SARS-CoV-2 isolation and propagation from Turkish COVID-19 patients.

The novel coronavirus pneumonia, which was named later as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, namely SARS-CoV-2. It is a positive-strand RNA virus that is the seventh coronavirus known to infect humans. The COVID-19 outbreak presents enormous challenges for global health behind the pandemic outbreak. The first diagnosed patient in Turkey has been reported by the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health on March 11, 2020. In May, over 150,000 cases in Turkey, and 5.5 million cases around the world have been declared. Due to the urgent need for a vaccine and antiviral drug, isolation of the virus is crucial. Here, we report 1 of the first isolation and characterization studies of SARS-CoV-2 from nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal specimens of diagnosed patients in Turkey. This study provides an isolation and replication methodology,and cell culture tropism of the virus that will be available to the research communities.

Cardiovascular risk assessment with oxidised LDL measurement in postmenopausal women receiving intranasal estrogen replacement therapy.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of intranasal estrogen replacement therapy administered to postmenopausal women alone or in combination with progesterone on markers of cardiovascular risk. METHODS: The study was conducted with 44 voluntary postmenopausal women. In group I (n = 15), the patients were treated with only intranasal estradiol (300 µg/day estradiol hemihydrate). In group II (n = 11), the patients received cyclic progesterone (200 mg/day micronized progesterone) for 12 days in each cycle in addition to continuous intranasal estradiol. Group III (n = 18) was the controls. Serum lipid profiles, oxidised low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and other markers of cardiovascular risk were assessed at baseline and at the 3rd month of the treatment. RESULTS: Lipid profile, LDL apolipoprotein B, lipoprotein a, homocysteine, oxidised LDL values and oxidised LDL/LDL cholesterol ratio were not observed to change after 3 months compared to baseline values within each group (p > 0.016). In comparison to changes between the groups after the treatment, only oxidised LDL levels and oxidised LDL/LDL cholesterol ratios of group II were increased compared to control group (p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Intranasal estradiol alone did not appear to have an effect on markers of cardiovascular risk in healthy postmenopausal women. However, the addition of cyclic oral micronized progesterone to intranasal estradiol influenced the markers of cardiovascular risk negatively in comparison to non-users in healthy postmenopausal women.

Lipid peroxidation in nuchal cord cases: implication for fetal distress.

OBJECTIVE: To examine whether nuchal cord affects fetal lipid peroxidation and cord arterial blood gases, and thus to determine whether lipid peroxidation can show intrapartum distress. METHODS: Pregnant women giving birth to a baby with nuchal cord (n = 32) formed the study group and others without this condition made up the control group (n = 36). The maternal malondialdehyde levels (MDA) before and after delivery as well as fetal umbilical cord MDA and arterial blood gases were measured in both the groups. RESULTS: Mean cord MDA level was higher in the study group (p < 0.02) and was significantly higher than maternal MDA level after birth within the same group (p = 0.007). Cord blood gases as well as neonatal and labour characteristics showed no difference, except for variable decelerations, which were 2.2 times more common in the study group. Correlations between maternal MDA levels before and after delivery, umbilical cord MDA and arterial blood gases were non-significant in the nuchal cord group. CONCLUSIONS: During delivery, nuchal cord increases lipid peroxidation without causing significant fetal acidemia. Level of lipid peroxidation may be a more sensitive indicator of intrapartum distress than results of acid-base studies.

Histopathologic findings in women with postmenopausal bleeding: implication for endometrial thickness and circulating levels of sex steroid hormones.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to compare the relationship between estrone (E1), estradiol (E2), androgens, and prolactin blood levels on the one hand, and endometrial thickness and related histopathologic results on the other, in postmenopausal women admitted with uterine bleeding. METHODS: The study was conducted in Gazi University School of Medicine, Obstetrics and Gynecology Clinic with a total of 128 patients. The study group consisted of 64 postmenopausal patients admitted with uterine bleeding, whereas the control group consisted of 64 healthy postmenopausal women. Vaginal sonography was performed to evaluate the endometrial thicknesses of the patients. Serum levels of free testosterone, androstenedione and estrone (E1) were determined by radioimmunoassay while serum estradiol (E2), prolactin, and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEA-S) levels were evaluated by chemiluminescent method. RESULTS: The median age, duration of menopause, menopausal age and gravidity, and parity did not differ between women with postmenopausal bleeding and the control group (P > 0.05). However, DHEA-S level was lower (P < 0.05) and endometrial thickness was greater in the study group than the control group (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the study identified that median endometrial thickness of the patients in atrophic endometrium group was less than the endometrial hyperplasia and endometrium carcinoma group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: In the current study, all these hormones seemed to be indifferent between groups of endometrial cancer and other pathological results. Based on our results regarding the safe margin of endometrial thickness in women with postmenopausal bleeding, it seems justifiable to refrain from curettage in patients with an endometrium of < or =4 mm.

Ovarian wedge resection by minilaparatomy in infertile patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome: a new technique.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effects of ovarian wedge resection by minilaparotomy in infertile patients with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). STUDY DESIGN: One hundred and thirty-four anovulatory patients with PCOS, who were previously treated with clomiphene citrate and gonadotropins and did not conceive were operated via minilaparotomy with microsurgical principles and ovarian wedge resection was performed on each subject. Pregnancy rates and adhesion formation were investigated retrospectively. RESULTS: A total of 121 pregnancies were achieved in 2 years (90%). One hundred and four patients conceived within the first 6 months (78%) and the remaining 17 patients conceived within 2 years (13%) following the operation. Sixty-eight patients had a second pregnancy later. In the post-operative period, 24 patients had cesarean delivery and 20 had diagnostic laparoscopy. Out of these 44 patients, only 5 of them were found to have minimal adhesions. CONCLUSION: This technique offers high pregnancy rates and minimal adhesion formation. Ovarian wedge resection by minilaparotomy might be an alternative treatment approach in patients with PCOS who did not conceive with standard ovulation induction protocols.

Serum leptin levels in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is related to leptin dysregulation. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in a university hospital. PATIENT(S): Fifty patients with PCOS (33 nonobese and 17 obese) and 32 control women (19 nonobese and 13 obese) were included in the study. INTERVENTION(S): Serum leptin levels were measured in patients with PCOS and the controls. Correlations between leptin levels and serum hormone levels (FSH, LH, free testosterone, androstenedione, DHEA-S and fasting insulin) were studied. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Serum leptin levels and correlations between leptin levels and the hormonal parameters. RESULT(S): Mean serum leptin levels were not significantly higher in patients with PCOS compared to the control group. Leptin levels were found to be significantly higher in the obese subgroups both in patients with PCOS and in the control women. Leptin levels were found to be higher in obese patients with PCOS compared to obese controls; however, when the levels were evaluated again with covariance analysis excluding body mass index, there was no statistically significant difference. Leptin levels had a positive correlation with body mass index, both in patients with PCOS and the controls. CONCLUSION(S): Leptin levels were not higher in patients with PCOS compared to the control group; the leptin level was correlated with the amount of fat tissue not only in patients with PCOS but also in healthy women.