Biomedical subjects

E Doganavsargil

Publications and source records attributed to E Doganavsargil.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Pulmonary hypertension in rheumatoid arthritis.

Using Doppler echocardiography (DE), we measured pulmonary arterial systolic pressure (PASP) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients without coexisting cardiopulmonary diseases. Accepting the normal upper limit of PASP as 30 mmHg, we found elevated PASP in 11 out of 40 (27.5%) RA patients, values being mostly 30-40 mmHg, indicating mild pulmonary hypertension (PHT). Although estimation of PASP by DE is not as reliable as cardiac catheterisation, it is possible that mild elevations in PASP may contribute to the high incidence of cardiovascular events not explained by traditional cardiac risk factors in patients with RA. Long-term follow-up will be obviously necessary to ascertain the impact of mild PHT on the prognosis and mortality rate of RA patients.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Spontaneous bilateral perirenal hematoma as a complication of polyarteritis nodosa in a patient with human immunodeficiency virus infection.

We present a 29-year-old man with polyarteritis nodosa (PAN) having human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. This patient fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 1990 criteria for PAN, and the diagnosis was confirmed by typical arteriographic findings, including microaneurysms. Due to the rupture of microaneurysms, perirenal hematomas occurred in both kidneys. Unilateral nephrectomy was performed, and renal histology confirmed that aneurysm rupture was the etiology of the perirenal hematoma. The occurrence of renal hematomas is a usual complication of PAN. However, bilateral renal hematoma during the course of HIV-associated PAN is quite rare, and to our knowledge, this would be the second case reported in the literature. When compared with other viral agents, the association of HIV with PAN may be considered rare. However, as suggested by various reports in the literature, HIV infection should always be kept in mind while evaluating patients with PAN.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

The urinary excretion of glycosaminoglycans and heparan sulphate in lupus nephritis.

Renal involvement in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) affects the disease outcome. In order to advance the diagnosis and the initiation of therapy, non-invasive diagnostic techniques are required. In this study, urinary glycosaminoglycans (GAG) and heparan sulphate (HS) were measured in 26 patients with biopsy-proven lupus nephritis and compared to 16 healthy controls. Uronic acid as a representative of GAGs in urine was determined spectrophotometrically with the meta-hydroxydiphenyl, following acid treatment. HS was determined as hexosamine by the method of Smith and Gilkerson. The median values of GAG (3.99 mg/g crea./day) and HS (2.41 mg/g crea./day) in patients were significantly ( P = 0.001) higher than in the control group (1.98 and 0.87, respectively). There was a positive correlation between GAG and HS values ( P = 0.000, r = 0.924) in SLE patients. There were no differences in HS excretion, microalbuminuria and SLE-DAI scores between different classes of lupus nephritis. However, GAG values in class 3 nephritis were significantly ( P = 0.033) higher than from both class 2 and class 4 lupus nephritis. There were no differences in all the measured parameters between normoalbuminuric, microalbuminuric and macroproteinuric patients. Furthermore, there were no correlations between GAG, HS excretions and SLE-DAI scores or microalbuminuria. These results suggest that urinary GAG and HS may serve as useful, independent and non-invasive markers of lupus nephritis.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2001

Hypothalamus-hypophysis-thyroid axis, triiodothyronine and antithyroid antibodies in patients with primary and secondary Sjögren's syndrome.

It has been well established that, anti-thyroglobulin antibodies (ATG) and anti-microsomal antibodies (AMC) may be present in various thyroid disorders and other systemic autoimmune diseases, including Sjögren's syndrome (SS). However, presence of circulating autoantibodies to thyroid hormones, i.e. both to triiodothyronine (T3) and tetraiodothyronine (T4), has not been studied extensively in SS. Autoantibodies to T3 and T4 are very important, because serum T3 and T4 levels may be detected spuriously higher or lower, due to the presence of these autoantibodies. Their presence should be suspected when measured serum thyroid hormone levels are not consistent with clinical status of the patient. SS is a slowly progressive, inflammatory autoimmune disease, affecting primarily the exocrine glands. Thyroid gland, being a target in some autoimmune diseases, is well known to be affected in SS as well. Keeping this possibility in mind, we investigated T3 autoantibody levels and thyroid gland involvement in patients with SS. Twenty-six SS patients (F/M:22/4) with a mean age of 46.6 years, were recruited in this study. Twelve of them were accepted as primary SS (pSS), while others had secondary SS (sSS) (7 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 3 with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), 3 with progressive systemic sclerosis (PSS) and 1 with sarcoidosis). Thyroid function tests, including T3, T4, fT3, fT4, TSH, ATG, AMC, T3 antibody measurements, thyroid scintigraphy, thyroid ultrasonography and TRH stimulation tests were performed in all patients. We compared our results with those of the twenty healthy normal controls. Serum ATG and/or AMC were detected in three patients with pSS (25%) and no patients with sSS. No significant difference could be shown in the other parameters, including T3 autoantibodies and thyroid function tests. TRH stimulation test was also normal, showing that the hypothalamus-hypophysis-thyroid axis was not affected in patients both with pSS and sSS. In conclusion, we found that T3 autoantibody levels in pSS, were not significantly higher than sSS and normal controls.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Serum prolactin levels in Behçet's Syndrome.

Since prolactin (PRL) has been implicated as playing a role in the pathogenesis of certain autoimmune diseases and since Behcet's Syndrome (BS) is a unique systemic vasculitis, we investigated serum PRL levels in patients with BS. We found that mean PRL levels in patients with clinically active BS, were not significantly higher than patients with clinically inactive BS and healthy controls. This finding may be regarded as evidence that a contribution of hyperprolactinemia to the aetiopathogenesis of BS seems unlikely.

Adult↗

PubMed1998

Focal myositis.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Biopsy↗

PubMed1996

Multicentric reticulohistiocytosis.

We describe a 42-year-old man with a five-year history of arthritis mutilans-like destructive joint changes and with a one-year history of nodules on the fingers, ears, oral mucosa, pharynx, larynx, vocal cords, some being ulcerated and haemorrhagic. He was diagnosed as having rheumatoid arthritis; however, biopsies from the nodules on the oral mucosa and ear revealed multicentric reticulohistiocytosis. The large nodule over the olecranon process, simulating a rheumatoid nodule but diagnosed as multicentric reticulohistiocytosis with biopsy; ulcerated and haemorrhagic nodules on the oral mucosa; and rapidly progressive joint destructions make our case interesting.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Increased thickness of the carotid artery intima-media assessed by ultrasonography in Behçet's disease.

OBJECTIVE: Behçets disease (BD), is a unique systemic vasculitis, which affects almost all types and sizes of blood vessels. Carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) is an endothelial cell dysfunction (ECD) parameter which may also be associated with atherosclerosis. We aimed to search carotid IMT and plaque formation in BD, using high-resolution B-mode Doppler ultrasonography (USG). METHODS: We studied 114 BD patients (M/F: 68/46; mean age 38.15 +/- 9.44 years; disease duration 121 +/- 79 months), being followed up by Ege University Rheumatology Department. Age and sex-matched, 77 healthy controls, and as the disease control group 46 non-matched SLE patients were also included. Exclusion criteria for all the study participants were hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, obesity and history of cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease. Comparison of the three groups were made by ANOVA and for post-hoc confirmation, Bonferoni test was used. RESULTS: The carotid IMT in BD (mean +/- SD, 0.55 +/- 0.14 mm) was significantly higher than in healthy controls (0.48 +/- 0.09 mm) (p = 0.004), but significantly lower than in SLE (0.66 +/- 0.24 mm) (p = 0.001). Likewise, plaque frequency in BD (5/114) was significantly higher than in healthy controls (0/77), but significantly lower than in SLE (8/46) (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Despite significantly higher carotid IMT and plaque frequency in BD compared with healthy controls, these parameters in BD were not as marked as in SLE. Less severe carotid artery abnormalities in BD, may partially explain why cardiovascular morbidity and mortality do not seem to be increased in BD, unlike in SLE.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene Glu298Asp polymorphism is associated with Behçet's disease.

OBJECTIVE: The 894 G-->T (Glu298Asp) polymorphism in exon 7 of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene was previously reported to be associated with Behçet's Disease (BD) susceptibility in Italian origin and Korean patients, but not in a group of unrelated Turkish patients. We analyzed whether this polymorphism is associated with BD, in another group of Turkish patients. METHODS: We studied 132 consecutive Turkish BD patients being followed up by Ege University Rheumatology Department and 91 healthy controls. All individuals were genotyped by PCR-RFLP for 894 G-->T in exon 7 (Glu298Asp). RESULTS: The frequency of the T allele in BD group (101/264) was significantly higher than in healthy controls (OR 1.88, %95 CI 1.27-2.49, p < 0.001). The frequency of the homozygote (TT) Glu298Asp polymorphism in BD (27/132) was also significantly higher than in healthy controls (5/91) (OR 3.72, %95 CI 3.44-4.0, p < 0.001). However, no association was found between the Glu298Asp polymorphism and clinical parameters in BD. CONCLUSION: In this study, we found that Glu298Asp polymorphism of the eNOS gene was associated with BD in Turkish patients.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Anticardiolipin antibodies in acute rheumatic fever and chronic rheumatic heart disease: is there a significant association?

OBJECTIVE: The incidence and significance of IgG and IgM anticardiolipin antibodies (aCLa) in patients with acute rheumatic fever (ARF), chronic rheumatic heart disease (CRHD) and streptococcal pharyngitis have been investigated in order to determine whether these antibodies play an important role in the pathogenesis and if they are markers that can be used to confirm disease activity. METHODS: An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure the IgG and IgM aCLa levels. aCLa levels of patients were considered positive if they were greater than 3.0 standard deviations above the mean for healthy children. RESULTS: No significant difference in aCLa levels was found between patients with rheumatic fever or streptococcal pharyngitis and healthy controls, and aCLa concentrations did not correlate with the acute phase reactant levels. CONCLUSIONS: aCLa in patients with ARF and CRHD do not appear to be markers of disease activity, and our data suggest that aCLa do not play an important role in the pathogenesis of rheumatic fever.

Adolescent↗