Turk J Med Sci
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Considering that there is no specifically designed scale to measure quality of life (QoL) and level of functioning among Turkish-speaking patients with thoracic outlet syndrome (TOS), the aim of this study was to adapt the Thoracic Outlet Syndrome Index (TOSI) to the Turkish language (TOSI-TR) and analyze its psychometric properties in patients with TOS. ⋯ The TOSI-TR is a reliable, valid, and feasible questionnaire for the QoL and functional status in Turkish-speaking patients with TOS. We recommend this 15-item scale for optimal assessment in patients with TOS.
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Observational Study
Are serum thrombomodulin and interleukin-8 levels associated with disease severity and mortality in critically ill children with respiratory failure?
Thrombomodulin (TM) is found on endothelial cell surfaces and increases in response to endothelial injury of different organs. Interleukin (IL)-8 regulates pulmonary inflammation. TM and IL-8 are candidate biological markers of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The aim of the present study was to compare TM and IL-8 levels in pediatric patients with and without ARDS who received respiratory support and to determine their relationships with prognosis. ⋯ In our study, higher marker levels correlated with impaired oxygenation and higher mortality. Higher TM and IL-8 levels in ARDS might reflect the degree of vascular injury and inflammation.
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This study assessed the impact of intraoperative microvascular Doppler ultrasonography (MDU) during microsurgical subinguinal varicocele correction in children. ⋯ The use of MDU during subinguinal microsurgical varicocelectomy in children not only increases the success rate but also minimizes complications such as hydrocele and recurrence.
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Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive tumours, resistant to all applied therapy regiments and prone to relapse. Median survival rates are therefore only expressed as months. STING agonists are immunomodulatory molecules that activate type I interferon expression, making them potentially useful in regulating the tumour microenvironment. Since PTEN serves as a critical phosphatase in activating interferon-regulating transcription factors and is frequently mutated in glioblastoma cells, this study aimed to investigate STING activation in glioblastoma cell lines, examining whether they harbour the PTEN protein or not.°. ⋯ Our data offers new evidence suggesting that STING agonists can effectively be used to increase temozolomide response in the presence of PTEN protein. Therefore, increased GBM therapy success rates can be achieved by employing the PTEN expression status as a predictive biomarker before treating patients with a chemotherapeutic agent in combination with STING agonist.
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Tandem mass spectrometry is helpful in diagnosing amino acid metabolism disorders, organic acidemias, and fatty acid oxidation disorders and can provide rapid and accurate diagnosis for inborn errors of metabolism. The aim of this study was to predict inborn errors of metabolism in children with the help of artificial neural networks using tandem mass spectrometry data. ⋯ The results showed that the proposed artificial neural networks are capable of predicting inborn errors of metabolism very accurately. Therefore, developing new technologies to identify and predict inborn errors of metabolism will be very useful.