Evaluation of local and systemic side effects of Turkovac vaccine in adults.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is a respiratory disease that caused a pandemic after reportedly emerging from Wuhan, China, in December 2019. Different types of COVID-19 vaccines such as viral vectors, mRNA, and inactivated vaccines have been produced since the beginning of the pandemic. Turkovac is an inactive COVID-19 vaccine developed and produced in Türkiye. We conducted our study to investigate the local and systemic side effects of the Turkovac vaccine. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey-based study was conducted to collect data on the postvaccine side effects in people aged over 18 who were vaccinated with Turkovac, between March and June 2022, in the Malatya Turgut Özal University Research and Training Hospital. A 54 question, multiple-choice questionnaire was used to collect demographic data from the participants and identify the possible local and systemic side effects after Turkovac vaccine administration. RESULTS: Of the 403 participants included in the study, 134 (33.3%) were female and 269 (66.7%) were male with a mean age of 47.7 ± 13.7. The most common local side effects observed after vaccination were pain at the injection site (22.8%) and local swelling and redness (0.5%). Systemic side effects included weakness or fatigue (4.2%), muscle or joint pain (2%), headache (1.7%), fever (1%), cough (0.25%), lymphadenopathy (0.25%), and urticaria (0.25%). Side effects were most commonly observed within the first 24 h. We found that for participants under 47 years of age, female sex, chronic diseases, and regular medication use were associated with the risk of suffering side effects. DISCUSSION: Our study revealed that Turkovac is a generally well-tolerated vaccine and had no side effects. More studies are required to evaluate Turkovac's side effects in other populations.

Evaluation of the serum C-reactive protein-albumin ratio and its relationship with disease severity IN alopecia areata: A prospective case-control study.

BACKGROUND: Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune and inflammatory disease characterized by localized or diffuse non-scarring hair loss. The serum C-reactive protein (CRP)/albumin ratio (CAR) is a novel inflammatory marker and a significant prognostic indicator in several diseases. AIM: We aimed to explore CAR in AA patients and healthy controls and analyze the possible correlation between CAR and disease severity. METHOD: The present study was conducted with 65 eligible AA patients and 65 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Disease severity was analyzed based on the Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score. The CAR score was calculated by dividing serum CRP by the albumin content in both patient and healthy control groups. FINDINGS: 56.9% of the patients were male and 43.1% were female, and the mean age was 31.93 ± 9.67. The patient group' mean CAR level (0.42 ± 0.3) was statistically higher than that of the healthy controls (0.07 ± 0.04), (p < 0.05). There were positive correlations between disease severity, CAR (r = 0.65; p < 0.01), and CRP (r = 0.66; p < 0.01), while the correlation between disease severity and albumin was negative (r = -0.56; p < 0.01). In the receiver operating characteristic analysis conducted on disease severity, the area under the curve was 0.16 for albumin, 0.92 for CRP, and 0.95 for CAR. The optimum CAR for AA severity was 0.38 with 87% sensitivity and 92% specificity. CONCLUSION: In the study, we determined that the CAR was higher in AA patients when compared to the control group, and the elevation was associated with disease severity. The present study findings demonstrated that alopecia areata was associated with systemic inflammation, and CAR is a useful inflammatory marker in AA patients.

Corneal Biomechanical Characteristics in Patients with Behçet Disease.

AIM: To examine corneal biomechanical properties, intraocular pressure, and central corneal thickness in uveitic eyes with Behçet disease (BD) and to compare them with healthy controls. METHODS: This study included 40 eyes of 34 patients with ocular BD and 20 eyes of 20 healthy controls. Eyes with ocular BD were subdivided into active and inactive groups. Ocular response analyzer (ORA) measurements were performed on the 20 eyes of 16 patients with active BD (group 1), 20 eyes of 18 patients with inactive BD (group 2), and 20 eyes of 20 healthy volunteers who served as the control group (group 3). Corneal hysteresis (CH), corneal resistance factor (CRF), intraocular pressure (Goldmann correlated [IOPg], and corneal compensated [IOPcc]) and central corneal thickness (CCT) values were recorded. RESULTS: Mean age of patients in groups 1, 2, and 3 was 33.81 ± 9.36, 32.38 ± 9.08, and 31.05 ± 5.85 years, respectively (p = 0.76). Mean CH, CRF, IOPg, IOPcc, and CCT values in groups 1, 2, and 3 were [8.51 ± 1.88, 9.72 ± 2.11, 19.87 ± 2.92, 16.13 ± 3.29, and 592.50 ± 39.95], [8.46 ± 1.82, 8.45 ± 1.98, 15.89 ± 2.68, 15.35 ± 2.91, and 528.35 ± 19.18], and [8.47 ± 1.48, 8.43 ± 1.58, 15.59 ± 2.74, 15.42 ± 3.19, and 526.30 ± 18.21], respectively [(p1 = 0.040, 0.904, <0.001, 0.495 and <0.001 for CRF, CH, IOPg, IOPcc and CCT in group 1, respectively), (p2 = 0.989, 0.904, 0.659, 0.989, and 0.989 for CRF, CH, IOPg, IOPcc and CCT in group 2, respectively), (p3 = 0.989, 0.904, 0.660, 0.989, and 0.989 for CRF, CH, IOPg, IOPcc and CCT in group 3, respectively)]. CONCLUSION: CRF, IOPg, and CCT values altered in active BD group when compared with inactive BD and control group (p < 0.005). Further studies are required to establish the effects of BD on corneal biomechanical properties.