H. pylori infection was eradicated compared with 41% of those in whom the infection was not eradicated (p =.0035). CONCLUSIONS: It was concluded that children with RAP and H. pylori infection appear to benefit from eradication therapy in Turkey.

Abdominal Pain↗

Vancomycin-resistant enterococci in neonates.

Fecal-oral transmission of vancomycin-resistant strains of Enterococci (VRE), which colonize the human gastrointestinal tract, has led to nosocomial epidemics in recent years. The aim of this study was to establish the incidence and associated factors of fecal colonization with VRE in neonates. In our hospital 110 rectal swab specimens collected in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) were examined for VRE. For comparison, rectal swabs collected from 42 healthy neonates on the obstetrics ward were also analyzed. Of the NICU patients, 8 had VRE MICs of 8-64 microg/ml for vancomycin and 2-32 microg/ml for teicoplanin, whereas none of the healthy newborns, had VRE (p < 0.05). All patients positive for VRE had factors known to be associated with VRE carriage, such as low birth weight or long-term antibiotic therapy.

Cross Infection↗

Prolonged interferon alpha treatment in children with chronic hepatitis B.

Interferon alpha has been used widely to treat hepatitis B virus infection in children. However, the overall initial response rates have been < 50% and several strategies have been attempted to improve this. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of prolonged interferon alpha treatment in children who did not respond to a previous course of interferon alpha treatment. Twenty-seven children with chronic hepatitis B who had not responded to a 6-month course of interferon alpha 2a (5 MU/m2 body surface) thrice weekly subcutaneously continued to receive interferon alpha at the same dosage for another 6 months without a rest phase. The children were followed for 6 months after completing 12 months of therapy. All of them had HBsAg, HBV-DNA and HBeAg tested on completion of the first course. Six of the 27 (22.2%) cleared both HBV-DNA and HBeAg after completion of therapy and all six had a sustained response. Pre-treatment predictive factors were not significantly associated with treatment response. No adverse effect of interferon was seen during follow-up. We conclude that prolonged interferon treatment is well tolerated and leads to additional benefit.

Alanine Transaminase↗

Glycogen storage disease type Ia: frequency and clinical course in Turkish children.

The aim of this study was to determine the relative frequency of type Ia in glycogen storage disease (GSD) with prominent liver involvement and to determine its clinical and laboratory findings and prognosis in Turkish children. From 1980 to 1998, 45 out of 100 GSD patients (27 male) with liver involvement had been diagnosed for type Ia. The files were retrospectively evaluated and clinical and laboratory features were documented. In addition to routine laboratory evaluations, urine albumin, calcium excretions, and plasma biotinidase activity were measured. Breast-feeding was continued in all infants. After 6 months of age, uncooked cornstarch was administered to the patients. The relative frequency of type Ia in GSD with liver involvement was 45%. The diagnosis was made in 71% of patients before 2 years of age (median 1 year). Main complaint was abdominal protruding (57.8%), and main physical finding was hepatomegaly (100%). Forty percent of the patients had growth retardation at diagnosis. Among laboratory parameters, hypertriglyceridemia (97.8%) and hypertransaminasemia (95.6%) were the most frequent findings following plasma biotinidase activity, which was elevated in all patients. Microalbuminuria was determined in 52.8% of the patients and hypercalciuria in 23.8%. Histopathological findings of the liver included fibrosis (75.6%), steatosis (37.8%), mosaicism (24.4%) and nuclear hyperglycogenation (15.6%). During follow-up period, the ratio of patients with growth retardation did not change. Transaminases were decreased in 48.7% of the patients. Although triglyceride and cholesterol levels decreased in the majority of the patients, they did not normalise. The prevalence of type Ia in GSD with prominent liver involvement was found higher than the other reports. Microalbuminuria was also higher than the previous reports.

Adolescent↗