Pentraxin-3, endothelin-1, some biochemical parameters and hematology in bovine respiratory disease complex.

Abstract. Background: Infectious bovine respiratory disease complex (BRDC) is one of the world's major livestock problems. Aims: The study aimed to determine the diagnostic importance of pentraxin-3, endothelin-1, clinical biochemistry, and hematological parameters in infectious BRDC. Methods: Animals in this study were Simmental breed, 1-7 years old, untreated, and healthy and BRDC cattle (40 cattle with BRDC in the disease group, and 10 healthy cattle in the control group). Clinical findings such as general posture, respiratory rate per minute, rectal temperature, heart rate per minute, and mental posture of the diseased cattle were recorded. Blood samples were taken from the jugular vein only once from all cattle. Complete blood count from blood samples was measured in an automatic complete blood count device, biochemical parameters in an autoanalyzer, and pentraxin-3 and endothelin-1 were measured by ELISA method. Results: Rectal temperature, respiratory and pulse rates per minute, total leukocyte count, gamma-glutamyl transferase, urea, total bilirubin, lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, pentraxin-3 and endothelin-1 concentrations were found to be statistically higher in BRDC group than those in the control group (P<0.001). Conclusion: Pentraxin-3 and endothelin-1 levels were statistically significantly higher in the BRDC group compared to the control group. As a result, pentraxin-3 and endothelin-1 were found to be diagnostically important in cattle diagnosed with BRDC.

Correlation of quantitative MR imaging findings with symptoms in patients with incidentally detected inflammatory sinonasal disease.

PURPOSE: To assess the relationships between mucosal thickness, T1-weighted, T2-weighted signals and restricted diffusion on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with the degree of symptoms in patients with incidentally detected inflammatory sinonasal disease. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Conventional and diffusion-weighted MRI of 100 patients with incidental sinonasal mucosal thickening were prospectively evaluated. There were 53 men and 47 women, with a mean age of 44.6 years±15.17 (SD) (range: 18-81 years). Correlations between quantitative values (T1-signal, T2-signal and apparent diffusion coefficient [ADC]) and three different quality of life questionnaires (chronic sinusitis survey, sinonasal outcomes test-22 and nasal obstruction and septoplasty effectiveness scale [NOSE]) were searched using the Spearman correlation test. RESULTS: The mean SNOT-22 score was 35.81±20.36 (SD) (range: 0-83), CSS score was 4.64±3.42 (SD) (range: 0-14), and NOSE score was 5.91±4.84 (range: 0-18). All patients (100%) had maxillary sinus involvement. Ethmoidal sinus involvement was present in 57% of patients, frontal sinus involvement in 33% and sphenoidal sinus involvement in 27%. Morphologically, 40 patients (40%) had septal deviation, 41 (41%) had maxillary sinus retention cyst and 78 (78%) had hypertrophy of the conchae. No correlations were found between morphological abnormalities, quantitative values and patient scores in none of the questionnaires. CONCLUSION: Incidental morphological abnormalities or restricted diffusion of the paranasal sinuses on MRI do not correlate with the degree of symptoms in patients with incidentally detected inflammatory sinonasal disease.

A rare complication of tonsillitis: septic arthritis of the temporomandibular joint.

Septic arthritis of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is a rarely seen clinical condition. Such an infection may be encountered following infections in the head and neck region, with direct or haematogenous spread to the joint. This article presents the case of a patient with tonsillitis leading to septic arthritis of the TMJ and reports the results of a review of the literature.

Molecular epidemiology of the Bacillus anthracis isolates collected throughout Turkey from 1983 to 2011.

The main perspective of this study was to determine cross-transmissions amongst anthrax cases and provide detailed information regarding the genotypes of Bacillus anthracis isolates circulating in Turkey. A total of 251 B. anthracis isolates were obtained from human (93 isolates), animal (155 isolates), and environmental (three isolates) samples in various provinces of Turkey. All isolates were susceptible to quinolones, vancomycin, tigecycline, and linezolid, but not to ceftriaxone. Excluding human isolates, one of the animal isolates was found to be resistant to penicillin, erythromycin, and doxycycline. Multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeats analysis including 8 loci (MLVA8) revealed 12 genotypes, in which genotype 43 was observed at the highest frequency (41.8 %), followed by genotype 35 (25.5 %) and genotype 27 (10.4 %). Major subtype A3.a was the predominant cluster, including 86.8 % of the isolates. The MLVA25 analysis for the 251 isolates yielded 62 different genotypes, 33 of which had only one isolate, while the remaining 29 genotypes had 2 to 43 isolates, with a total of 218 isolates (86.9 %). These findings indicate very high cross-transmission rates within anthrax cases in Turkey. The genotypes diagnosed in Turkey are populated in the A major cluster. Penicillin prescribed as the first-choice antibiotic for the treatment of anthrax is still effective.

Sorption of radioactive cesium and barium ions onto solid humic acid.

In this study, the sorption behavior of two important fission product radionuclides ((137)Cs and (140)Ba) onto sodium form of insolubilized humic acid (INaA) were investigated as a function of time, cation concentration and temperature, utilizing the radiotracer method. The sorption processes are well described by both Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich type isotherms. Thermodynamic constants such as; free energy (DeltaG(ads)), enthalpy (DeltaH(ads)), entropy (DeltaS(ads)) of adsorption were determined. It was found that Ba(2+) was adsorbed five times more than Cs(+) onto structurally modified humic acid and kinetic studies indicated that adsorption behavior of both ions obey the pseudo second order rate law. The effect of pH change on sorption was also examined. FTIR and solid-state carbon NMR ((13)CNMR) spectroscopic techniques were used to understand the structural changes during insolubilization process. Quantitative determination of adsorption sites was carried out using potantiometric titration.

A radiotracer study of the adsorption behavior of aqueous Ba(2+) ions on nanoparticles of zero-valent iron.

Recently, iron nanoparticles are increasingly being tested as adsorbents for various types of organic and inorganic pollutants. In this study, nanoparticles of zero-valent iron (NZVI) synthesized under atmospheric conditions were employed for the removal of Ba(2+) ions in a concentration range 10(-3) to 10(-6) M. Throughout the study, (133)Ba was used as a tracer to study the effects of time, concentration, and temperature. The obtained data was analyzed using various kinetic models and adsorption isotherms. Pseudo-second-order kinetics and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm model provided the best correlation with the obtained data. Observed thermodynamic parameters showed that the process is exothermic and hence enthalpy-driven.