Ankaferd Blood Stopper(®) (ABS) is a folkloric medicinal plant extract used as a haemostatic agent in traditional Turkish medicine. The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of ABS on the healing of dermal wounds in a rat model. Twenty Wistar albino rats were divided into two groups. Standard full-thickness skin defects were created on the back of the rats. In the control group (group 1), dressings moisturised with saline were changed daily. In the study group (group 2), the wounds were cleaned daily with saline, Ankaferd solution was applied, then the wounds were covered with moisturised dressings. The contraction percentage of wound areas were calculated on the 3rd, 7th, 10th and 14th days using a planimetric programme. On day 14, the wound areas were excised for histopathological examination, inflammatory scoring and evaluation of collagen deposition. The study group was superior to the control group in terms of inflammatory scoring, type I/type III collagen ratio and wound contraction rates. ABS(®) may be used effectively and safely on full-thickness wounds as a natural product.

BACKGROUND: Acute appendicitis (AA) is the most common emergency surgical condition during pregnancy after obstetric and gynecological pathologies. Urgent and accurate diagnosis of AA in pregnant patients reduces maternal and fetal morbidity/mortality rates. This study evaluated the significance of hemogram to diagnose AA during pregnancy.METHODS: Forty-seven pregnant patients operated for AA in the Ordu or Ondokuz Mayis University Medical School Hospitals between January 2007 and December 2017 were compared with 47 healthy pregnant women in terms of hemogram parameters, including the white blood cell (WBC) count, neutrophil count, lymphocyte count, platelet count, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), mean platelet volume (MPV), and red cell distribution width (RDW) values. The operated group was evaluated based on post-operative pathologic results and subclassified into appendicitis positive (Group A) and appendicitis negative (Group B) groups. The subgroups were compared to the control group. RESULTS:The WBC and neutrophil count and mean NLR and PLR values were significantly higher in Group A compared to Group B and the control group (p<0.001). The mean lymphocyte count was significantly lower in Group A compared to other groups (p<0.001). The MPV and RDW values and mean platelet count showed no significant difference between groups (p>0.05). When cutoff values for WBC,

Introduction and aim Idiopathic granulomatous mastitis (IGM) is an inflammatory disease of the breast and has the same symptoms and radiologic imaging as breast abscess (BA). The aim of this study is to evaluate the use of inflammatory markers as white blood count (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP), and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as a potentially useful tool for the differential diagnosis of BA and IGM. Methods In this retrospective study, we analyzed 31 patients with IGM and 47 patients with BA between January 2013 and April 2020. Age, symptoms, symptomatic breast side, microbiological culture, complete blood count, and C-reactive protein (CRP) values of patients were analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to define the optimal cutoff for WBC, CRP, and NLR. Results WBC was significantly higher in the BA group compared to the IGM group (11.45 vs. 9.78; p=0.042), but no difference was found for CRP and NLR between these groups (p=0.146, p=0.081, respectively). In ROC analysis results in BA group, cutoff values, the best sensitivity and specificity for WBC, CRP, and NLR were 8.46 × 10 3 /μL (81%-70%), 1.5 mg/dl (77-76%), and 2.93 (70-82%), respectively. For IGM group, cutoff values, the best sensitivity and specificity for WBC, CRP and NLR were 8.49 × 10 3 /μL (74-70%), 1.5 mg/dl (61-76%) and 2.29 (64-72%), respectively. Conclusion This study showed that CRP and NLR cannot be used as a useful tool for differential diagnosis of IGM; furthermore, WBC is a parameter that can act as a practical guide for the differential diagnosis of BA and IGM.

Strangulated femoral hernia is a common surgical emergency. The contents of the hernial sac commonly include omentum and small bowel, but, occasionally, strangulation of other organs such as Meckel's diverticulum, stomach, ovary, or appendix may occur, resulting in unusual clinical presentations. We report of a case with strangulated femoral hernia containing the uterus and both ovaries, and this is the first report of such a case. We believe that it is important to take into consideration herniation of the uterus and ovaries with omentum or small bowel into the femoral canal to prevent various complications related to the reproductive functions of the patient.

Objectives Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II (PIVKA-II) are used as tumour markers for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We investigate whether combined liver function marker such as gamma-glutamyl transferase (GGT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) with alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and PIVKA-II increase their diagnostic predictive value in diagnosis of HCC. Methods The serum levels of PIVKA-II, AFP and GGT/AST ratio were analysed in 112 transplant candidates. Of these patients, 66 (59%) had HCC and 46 (41%) patients did not. Results Histological grade was positively correlated with serum levels of PIVKA-II and AFP (r = 0.255, P < 0.039 and r = 0.284, P < 0.021, respectively) and only tumour size positively correlated with the serum level of PIVKA-II (r = 0.270, P < 0.028), but no correlation between the number of tumour, Milan criteria and PIVKA-II (r = −0.002, P = 0.984 and r = 0.154, P = 0.216, respectively) with AFP (r = −0.024, P = 0.851 and r = 0.080, P = 0.522, respectively). Sensitivity and specificity of AFP, PIVKA-II and GGT/AST ratio at cutoff values of 6.08, 2.63 and 0.89, respectively, were as follows: 77, 77 vs 71, 83 vs 60 and 53%. The combination of AFP and PIVKA-II and GGT/AST ratio in HCC diagnosis increased AUROC values as follows; 0.860 vs 0.882 and 0.823 vs 0.840, respectively. Conclusions This study showed that combined tumour markers such as AFP, PIVKA-II and GGT/AST ratio increase their sensitivity in HCC diagnosis.