Volume 46, Issue 3

Objectives This article provides an overview through philately on the history of the quarantine ap-plications which dominate the whole world nowadays because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Content In this review article, the History of Quarantine is enriched with philatelic examples and tried to explain. Summary Quarantine is defined as the isolation of animals, people, or land to prevent the spread of diseases or pests. It is different from medical isolation, which is for people who have been infected with the disease. The word “quarantine” comes from quarantine, Italian language meaning “40 days”. This is because of the 40-day isolation of ships and people practiced as a measure of disease prevention related to the plague. This practice was named “Quaranta” in the Republic of Venice, whose economy is based on trade, by keeping the ships coming to the city in the sea for 40 days off the city, so that the capital Venice will not be infected with epidemics. Outlook People’s efforts to take precautions against a possible pandemic risk are a practice that has been going on for ages. Quarantine, which is among the measures to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, includes measures taken by avoiding contact with humans and animals in suspected cases exposed to infectious diseases for a period equal to the longest incubation period of the disease.

During previous decades, significant improvements in laboratory errors have become a substantial part of reducing preventable diagnostic errors. In clinical laboratory practice, the errors in the testing process are primarily associated with extra-analytical phase error sources, influencing the test result quality profoundly. Thus, the management of these critical error sources makes their effects preventable thanks to automation and computer sciences. The implementation of non-analytical automated systems requires a risk management strategy based on laboratory’s workflow and bottlenecks. Then, the improvements can be measured and evaluated by the usage of quality indicators (QI). Consequently, the total quality of laboratory diagnostics and higher patient safety is closely dependent on this type of automation. This review will help laboratory professionals, managers, and directors improve the total testing processes (TTP). The automation technologies have added a serious impact on the proficiency of laboratory medicine. Several instrumentations have now partially or entirely automated many manual tasks to improve standardization, organization, efficiency, and TTP quality. The implementation of non-analytical automation has made them manageable. As a result, non-analytical automation within and outside the clinical laboratory will necessarily lessen the error sources’ effect on the total test process, enhancing the quality of the test results.

Objectives Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a kind of viral pneumonia which is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). MicroRNAs (miRNA) are small non-coding RNAs consisting of 19–25 nucleotides and play a role in post-transcriptional gene regulation. We have focused on serum expression levels of microRNA (miRNA) a novel concept of in host–virus interactions. MicroRNA expression profiles were investigated in serum samples of COVID-19 patients. Materials and methods The samples were collected from 40 patients diagnosed with COVID-19 patients and from 10 healthy controls. Expression profile of 20 miRNAs were examined using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Results Statistically significant expression level differences (p < 0.05) were detected in nine miRNAs in COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. 7 miRNAs (hsa-let-7d, hsa-miR-17, hsa-miR-34b, hsa-miR-93, hsa-miR-200b, hsa-miR-200c, hsa-miR-223) expression levels were found to be significantly decreased and the expression levels of 2 miRNAs (hsa-miR-190a and hsa-miR-203) significantly increased respect to healthy controls. Conclusions We expect that a miRNA profile can be beneficial for the diagnosis of the COVID-19. Our result revealed that the increase in hsa-miR-190a level may be a prognostic factor related to the COVID-19 disease.

Objectives Thyroid diseases are the most frequent endocrine disorders and thyroid function tests (TFTs) are the most commonly requested endocrine tests. The reliable measurements of these tests are quite important. The aim of our study was to determine the bias and to verify the precision of the newly introduced Mindray CL-6000i immunoassay system in the guidance of CLSI guidelines. Methods A precision and bias study was performed in Mindray CL-6000i analyzer for FT3, FT4, TSH, Anti-TG, and Anti-TPO tests by using BioRad quality control (QC) materials and serum samples, respectively. Bland–Altman difference plot and Passing-Bablok regression analysis was made for method comparison with Beckman Coulter DXI 800 analyzer. Results The repeatability coefficient of variations (CVs) of FT3, FT4, TSH, Anti-TG, and Anti-TPO tests were ≤2.36, ≤1.66, ≤2.38, ≤3.48, and ≤3.31% while within laboratory CVs were ≤2.85, ≤4.61, ≤2.59, ≤3.78, and ≤3.60%, respectively. The mean differences between the two methods obtained from Bland–Altman analysis for FT3, FT4, TSH, Anti-TG, and Anti-TPO were defined to be −19%, 1.95%, −5.9%, −3.5%, and 7.3%, respectively. Conclusions Mindray CL-6000i had good precision in all tests, but the difference between the two methods in some tests shows that the harmonization and standardization of TFTs initiated globally is required.

Objectives Our aim was to validate a mass spectrometric creatinine method and compare this method with Jaffe and enzymatic serum creatinine methods. Methods 90 samples were included. The levels were classified into three groups according to serum creatinine results as Group 1: Lower (n=30) (0.16–0.59 mg/dL), Group 2: Normal (n=30) (0.62–1.18 mg/dL) and Group 3: Higher (n=30) (1.33–3.88 mg/dL). Jaffe and enzymatic creatinine measurements were performed on the Beckman Coulter AU5800 autoanalyzer. Results Serum creatinine was linear from 0.039 up to 10 mg/dL, CV and bias values were ranged between 1.9–3.8% and 2–15%. Correlation coefficients were 0.990 (95% confidence interval 0.984–0.993), 0.992 (95% confidence interval 0.988–0.995) and 0.994 (95% confidence interval 0.991–0.996) for LC-MS/MS-Enzymatic, LC-MS/MS-Jaffe and Enzymatic-Jaffe, respectively. Conclusions Although, Jaffe method for serum creatinine measurement is still much more practical and cheap, so in use for routine practice, tandem mass spectrometric detection of serum creatinine can be used as an accurate and specific method for verification of discordant clinical results, existence of possible interferences and serum levels under 0.5 mg/dL creatinine results such as pediatric or pregnant populations.

Objectives Immunoregulatory GITR, OX40L and PD-1 molecules play an active role in the regulation of tumor microenvironment and have been shown in many cancer types. However, there are limited studies of these molecules in terms of gastric cancer. In our study, we aimed to determine the histopathological significance of sPD-1, sOX40L and sGITR levels in gastric cancer cases. Methods Serum samples were obtained from peripheral blood samples of 20 gastric cancer and 34 healthy controls and candidate biomarker levels were determined by ELISA. Results sGITR level was found to be 48.28 ± 2.66 pg/mL in the gastric cancers and 39.19 ± 2.01 pg/mL in the controls (p=0.014). sOX40L level was 6.13 ± 0.64 pg/mL in the patients and 8.68 ± 0.99 pg/mL in the control, and the sOX40L level was found to be 1.41 times higher in the control group compared to the patients (p=0.033). sGITR levels of signet-ring cell carcinoma were found to be higher than other adenocarcinomas (p=0.04). There was no difference between groups in sPD-1 (p=0.490). Conclusions We suggest that sGITR, sOX40L and molecules may play a role in tumor microenvironment regulation and histological type in gastric cancer.

Background The studies investigating the anticancer activities of natural products have accelerated to produce new solutions in the face of increasing cancer cases. Various Ferulago species are reported to exhibit antioxidant, antiulcer and antimicrobial activities. Objective This study aimed to evaluate the cytotoxic and apoptotic activities of ethanolic extracts of roots of five Ferulago species on various human cancer cell lines. Material and methods HPLC analyses were performed by HP Agilent 1,100. The cytotoxicity were determined by MTT assay. The cell cycle arrest and Annexin V binding analyses were performed by Muse Cell Analyzer (Millipore). Results All examined species except F. setifolia inhibited cell viability in PC3 and SW480 cells at 0.01 mg/mL and higher concentrations (p<0.05). Ferulago species inhibited cell cycle at different stages for treated cell lines. The ethanolic extracts of Ferulago species also increased Annexin V binding significantly, resulted in apoptosis (p<0.05%). In this context, F. syriaca showed the highest apoptotic activity in MCF-7 cells by increasing the apoptotic cell population to 23.54 ± 2.10% (p<0.0001). Conclusion The findings of present study have shown that Ferulago species included in the study have potent anticancer effects and this work have the potential to result in further studies.

Objectives There are several hypotheses on the effects of the rs1738074 T/C single nucleotide polymorphism in the TAGAP gene; however, there has been no study on Turkish pediatric patients. We aimed to investigate the association of celiac disease (CD) and type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) comorbidity with the polymorphism in the TAGAP gene of Turkish pediatric patients. Methods Totally, 127 pediatric CD patients and 100 healthy children were included. We determined the polymorphism by the allele-specific polymerase chain reaction method. We used IBM SPSS Statistics version 25.0 and Arlequin 3.5.2 for the statistical analyses. The authors have no conflict of interest. Results It was determined that 72% (n=154) of only CD patients had C allele, whereas 28% (n=60) had T allele. Of the patients with celiac and T1DM, 42.5% (n=17) and 57.5% (n=23) had T and C alleles, respectively. Of the individuals in control group, 67% (n=134) had C allele, whereas 33% (n=66) had T allele. Conclusions There was no significant difference in the genotype and allele frequencies between the patient and control groups (p>0.05). There was no significant association between the disease risk and the polymorphism in our study group.

Background Hepatic fibrosis is a complex and dynamic process similar to “wound healing” that results in the progressive accumulation of connective tissue. We aimed to investigate the epigenetic control of liver fibrosis and Hippo pathway in human hepatic stellate cell (HSC) line. We examined the effect of Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), a histone deacetylase inhibitor on the LX2 cell line. Material and methods 2.5 μM SAHA was treated to LX2 cell line for 2 days. Cell proliferation and apoptosis measurement were performed by Muse Cell Analyzer. Yes-Associated Protein/Transcrıptional Coactivator With Pdz-Binding Motif (YAP/TAZ) and alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) protein expression levels were measured by western blotting. Results In our study, we observed that the SAHA treatment reduced cell viability and induced apoptosis of LX2 cells statistically. We found that SAHA treatment decreased α-SMA, YAP and TAZ proteins levels statistically. Conclusion Decreased cell viability could be due to physiological, autophagical and also related to the apoptotical mechanisms. We thought that SAHA plays an important role in the creation of the fates of the LX2 cell line.

Objective In this study, possible protective effects of protocatechuic acid (PCA) against experimentally-induced acute renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) damage in rats, on matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) and the associated signal transduction pathways were investigated. Methods A total of 3–4 month-old, 200–250 g Sprague Dawley rats were divided into groups of five (n=7). A right kidney nephrectomy surgery was conducted to all groups under anesthesia. Rats were administered polyethylene glycol 1 h prior to ischemia (Group I, II) and PCA (Group III, IV, V) intraperitoneally. Forty five minutes before the ischemia during 24 h reperfusion on all rats except those in Group I. At the end of the experiment, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine values and superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) enzyme levels were investigated in blood serum. MMP-2 and MMP-9 gene expression levels were determined by RT-PCR, and p38 and p-p38 protein expression levels Western blotting method. Renal tissue was examined histologically and immunohistochemically. Results It is assumed that 80 and 120 mg/kg of PCA might have a protective effect against oxidative stress damage caused by renal I/R. Conclusion In our study, PCA has been shown to modulate the increased expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 mRNA along with increased oxidative stress during renal I/R, as well as oxidative damage-induced p38 protein expression. It was determined that particularly 120 mg kg −1 PCA reduced the renal I/R injury at a rate of 35–45%.

Objectives To evaluate serum levels of zonulin and interleukin 6 (IL-6) in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients complicated by diabetic retinopathy and to investigate the effect of intestinal permeability on diabetic retinopathy (DR) progression. Materials and Methods Eighty-nine patients with T2DM and 30 healthy controls aged between 18 and 80 years were enrolled. T2DM patients were grouped as without DR (n=30), with non-proliferative DR (n=29), and with proliferative DR (n=30). Serum zonulin and IL-6 levels were measured with the ELISA method. Results Zonulin levels showed no statistical difference by pairwise comparisons of groups, but IL-6 levels were significantly increased in non-proliferative and proliferative DR groups compared to the HC and without DR groups. Zonulin level was correlated with body mass index and IL-6 level; IL-6 level was correlated with duration of diabetes, fasting blood glucose and HbA1c. While duration of diabetes and serum IL-6 levels had an independent effect on DR development, zonulin had no effect. Conclusions Serum zonulin levels cannot be used as a biomarker for the progression of the diabetic retinopathy complication.