Bcii--RFLP profiles for serum amiloid A1 and mutated MEFV gene prevalence in chronic renal failure patients requiring long-term hemodialysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: There is an increased mortality risk in long-term hemodialysis patients of renal failure due to the chronic inflammation. The relationship between the chronic renal failure (CRF) and the role of familial genetic markers remains incompletely understood. In the current study, it was aimed to find out the prevalence of common MEFV gene mutations and BcII polymorphism in serum amyloid A1 (SAA1) gene in chronic renal patients (CRF) who require long-term hemodialysis. METHOD: Current cohort includes 242 CRF patients and 245 healthy individuals from the same population. Total genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood-EDTA samples and genotyping of target MEFV gene was carried out by reverse hybridization Strip Assay and real-time techniques. The SAA1 gene was genotyped by the BclI-RFLP method. RESULTS: Increased mutated MEFV genotypes were found in current CRF patients when compared with the control group from the same ethnicity and the difference was statistically significant (Table 2) (OR: 4.9401, 95% CI: 3.0694-7.9509), p<0.0001. The most frequent point mutations were M694V and E148Q. The mutated T allel frequency in the SAA1 gene was also different when compared with the healthy controls and the difference was found to be statistically significant (χ2: 13.18; p=0.000). CONCLUSIONS: The current results indicate the germ-line mutations in both genetic biomarkers (MEFV and SAA1 genes) that are related to inflammation and amyloidosis processes may play a crucial role in CRF pathogenesis due to the long-term chronic inflammation.

Prevalence of known mutations in the MEFV gene in a population screening with high rate of carriers.

The Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) shows an autosomal recessive pattern of inheritance and affects certain ethnic groups. Disease is caused by mutations in MEFV gene and more than 180 mutations have been defined in affected individuals. Current study aimed to determine the frequency-type of the mutations for MEFV gene in Sivas-middle Anatolian city. The cohort was composed of 3340 patients. MEFV gene mutations were studied by multiplex PCR based reverse hybridization stripAssay method. Patients' clinical features were; family history: 68%, erysipelas-like erythema: 17.6%, fever: 89.9%, abdominal pain: 84.2%, peritonitis: 90.2%, arthritis: 33%, pleuritis: 14.2%, parental consanguinity: 21.2%. Current results revealed that M694V is the most frequent mutation (43.12%), followed by E148Q (20.18), M680I(G/C) (15.00%) and V726A (11.32%). The study population has a high rate of carriers and the E148Q mutation frequency was found to be highest when compared to the other regions of Turkey and other Mediterranean groups.

Prevalence of hypertension among high school students in a middle Anatolian province of Turkey.

Hypertension may lead to irreversible damages in vital organs, such as heart, brain, and kidney, and may cause death in children if treatments are not given despite early diagnosis. This cross-sectional epidemiological study was conducted during 1 January-31 March 2004 to investigate the prevalence of hypertension among high school students. The study cohort included 1,041 students of six high schools, who were selected from among 14,789 students of 26 high schools in Sivas province of Turkey, using the cluster-sampling method. A questionnaire was used for collecting information from students on age, gender, smoking, and whether they or their families have any diseases. Blood pressure, height, and weight of the participitants were determined by the research group. Students whose repeated systolic or diastolic blood pressures were higher than the 95th percentile were considered to be hypertensive patients. Hypertension was prevalent among 4.4% (n=45) of the students. There was a significant correlation between prevalence of hypertension and body mass index. No significant correlation was found between prevalence of hypertension and other variables, such as smoking, age, gender, and family history of diabetes. The results suggest that hypertension is an important public-health problem among high school students. The results also showed that the body mass index was an important parameter in hypertension in such a study group. Researchers should consider overweight a causative risk factor for development of hypertension in early-onset groups.

The prevalence of sleep related disorders in Sivas, Turkey.

The prevalence of sleep-related disorders (SRD) in adults in Turkey is unknown. The main objective of our study was to assess the prevalence of SRD in Sivas, Turkey. Adults living in Sivas, a city of Turkey from the central region of Anatolia at 20-107 years of age, in both genders, of the 5339 persons, who attended the survey 2638 (49.4%) were male and 2701 (50.6%) were female. The prevalence of insomnia, habitual snoring, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and day time hyper somnolence was 40.3%, 37.0%, 6.4%, 24.0% respectively. The prevalence rates of narcolepsy and nocturnal myoclonus was 30.6%, 40.1% respectively. There was a statistical significance between the persons of above 60 years old and another age groups (p< 0.05). But we did not find any significant difference between smokers and non-smokers, also between males and females about SRD prevalence (p> 0.05). However, sleep apnea prevalence was about 9 times higher in the persons suffering from hypertension than without hypertension. Also sleep apnea prevalence was 12 times higher in the persons suffering from overweight. This study has shown that sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) prevalence in Turkey is as high as in other countries and may be more common.

Prevalence of refraction errors and color blindness in heavy vehicle drivers.

AIM: To investigate the frequency of eye disorders in heavy vehicle drivers. METHODS: A cross-sectional type study was conducted between November 2004 and September 2006 in 200 driver and 200 non-driver persons. A complete ophthalmologic examination was performed, including visual acuity, and dilated examination of the posterior segment. We used the auto refractometer for determining refractive errors. RESULTS: According to eye examination results, the prevalence of the refractive error was 21.5% and 31.3% in study and control groups respectively (P<0.05). The most common type of refraction error in the study group was myopic astigmatism (8.3%) while in the control group simple myopia (12.8%). Prevalence of dyschromatopsia in the rivers, control group and total group was 2.2%, 2.8% and 2.6% respectively. CONCLUSION: A considerably high number of drivers are in lack of optimal visual acuity. Refraction errors in drivers may impair the traffic security.