Comparison of the results of sleeve gastrectomy, gastric pilication and liragulitide in obese rats.

Obesity, which is generally seen in adults, is a serious health problem. Diseases caused by obesity are among the leading causes of death worldwide. Liraglutide (LG) is an analogue of glucagon-like peptide-1, which slows gastrointestinal motility, resulting in decreased food consumption. Gastric plication (GP) and sleeve gastrectomy (SG) is the reduction of stomach volume by surgical means. We examined and compared the body mass index (BMI) changes, metabolic changes and changes in gastric histology in obese rats after LG injection with surgical methods such as SG and GP. In this research, 35 Wistar Albino female rats were used. Rats were divided into 5 groups with 7 rats in each group. Group (G) 1: The control group, fed with a normal calorie diet for 8 weeks. G 2: Sham group, G 3: SG group, G 4: GP group and G 5: LG group, fed with high-calorie feed for 4 weeks. At the end of the 4th week, the study was terminated by making appropriate interventions for the groups. When the blood glucose (BG) levels measured at the beginning, 4th week and 8th week of the experiment were evaluated, it was monitored that the BG level at the 8th week was the lowest in the LG group (p<0.05). It was observed that the preop Ghrelin and Leptin levels of the LG group were lower than those of the SG and GP groups (p<0.05). As a consequenc As a consequence of our metabolic investigations, we observed that the use of LG is at least as effective as SG.

How advantageous is it to use computed tomography image-based artificial intelligence modelling in the differential diagnosis of chronic otitis media with and without cholesteatoma?

OBJECTIVE: Cholesteatoma (CHO) developing secondary to chronic otitis media (COM) can spread rapidly and cause important health problems such as hearing loss. Therefore, the presence of CHO should be diagnosed promptly with high accuracy and then treated surgically. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of artificial intelligence applications (AIA) in documenting the presence of CHO based on computed tomography (CT) images. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was performed on CT images of 100 CHO, 100 non-cholesteatoma (N-CHO) COM, and 100 control patients. Two AIA models including ResNet50 and MobileNetV2 were used for the classification of the images. RESULTS: Overall accuracy rate was 93.33% for the ResNet50 model and 86.67% for the MobilNetV2 model. Moreover, the diagnostic accuracy rates of these two models were 100% and 95% in the CHO group, 90% and 85% in the N-CHO group, and 90% and 80% in the control group, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These results indicate that the use of AIA in the diagnosis of CHO will improve the diagnostic accuracy rates and will also help physicians in terms of reducing their workload and facilitating the selection of the correct treatment strategy.

Retrospective review of re-positive qPCR tests for SARS-CoV: do they indicate presence of reinfection?

OBJECTIVE: In 2019, the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic broke out, caused by the coronavirus called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Reinfections can be observed with various respiratory viruses, including human coronaviruses. Moreover, they may result from weak or waning initial immune response, reinfection with another genotype/subtype, or the rapid antigenic changes in the virus. The aim of this study was to investigate the likelihood of reinfection in COVID-19 patients that had a positive qPCR test result at least 60 days after a negative test result in patients that were confirmed with COVID-19 on qPCR. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) results of a total of 105,000 samples that had been obtained between April 1, 2020, and February 1, 2021, in two separate authorized laboratories were retrospectively analyzed. 22 samples from 11 patients included in the study, qPCR tests were repeated for each sample using the Rotorgene Q PCR system with Diagnovital SARS-CoV-2 (RTA Labs, Turkey) Real-Time PCR kits. Positive samples were screened for B.1.1.7 and E484K mutations using the qPCR method on the Rotorgene Q PCR system with Bio-Speedy SARS-CoV-2 Variant Plus kits (Bioeksen Technology, Turkey). RESULTS: The 105,000 individuals comprised 55,614 men and 49,386 women. In the qPCR test, 14,511 (13.82%) individuals were found to be positive for SARS-CoV-2. Of these, 11 (0.076%) patients were included in the study based on the inclusion criteria. Accordingly, the risk of reinfection was calculated as 0.076% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.056%-0.096%) and the incidence was 1.04 per 10,000 population (95% CI: 0.62-1.38 per 10,000). No patient was admitted to the intensive care unit or died during both episodes. Moreover, no B.1.1.7 or E484K mutation was detected in any patient. CONCLUSIONS: The high frequency of COVID-19 infection poses serious risks for the development of new variants and the currently used vaccines are likely to lose their efficacy against new variants. To reduce these risks and to be successful in the fight against the pandemic, we suggest compliance with personal protective measures as well as rapid and widespread application of vaccination not only in developed countries but also in the whole world and the modification of currently used vaccines in such a way to fight against newly emerged variants.

Brain perfusion assessed by 99mTc-ECD SPECT imaging in pediatric patients with neurally mediated reflex syncope.

BACKGROUND: The involvement of cardiogenic and neurogenic mechanisms in neurally mediated reflex syncope is well documented. In our previous studies in patients with neurally mediated reflex syncope, we have found evidence for differential regulation of the noradrenergic receptors in tilt-positive and tilt-negative patients. The present work concentrates on the observations of differences in regional brain perfusion using brain SPECT via injecting the patient at the completion of the tilt test. METHODS AND RESULTS: The following study was designed to assess the reduction and regional differences in cerebral blood flow by means of SPECT using technetium-99m labeled V-oxo-1,2-N1ethylenedylbisl-cysteine diethylester (ECD) in patients with an injection during tilt testing. Twenty patients with NMS were included in the study with a mean age of 12.2 years (age range; 8-16 years). HUT was positive in 10 patients and negative in 10 patients. When tilt (+) and tilt (-) were evaluated together, regional cortical/cerebellum ratios were ranging from 0.85 to 1.25 in different cortical areas with highest variability of perfusion index in left frontoparietal cortex. The lowest perfusion index values were observed in the left anterior frontal region followed by the left prefrontal-frontoparietal-anterior, parietal-orbito frontal, and anterior temporal regions where perfusion is predominantly supplied via the anterior and middle cerebral arteries, while these differences did not reach statistical significance in a single dominant region compared to the other regions examined using ANOVA (P > 0.05) with this sample size. Decreases in [99mTc]ECD uptake were more widespread regionally on the left hemisphere than were decreases in right side of the brain. However when tilt- and tilt+ groups were compared, perfusion was significantly lower in the right periinsular posterior parietal and temporal regions (P < 0.05) in tilt + group. CONCLUSION: These tilt induced regional differences in brain perfusion suggest the distinct roles of middle cerebral artery dominant territory-related vasodepressor compensation mechanisms in neurally mediated reflex syncope phenomena where cerebral lateralization of cardiac control and insular ischemia may play an important role.