Alopecia areata in Turkey: demographic and clinical features.

BACKGROUND: Alopecia areata is a complex genetic disease with still many unknown aspects, and many studies have been tried to find some clues about it. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the demographic and clinical characteristics of alopecia areata in Turkish patients. METHODS: Demographic data, localization, attack number in addition to some parameters such as disease duration, severity, age of onset, family history and ophiasis pattern were evaluated in 539 alopecia areata patients. RESULTS: The male to female ratio was 1.6:1. Occipital and beard-moustache areas were mostly affected. Positive family history was noticed in 24.1% of the patients. The age of onset was earlier in women than in men (P = 0.04). Severe forms showed more persistent (> or = 1 year) disease duration (P = 0.00). Ophiasis was more common in severe, long duration (> or = 1 year) and early onset (< or = 18 years) disease (P = 0.00 for all parameters). Childhood alopecia areata (< or = 18 years) was also associated with long duration of the disease (P = 0.016) and positive family history (P = 0.008) when compared with adult onset (> 18 years) alopecia areata.

Prevalence of oral lesions in 13- to 16-year-old students in Duzce, Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of oral lesions in 13- to 16-year-old students. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was carried out on students in Duzce, a province in the western Black Sea region of Turkey. A total of 993 children aged between 13 and 16 from eight secondary schools were examined. Oral lesions with recurrent behavior, if observed, were recorded at the time of examination. Venous blood samples were obtained for detecting hemoglobin levels. RESULTS: Two hundred sixty adolescents (26.2%) were diagnosed with at least one oral mucosal lesion at the time of the examination. Thirteen different mucosal alterations were diagnosed, and the most common lesions were angular cheilitis (9%), linea alba (5.3%), and aphthous ulceration (3.6%). The correlation between occurrence of mucosal lesions and sex was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). Statistical evaluation of the data revealed a significant relationship only between the presence of angular cheilitis and anemia (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study is the first epidemiologic study of oral mucosal lesions in adolescents in Turkey. Angular cheilitis was the only oral mucosal lesion that had a significant correlation with anemia.

Habituation of auditory event-related potentials in patients with Behcet's disease.

Behcet's disease is a progressive and/or relapsing-remitting multisystem inflammatory disorder. Involvement of the central nervous system occurs in 10%-29% of cases with Behcet's disease. The aim of the present study was to assess the effect of repetitive auditory stimulations on event-related potentials (ERP) in patients with Behcet's without neurologic manifestations. The study was performed in 14 patients with Behcet's disease and 14 healthy volunteers. ERPs were recorded from Fz, Cz and Pz. The auditory ERPs test was continued until 20 artefact-free rare tones were averaged, which was accepted as one trial block. After six blocks were obtained in a sequential manner, the test was completed. According to the results of the present study, P300 latency changed in different manners over trial blocks in the two groups. P300 latency values showed a progressive increase in the controls; however this was not determined in the Behcet's group. Thus, habituation was not observed in the patient group. Because of the lack of habituation related to P300 latency, it may be thought that there is an insidious pathologic process in Behcet's disease without neurologic manifestation.