The reliability and validity of Turkish version of Childhood Asthma Control Test

Introduction  

The reliability and validity of Turkish version of Childhood Asthma Control Test (C-ACT).     

Traditional Chinese medicine research in the post-genomic era: good practice, priorities, challenges and opportunities

Background and aims

GP-TCM is the 1st EU-funded Coordination Action consortium dedicated to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) research. This paper aims to summarise the objectives, structure and activities of the consortium and introduces the position of the consortium regarding good practice, priorities, challenges and opportunities in TCM research. Serving as the introductory paper for the GP-TCM Journal of Ethnopharmacology special issue, this paper describes the roadmap of this special issue and reports how the main outputs of the ten GP-TCM work packages are integrated, and have led to consortium-wide conclusions.

Materials and methods

Literature studies, opinion polls and discussions among consortium members and stakeholders.

Results

By January 2012, through 3 years of team building, the GP-TCM consortium had grown into a large collaborative network involving ∼200 scientists from 24 countries and 107 institutions. Consortium members had worked closely to address good practice issues related to various aspects of Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) and acupuncture research, the focus of this Journal of Ethnopharmacology special issue, leading to state-of-the-art reports, guidelines and consensus on the application of omics technologies in TCM research. In addition, through an online survey open to GP-TCM members and non-members, we polled opinions on grand priorities, challenges and opportunities in TCM research. Based on the poll, although consortium members and non-members had diverse opinions on the major challenges in the field, both groups agreed that high-quality efficacy/effectiveness and mechanistic studies are grand priorities and that the TCM legacy in general and its management of chronic diseases in particular represent grand opportunities. Consortium members cast their votes of confidence in omics and systems biology approaches to TCM research and believed that quality and pharmacovigilance of TCM products are not only grand priorities, but also grand challenges. Non-members, however, gave priority to integrative medicine, concerned on the impact of regulation of TCM practitioners and emphasised intersectoral collaborations in funding TCM research, especially clinical trials.

Conclusions

The GP-TCM consortium made great efforts to address some fundamental issues in TCM research, including developing guidelines, as well as identifying priorities, challenges and opportunities. These consortium guidelines and consensus will need dissemination, validation and further development through continued interregional, interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaborations. To promote this, a new consortium, known as the GP-TCM Research Association, is being established to succeed the 3-year fixed term FP7 GP-TCM consortium and will be officially launched at the Final GP-TCM Congress in Leiden, the Netherlands, in April 2012.     

Pulmonary tuberculosis in infants under one year of age

This study describes the clinical and radiological features of tuberculosis in infants under one year of age. Medical records were reviewed for infants aged 12 months or less with proven tuberculosis. Six patients' data were evaluated. Cough and tachypnea were the major symptom and sign, respectively. Contact with an adult case of tuberculosis was present in five of the cases. Tuberculin skin test was positive in only one case. Mycobacterium tuberculosis was cultured from gastric aspirates of four of five infants and from cerebrospinal fluid in one case. Consolidation was the most common parenchymal lung lesion occurring in four of the patients. Mediastinal or hilar lymphadenopathies were also detected in four of the patients and calcifications were seen within the enlarged nodes in two of them. Antituberculous treatment appeared to be well tolerated without significant adverse effects. Significant radiological improvement was noted after a mean period of 4.6 months.     

Imaging findings of an extradigital fibro-osseous pseudotumor

Fibro-osseous pseudotumor (FOPT) is a rare and benign ossifying lesion. Described as the superficial variant of myositis ossificans (MO), this rare entity mostly occurs in the subcutaneous tissues of the digits. The FOPT clinicopathological features may mimic a variety of benign and malignant soft tissue lesions, and the diagnosis can be difficult when it arises in an unusual anatomic location. In this report we describe the clinical and radiological features of a case of an FOPT that involved the hypothenar region of the hand.     

Retrospective evaluation of epidermal skin prick tests in patients living in Aegean region

Sensitization to aeroallergens of Aegean region is not well decumented. In this study we evaluated the epidermal skin prick test results of the patients who applied to allergy outpatient department retrospectively. Epidermal skin prick test of the 5055 patients were evaluated. Of these patients 2638 (52 %) were female, 2417 (48 %) male, 1213 (24 %) adult and 3842 (76 %) pediatric patient, 1163 (23 %) patients were allergic rhinitis, 2477 (49 %) were bronchial asthma, 505 (10 %) were allergic rhinitis with bronchial asthma, 556 (11 %) were chronic urticaria, 253 (5 %) were wheezy infant and 101 (2 %) patients were atopic dermatitis, 2932 (58 %) had atopy history in their first and second degree relatives. Patients were aged between 3.5 months and 79 years (mean 14.1 3.2 years and median 11 years). In epidermal skin prick tests sensitization to house dust mites (D. farinae, D. pteroniyssinus), pollens (grass, cereals and trees), moulds, animal danders, foods (especially in early childhood) and cockroach were evaluated. Our data indicate that allergens that may be the cause of the high prevalence of allergic diseases in Izmir are probably produced by pollens and mites.     

Characteristics of children with positive tuberculin skin test

The aim of the study was to define the characteristics of children with latent tuberculosis diagnosed with positive tuberculin skin test (TST) and evaluate potential risk factors in children with positive TST. Children followed with the diagnosis of latent tuberculosis infection were included in the study retrospectively. Demographic characteristics of patients including history of atopy, respiratory infections, family history of tuberculosis and atopy, number of BCG vaccinations, findings of physical examination and laboratory data were extracted from patient's file. Eighty-one children (51 male, 30 female) who had positive TST were retrospectively evaluated in the study. Mean age of the patients was 8.00 ± 4.00 years. Only 13 (16%) of the children had contact with a case who had active tuberculosis. It was shown that the age of the patients, number of BCG scars and BCG vaccination significantly affected TST reaction size. TST size was not affected with time passed after last dose of BCG vaccination, family history of tuberculosis, presence of TST positive case in the family, exposure to cigarette smoke, number of household family members and presence of respiratory allergic disease. The patient's age, numbers of BCG vaccination and BCG scars significantly affect TST results in childhood. This may cause difficulty in diagnosing latent tuberculosis infection and in decision of initiating prophylactic treatment. The results of this study may show that recently developed, more accurate and convenient in vitro tests that they have higher costs and require sophisticated laboratory, can be used to diagnose latent tuberculosis.     

Imaging serotonergic transmission with [11C]DASB-PET in depressed and non-depressed patients infected with HIV

IntroductionSite-selective imaging can provide significant insight into the mechanism of HIV-associated neurological disease. The goal of this study was to evaluate the involvement of serotonergic transmission in HIV-associated depression using [¹¹C]DASB, a serotonin transporter (5-HTT)-specific radiopharmaceutical for positron emission tomography (PET).MethodsNine depressed HIV+ subjects (HIV-D), 9 non-depressed HIV+ subjects (HIV-ND) and 7 healthy controls (HC) underwent an MRI scan and a [¹¹C]DASB-PET scan. The outcome measure was 5-HTT binding potential normalized to non-displaceable tissue radioligand (BP_ND).ResultsHIV-ND subjects had lower mean regional 5-HTT BP_ND estimates across regions compared to HC, while HIV-D subjects demonstrated higher mean regional binding values than HIV-ND subjects in most regions. Prior to correction for the false discovery rate, HIV-ND had significantly lower BP_ND values compared to HC subjects in two regions (insula and anterior cingulate) and all HIV+ patients had significantly lower binding than HC in all regions except for the midbrain, thalamus and pons. After correction for the false discovery rate, only the insula showed significantly lower binding in HIV+ subjects compared to HC (P < 0.0045). Despite a significant difference in the duration of illness between the HIV-D and HIV-ND groups, there was no definite correlation between the duration of illness and BP_ND.ConclusionLower [¹¹C]DASB binding in HIV+ patients compared to HC may reflect serotonergic neuronal loss as a component of generalized HIV-associated neurodegeneration. Higher mean regional BP_ND values in HIV-D compared to HIV-ND subjects could reflect increased density of 5-HTT, leading to increased clearance of serotonin from the synapse, which could account, in part, for symptoms of depression. The lack of correlation between duration of illness and binding argues against these findings being the result of differential neurodegeneration only. Our findings suggest a possible role for dysregulated serotonergic transmission in HIV-associated depression.     

The effectiveness of asthma therapy alternatives and evaluating the effectivity of asthma therapy by interleukin-13 and interferon gamma levels in children.

This study evaluated the superiority of combination therapy over steroid therapy alone by using clinical and laboratory data including interleukin (IL)-13 and interferon (IFN) gamma, which participate in the characteristic inflammation and have not been studied to evaluate the efficiency of asthma treatment sufficiently. Moderate persistent asthma patients, aged 7-17 years were included in the study. Patients were randomized to three groups. Group 1 used inhaled budesonide, group 2 used inhaled budesonide plus inhaled formoterol fumarate, and group 3 used inhaled budesonide and oral montelukast sodium therapy. At the beginning and at the end of the 2nd month a detailed physical examination and clinical evaluation; total IgE levels and total eosinophil count in peripheral venous blood, serum IL-13, and IFN-gamma levels; pulmonary function tests; and an assessment questionnaire (Pediatric Asthma Quality-of-Life Questionnaire with Standardized Activities [PAQLQ{S}] were performed. Sixty-seven patients completed the study. Serum IL-13 levels and PAQLQ(S) scores before the therapy and serum IL-13 levels after the therapy were significantly different between the groups and other parameters did not show any significant differences. Serum IgE level was decreased after the therapy in group I and increased in groups 2 and 3, but the difference was insignificant. In all groups total eosinophil levels were decreased insignificantly. After the therapy, IL-13 levels were decreased in groups 1 and 2 and increased in group 3, but the difference was not statistically significant. When compared with the levels before the therapy IFN-gamma levels were decreased after the therapy but the difference was not statistically significant. When the improvement rates for IgE, total eosinophil, IL-13, and IFN-gamma levels and each parameter of respiratory function tests were compared, there were no significant differences between the therapy groups. In all groups PAQLQ(S) scores were significantly improved after the therapy. Our results showed that steroid and other agent combinations do not have any superiority to steroids only; but according to pulmonary function tests and clinical indicators, all three therapy models are effective. These results suggested that the inhalation steroids, as the oldest agents, are still preserving their place and importance in asthma therapy.