Serum chitotriosidase enzyme activity is closely related to HbA1c levels and the complications in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2.

AIMS: Chitotriosidase, is a macrophage sourced enzyme which shows high activity during the course of various storage disorders such as Gaucher's Disease. The aforementioned macrophage sourced enzyme, which has a role in basic immune response, is also high in patients with diabetes. This study was designed to determine the chitotriosidase activities in patients with diabetes and the relationship between the complication of diabetes and chitotriosidase activity. MATERIALS METHODS: This study included 76 patients with type2 diabetes mellitus and 76 healthy subjects. The chitotriosidase activity of all serum samples were determined by fluorometric method. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The chitotriosidase activity of patients having complications (neuropathy or nephropathy) were statistically significantly higher (p<0.05) than those of the controls. When the chitotriosidase activity of patients was evaluated regarding their glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, a progressive increase in chitotriosidase activity was observed in patients. The chitotriosidase activity of patients having higher HbA1c>10% levels was statistically significant higher than those of the control group's (p<0.05). It is shown that chitotriosidase activity might be a marker for some complications and is closely related to HbA1c levels.

Markers of long-term exposure to organophosphorus pesticides in farmers who work in viniculture and tobacco production in Turkey.

ABSTRACT The first aim of this study was to evaluate the degree of organophosphorus (OP) pesticides' exposure in viniculture and tobacco production workers via physical examination (neurology and general health aspect) and analysis of paraoxonase (PON1) and butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) activities. The second aim was to investigate if PON1 polymorphism plays any role in long-term OP exposure. A total of 93 farmers who work as applicators in agriculture were studied. The data were evaluated according to agricultural type, and although the total exposure time was similar in both areas, BuChE and PON1 activities of farmers who work in tobacco production were lower. Overall, BuChE and PON1 activities showed a depletion in the farmer group compared to age-matched controls. When the farmers were categorized according to the number of their symptoms, the BuChE activities of farmers who had two or more symptoms were found to be depleted (n = 43, 2948 +/- 756) compared to farmers who had one or no symptoms (n = 37, 3356 +/- 659). Allele frequencies of patients and controls for positions 55 and 192 were similar to Turkish population data and there was no association between the allele polymorphism and symptoms/signs of long-term exposure. Our results indicate that there is an important inhibition of PON1 activity in chronic OP poisoning, and this together with BuChE activity might well be used as a reliable index of chronic exposure to OP.

Comparison of cefotaxime and ofloxacin in treatment of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Gold-standard treatment of spontaneous bacterial peritonitis currently involves 3rd generation cephalosporins. To evaluate the efficacy of ofloxacin in this infection, we compared a combined therapy with intravenous and oral ofloxacin to intravenous cefotaxime. METHODS: Thirty cirrhotic patients with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis were assigned to receive either intravenous (1 g/12 h) cefotaxime for 7 days (n=17) or intravenous (200 mg/12 h) ofloxacin for 2 days followed by oral (200 mg/12 h) ofloxacin for 5 days (n=13). All cases had community-acquired spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. RESULTS: The infection resolution rate on the 7th day of therapy was 82.4% in the cefotaxime group and 92.3% in the ofloxacin group. Hospital survival rates were 82.4% and 100%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Oral ofloxacin after a short course of intravenous ofloxacin is effective in the treatment of uncomplicated spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. This regimen may allow physicians to treat these patients as outpatients as soon as their intravenous therapy is completed.

B-Cell Lymphoma Presenting with Extensive Cutaneous Involvement.

Cutaneous lymphomas tend to be of T-cell origin, less commonly of B-cell origin. We report a 68-year-old male patient suffering from extensive cutaneous nodules which were found to be B-cell large cell lymphoma in nature. Our case is a good example to unexpected cutaneous involvement of diffuse large cell lymphomas. It may be debated whether it is a primary cutaneous lymphoma or cutaneous involvement of a systemic lymphoma. The case differs from other primary cutaneous lymphomas in the clinical course and in the pathologic and immunohistochemical features. Systemic B-cell lymphomas may also involve the skin. We think that our case demands attention because systemic B-cell lymphomas with such a great skin involvement is not reported in the literature before.

Renal cortical thickness and PON1 activity both decrease in chronic renal failure.

BACKGROUND: Chronic renal failure (CRF) is associated with a tendency to atherosclerosis due to the enhanced oxidative stress and insufficient antioxidant enzyme activities such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and paraoxonase (PON 1), together with abnormalities in lipid parameters. We determined the in vitro susceptibility of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) to oxidation and PON1 activities in patients with chronic renal insufficiency to see how PON1 affected the progression of the disease and whether hemodialysis influenced these parameters. METHODS: Thirty-seven patients (21 men, 16 women, mean age 43.9 +/- 16) with CRF were included, 23 were receiving hemodialysis treatment. Exclusion criteria were diabetes mellitus and acute coronary disease. Eighteen healthy subjects (9 men and 9 women, mean age 39.9 +/- 10.5) volunteered to participate as controls. All patients were evaluated by renal ultrasound (USG) and two-dimensional echography, and their lipid profiles, PON1 activity, basal and Cu-induced LDL oxidation were determined. RESULTS: PON1 activities of patients were lower than controls (14.4 +/- 11 vs 30.9 +/- 19 U/L, p < 0.05) while basal ox-LDL levels determined by the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) method were higher (0.6 +/- 0.4 vs 0.4+/- 0.2 nmol/mg LDL protein, p<0.01). There was no significant difference between the groups treated with hemodialysis or not. There was a positive correlation between renal cortical thickness and HDL levels (r=0.47, p=0.006) and PON1 activity (r=0.45, p=0.01). CONCLUSION: Our data showed that HDL cholesterol levels and PON1 activities were both lower in patients, indicating depletion of the protective antioxidant capacity. PON1 activities and phenotypes were no different in patients with coronary disease and others so it does not appear to be a significant indicator of coronary artery disease in patients with CRF.