High Serum Levels of Serum 100 Beta Protein, Neuron-specific Enolase, Tau, Active Caspase-3, M30 and M65 in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Objective@#The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate whether neuronal, axonal, and glial cell markers (Neuron-specific enolase [NSE], tau, serum 100 beta protein [S100B], respectively) and apoptosis markers (active caspase 3, M30, M65) and whether these parameters can be used as diagnostic biomarkers in autism spectrum disorders (ASD). @*Methods@#This study measured the serum S100B, NSE, tau, active caspase 3, M30, and M65 levels in 43 patients with ASD (aged 3−12 years) and in 41 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. ASD severity was rated using the Childhood Autism Rating Scale. The serum levels were determined in the biochemistry laboratory using the ELISA technique. The receiver operator characteristics curve method was employed to evaluate the accuracy of the parameters in diagnosing ASD. @*Results@#Serum S100B, tau, NSE, active caspase-3, M30, and M65 levels were significantly higher in the patient group than in the control group (p ＜ 0.001, p = 0.002, p = 0.002, p = 0.005, p ＜ 0.001, and p = 0.004, respectively). The cut-off value of S100B was 48.085 pg/ml (sensitivity: 74.4%, specificity: 80.5%, areas under the curve: 0.879, p ＜ 0.001). @*Conclusion@#Apoptosis increased in children with ASD, and neuronal, axonal, and glial cell injury was observed. In addition, S100B may be an important diagnostic biomarker in patients with ASD. Apoptosis, and neuronal, axonal and astrocyte pathologies may play a significant role in the pathogenesis of ASD, and further studies are now required to confirm this.

Can the Mean Platelet Volume Be a Risk Factor for Vasculogenic Erectile Dysfunction?

PURPOSE: The mean platelet volume (MPV) is a marker of the platelet activity and is reported to increase in vascular diseases. We aimed to investigate the association between MPV and vasculogenic erectile dysfunction (ED). MATERIALS AND METHODS: MPV and platelet (PLT) levels were measured in 50 cases of ED and 40 healthy controls. The diagnosis of vasculogenic ED was based on a detailed sexual history, physical examination, laboratory assessment, and color Doppler ultrasonography. The results are given as mean+/-standard deviation of the mean. RESULTS: The mean ages of the patient and the control groups were 53.70+/-12.39 years (range 24~77 years) and 53.85+/-9.5 years (range 30~73 years), respectively (p=0.947). The MPV and PLT values were significantly higher in the patients with ED than those of the controls (7.49+/-1.4), (6.85+/-1.2), (262.97+/-68), (252.89+/-82) respectively, p0.05), and there was no correlation between MPV and either age of patients (p=0.905) or duration of ED (p=0.583). CONCLUSIONS: The platelet count and MPV was detected to be increased in patients with vasculogenic ED. This finding suggests a role for platelets in the pathogenesis of vascular complications and that the MPV would be useful in monitoring disease progression.

Measurement of the total antioxidant potential in chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases with a novel automated method

To determine the oxidative and antioxidative status of plasma of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD] and to compare these values with healthy smokers and healthy non-smokers control subjects using a more recently developed automated measurement method. This study involved 40 COPD patients, 25 healthy smokers, and 25 healthy non-smokers who attended the Chest Diseases Outpatient Clinic in Harran University Research Hospital, Turkey during the period between March 2006 and June 2006. We calculated the total antioxidant potential [TAOP] to determine the antioxidative status of plasma, and we measured the total peroxide levels to determine the oxidative status of plasma. The TAOP of plasma was significantly lower in patients with COPD than in healthy smokers and healthy non-smokers [P<0.001]. In contrast, the mean total peroxide level of plasma was significantly higher in COPD patients than in healthy smokers and healthy non-smokers [P<0.001]. We found a decreased in TAOP COPD patients using a simple, rapid and reliably automated colorimetric assay, which may suitable for use in routine clinical biochemistry laboratory, and considerably facilitates the assessment of this useful clinical parameter. We suggest that this novel method may be used as a routine test to evaluate and follow-up the levels of oxidative stress in COPD