Female workers' silicosis diagnosis delayed due to gender bias

After excluding alternative explanations, a silicosis diagnosis is based on the combination of appropriate silica exposure history and compatible clinical, radiological and occasionally pathological findings. Not taking appropriate occupational history by a physician may cause a misdiagnosis or underdiagnosis of silicosis. Herein, we present a female worker in a small-scale sandblasting factory who worked as a controller. Her silicosis diagnosis was established 10 years after her first symptoms, and she underwent invasive procedures due to a lack of inquiry about her occupational history. Gender bias may be one of the reasons that her occupational history was not taken.

Novel chemometrics‑assisted spectroscopic methods for diagnosis and monitoring of invasive ductal carcinoma in breast tissue

OBJECTIVES

Early diagnosis of breast cancer is extremely important because it is the most common female cancer and a leading cause of cancer death in adult women. In this study, it is aimed to create Raman mapping with developed chemometrics‑assisted Raman and FT-IR spectroscopy methods for the diagnosis of invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) in breast tissue samples.

METHODS

Samples were deparaffinized and 20‑micron layers of each tissue were located on a coverslip. Mapping of both healthy and cancerous tissues were performed by exposing them to Raman laser at 532 and 758 nm while excitation was recorded at wavenumbers in range of 100-4,000 cm-1. Orthogonal partial least square (OPLS) algorithm was applied to evaluate obtained Raman spectra. Latent variable was selected to explain the whole model.

RESULTS

Healthy and IDC tissues were accurately and precisely clustered with Raman mapping and obtained results were compared to those obtained by means of histopathology and FT-IR methods. It is claimed that the proposed method has a great potential in clustering and separating IDC tissues from the healthy ones.

CONCLUSION

This novel, rapid, precise, easy and objective diagnosis method may be an alternative to conventional diagnostic methods for IDC in breast tissue (Fig. 5, Ref. 22).

Amelioration of radiation-induced lung injury by halofuginone: An experimental study in Wistar-Albino rats

To evaluate effects of halofuginone (H) on radiation-induced lung injury (RILI), 60 rats were divided into six groups: Group (G) 1 control, G2 radiotherapy (RT) only, G3 and G4 2. 5 and 5 μg H and G5 and G6 RT + 2.5 and 5 μg H groups, respectively. A single dose of 12 Gy RT was given to both lungs. H was applied intraperitoneally with daily doses, until animals were killed at 6 and 16 weeks after RT. At 6th and 16th weeks of RT, five rats from each group were killed. Lung tissues were dissected for light and electron microscopy. Chronic inflammation, fibrosis and transforming growth factor-beta (TGF)-β scores of all study groups were significantly different at 6th and 16th week ( p < 0.001). Chronic inflammation, fibrosis and TGF-β scores of G2 were higher than G5 and G6 at 6th and 16th weeks of RT. At 16th week, fibrosis and TGF-β scores of G5 were higher than G6 ( p = 0.040 and 0.028, respectively). Electron microscopical findings also supported these results. Therefore, H may ameliorate RILI. The effect of the H was more prominent at higher dose and after long-term follow-up. These findings should be clarified with further studies.

Endothelin receptor inhibition with bosentan delays onset of liver injury in streptozotocin-induced diabetic condition

BACKGROUND

This study was designed to investigate the protective effects of bosentan an orally active non-peptide mixed ETA/ETB receptor antagonist, on liver injury in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

METHODS

24 Albino-Wistar rats were randomly divided into 4 groups: healthy (Group 1), diabetic (Group 2) (60 mg/kg of streptozotocin i.p.), diabetic treated with bosentan 50 mg/kg (Group 3) and diabetic treated with bosentan 100 mg/kg (Group 4). The treatment of bosentan was initiated after streptozocin injection and continued for 60 days.

RESULTS

Liver from diabetic rats showed significant increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) level and significant decrease in glutathione (GSH), and superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity. Endothelin (ET-1), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) and transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) gene expression significantly increased in the diabetic groups in the rat liver tissue. Bosentan treatment showed a significant up-regulatory effect on ET-1, TNF-α and TGF-β mRNA expression. Results from histopathological evaluation of the liver were in accordance with our biochemical and molecular results.

CONCLUSIONS

These data provide clear evidence that bosentan treatment is associated with promising hepatoprotective effect against diabetes-induced liver damage via reduction of cell inflammation and oxidative damage. These data suggest that ET receptors may be an important actor in diabetes-related liver damage, and blockage of these receptors may become a target for preventing diabetic complications in the future.

Evaluation of preoperative and postoperative S-100B levels in children with chronic adenotonsillar hypertrophy: preliminary results

OBJECTIVES

Upper air obstruction leads hypoxia, it is also known that S-100B levels increase by glial activations indicate cerebral hypoxic injury. This study aimed to evaluate the preoperative and postoperative S-100B levels in children with chronic adenotonsillar hypertrophy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

The study comprised 40 patients with indications for tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy following a diagnosis of chronic adenotonsillar hypertrophy and 40 age-gender matched control patients. Blood samples were taken from the patients preoperatively and at four weeks postoperatively. Preoperative and postoperative serum S-100B levels were analyzed.

RESULTS

The serum S-100B levels in the preoperative period were found to be significantly higher compared to those of the control group (p < 0.05). The S-100B levels were significantly decreased in the postoperative period (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

The development of chronic adenotonsillar hypertrophy would play a role in increased S-100B levels. This indicates that neuronal damage would exists in patients with chronic adenotonsillar hypertrophy.

A case of L-2 hydroxyglutaric aciduria presenting as febrile seizure

L-2 hydroxyglutaric aciduria (L2HGA) is a rare, infantile-onset, autosomal recessive organic aciduria affecting exclusively the central nervous system. A case is reported here of L2HGA presenting with macrocephaly and febrile seizure. Although there have been reports of epilepsy associated with L2HGA, to the best of our knowledge this is the second case in literature of febrile seizure in a patient with L2HGA. This report suggests that detailed neurological evaluation of macrocephalic children with febrile convulsion is important. Moreover, metabolic and genetic investigations may be necessary for these kinds of patients.

An evaluation of neuropeptide Y status in subacute sclerosing panencephalitis patients

AIM

This study aimed to evaluate the neuropeptide Y values of patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The study comprised 38 patients diagnosed with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis at our clinic, who were being routinely followed-up, together with a control group of 36. Using the Risk and Haddad classification for clinical staging, 16 patients were determined as Stage II and 22 patients as Stage III. Neuropeptide Y values were measured by Enzyme Immunoassay methods.

RESULTS

The neuropeptide Y values of the all patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis were found to be significantly high compared to the control group (p<0.01). The neuropeptide Y values of the Stage III group were found to be significantly high compared to the Stage II and control groups (p<0.05). The neuropeptide Y values of the Stage II group were not determined to be significant compared to the control group (p≤0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

Neuropeptide Y can be considered a useful parameter to confirm diagnosis at advanced stages and to establish differences between stages in patients with subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

A mutation of aspartoacylase gene in a Turkish patient with Canavan disease

Canavan disease (CD) is an autosomal recessive inherited disorder characterized by spongy degeneration of the brain. The deficiency of aspartoacylase (ASPA), resulting in the accumulation of N-acetyl aspartic acid (NAA) in the brain, plays an important role in the pathogenesis of the disease. The cardinal features of this neurodegenerative disease are macrocephaly, mental retardation, and hypotonia. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain generally shows diffuse white matter degeneration and also elevated excretion of urinary NAA is usually seen. A large number of mutations were identified to date. We report here a 9 months old girl with Canavan Disease and a homozygous c.79G>A mutation in the ASPA gene, detected for the first time in Turkish population.

Prevention of ischemia-reperfusion injury in rat ovarian tissue with the on-off method

Ischemia is defined as cell death caused by insufficient perfusion of the tissue due to reduction in arterial or venous blood flow, depletion of cellular energy storages, and accumulation of toxic metabolites. The positive effects of controlled reperfusion are known and are used clinically. But the positive effects of controlled reperfusion on ovarian tissue have not been seen in the literature yet. The biochemical and histopathological comparative investigation of rat ovaries that were experimentally exposed to ischemia (IG), ischemia-reperfusion (I/R), and ischemia-controlled reperfusion (ICR) was aimed. Forty rats were divided into four groups (10 rats per group). First group: 3 h ischemia by vascular clips on ovarian tissue. Second group: 3 h ischemia + 1 h reperfusion. Third group: 3 h ischemia + 1 h controlled reperfusion (on-off method: controlled reperfusion by opening and closing the clips (on/off) in 10-second intervals, for 5 times for a total of 100 seconds). Fourth group: healthy rats. Biochemical (tGSH, MDA, and DNA damage level and SOD activity) and histopathological analysis were performed. The highest glutathione and superoxide dismutase measurements were found in ischemia/controlled reperfusion group among the ischemia or ischemia/reperfusion groups. Similarly the damage indicators (malondialdehyde, DNA damage level and histopathological damage grade) were the lowest in ischemia/controlled reperfusion group. These results indicate that controlled reperfusion can be helpful in minimizing ischemia-reperfusion injury in ovarian tissue exposed to ischemia for various reasons (ovarian torsion, tumor, etc.).

The topographical features and variations of nervus ischiadicus in human fetuses

BACKGROUND

We aimed to investigate the topographical features and variations of ischiadic nerve during prenatal period in human.

METHODS

Our study was conducted on lower extremities of 34 human fetal cadavers who were free of any anomalies and were obtained from the department of pathology of our faculty.

RESULTS

When the development of topographical features of ischiadic nerve is considered according to the gestational weeks, it was shown that the distances increased in accordance with the age and there was a positive correlation between the two (p < 0.01), however the width of the ischiadic nerve did not increase similarly and there was no significant correlation between its width and the age (p > 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS

Understanding the structure and course of ischiadic nerve in both gluteal and femoral regions is important during all interventions to these regions due to the potential damage on the nerve itself. The knowledge of topographical features of ischiadic nerve in the prenatal period and its relations with reference points that are used especially in childhood and adults will help to follow up the variations during postnatal and grow up periods (Tab. 2, Fig. 4, Ref. 13).

Antiapoptotic effects of dehydroepiandrosterone on testicular torsion/detorsion in rats

In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) on apoptosis of testicular germ cells after repair of testicular torsion in rats. Twenty-four adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups, with six rats in each group: sham operation, torsion/detorsion (T/D), T/D + vehicle, and T/D + DHEA. Three hours before detorsion, 50 mg kg(-1) DHEA was given intraperitoneally to T/D + DHEA group. In all groups, bilateral orchiectomies were performed and both testicles were histologically examined, with apoptosis detected using the in situ DNA fragmentation [terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick-end labeling (TUNEL)] system, with morphological damage detected using a four-level grading scale in each specimen. The testes of the sham group showed a normal histology. In T/D and T/D + vehicle groups, apoptotic spermatogonia and spermatocyte number were significantly higher than in the sham group (P < 0.01 for all). The T/D + DHEA group showed a reduction in apoptotic spermatocyte and spermatogonia number in seminiferous epithelia compared with T/D group (P < 0.01 for both). Apoptotic cell number of contralateral testes did not reveal any significant differences among these groups (P > 0.05). Specimens from T/D and T/D + vehicle had a significantly greater histological injury than sham and T/D + DHEA groups in the ipsilateral testes (P < 0.01 for both). Therefore, the results suggest that DHEA may be a protective agent for preventing apoptosis caused by testicular torsion.