Background: We aimed to investigate the prognostic value of baseline neutrophil, lymphocyte, and platelet counts along with the neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) in local and advanced gastric cancer patients. Materials and Methods: In this retrospective cross-sectional study, a total of 103 patients with gastric cancer were included. For all, patient characteristics and overall survival (OS) times were evaluated. Data from a complete blood count test including neutrophil, lymphocyte, monocyte, white blood cell (WBC) and platelet (Plt) count, hemoglobin level (Hb) were recorded, and the NLR and PLR were obtained for every patient prior to pathological diagnosis before any treatment was applied. Results: Of the patients, 53 had local disease, underwent surgery and were administered adjuvant chemoradiotherapy where indicated. The remaining 50 had advanced disease and only received chemotherapy. OS time was 71.6±6 months in local gastric cancer patients group and 15±2 months in the advanced gastric cancer group. Univariate analysis demonstrated that only high platelet count (p=0.013) was associated with better OS in the local gastric cancer patients. In contrast, both low NLR (p=0.029) and low PLR (p=0.012) were associated with better OS in advanced gastric cancer patients. Conclusions: This study demonstrated that NLR and PLR had no effect on prognosis in patients with local gastric cancer who underwent surgery and received adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. In advanced gastric cancer patients, both NLR and PLR had significant effects on prognosis, so they may find application as easily measured prognostic factors for such patients.

Skin bleeding time could reveal the uremic platelet dysfunction and beneficial effect of dialysis in the patients who presented with uremic symptoms and treated with HD for the first time. We suggest that skin bleeding time may be an appropriate test for the evaluation of hemostasis disturbance in uremic patients and prediction of the bleeding risk before invasive procedures.

Objectives: Aim of the study was investigating the effect of serum vitamin D levels on health-related quality of life in hemodialysis patients. Method: One-hundred and twenty-three maintenance hemodialysis patients were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Patients divided into 2 groups according to serum vitamin D levels. A serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH] D) level of < 20 ng/mL was identified as vitamin D deficiency (n = 78), and a serum level of ≥20 ng/mL was identified as normal (n = 45). Kidney Disease Quality of Life 36 (KDQOL-36) survey was used for quality of life measurement. Scores of the all of 5 subscales of KDQOL-36 were calculated. Multiple linear regression analyses were used to define independent risk factors affecting the survey. Results: Mean age of patients was 62 and 56% of patients were male. Mean 25(OH) D levels were 11.86 and 29.57 ng/mL, respectively, in 2 groups. There was statistically significant difference between age and Kt/V levels between 2 groups (p = 0.008 and p = 0.041). Age and gender were found as significant predictors of vitamin D deficiency (p = 0.026 and p = 0.021). In symptom and problem list subscale, gender and comorbidity were detected as independent risk factors (p = 0.050 and p = 0.032). Comorbidity was the only independent risk factor for effect of kidney disease subscale (p < 0.001). Independent risk factors associated with burden of kidney disease subscale were comorbidity and serum 25 (OH) D levels (p = 0.003 and p = 0.023). Serum 25(OH) D, gender, and comorbidity were independently associated with physical component summary (PCS) subscale (p < 0.001, p = 0.008, and p = 0.011). The only independently associated factor with mental component summary (MCS) was serum 25(OH) D (p < 0.001). Conclusion: We first showed the relationship between serum vitamin D levels and KDQOL-36 in hemodialysis patients. Lower serum vitamin D levels were negatively associated with burden of kidney disease, PCS, and MCS subscales.

Background and objective: Prolonged corticosteroid (CS) use induces osteoporosis; the pathogenesis of this condition is multifactorial and includes CS-induced hypercalciuria. We investigated the course of hypercalciuria and related markers of bone metabolism parameters during and after the CS treatment. Materials and Methods: We recruited 42 patients who were taking at least 10 mg/day of methylprednisolone or an equivalent dose of CSs for at least 30 days. The 24-h urinary calcium and sodium, a spot urinary calcium/creatinine ratio, and urinary deoxypyridinoline were measured prior to the treatment, at day 7, at days 30-60, and after the cessation of the treatment. Additionally, the serum levels of phosphorus, calcium, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), albumin, creatinine, osteocalcin, and parathyroid hormone (PTH) were analyzed. Results: The 24-h urinary calcium excretion was significantly increased at day 7 (182.2 ± 158.6 mg/day; p < 0.001) and at days 30-60 (196.9 ± 167.8 mg/day; p < 0.001) compared with baseline (98.7 ± 88.1 mg/day) and returned to basal level after the cessation of the CSs (118.9 ± 90.2 mg/day; p = 0.725). The urinary deoxypyridinoline level was significantly higher at days 30-60 compared with basal level. The serum osteocalcin level was decreased at days 30-60 when compared with day 7. No significant changes were detected in the PTH, phosphorus, creatinine, and ALP levels. Conclusions: CS treatment induces hypercalciuria just after starting the treatment until the end of it. CS-induced hypercalciuria promptly improved after cessation of the treatment. By days 30-60, the excretion of urinary deoxypyridinoline was accompanied by hypercalciuria. The serum osteocalcin level was decreased at days 30-60 when compared with day 7.

Aims and Scope Eurasian Journal of Medicine (Eurasian J Med) is an international, scientific, open access periodical published by independent, unbiased, and tripleblinded peer-review principles. The journal is the official publication of