Comparison of factors affecting patients with a myofascial temporomandibular disorder with and without sleep bruxism.

Aims and Background: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the relationship between jaw function, neck disability, sleep quality, fatigue, and headache in patients with myofascial temporomandibular disorder (TMD) with sleep Bruxism (SB) and without it (non-SB). Subjects and Methods: This case-control study was conducted with a total of 200 myofascial TMD patients, comprising 91 identified as SB and 109 as non-SB. The Jaw Function Limitations Scale (JFLS), Neck Disability Index (NDI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), and Headache Impact Test-6 (HIT-6) scales and indexes were used. Results: In the group with SB compared to the non-SB group, JFLS, NDI, PUKI, and FSS scores were statistically significantly higher (P < 0.001). No statistically significant difference was found between the groups in terms of visual analog scale (VAS) (P = 0.127) and HIT-6 scores (P = 0.365). The probability of having JFLS in patients with SB compared to those without was folded 3.551 times (P = 0.002), and the probability of having NDI increased 3.473 times (P = 0.002). In addition, SB was observed to trigger poor sleep quality (P < 0.001). There was no statistically significant determinant of bruxism on FSS (P = 0.196), and on HIT-6 (P = 0.488). Conclusion: It can be concluded that SB causes limitation of the jaw's functional activities, neck problems, and decreased sleep quality in myofascial TMD. These findings emphasize the importance of considering SB when evaluating and treating patients with myofascial TMD problems.

Kefir alters craniomandibular bone development in rats fed excess dose of high fructose corn syrup.

INTRODUCTION: Dietary high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is involved in the pathogenesis of oral diseases as well as metabolic diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of HFCS-feeding on the craniomandibular bone development at an early age and also the potential of milk kefir for preventive treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this study, Control, Kefir, HFCS, and HFCS plus Kefir groups were formed; kefir was given by gastric gavage, while HFCS (20% beverages) was given in drinking water; for 8 weeks. RESULTS: Based on morphological evaluations, immunohistochemical, and gene expression results, it was clearly determined that excess dose of HFCS consumption decreased osteoblastic activity in craniomandibular bones while increasing osteoclastic activity. However, it has been determined that the intake of kefir with the HFCS-feeding greatly suppresses the effects of HFCS on bone tissues. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, dietary the excess dose of HFCS at an early age has been observed to pose a risk for cranial and mandible bone development. The healing effects of kefir may be a new approach to the treatment via kefir consumption in young's.

A stereological study of the effects of antidepressants on postmenopausal rat kidney.

Many factors can cause depression including genes (DNA), brain chemistry or stress. Antidepressant drugs affect the brain, heart, liver and kidney. We investigated the effects of the antidepressant drugs, amitriptyline (AMI) and paroxetine (PARO) on kidney. We used 24 adult female rats that were ovariectomized bilaterally 7 days before the experiment. The ovariectomized (OVX) animals and healthy control rats were divided into four equal groups for 4 weeks: control group, OVX control group (sham), AMI group and PARO group. Following the experimental period, the Cavalieri method was applied to sections of the kidney. PARO produced adverse effects on distal and proximal tubule volume, but AMI had no effect on the volume of distal and proximal tubules. Both PARO and AMI decreased the volume of Bowman spaces. PARO also damaged the kidney tubules and cells.

Life Quality and Compliance After Transplant: The Case of Turkey.

OBJECTIVE: Chronic renal failure is one of the most significant health problems in Turkey, as it is all over the world, and negatively affects quality of life. The aim of this study is to find factors affecting compliance levels and quality of life of patients undergoing kidney transplant. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The population of the study consisted of 244 patients who underwent kidney transplant. Although the study aimed to cover the entire target population in the sampling selection, it was conducted among 206 patients. The data were collected by face-to-face interview. RESULTS: Of the patients, 92.7% were between 46 and 59 years of age, 54.4% had a living donor transplant, 54.9% had adverse effects, and 2.9% had rejection due to incompatibility. There was a significant relationship between compliance and quality of life; increasing frequency of adverse effects would decrease in direct proportion to compliance, which would, therefore, increase quality of life. All the subscale scores of the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey were found to have an average of 60 and above. The mean of the compliance scale was 48.33 (SD, 3.21), and, with the maximum score at 55, the mean of the group was high. In our country, patients view transplant as a final and definite treatment method. This might be related to fact that the longer the time after transplant, the lower the level of compliance.

Effect of vitamin C on collagen structure of cardinal and uterosacral ligaments during pregnancy.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to investigate changes in collagen structure in the cardinal and uterosacral ligaments of rats that were administered vitamin C during pregnancy. STUDY DESIGN: Eighteen female rats were divided into three groups: six pregnant rats administered 1.25mg/ml/day of vitamin C during pregnancy (Group A); six non-pregnant rats that were not administered vitamin C (Group B); and six pregnant rats that were not administered vitamin C during pregnancy (Group C). Fifteen days after delivery, the uteruses of all rats were removed. The intensity of staining (mild, moderate or severe) and the extent of positive staining areas (%) of type I and type III collagen H scores for types I and III collagen, and intensity of elastin fibres in the cardinal and uterosacral ligaments were investigated immunohistochemically. Differences between groups were analysed using Kruskal-Wallis and independent samples tests. RESULTS: The intensity and extent of type I and type III collagen, the H scores for type I and type III collagen, and the ratio of type III collagen H score: type I collagen H score differed significantly between groups. Pregnant rats administered vitamin C (Group A) had significantly higher values compared with non-pregnant rats (Group B): intensity of type I collagen (p=0.001), extent of type I collagen (p≤0.001), H score for type I collagen (p≤0.001), intensity for type III collagen (p=0.002), extent of type IV collagen (p=0.007), H score for type III collagen (p=0.017), type III collagen H score: type I collagen H score (p=0.039) and intensity of elastin fibres (p=0.097). A significant difference in the ratio of type III collagen H score: type I collagen H score was found between pregnant rats administered vitamin C (Group A) and pregnant rats not administered vitamin C (Group C) (p=0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The administration of vitamin C to rats during pregnancy had a favourable impact on collagen structure in the cardinal and uterosacral ligaments, suggesting that vitamin C supplementation during pregnancy may help to prevent pelvic organ prolapse and stress urinary incontinence.

Evaluation of renal transplantations performed in the Transplantation Center at Sanko University Medical School.

INTRODUCTION: Renal transplantation is the optimum treatment to improve the quality and length of life in end-stage renal disease. The aim of this study is to evaluate patients who underwent renal transplantation in our transplantation center and to present our clinical experience. METHODS: Living donor and cadaveric renal transplants performed in the Transplantation Center of Sanko University Medical School between 2011 and 2014 were evaluated retrospectively. In our study, important parameters, such as delayed graft function, early and late phase infections and urologic complications after the operation, results of renal transplants with marginal donors with high creatinine levels, and increase in posttransplant body mass index were evaluated regarding to the living donor and cadaveric renal transplants performed in our transplantation center. RESULTS: We included 136 patients were (92 males [68%] and 44 females [32%]), with an average age of 38.9 ± 9.8 years (range, 17-67). There were 63 living donor renal transplantations (43%) and 73 cadaveric renal transplantations (57%). The youngest cadaveric donor was 3 years old, and the oldest was 86. Fifteen of the cadaveric donors had blood creatinine levels around 1.5 g/dL. The highest level of creatinine from cadaveric donors was 5.1 g/dL. CONCLUSIONS: Living donor renal transplantations have higher success rate than cadaveric renal transplantations. Ureteroneocystostomy and native ureteropyelostomy seem to be safe and efficient treatment methods for ureteral complications. High creatinine levels in marginal donors do not affect graft function in early stages.

The combination of agomelatine and ritanserin exerts a synergistic interaction in passive avoidance task.

Agomelatine is a potent agonist at melatonergic 1 and 2 (MT1 and MT2) receptors and an antagonist at serotonin-2C (5HT-2C) receptors. It was suggested that psychotropic effects of agomelatine is associated with its melatonergic and serotonergic effects. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of agomelatine alone or in combination with ritanserin (5HT-2A/2C antagonist) on memory and learning. Male Balb-C mice (25-30 g) were used, and all drugs and saline were administrated by intraperitoneal (i.p.) route 30 min prior to evaluating retention time. Whilst agomelatine was administered at the doses of 1, 10 and 30 mg/kg, ritanserin was administered at the doses of 0.1, 1 and 10 mg/kg. To evaluate memory function, passive avoidance test was used. On the first day, acquisition time and on the second day (after 24h), retention time of mice were recorded. To evaluate the synergistic activity, only the least doses of agomelatine and ritanserine were used, that is, 1 and 0.1 mg/kg, respectively. Scopolamine (1 mg/kg) was used as a reference drug, so it was combined with drug groups. Our results show that 5HT-2A/2C receptor antagonist ritanserin (1 and 4 mg/kg, i.p.) and agomelatine (10 and 30 mg/kg, i.p.) improve memory deficit induced by scopolamine, whilst a synergistic interaction is observed between ritanserin and agomelatine (0.1 mg/kg and 1 mg/kg, i.p., respectively) when they were administered at their ineffective doses. According to our findings, we concluded that agomelatine improves memory deficit and thus improves the effect of agomelatine arises from its 5HT-2C receptor antagonist activity.

Attitude and approach of people who live in southeastern Anatolia region on tissue and organ transplantation.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes and the approach of the people living in the southeastern anatolia region and the impact of the lack of education on them. MEASUREMENTS: We used questionnaires consisting of 15 questions that were given to 145 people to be completed in 2 hours. The questionnaire assessed their knowledge, attitudes, and awareness of organ donation. RESULTS: We asked whether they were well-informed about organ donation; 50% did not feel well-informed. CONCLUSIONS: These data confirm the great lack of knowledge about organ donation in the southeastern anatolia region.

Relevance of IL7R genotype and mRNA expression in Dutch patients with multiple sclerosis.

BACKGROUND: The interleukin 7 receptor (IL7R) has been recognized as a susceptibility gene for Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Analysis of rs6897932 (the most strongly MS-associated single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP)), showed effects of genotype on the relative expression of membrane-bound to total amount of IL7R mRNA. OBJECTIVE: We assessed the relevance of IL7R on MS phenotype (including clinical and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters) at DNA and mRNA level in Dutch patients with MS. METHODS: The genotype of rs6897932 was analyzed in 697 patients with MS and 174 healthy controls. The relevance of genotype and carriership of the C allele on MS phenotype (disease activity and severity, using clinical and MRI parameters) was assessed. In addition, relative gene expression of membrane-bound to total IL7R mRNA was analyzed with respect to disease phenotype in a subgroup of 95 patients with early relapsing MS. RESULTS: In particular, homozygosity for the risk allele is a risk factor for MS in our population (OR(CC vs CT and TT) = 1.65 (95% CI: 1.18-2.30), two-sided p = 0.004). However, no effect of genotype or the relative expression of membrane-bound IL7R (presence of exon 6-7) to total amount of IL7R mRNA (presence of exon 4-5) was found on MS phenotype. DISCUSSION: Homozygosity for the IL7R exon 6 rs6897932 C allele is associated with a higher risk for MS in our Dutch population. No effect was found of genotype or mRNA expression on disease phenotype.

The assessment of urinary function following extended lymph node dissection for colorectal cancer.

AIMS: The aim of the current study is to demonstrate whether the effects of extended systematic lymph-node dissection (ESLND) on urinary dysfunctions differ from those of curative radical surgery (CRS) only for rectal cancer. METHODS: We present data about our patients who underwent rectal resection for rectal cancer over 5 years. One hundred and seventy patients with rectal cancer were reviewed with respect to surgical procedures and post-operative urinary problems. RESULTS: We performed CRS on 146 patients and CRS+ESLND on 24 patients, and analysed the incidence of post-operative urinary dysfunction in both groups. Urinary incontinence rates were 39 and 58%, urinary retention rates were 4 and 16%, for the patients from CRS group and CRS+ESLND group, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that the addition of ESLND to CRS does not increase the frequency of post-operative urinary dysfunction, apart from an increased risk of urinary retention.

Opinions of imams about family planning and their use of methods in Kayseri, Turkey.

OBJECTIVES: Imams are religious leaders who have significant influence on the social attitudes and behavior of a society. This study examined the views of imams on family planning and their personal preference of birth control methods. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using a pre-prepared questionnaire, an on-site individual interview was conducted face-to-face with each of 164 imams at Kayseri, a city in Central Anatolia. RESULTS: All of the imams included in the study knew of at least one family planning method. Withdrawal was the most widely known method of family planning (84.2%). Among imams, 88.4% approved the use of birth control. While only 61.8% of the imams used at least one method of family planning, 20.1% used none at all. Of the family planning methods used, we considered 43.1% efficient (modem) and 18.7% inefficient (traditional). The most important factor affecting preference of traditional methods was religious suitability. CONCLUSION: Contrary to common belief, imams viewed family planning positively and used family planning methods at a rate similar to that of the general public. If provided with accurate information, we believe that imams may have a positive contribution to make in the development of family planning programs.