Evaluation of the relationship between caries indices and salivary secretory IgA, salivary pH, buffering capacity and flow rate in children with Down's syndrome

The aim of this study was to compare the caries prevalence and salivary secretory IgA (sIgA), salivary pH, buffering capacity and flow rate between Down's syndrome (DS) and control subjects. Seventy-three institutionalised children with DS and 70 normal children aged 7-12 years old were included in this study. Tooth-brushing habits and daily dietary sugar exposures of the children, family income and education levels of the parents were recorded. DMFS and dfs scores were assessed according to the World Health Organisation's criteria and stimulated whole saliva samples were collected. Salivary sIgA levels were determined by radial immunodiffusion technique, the average salivary flow rate was measured from the total volume, and salivary pH and buffering capacity were determined using a pH micro-electrode. All data were analysed using SPSS version 11.0. The DMFS and dfs scores were significantly lower in the DS group than the control group (P < 0.05). Otherwise, the difference in plaque scores between the DS and control groups was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). There were no significant differences in tooth-brushing habits and daily dietary sugar exposures of the children, family income and education levels of the parents between the two groups (P > 0.05). Salivary sIgA levels were significantly higher in the DS group (P < 0.05). Salivary pH, buffering capacity and flow rate were quite similar in both the DS and control groups (P > 0.05). In conclusion, the patients with DS had a significantly lower prevalence of caries and significantly higher levels of salivary sIgA in this study. This finding tends to support the hypothesis that higher levels of salivary sIgA may protect against dental caries.     

Erratum to: The genotoxic effect of radiofrequency waves on mouse brain

Journal of Neuro-Oncology -     

一名无精症和开咬合畸形男性体内的额外标记染色体15

额外标记染色体15（sSMC[15]）是最常见的标记染色体,通常认为如果不包含Prader-Willi／Angelman综合症关键区（Prader-Willi／Angelman syndrome critical region,PWACR）,这一标记染色体就无关紧要。较大标记的关键区域的临床意义在几乎所有与标记染色体15相关的报告中都被提及,较小的标记仅与轻微畸形、无精症、习惯性流产相关。然而,这些不包含PWACR的小额外标记染色体15也可能决定某一基因表现型。我们在一个遗传学门诊对一名无精症病人进行畸形检查,根据标准的细胞遗传学方法进行外周血淋巴染色体分析,还对Y染色体微缺失进行了核仁组织区（NOR）连接、C-连接、荧光原位杂交（Fluorescence in situ hybridization,FISH）以及分子学研究。临床评估确定为畸形特征伴有无精症及重度“安氏Ⅱ类1分类开咬合畸形”。分子细胞遗传结果显示有小额外标记染色体15存在,此外,Y染色体微缺失分析显示无精症不是Y染色体微缺失的结果。额外标记染色体15和下颌不规则的症状同时出现在这一病例中,这可能只是巧合,但也可能标明了一个不仅只是无精症的特定表现型,其特征包括不育、颧骨发育不全、下颌不规则、瘢痕瘤形成以及轻微畸形特征。     

Seborrhoeic dermatitis-like tinea faciei in an infant

The patient we present herein is a 6-month-old infant who had erythema and scaling on the central part of the face for 4 months. Both the abundant scaling and the localisation, but also the low age of this infant led to suspect seborrhoeic dermatitis. Direct microscopic examination of scales showed septate hyphae and the cultural examination was also positive for dermatophyte. The found species was Trichophyton mentagrophytes. We describe this patient to highlight the importance of considering tinea faciei in the differential diagnosis of all facial eruptions and the value of mycological examination.     

Investigation of HER-2 codon 655 single nucleotide polymorphism frequency and c-ErbB-2 protein expression alterations in gastric cancer patients

AIM: To investigate both whether the risk of gastric cancer is associated with the Ile/Val single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 (HER-2) transmembrane domain-coding region at codon 655 and the suggested existence of HER-2 expression in gastric cancer cases in a Turkish patient group. METHODS: Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) strategy was used to analyze the presence of HER-2 SNP at codon 655. c-erbB-2 expression pattern was analyzed by immunohistochemistry. The results were compared between gastric carcinoma group and chronic gastritis group, as well as between clinicopathological parameters and carcinoma. RESULTS: Results showed that Ile/Val genotype accounted for 20% within the Turkish gastric carcinoma group, and none in chronic gastritis group, and this ge-notyping was associated with stage IV gastric cancers (P = 0.04). Positive membranous HER-2 immunoreac-tivity, on the other hand, accounted for 24% within the Turkish gastric carcinoma group and none from chronic gastritis cases; further, it was correlated with intestinal type carcinomas (P = 0.007), and stage III-IV carcinomas (P = 0.004). CONCLUSION: These observations imply that the tested HER-2 SNP may participate in the development and progression of gastric cancer. Thus, after confirming these results with large sample groups, HER-2 codon 655 SNP and/or c-erbB-2 overexpression may also be used as a poor prognostic indicator for gastric carcinomas.     

Patients with iron deficiency anemia have an increased prevalence of gallstones

We determined the frequency of gallstones (GS) in iron deficiency anemia (IDA) patients and evaluated factors that could affect GS formation—like lipid levels and gallbladder (GB) motilities of the patients. One hundred and eleven IDA patients (88 females, 23 males; median age, 42) and 81 healthy controls (68 females, 13 males; median age, 42) were included into our study. The clinical findings of all IDA patients were recorded down; biochemical values and body mass index (BMI) were determined; and abdominal ultrasonography was performed. In addition, GB emptying was monitored by ultrasound at 30-min intervals for 2 h after a mixed meal in randomly chosen, age-matched 25 IDA patients and 26 controls. Fasting volume (FV), residual volume (RV), and ejection fraction (EF) for all GBs were determined. The frequency of GS plus cholecystectomy was significantly higher in IDA patients (15 cases, 13.5%) than in the control group (five cases, 6.2%, p = 0.048). IDA patients with GS plus cholecystectomy were older than those without GS plus cholecystectomy (p < 0.001). FV and EF did not differ between IDA and control groups (p > 0.05). On the other hand, RV was significantly higher in IDA group than in controls (p = 0.035). The frequency of GS in IDA patients was significantly higher than in controls. The increased prevalence of GS in IDA might be explained with impaired GB motility.     

Triggers in adult asthma: are patients aware of triggers and doing right?

BackgroundAs triggers have a potential to induce asthma exacerbations, awareness of the patients to individual triggers as well as protective measures might be helpful to prevent asthma attacks. Though allergens and allergen avoidance have been studied extensively, there are only few studies on non-allergic triggers and their avoidance for adult patients with asthma. In this study, we wanted to investigate asthma triggers and compliance to the preventive measures in an adult population.MethodsOne hundred and thirty one adult asthma patients were enrolled into the study. A face to face interview was done by using a questionnaire including individual asthma triggers, prevention measures against major modifiable triggers and knowledge sources of the cases.ResultsRegardless of asthma severity, 59.5 % of the subjects reported to be triggered by more than 10 factors. The most common triggers were air pollutants (89.3 %) and weather changes (81.7 %). Severe group was more frequently affected by medications, emotional stress, weather changes and indoor pollutants than other severity groups (p = 0.017, 0.014, 0.049 and 0.018, respectively) whereas stress was reported more frequently by females than males. Prevention measures were insufficient regarding some major triggers.ConclusionAdult patients are vulnerable to several triggers regardless from underlying severity of the illness. Insufficient compliance to the major preventive measures indicates that new strategies are needed to prevent asthma attacks caused by modifiable triggers.     

Helicobacter pylori seropositivity and its relationship with serum malondialdehyde and lipid profile in preeclampsia

Objective: To investigate Helicobacter pylori seropositivity rate in preeclamptic and healthy pregnants. Additionally, we compared serum malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and lipid profile between H. pylori‐positive and negative cases. Method: This study included 53 preeclamptic and 30 healthy pregnants. Serum levels of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high‐density lipoprotein (HDL‐C) and low‐density lipoprotein (LDL‐C), MDA, and H. pylori Ig G antibodies were measured. Results: Preeclampsia group had higher serum MDA levels compared with healthy pregnants (P<0.001). While the rate of H. pylori seropositivity was 43/53 (81%) in the preeclampsia group, this was 18/30 (% 60) in normal pregnants (odds ratio (OR), 2.86; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.05–7.82; P=0.036). We further divided the preeclampsia group as H. pylori‐positive and H. pylori‐negative subgroups. In H. pylori‐positive group, serum TC (P<0.01) and LDL‐C (P<0.01) levels were significantly higher than those of H. pylori‐negative group. Mean MDA concentration was higher in H. pylori‐positive group than that of H. pylori‐negative group (P<0.001). Conclusion: H. pylori‐positive pregnants may have a high risk for preeclampsia and H. pylori may be one of the causes for high MDA levels in preeclampsia. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 23:219–222, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.