We aimed to examine independent predictive factors for the severity and survival of COVID‐19 disease, from routine blood parameters, especially the blood urea nitrogen (BUN)/creatinine (Cr) ratio. A total of 139 patients with COVID‐19 were investigated at Siirt State Hospital. According to the disease severity, the patients were categorized as three groups (moderate: 85, severe: 54, and critical: 20). Then, patients were divided into two groups: nonsevere (moderate) and severe (severe and critical). Demographic, clinical data, and routine blood parameters were analyzed. In multivariate model adjusted for potential confounders BUN/Cr ratio (odds ratio [OR] = 1.70; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.20‐2.40; P = .002) and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (OR = 2.21; 95% CI: 1.20‐4.30; P < .001) were independent predictive factors for disease severity. In multivariate Cox proportional hazard model BUN/Cr ratio (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.02; 95% CI: 1.01‐1.05; P = .030), and NLR (HR = 1.17; 95% CI: 1.06‐1.30; P = .020) were independent predictors for survival of COVID‐19 disease. The optimal thresholds of the BUN/Cr ratio at 33.5 and 51.7 had the superior possibility for severe disease and mortality, area under the curve (AUC) were 0.98 and 0.95, respectively. The optimal thresholds of NLR at 3.27 and 5.72 had a superior possibility for severe disease and mortality, AUC were 0.87 and 0.85, respectively. BUN/Cr and NLR are independent predictors for COVID‐19 patient severity and survival. Routine evaluation of BUN/Cr and NLR can help identify high‐risk cases with COVID‐19.

In late 2019, a pneumonia epidemic began in Wuhan, China's Hubei Province, with a primarily unknown cause, which is now known to have spread significantly worldwide. 1 The virus that caused the disease was initially named the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and later the World Health Organization described this disease as coronavirus disease-2019 This disease usually affects individuals between the ages of 30 and 79 years. About half of those with COVID-19 have mild or indeterminate symptoms. Significant symptoms in symptomatic patients include fatigue, fever, cough, muscle pain and shortness of breath. 2,3 Sometimes, more critical conditions, such as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and multi-organ failure can be observed.Patients with these severe conditions often have comorbid diseases, especially hypertension (HT), diabetes mellitus (DM) and heart diseases. 3 Neutrophilia and lymphopenia are the most common laboratory parameters. Abnormal liver function test findings at different rates have also been reported. Serum procalcitonin levels are generally at normal levels, while mild increases in C-reactive protein levels can be seen. Moreover, D-dimer levels are high in 30% of patients. 4,5 Coronaviruses are enveloped RNA viruses that consist of a single chain and have a positive polarity. Therefore, they do not have RNA-dependent RNA polymerase enzymes, but this enzyme code

Background: Infertility is described as not receiving pregnancy despite unprotected and regular sexual intercourse in a 1 yr period. It is detected by 15% of the couples. Male and female factor in the etiology may be detected in similar rates. Objective: The present study aims to investigate ion channel gene expression in semen samples of infertile male compared with fertile men. Materials and Methods: A total of 150 men who applied to the urology clinic due to infertility were divided into five equal groups: asthenozoospermia, oligozoospermia, oligoasthenoteratozoospermia, teratozoospermia, and normozoospermia (control). All paticipants were evaluated with Cation Channel Spermia (CatSper) 1, 2, 3, 4, Proton Voltage Gated Ion Channel1 (Hv1), Potassium Channel Subfamily U1 (KCNU1), and transmembrane protein (TMEM16A) gene expression in semen samples. Results: "CatSper1, 4, HV1, KCNU1, and TMEM16A gene expression were detected higher in the oligozoospermia group compared to the controls. CatSper1, 2, 3, 4, KCNU1, and TMEM16A gene expression in the asthenozoospermia group and CatSper1, 2, 3, 4, KCNU1, and TMEM16A gene expression in the teratozoospermia group were detected lower compared to the controls. CatSper1, 4, HV1, and TMEM16A gen expression were higher in the oligoasthenoteratozoospermia men than the controls while CatSper3 gen expression was detected as lower." Conclusion: It was detected that these ion channels have an effect on sperm progressive motility and morphology. It may be considered that mutations in these ion channels may result in infertility.

Background We aimed to examine the effects of pre‐operative blood values on varicocelectomy success. Materials and methods A total of 130 patients who underwent varicocelectomy in our clinic were retrospectively analyzed. Operation success was defined as the return of all semen parameters (concentration, progressive motility, and morphology) to normal values 6 months after surgery. The patients were separated as two groups as benefiting from the treatment (Group A) and not (Group B). Results The best cut‐off value for the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), which can predict varicocelectomy success, was assigned to be 2.27, with AUC of 0.859 (%95 CI 0.795–0.922). The highest sensitivity and specificity were 0.857 and 0.731 (p < 0.001). The best cut‐off value for the mean platelet volüme (MPV) value, which can predict varicocelectomy success, was assigned to be 9.45, with AUC of 0.729 (%95 CI 0.639–0.819). The highest sensitivity and specificity were 0.655 and 0.635 (p < 0.001). Binary logistic regression analysis showed NLR ratio (odds ratio (OR): 11.2, p < 0.001) and MPV (OR: 2.65, p = 0.002) parameters as independent predictive factors in predicting varicocelectomy success. Discussion and conclusion Our study showed that low NLR ratio (≤2.27) and high MPV (≥9.45) ratio levels may be a useful pre‐operative predictive tool in identifying men who benefit most from varicocelectomy in infertile patients with varicocoele.

Background: We aimed to determine the importance of urinary biochemical parameters in predicting the severity of COVID-19 disease. Methods: Totally 133 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in our clinic were included in the study. The groups were formed according to the severity of COVID-19 disease (moderate 85, severe 29, and critical 19), and an additional control group was created from 50 healthy individuals. The correlation between urine biochemical parameters and the severity of disease was investigated. Results: Erythrocyturia, proteinuria, and glucosuria rates were significantly higher in patients than controls. In patients, the median urine specific gravity (SG) value was found to be lower (p<0.001), and median potential of hydrogen (pH) value was found to be higher compared to the controls (p<0.001). In the severe group age, erythrocyturia, proteinuria, and glucosuria were significantly higher than the non-severe group. On multivariate analysis, proteinuria (OR: 4.66, 95%CI 1.02-21.4, p=0.047) and age (OR: 1.06, 95% CI 1.03-1.10, p<0.001) were independent predictive factors for disease severity. Conclusion: Some urine biochemical parameters especially proteinuria and advanced age may be useful for predicting the COVID-19 disease severity.