Can argyrophilic nucleolar organizing region-associated protein amount be used for the detection of cardiac damage?

INTRODUCTION: Carbon monoxide (CO) is a colorless, tasteless, odorless, nonirritant gas and CO poisoning affects all organ systems. AIM: We aimed to detect any possible effects of CO exposure on the argyrophilic nucleolar organizing region (AgNOR)-associated protein synthesis of heart cells and whether there is any relationship between AgNOR protein amount and both carboxyhemoglobin (COHb) level and histopathological evaluation methods used for the detection of damage in heart tissue after CO exposure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The rats were divided into four groups (control, 1000, 3000, and 5000 ppm), each containing six rats. After CO intoxication, COHb levels were measured and the animals were killed on the 7th day. AgNOR staining was performed in the heart tissue. One hundred nuclei per rat were evaluated, and total AgNOR area/nuclear area and mean AgNOR number were analyzed for each nucleus. The CO exposure groups had significantly higher AgNOR values than the control group (p < 0.0001). According to cardiomyopathy (CMY) scoring methods, the differences between groups 3 and 4 and groups 1 and 2 were significant (p < 0.05). A significant positive correlation between AgNOR values and both CMY and COHb levels were detected. CONCLUSION: The detection of AgNOR protein amount may give information about the CMY levels and be used to detect the CO intoxication levels instead of COHb in later periods.

Assessment of patients who presented to the emergency department with mushroom poisoning.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the demographic characteristics, emergency department (ED) complaints, laboratory findings, and latent phase periods of patients who presented to the ED due to mushroom poisoning (MP) as well as the efficacy of conventional and hemofiltration therapies. METHOD: The study was conducted on patients who presented to the ED with MP between 2010 and 2012. The patient's demographic characteristics, complaints at the ED, latent phases, laboratory findings, and treatments of MP cases were evaluated. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 38.03 ± 15.96, where 63.8% of them were female and 36.2% were male. Visits occurred most frequently in the autumn (32.6%). When presenting to the ED, the most frequent complaint was nausea-vomiting. The aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), international normalised ratio (INR), and blood urea nitrogen values of patients with a latent phase between 0 h and 5 h were significantly lower than the values of patients with a latent phase between 6 h and 24 h. In this study, 62% of the patients (n = 36) had stomach lavage and received activated charcoal. Altogether, 55.2% of the patients had received conventional therapy, 37.9% of them received hemofiltration, and all of them received supportive treatment. The AST, ALT, and INR values of those who had received hemofiltration and conventional therapies were significantly higher than of those who received only supportive treatment (p < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Hemofiltration, in combination with conventional therapy, seems to be an effective treatment for reducing mortality in suspected MP cases involving late acting toxins.