Visfatin plasma concentrations in patients with hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism before and after control of thyroid function.

Alterations in thyroid function are associated with changes in body weight, metabolism, and low-grade inflammation. In several studies, plasma levels of visfatin were found to be associated with body mass index, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome. In our study we aimed to evaluate visfatin levels according to thyroid dysfunction. The study cohort comprised 56 Hashimoto thyroiditis patients with hypothyroidism (43.94+/-14.27 yr), 56 Graves patients with hyperthyroidism (45.87+/-13.28 yr), and 56 euthyroid healthy subjects (45.23+/-7.11 yr) as a control group. In addition, we evaluated the effect of therapy on plasma visfatin levels in 16 hypothyroid and in 25 hyperthyroid patients. Markedly low visfatin levels were found in hyperthyroid patients [9.44 (8.07- 10.8) ng/ml] compared with the hypothyroid [49.93 (40.72- 59.1) ng/ml] and control groups [38.6 (30.6-46.6) ng/ml] (p<0.001, p<0.001). Plasma visfatin levels in patients with hypothyroidism decreased significantly following treatment [58.58 (10.21-190.7) ng/ml vs 40.00 (10.01-102.6) ng/ml; p=0.001]. Plasma visfatin levels increased significantly after antithyroid therapy in patients with hyperthyroidism [7.86 (1.02-19.23) ng/ml vs 12.63 (3.48-110.9) ng/ml; p<0.001]. There were negative correlations between visfatin levels with free T3 (r=-0.719, p<0.001), and free T4 (r=-0.716, p<0.001) levels. There was a positive correlation between visfatin and TSH levels (r=0.701, p<0.001). There was a negative correlation between delta visfatin levels with delta free T3, delta free T4 (r=-0.686, p<0.001; r=-0.624, p<0.001). Visfatin thus seems to be regulated by thyroid hormones. While the influence of thyroid dysfunction on adipocytokine production and release is still poorly understood, the results of our study suggest that the effects of hyper- and hypothyroidism on various metabolic parameters may be partly mediated by visfatin.

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry of the trimethylsilyl (oxime) ether/ester derivatives of cholic acids: their presence in the aquatic environment.

This paper presents a derivatization, mass fragmentation study relating to the most common six cholic acids, such as cholic, lithocholic, chenodeoxycholic, ursodeoxycholic, 3-hydroxy,7-ketocholanic and dehydrocholic acids, identified and quantified as pollutants in the aquatic environment at the first time. Derivatizations have been performed with the two-step process (1: oximation, 2: silylation) varying the time and temperature of both reactions. Optimum responses have been obtained after 30 min oximation with hydroxylamine.HCl and 90 min silylation with hexamethyldisilazane and trifluoroacetic acid at 70 degrees C. Fragmentation patterns of the trimethylsilyl (oxime) ether/ester derivatives of all six cholic acids provided the theoretically expected, fully derivatized compounds. Reproducibility/linearity of derivatives calculated on the basis of the corresponding selective fragment ions, characterized by the relative standard deviation percentages of measurements, proved to be < or =4.9 (RSD%). The practical utility of the method was shown by the identification and quantification of cholic acids as pollutants in the aquatic environment. Subsequently to a solid phase extraction study varying the pH of extractions (pH 2, pH 4 and pH 7), applying the OASIS cartridges, it has been confirmed that the recoveries for all six cholic acids are acceptable, varying between 77% and 104%, and are independent on the pH. The total cholic acid content of a Hungarian wastewater plants' influent wastewater varied between 184 microg/L and 356 microg/L, while the Danube rivers' cholic acid content was 4.1 microg/L, only.

Intrasellar plasmacytoma: an unusual presentation of multiple myeloma.

INTRODUCTION: Plasmacytomas are unusual causes of a sellar mass. Occasionally, they can be misdiagnosed as a nonfunctioning adenoma because of radiological and clinical similarities. LITERATURE REVIEW: We reviewed the pertinent literature and discuss here in the light of an illustrative case of our own. DISCUSSION: A 70-year-old woman presented with a recurrent hypophysial mass. Initial diagnosis of a nonfunctioning pituitary adenoma was later overruled by a repeat biopsy, which showed a plasmacytoma. The tumor stained positively for CD138 and kappa light chain. Further studies confirmed the diagnosis of multiple myeloma. The patient was successfully treated with radiotherapy followed by systemic chemotherapy. Because they have different therapeutic implications, extramedullary plasmacytomas involving pituitary gland should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a nonfunctioning pituitary mass.

Effect of very low LDL-cholesterol on cortisol synthesis.

BACKGROUND: Cardiovascular disease is the most common cause of mortality around the world. The relationship between coronary artery disease and serum LDL-cholesterol levels has become obvious in recent years and statin treatment has been used more commonly. However, influence of intensive statin treatment on steroidal hormonal functions has remained unclear. In this paper, we evaluated the effect of very low LDL levels (<70 mg/dl) on serum cortisol concentrations, which is mainly synthesized from cholesterol. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Forty-one patients with serum LDL-cholesterol levels below 70 mg/dl were included in the study. The control group consisted of 38 healthy people. Adrenal axis was evaluated by means of cortisol response to 1 microg ACTH test. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 52.45+/-10.74 yr. Of 41 patients, 19 (46.9%) were female. There were statistically significant differences between the study and control group according to their serum cholesterol and LDL levels. Main serum LDL levels were 58+/-11.4 mg/dl and 131+/-25.8 mg/dl in the study and control group, respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in response to 1 microg ACTH stimulation test at basal, 30 min and 60 min among both study and control group. Atorvastatin treatment was generally well tolerated. CONCLUSIONS: Our data reflect that having serum LDL-cholesterol levels below 70 mg/dl did not affect the adrenal axis function in terms of cortisol.

Clinicopathologic observations on Coenurus cerebralis in naturally infected sheep.

Twelve sheep from 7 different flocks consisting of approximately 150-250 animals each were diagnosed with coenurosis caused by the larval stage of Taenia multiceps. Ataxia, incoordination, drowsiness, hind leg paralysis and coma were the most prominent clinical symptoms. Monocytosis and lymphocytosis were observed upon hematological examination. Creatin kinase (CKBB) levels of the animals varied between 421 and 495 U/l. Cysts were commonly localized in the parietal and frontal lobes of the brain and in the cerebellum. In two cases, cysts were found on the lumbar aspect of the medulla spinalis. Symptoms were related to cyst localization. Depression, tilting of the head either to the right or left and head pressing were seen when cysts were located in the cerebrum. Incoordination and hyperexcitability were noted if the cysts were involved with the cerebellum and when located in the spinal cord, hind leg paralysis was the typical clinical sign. On microscopic examination, atrophy was observed in the central nervous system (CNS) organs due to pression by the bladderworms. Nonpurulent meningoencephalitis with perivascular cuffings were the most common histopathological findings. In periodic acid Schiff staining (PAS), positive reaction was observed in protoscoleces. Neurons were the most affected cell type when stained by the Klüver Barrera method. This method also showed that in the CNS, Coenurus cerebralis caused a prominent glial reaction. When parasites were localized in the nervous system treatment was impossible. Animals without neurologic sings were treated with praziquantel (Tenikur tablet-Topkim A.S.) 50-100 mg/kg/day for three days.

Liability and validity of the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol in Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the inter-rater reliability between nurses and the convergent validity of the Appropriateness Evaluation Protocol (AEP) in the Turkish context. METHODS: Two nurses applied the original AEP concurrently to a random subsample of 335 patient-days in internal medicine, general surgery, and gynaecology departments at a university hospital and a government teaching hospital, as a part of a larger study. Inter-rater reliability was tested by calculating overall agreement and specific agreements between nurse reviewers' AEP assessments. Validity was tested by comparing the assessments of the nurses based on the AEP with the implicit judgements of five expert physicians on a random subsample of 818 patient-days. Sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of the AEP were calculated. Reliability and validity were also evaluated by the K statistic. RESULTS: In the reliability test, there was a high level of agreement between the two independent raters applying the AEP in the three departments studied: overall agreement = 90.7-97.6%; specific inappropriate agreement = 69.1-92.3%; specific appropriate agreement = 88.3-96.6%. In validity testing, the AEP had a sensitivity of 0.83-0.97, specificity of 0.62-0.80, and positive and negative predictive values of 0.84-0.88 and 0.73-0.95 respectively. Kappa coefficients in internal medicine and gynaecology indicated almost perfect agreement in reliability testing and moderate agreement in validity testing. In general surgery, the K coefficients showed substantial agreement in both tests. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that the AEP is a reliable and valid instrument to assess appropriateness of patient-days in Turkey.