Investigating AXIN1 gene polymorphisms in Turkish children with cryptorchidism: A pilot study.

INTRODUCTION: Cryptorchidism is one of the most common congenital anomalies in male children, occurring in 2-5% of full-term male infants. Both genetic and environmental factors are observed to play a role in its etiology. A study conducted in Japan identified the AXIN1 gene as being associated with cryptorchidism. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to conduct a pilot study on AXIN1 gene polymorphism in Turkish children with cryptorchidism, and whether AXIN1 gene polymorphism is a risk factor for cryptorchidism. STUDY DESIGN: Between January 2023 and December 2023, we have planned a prospective controlled study including 84 boys operated for cryptorchidism as study group, and 96 boys operated for circumcision as control group. The remaining blood samples of preoperative laboratory tests in ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA) tubes were kept at -20 Co freezer for genomic studies. Patient demographics, physical examination and operative findings were recorded, study patients were grouped according to testis localization. After collecting all samples, genomic DNA isolation procedure was done, and analysis of the 3 polymorphisms (rs12921862, rs1805105 and rs370681) of AXIN1 gene was performed using conventional Polymerase Chain Reaction Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. Genotype and allele frequencies of each group was analyzed and compared. RESULTS: The most common location of cryptorchid testis was proximal inguinal (53%), followed by distal inguinal (25.3%), bilateral (13.3%), and intra-abdominal (8.4%). Regarding the 3 polymorphisms of AXIN1 gene, there was no significant difference between study and control groups, in terms of genotype and allele frequencies (P > 0.05). Eight haplotype blocks were estimated for 3 polymorphisms of AXIN1. However, no significant difference was observed between study and control groups regarding haplotype distributions (P > 0.05). In addition, the comparison of the localization of testis with AXIN1 gene polymorphism did not show any significant difference among cryptorchid testis groups (P > 0.05). DISCUSSION: The AXIN1 gene is located on chromosome 16p and its polymorphisms have been associated with various diseases. In a Chinese study, the rs370681 polymorphism was found to be associated with cryptorchidism. However, our results showed no association between the AXIN1 gene haplotypes for the studied polymorphisms and cryptorchidism. CONCLUSION: In this study we have investigated the AXIN1 gene polymorphism in Turkish children with cryptorchidism as a pilot study. Although we could not identify any difference as compared to control group, further research is necessary to uncover the underlying molecular mechanisms contributing to the development of cryptorchidism.

Association of Obesity and Surgery Outcomes in Patients with Endometrial Cancer: A Single-Center Analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Although obesity can result in high morbidity and mortality in surgical outcomes because of multiple comorbidities, determinants of outcome in obese patients who underwent endometrial cancer surgery remain unclear. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and surgical outcomes in obese patients with endometrial cancer. METHODS: An institutional retrospective review of the demographic details, clinical characteristics, and follow-up data of 142 patients with endometrial cancer who underwent surgery during a 72-month period was performed. The patients were divided into three groups based on their BMI; patients with BMI < 25 were identified as normal weight, patients with BMI between 25 and 30 were accepted as overweight, and those with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 were identified as obese. The groups' demographic and clinical variables were compared. RESULTS: Of the 142 patients, 42 were in the normal weight group, 55 in the overweight group, and 45 in the obese group. Age, surgical procedures, blood loss, preoperative health status, and metastatic lymph nodes did not show a significant difference between groups. However, surgery time and total lymph nodes were higher in the obese group. (p = 0.02, p = 0.00, and p = 0.00, respectively). Common complications were anemia, fever, intestinal injury, deep vein thrombosis, fascial dehiscence and urinary infection. There was no significant difference according to the complications. CONCLUSION: Our results indicated that higher BMI was significantly associated with a longer duration of endometrial cancer surgery. Minimally invasive surgeries and conventional laparotomy could be performed safely in obese patients.

Association of Obesity and Surgery Outcomes in Patients with Endometrial Cancer: A Single-Center Analysis

Abstract Objective Although obesity can result in high morbidity and mortality in surgical outcomes because of multiple comorbidities, determinants of outcome in obese patients who underwent endometrial cancer surgery remain unclear. The aim of this study is to assess the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and surgical outcomes in obese patients with endometrial cancer. Methods An institutional retrospective review of the demographic details, clinical characteristics, and follow-up data of 142 patients with endometrial cancer who underwent surgery during a 72-month period was performed. The patients were divided into three groups based on their BMI; patients with BMI < 25 were identified as normal weight, patients with BMI between 25 and 30 were accepted as overweight, and those with BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2 were identified as obese. The groups' demographic and clinical variables were compared. Results Of the 142 patients, 42 were in the normal weight group, 55 in the overweight group, and 45 in the obese group. Age, surgical procedures, blood loss, preoperative health status, and metastatic lymph nodes did not show a significant difference between groups. However, surgery time and total lymph nodes were higher in the obese group. (p = 0.02, p = 0.00, and p = 0.00, respectively). Common complications were anemia, fever, intestinal injury, deep vein thrombosis, fascial dehiscence and urinary infection. There was no significant difference according to the complications. Conclusion Our results indicated that higher BMI was significantly associated with a longer duration of endometrial cancer surgery. Minimally invasive surgeries and conventional laparotomy could be performed safely in obese patients.

Bayesian Machine Learning for Efficient Minimization of Defects in ALD Passivation Layers.

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) is an enabling technology for encapsulating sensitive materials owing to its high-quality, conformal coating capability. Finding the optimum deposition parameters is vital to achieving defect-free layers; however, the high dimensionality of the parameter space makes a systematic study on the improvement of the protective properties of ALD films challenging. Machine-learning (ML) methods are gaining credibility in materials science applications by efficiently addressing these challenges and outperforming conventional techniques. Accordingly, this study reports the ML-based minimization of defects in an ALD-Al2O3 passivation layer for the corrosion protection of metallic copper using Bayesian optimization (BO). In all experiments, BO consistently minimizes the layer defect density by finding the optimum deposition parameters in less than three trials. Electrochemical tests show that the optimized layers have virtually zero film porosity and achieve five orders of magnitude reduction in corrosion current as compared to control samples. Optimized parameters of surface pretreatment using Ar/H2 plasma, the deposition temperature above 200 °C, and 60 ms pulse time quadruple the corrosion resistance. The significant optimization of ALD layers presented in this study demonstrates the effectiveness of BO and its potential outreach to a broader audience, focusing on different materials and processes in materials science applications.

The evolution of hypospadias publications: A bibliometric approach.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: Although the increasing prevalence of hypospadias has been reported in many countries, there is a lack of bibliometric studies that make a holistic assessment of the publications about this issue. This study aims to make a holistic evaluation, latest developments, and trend topics about hypospadias publications between 1980 and 2018 through bibliometric analysis. METHODS: All the publications about hypospadias published in the Web of Science index between 1980 and 2018 were downloaded and analyzed using bibliometric methods. The Spearman's correlation coefficient was utilized to analyze the correlations between economic productivity and performance of the countries on hypospadias. Linear regression analysis was performed to estimate the number of publications for the following years. RESULTS: Bibliometric analyses were performed with 1940 articles. With 527 (27.2%) publications, the USA was the country that made the most contribution to the literature. The top active 3 journals were the Journal of Urology, Journal of Pediatric Urology, and Urology. A high correlation was detected between hypospadias publication productivity and GDP (r=0.791, p<0.001). The regression analysis results showed that the expected number of articles to be produced was 95 (75-116) for 2019 and 106 (47-164) for 2024. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides a holistic evaluation of the articles about hypospadias, which is an anomaly that should be repaired and treated with surgery due to its potential problems for the children at kindergarten and school age. Increasing the collaboration between especially developing countries and research in different countries with samples from different communities through multidisciplinary studies are recommended.

In Situ X-ray Diffraction and Spectro-Microscopic Study of ALD Protected Copper Films.

In many applications of copper in industry and research, copper migration and degradation of metallic copper to its oxides is a common problem. There are numerous ways to overcome this degradation with varying success. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) based encapsulation and passivation of the metallic copper recently emerged as a serious route to success owing to the conformality and density of the ALD films. So far, the majority of the studies have been focused on corrosion protection of copper in a variety of chemical environments, mostly at ambient temperature. An investigation of the stability of the ALD film stacks and copper's interaction with them at elevated temperatures has been lacking. Here, we study the mitigation of copper oxidation and migration in 50 nm thick Al2O3/TiO2 and Al2O3/SiO2 bilayer ALD stacks. First, the corrosion dynamics were investigated via in situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) at 350 °C under atmospheric conditions, and second, the interaction of copper with the passivation layers have been examined post factum using detailed spectro-microscopic investigations. According to the XRD results, both ALD films exhibited excellent oxidation protection. In contrast, bare Cu immediately started to oxidize at 350 °C and transformed entirely to its known oxide phases in 4 h. Spectro-microscopic studies revealed that there are structural and chemical changes on the top surface and within the film stacks. The TiO2 layer was crystallized during annealing, while the SiO2 layer stayed in the amorphous phase, which was analyzed by grazing incidence XRD and transmission electron microscopy. According to scanning electron microscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, copper was detected on the surface with a higher amount in Al2O3/TiO2 than Al2O3/SiO2, 5.2 at.% and 0.7 at.%, respectively. Based on the surface and cross-sectional analysis, copper migration was observed on both layers, albeit more substantially in Al2O3/TiO2. In the case of Al2O3/SiO2, the bulk of the copper was captured at the interface of the two oxides.

The Use of Machine Learning Approaches for the Diagnosis of Acute Appendicitis.

Acute appendicitis is one of the most common emergency diseases in general surgery clinics. It is more common, especially between the ages of 10 and 30 years. Additionally, approximately 7% of the entire population is diagnosed with acute appendicitis at some time in their lives and requires surgery. The study aims to develop an easy, fast, and accurate estimation method for early acute appendicitis diagnosis using machine learning algorithms. Retrospective clinical records were analyzed with predictive data mining models. The predictive success of the models obtained by various machine learning algorithms was compared. A total of 595 clinical records were used in the study, including 348 males (58.49%) and 247 females (41.51%). It was found that the gradient boosted trees algorithm achieves the best success with an accurate prediction success of 95.31%. In this study, an estimation method based on machine learning was developed to identify individuals with acute appendicitis. It is thought that this method will benefit patients with signs of appendicitis, especially in emergency departments in hospitals.

The protective effect of Ganoderma lucidum on testicular torsion/detorsion-induced ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury.

PURPOSE: To investigate the protective effect of Ganoderma lucidum on testicular torsion/detorsion (T/D)-induced ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. METHODS: Thirty male Wistar albino rats were randomly categorized into 3 groups: Group 1: sham, Group 2 ( T/D): 2,5 hours of ischemia and 7 days of reperfusion, Group 3 (T/D+ G. lucidum ): 2,5 hours of ischemia and 7 days of reperfusion and 7 days of 20 mg/kg via gastric gavage G. lucidum polysaccharides per day. Biochemical assays of Malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT), Glutathione (GSH) levels , histopathology and expression levels of VEGF and Bcl-2 with immunohistochemical methods were examined in testicular tissue. RESULTS: G. lucidum treatment was found to have prevented the T/D-induced I/R injury by decreasing MDA levels of the testis. SOD, CAT and GSH activities were decreased in group 2, while they were increased in group 3 (p<0.001) and significant improvement in the tube diameter was observed in group 3. Bcl-2-positive germinal cells were lowered in group 3 compared to the group 2. VEGF expression showed an increase in group 2, whereas it decreased in group 3. CONCLUSION: The antioxidant G. lucidum is thought to induce angiogenesis by reducing the apoptotic effect in testicular torsion-detorsion.

Comparison of Primary and Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections in Children.

Aim We aimed to compare the demographic and ultrasound data regarding first-episode urinary tract infections with recurrent infections in children. Methods A total of 509 children aged 0-16 years who were diagnosed to have a urinary tract infection (UTI) as confirmed with positive urinary culture tests were retrospectively investigated. A comparison of baseline parameters, responsible pathogen incidences, and ultrasound findings was made between children who had a single episode of UTI (n=418, 82.1%) with those having second or more recurrent episodes of urinary tract infection (n=91, 17.9%). Results The mean age of children with a single episode of urinary tract infection was significantly lower than those who had recurrent urinary tract infection (5.33±4.38 vs. 7.01±4.83 years, p=0.003). Incidences of Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis was significantly higher in patients with recurrent urinary tract infection than those who had single episode (n=315, 75.4% vs. n=80, 87.9%, p=0.009 and n=8, 1.9% vs. n=9, 9.9%, p<0.001, respectively). An abnormal ultrasound was significantly more common in patients with recurrent urinary tract infection than those who had a single episode (n=41, 54.6% vs. n=59, 22.7%). Increased renal parenchymal echogenicity (p=0.002), bladder cystitis (p=0.01) and hydronephrosis (p<0.001) were significantly more common in patients with recurrent urinary tract infection than those who had a single episode of urinary tract infection. Conclusion Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis were the most common responsible pathogens in recurrent urinary tract infections. Structural changes, such as hydronephrosis and bladder cystitis, are likely to have an important role in the etiology of children with recurrent urinary tract infection.

The Effect of Religious Beliefs on the Publication Productivity of Countries in Circumcision: A Comprehensive Bibliometric View.

Circumcision is one of the most common surgical operations in newborns, babies, and children due to cultural, religious, and medical reasons. Religious beliefs are known to have an important role in circumcision. Although bibliometric analyses have been performed about several topics with a lot of publications in literature, no studies in the literature were found to focus on male circumcision. This study aims to make a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of circumcision and investigate the relationship between publication productivity and religious beliefs of the countries. Web of Science was utilized to obtain the documents needed for bibliometric analyses. "Circumcision" keyword was used for search. The search included studies published between 1980 and 2018. The literature review indicated that there were 3694 publications about circumcision published between 1980 and 2018. Of these publications, 1770 (47.9%) were articles. This study provided a bibliometric summary of 1770 articles. The top five active countries about circumcision were the USA, England, South Africa, Turkey, and Kenya. The present study found that the religious beliefs of a country were directly related to publication productivity about circumcision. The top-cited study was the article entitled "Male circumcision for HIV prevention in young men in Kisumu, Kenya: a randomized controlled trial" written by Bailey et al. and published in the journal of Lancet. The keyword analysis results showed that HIV was the top keyword used in all articles about circumcision. This study is believed to help researchers interested in circumcision topic to access a summary of the literature, see contemporary and more important topics, and discover new ideas about the issue.

Comparison of the Effects of Neostigmine and Sugammadex on Colonic Anastomotic Strength in Rats.

BACKGROUND: After colorectal surgery, anastomotic leakage is a major cause of mortality and morbidity. There are many factors affecting anastomotic leakage. It is known that agents such as neostigmine that is used to reverse neuromuscular blockade have certain effects on anastomosis. In our study, in which we planned to test this hypothesis, we aimed to compare the possible effects of different doses of sugammadex and neostigmine on colon anastomosis strength in a colonic resection anastomosis model in rats. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty adult Wistar albino male rats were divided into five groups as control (group C), Sugammadex 16 mg/kg (group SL), sugammadex 96 mg/kg (group SH), neostigmine 0.3 µmol/kg (group NL), and neostigmine 1.5 µmol/kg (group NH). The transverse colons of all rats were resected, and colonic anastomosis was performed. Appropriate drug doses according to the groups were given on the postoperative seventh day, and tissue hydroxyproline (TH) level and anastomotic bursting pressure were measured. RESULTS: Anastomotic bursting pressure values were statistically significantly different between the groups (P = 0.001). The bursting pressure in group SH was significantly higher compared with group C, group NL, and group NH. The hydroxyproline values were statistically significantly different between the groups (P = 0.015). According to the post hoc test results, the difference was between group SH and group C (P = 0.007). There were no significant differences between the other groups (P > 0.05). There was no significant difference in terms of intra-abdominal adhesion rates between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, we found that low and high doses of neostigmine had no variable effect on anastomosis, but high dose of sugammadex (96 mg/kg) had an increasing effect on intestinal anastomosis strength.

The Development of Necrotizing Enterocolitis Publications: A Holistic Evolution of Global Literature with Bibliometric Analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Despite the fact that necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is one of the reasons for morbidity and mortality in the newborn intensive care units, the literature indicates no bibliometric studies that made a holistic evaluation of the publications on this issue. This study aims to make a holistic evaluation of NEC publications to reveal the latest developments and trend topics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Bibliometric analyses were performed by retrieving all the publications in Web of Science (WoS: Web of Science Core Collection database maintained by Clarivate Analytics) database between 1980 and 2018 using the "necrotizing enterocolitis" keyword. The correlations between economic productivity, humanity index, and performances of the countries on the topic of NEC were investigated with Spearman's correlation coefficient. RESULTS: A review of the related literature indicated 2,968 publications on NEC between 1980 and 2018. Of these publications, 1,690 (56.9%) were indexed in the article document category in WoS. There was an important increasing trend in the number of publications after 2006. Results of the present study showed that the Journal of Pediatric Surgery and Journal of Pediatrics were the top effective journal that contributed to the literature in terms of publication productivity. The top productive country that produced most publications about NEC was the United States (863, 51.1%). CONCLUSION: Research on NEC is conducted in a limited number of countries. There seem to be more research opportunities in the developed countries because survival rates of premature babies having a disease like NEC are lower in the undeveloped countries, and survival rates are higher in developed countries due to appropriate intensive care conditions. Therefore, undeveloped countries should be supported in terms of NEC and provided with funds.

Experimental study on prophylactic effects of vardenafil in ischemia-reperfusion model with intestinal volvulus injury in rats.

AIM: An experimental study was performed to evaluate the effects of Vardenafil on ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury in an experimental volvulus model by histochemical and biochemical methods. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-five male Wistar rats were divided in five groups (n = 7). In Group 1, a 5 cm segment of small intestine 2 cm proximal to cecum was excised to have a control group. In the second group, 5 cm segment of small intestine 2 cm proximal to cecum was rotated 360° clockwise direction and sutured with 4/0 polyglactin to generate an experimental model of volvulus. At the end of 2 h of ischemia, the same intestinal segment was sampled. In group 3, after achieving ischemia similar to group 2, two hours of reperfusion injury was obtained by removing the sutures. Rats in Group 4 received vardenafil after 1.5 h of ischemia and then 2 h of reperfusion. And finally, in Group 5, vardenafil was administered 2 h before laparotomy and 5 cm of intestine was removed without I/R injury. Intestinal segments were evaluated for total antioxidant status (TAS), total oxidant status (TOS) and oxidative stress index (OSI) with biochemical and histopathological analysis. RESULTS: Serum TOS levels and OSI were not significantly different between groups (p = 0.910, P = 0,43 respectively). The serum TAS level was decreased in group 3 as compared to vardenafil groups 4 and 5, without a statistical significance (p = 0.428). In histopathologic analysis, we found that vardenafil, partially reduced I/R injury. The villus structure was preserved but, congestion and inflammation were moderate. CONCLUSION: Vardenafil partially reduced I/R injury histopathologically on intestine. Our study shows that it does not have statistically antioxidant effect on intestinal I/R injury in experimental model of volvulus. However, effects of vardenafil in I/R injury of liver, kidney, heart, testis, over and brain which were cited in literature were not confirmed with I/R injury on intestine.

Cutaneous Ciliated Cyst in an Unusual Location: Between Two Scapulas.

Cutaneous ciliated cyst is defined as a rare, painless lesion frequently encountered on the lower extremities of young girls after puberty. The cyst is surrounded by the columnar ciliary epithelium. Apart from the lower extremities of girls, they may be localized on the scalp, scapula, thumb, abdomen, umbilicus, thigh, heel, knee, and gluteal region. There are two theories to explain this localization. The first is that they are mullerian heterotrophy, while the other is that they are ciliated metaplasia of eccrine glands. In this paper, we described a cutaneous ciliated cyst, which was observed with a previously undescribed localization on the back of a 13-year-old female patient.

Evaluation of surgically treated breast masses in children.

Dogan G, Soyer T, Ekinci S, Karnak I, Çiftçi AÖ, Tanyel FC. Evaluation of surgically treated breast masses in children. Turk J Pediatr 2017; 59: 177-183. We aimed to define the diagnostic and treatment characteristics of breast masses among female children who had undergone surgical treatment in order to figure out which children should be followed conservatively or treated surgically. We reviewed retrospectively 64 female patients operated for breast masses under the age of 18 years between 1977 and 2013. Patient demographics, symptoms, physical examination findings, size of the mass and its relation with menstrual cycle, follow-up period before and after surgery, diagnostic characteristics, laboratory analysis, diagnosis before and after surgery, indications for surgery, histopathological characteristics of the mass, postoperative complications, and recurrence rate were recorded. Histopathologic investigations among 41 girls with complete hospital records showed that 26 had fibroadenoma (FA; 63.4%). Eleven girls among the other 23 cases with incomplete hospital records but with histopathological results have also had FA (47%). The majority of breast masses in childhood are FA, the frequency and duration of follow up is important. If there is a mass that will not regress, that continues to grow or does not reduce in size during follow up, and for those with family history of breast cancer to definitely exclude the possibility of malignancy, surgical treatment may be appropriate.