Background and Aims. We aimed to investigate the prevalence of Giardiasis in patients with dyspepsia and patients with diabetes mellitus. Methods. 400 patients and 100 healthy persons were included in this clinical prospective study. The number of patients in each group was equal, 200 dyspeptic and 200 diabetic, respectively. The antigen of G. lntestinalis was determined in the stool specimens by ELISA method. Results. The frequency of Giardiasis was 7% in dyspeptic and 15% in diabetic patients. There was no positive results in any of the healthy persons. There was a significant difference in prevalence rate of Giardiasis between patients with dyspepsia and diabetes mellitus (P < 0.05). Conclusions. These results revealed that the prevalence of Giardiasis in dyspepsia and with diabetes mellitus was high in our country. This is the first study investigating the prevalence of Giardiasis in diabetic patients. To investigate Giardiasis in diabetic patients, who have dyspepsia or not, may be a good approach for public health.

Introduction: Standard triple therapy used to be the first-line treatment for Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection, but today it is a treatment regimen with a low eradication rate due to increasing resistance to the antibiotics included in the triple therapy.Aim: To compare the eradication rates of dual treatment regimens and quadruple treatment regimens.Material and methods: Patients over 18 years of age, who were indicated to undergo upper gastrointestinal system (GIS) endoscopy for any reason, had their upper gastrointestinal endoscopy performed, were detected to have Hp as a result of the histopathological evaluation of the biopsy material, and in whom eradication control was also performed by histopathological evaluation, were included in the study. These patients were divided into 4 groups, each containing 50 people.Results: Considering the eradication rates of Hp-positive patients according to different treatment options, 78% (n = 39) of the patients in Group 1 were eradicated after the treatment while 66% (n = 33) of the patients in Group 3, 58% of the patients in Group 2 (n = 29), and 58% (n = 29) of the patients in Group 4 had Hp negative results after treatment. When high-dose dual treatments were compared, the highest eradication rate was obtained with rabeprazole, but no statistically significant difference was detected (p = 0.11).Conclusions: This is the first study to include dual therapies consisting of 3 different PPIs at the same time. The low eradication rates obtained in our study suggest that the determination of individualized treatment strategies in which CYP2C19 polymorphism is detected may result in higher eradication rates.

Acute respiratory syndrome caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in Wuhan City of China, now known as coronavirus disease 2019 , seen firstly in December 2019, has affected more than 100 countries and more than 3.5 million people worldwide. Although it was seen only as a respiratory infection in the begining, gastrointestinal system involvement and fecal-oral spread were considered as an important factor as the pathogenesis of the virus was understood. In this review article, the mechanism of the gastrointestinal system involvement, gastrointestinal symptoms, histopathological findings of gastrointestinal system involvement, liver functions, fecal-oral transmission will be discussed.

Background/Aims: Chronic liver diseases have been shown to adversely affect the quality of life. Standardized tools for patient assessment are of great importance for treatment and follow-up of these patients. In this study, we aimed to determine the validity and reliability of the Liver Symptom Index 2.0 (LDSI 2.0) for Turkish society, for use in other studies and in daily clinical practice. Materials and Methods: A total of 308 patients with chronic liver disease attending to the outpatient liver clinic of the Department of Gastroenterology, Faculty of Medicine, Dokuz Eylül University between September 2011 and May 2012 were included in this study. A sociodemographic data questionnaire, the LDSI 2.0 comprising 24 items, and the Short Form-36 (SF-36) were completed by the participating patients. After 6 weeks, these tools were readministered to a total of 115 patients. After obtaining the required permissions, LDSI 2.0 was translated into Turkish using the translation/re-translation method. Results: Of the 308 participants, 160 (51.9%) were male and 184 (43.1%) were female, with an average age of 48.67±13.31 years. Of all cases, 70.5% had viral hepatitis. The average Child-Pugh score was 5.9±1.2, and the average Model For End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score was 10.2±3.2. The assessment tool comprised the following sub-items: itching, joint pain, abdominal pain, sleepiness, worry, appetite, depression, fear, jaundice, memory, personality, financial status, use of time, sexual desire, and sexual activity. For more than 50% of the patients, worry (68.8%), depression (65.3%), joint pain (62.3%), itch (56.5%), sleepiness (54.2%), memory problems (53.6), and sexual problems (50%) were present. The internal coefficient of consistency (Cronbach alpha coefficient) was 0.908, which indicates a very high level of consistency. The correlation coefficient for the intraobserver test/re-test reliability was 0.746 (p<0.000), which denotes a significant and good level of reliability. The construct validity between each subitem of the tool and sub-items of SF-36 was assessed using Spearman's correlation test, which showed a weak to moderate correlation (<0.04 and 0.4-0.7) in the reverse direction. Conclusion: Our study findings provide supportive evidence of the reliability of the assessment tool. Its validity is similar to the original construct validity and was confirmed in our sample. Therefore, it was concluded that LDSI 2.0 was an appropriate tool for daily clinical use and research purposes. Simultaneous use of this life-quality assessment tool and SF-36 will enable a comprehensive but practical assessment of our patients.

No abstract