No abstract

Hepatitis B infection is still a global concern progressing as acute-chronic hepatitis, severe liver failure, and death. The infection is most widely transmitted from the infected mother to a child, with infected blood and body fluids. Pregnant women, adolescents, and all adults at high risk of chronic infection are recommended to be screened for hepatitis B infection. The initial analysis includes serological tests that allow differentiation of acute and chronic hepatitis. Molecular assays performed provide detection and quantification of viral DNA, genotyping, drug resistance, and precore/core mutation analysis to confirm infection and monitor disease progression in chronic hepatitis B patients. All patients with chronic hepatitis B should be treated with antiviral medications and regularly monitored for efficient treatment. The current treatment is based on nucleos(t)ide analogs and pegylated interferons that save lives by decreasing liver cancer death, liver transplant, slow or reverse the progression of liver disease as well as the virus infectivity.

Detection of borderline and/or low positive anti-HCV results by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) leads to severe problems in routine laboratories and needs confirmation with nucleic acid amplification tests which can increase the cost. In EIA tests, if the ratio of sample to cut-off (S/Co) is ≥ 1, the sample is accepted as positive according to the manufacturers' instructions. Although over the last decade the application of S/Co values have also applied to HCV-RNA readings, the current study aims to determine whether the S/Co value is adequate and applicable for the anti-HCV EIA test, and to determine whether a correlation exists between HCV-RNA and HCV infections. A total of 658 cases (402 female, 256 male; mean age: 49.4 ± 17.0 years) who were found anti-HCV positive between January 2011-July 2013 were included in the study. Anti-HCV tests were performed by chemiluminescent EIA (Architect i2000SR, Abbott, USA and LiaisonXL Murex, DiaSorin, Italy) and HCV-RNA by real-time PCR (Cobas Ampliprep/Cobas TaqMan HCV, Roche, USA). The mean S/Co value of the cases was 7.3 ± 4.8 (range: 1.00-17.59) and mean HCV-RNA value was 2.3x105 ± 2.1x106 copies/ml. When the anti-HCV S/Co value of varying ranges was compared with HCV-RNA readings a particular trend was noted. In the anti-HCV S/Co values of 1.0-4.0; 4.1-7.0; 7.1-10.0; 10.1-13.0; 13.1-16.0 and ³16.1, HCV-RNA positivity rates were detected as 1.9%, 24.7%,37.1%, 46.7%, 56.4% and 75%, respectively. Statistical analysis indicated an intermediate positive correlation (r= 0.454) between anti-HCV ve HCV-RNA readings (p= 0.000). An adequate S/Co value was accepted as 5.0 based on the ROC analysis, and this value gave a performance confidence level of 95.6% when determining whether a patient is HCV positive. Based on the data of this study it became evident that further EIA testing is not required if the S/Co value is ≥ 5.0, however if the S/Co value is less than 5.0, then further clinical analysis and revaluation of the patient is required.

is the scientific, peer reviewed, open access international publication organ of Cyprus Turkish Medical Association. The journal is published three times a year, in April, August, and December. The journal's publication language is English.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women and in order to create alternative treatments different types of in vivo and in vitro studies have used various plant-based therapeutic agents. Humic acid (HA) induces apoptosis and has various pharmacological properties including anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative effects. In our study, we examined the cytotoxic effects of HA at concentrations of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 μg/mL in human breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cell line for 24 and 48 h. By using MTT method, it has been found out that HA 100 g/mL had cytotoxic effect on human breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cell line at both 24 and 48 h; also found out that the effective dose of HA at the same time (24 and 48 h) was 50 μg/mL. The results of our study will shed light on the development of alternative therapeutic approaches in the treatment of cancer by evaluating the cytotoxic effect of HA.

Background: Patients undergoing dialysis treatment and hemodialysis are at risk of viral infections due to inadequate cellular immunity. Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in hemodialysis (HD) centers in North Cyprus. Methods: The present study reviewed the health records of 140 patients in two dialysis units that represented all HD units in North Cyprus. Serological markers for HBV, HCV, and HIV were determined by the immunoenzymatic assay using commercial diagnostic kits (Architect i2000 SR, Abbott, USA). HCV RNA, HBV DNA, and HIV RNA were determined quantitatively using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: One hundred forty HD patients were included in the study, consisting of 39.3% (n = 55) female and 60.7% (n = 85) male patients. Five (3.6%) patients were anti-HCV positive, one (0.7%) patient was HBsAg positive, and one (0.7%) was anti-HIV positive. Anti-HCV and HBsAg were negative in all of the patients according to the PCR results. There were no significant differences between males (1.2%) and females (7.3%) in terms of anti-HCV positivity (P = 0.078), HBsAg seropositivity (P = 0.607), and anti-HIV seropositivity (P = 0.607). Conclusions: The prevalence of HBV, HCV, and HIV infection in hemodialysis patients in North Cyprus is moderate to low. The main reason for the significantly lower rates compared to other areas could be effective protective measures and national vaccination.

BackgroundStenotrophomonas maltophilia is a non-fermentative gram-negative bacillus which is widely recognised as an important nosocomial pathogen causing pneumonia, blood-stream, wound and urinary tract infections, particularly in immunosuppressed patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate a nosocomial outbreak of by S. maltophilia in an intensive care unit of a tertiary hospital and evaluate unexpected multiclonality.MethodsA total of 11 isolates from respiratory cultures in intensive care unit of a 24 bed tertiary hospital obtained over a one months period and one isolate obtained from the nebuliser during environmental screening were investigated. The bacteria were identified by Phoenix 100 system. The clonal relatedness was evaluated by PFGE and semi-automated repetitive sequence-based PCR. Genotyping tests were repeated for 10 serial subcultures.ResultsPFGE and DiversiLab yielded 10 genotypic profiles for 12 isolates. Four to eight different genotypes were observed from 10 subcultures of the same isolate.ConclusionWe conclude that, high genetic diversity and supposed multiclonal appearance of the outbreak isolates may be due to changing profiles during subcultures most probably depending on hypermutation.

Humic acid could be used as an alternative 'natural' solution for denture-cleaning agent.