ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To investigate the seroprevalence of toxocariasis in patients diagnosed as schizophrenia. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ninety-eight schizophrenic patients hospitalized at The Elazig Psychiatric Hospital were included in the study. Anti-Toxocara IgG and/or IgM antibodies were determined by using commercial Toxocara canis IgG and/or IgM ELISA kit. RESULTS: Seropositivity for T. canis was detected in 45 (45.9%) of 98 patients and 2 (2.0%) of 100 control subjects the difference was statistically significant (p 0.05). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the schizophrenic state seems to present a high risk for Toxocara infection in Turkey.
Subject(s)
Adolescent , Adult , Animals , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Antibodies, Helminth/blood , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Immunoglobulin G/blood , Immunoglobulin M/blood , Schizophrenia/blood , Seroepidemiologic Studies , Toxocara/growth & development , Toxocariasis/blood , Turkey/epidemiologyABSTRACT
To study the prevalence and genotype distribution of hepatitis G virus [HGV] in hemodialysis patients in East Anatolia, Turkey. Subjects and Materials: Eighty-nine hemodialysis patients and 30 healthy individuals were analyzed by using reverse-transcriptase nested polymerase chain reaction with primers specific for 5' untranslated region. HGV genotyping was performed by PCR and three randomly selected HGV-positive samples were sequenced. Of the 89 hemodialysis patients, HGV RNA was detected in 9 [10.2%]. All of our isolates were assigned to genotype 2. Our results showed that hemodialysis patients carry the risk for HGV infection in East Anatolia, Turkey
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Genotype , Prevalence , Renal Dialysis , Seroepidemiologic StudiesABSTRACT
To investigate etiological role of Epstein-Barr virus [EBV] DNA in breast cancer. Materials and The presence of EBV DNA in 57 breast cancertissues was investigated with a sensitive PCR assay. The breast cancer tissues were from invasive ductular [n = 28], lobular [n = 20] and other miscellaneous carcinomas [n = 9]. Tissues from normal breasts and patients with various benign breast diseases [n = 55]: fibrocystic disease [n = 34], fibroadenoma [n= 16], hyperplasia, and granulomatous mastitis [n = 5], were used as control samples, flesults: EBV DNA was detected in 13 [23%] cancerous tissues [7 ductular, 4 lobular, 2 other carcinoma] and 19 [35%] in the control tissues. The difference between EBV presence in malignant and benign tissues was not statistically significant [p>0.05]. The presence of EBV DNA was detected almost equally in both breast cancer and normal tissues, which indicates no etiological role for EBV in breast cancer. We suggest further etiological studies