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The present work was undertaken in order to investigate the effects of magnetic field (MF) on hematopoiesis and fuel metabolites in female rats. At thermoneutrality (25°C), the exposition of rats 1 hour/day for 10 consecutive days to a MF of 128 mT (m Tesla) induced an increase in hematocrit and hemoglobin compared to controls. Exposure to MF also induced an increase in blood glucose levels but had no effect on triglyceride concentrations. Moreover, serum alanine aminotransferase activity remained unchanged in treated rats, while aspartate aminotransferase and lactate dehydrogenase activities increased by about 22% and 33%, respectively, following MF exposure. It was concluded that sub-acute exposure to MF induced elevations in hematocrit, hemoglobin, plasma fuel metabolites and tissue enzymes release within the blood. Key words: Magnetic field, hematology, glucose, triglycerides, plasma enzymes, rat.

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Erken evre mycosis fungoides (MF) oral photo-chemotherapy (Psorolevand UVA-PUVA) gibi metotlarla tedavi edilebilir. Literatürde, PUVA ile birlikte interferon (IFN) kullanımının başarılı olabileceğine dair yayınlar mevcuttur. Bu çalışmada, retrospektif olarak, IFN+ PUVA ile tedavi ettiğimiz erken evre MF hastalarının değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Haziran 2003-Mayıs 2005 tarihleri arasında tedavi edilen 6 erken evre (Ia-IIa) MF hastası bu çalışmaya alınmıştır. IFN ve PUVA kombine olarak başlanmış ve yanıt alınan hastalarda IFN ile devam edilmiştir. Tam yanıt alınan hastalar aylık peryodlarla izlenmiştir. Interferon-α-2b haftada 3 gün 2 milyon ünite (MÜ) /gün kullanılmış, PUVA haftada 3 gün yapılmıştır. Dört kadın ve 2 erkek hastanın ortalama yaşları 54.3 (32-75) idi ve tümör nod metastaz (TNM) evreleme sistemine göre, 4 hasta evre Ia, 1 hasta evre Ib ve 1 hasta da evre IIa idi. Altı hastanın 4’ünde (%66) tam yanıt elde olunurken, 2 hastada (%34) parsiyel yanıt alınabildi. Hiç bir hastada evre 3-4 toksisite gelişmedi. Tedavi esnasında hiç bir hastada progresyon saptanmadı. Tüm hastalar planlandığı şekilde halen takip ve tedavi altındadır. Düşük doz IFN-α-2b ve PUVA kombinasyonu, erken evre MF hastalarında yanıt eldesinde oldukça başarılıdır ve hastalar tarafından iyi tolere edilmektedir.

Early-stage mycosis fungoides (MF) can be treated with different regimens such as oral photo-chemotherapy (Psoralen and UVA-PUVA). There have been some studies showing the effectiveness of combination of interferon (IFN) with PUVA. In this study, we aimed to evaluate retrospectively the patients with early-stage MF treated with IFN + PUVA. Six patients with the diagnosis of early stage (Ia-IIa) MF between June 2003 and May 2005 were enrolled in this study. IFN combined with PUVA was started and followed by IFN maintenance in complete response (CR) patients. Patients achieving CR were followed up at monthly intervals until relapse. Interferon-α-2b was administered at a dose of 3 MU 3 times a week and PUVA was applied 3 times a week. There were 4 female and 2 male patients, aged 32-75 years (mean 54.3 years). Four patients were at stage Ia, one patient at Ib and one patient at stage IIa according to TNM staging. Four of 6 patients (66%) achieved CR and 2 of 6 (33%) achieved partial response (PR). No grade 3-4 side effects due to IFN were detected, and no progression was observed during the treatment. All patients have been under treatment as planned. Low dose of IFN-α-2b plus PUVA was found to be successful in achieving excellent clinical responses in patients with early-stage MF. This treatment modality was very well tolerated.

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Akut myeloid lösemili (AML) ve myelodisplastik sendromlu (MDS) yaşlı hastaların nasıl tedavi edileceği halen tartışmalıdır ve pek çok rejimle elde edilen sonuçlar olumsuzdur. Tam doz antrasiklin içeren yoğun tedavileri tolere edemeyecek 60 yaş üzerindeki 14 vakayı tedavi rejiminin etkinliğini göstermek için çalışmamıza aldık. Ortalama yaş 69 idi ve 60 ile 85 arasında değişmekte idi. Sekiz hastada MDS (biri AML ye dönüştü), 6 tanesinde de AML vardı. Tedavi etoposid 120 mg/m² ve thioguanin 100 mg/m² p.o. günde iki kez 1-5.günler ve araC 40 mg/m² s.c. 1. günde verildi (ETC). Çalışmanın ilk sonuçlarında; on dört hastanın 7sinde (%50) tam yanıt elde edildi. Ortalama yaşam süresi 10 aydı. Hastanede geçirilen ortalama günler 28 gündü. Ortalama nötropeni süresi 11 gün iken trombositopeni süresi 15 gündü. Ciddi hiçbir enfeksiyon tespit edilmedi. Erken ölüm 2 (%14) hastada izlendi. Sonuç olarak bu yeni tedavi yaklaşımı yaşlı hastalarda %50’lik tam yanıt oranı ile basit güvenli ve ekonomik bir tedavi seçeneğidir.

Treatment in elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) remains controversial, and results have been poor with most regimens. In order to study the efficacy of a new regimen in the treatment of these diseases in elderly patients assessed as not tolerating full-scale anthracycline-containing intensive chemotherapy, 14 patients over 60 years were enrolled in our study. The median age was 69 years, range 60-85 years. Eight patients had MDS (one transformed to AML) and six had AML. Anthracycline-lacking therapy (ETC) consisted of etoposide 120 mg/m² and thioguanine 100 mg/m² p.o. twice daily on days 1-5 and cytarabine (araC) 40 mg/m² s.c. on day 1. The preliminary results were as follows: 7 of the 14 patients (50%) achieved complete remission. The median survival was 10 months. Days spent at hospital were 28. Neutropenia was observed for 11 days and thrombocytopenia for 15 days. No severe infection was detected. Early death was observed in 2 (14%) of the patients. In conclusion, this novel treatment with a complete response of 50% appears to be a simple, safe, cost-effective form of therapy for elderly patients.

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Türk pediatrik inme hastalarında Protrombin G20210A ve A19911G mutasyonları ve PT A19911G polimorfizminin etkisi araştırıldı. Vaka-kontrol çalışmasına 107 serebral infarktlı hasta ve 83 sağlıklı akraba olmayan kontrol grubu dahil edildi. Bu çalışma grubunda PT A19911G polimorfizminin dağılımı ve PT 19911G ile 20210A allelerinin etkisi birlikte değerlendirildiğinde bir risk oluşturmadıkları saptanmıştır.

Effects of PT A19911G polymorphism in Turkish pediatric stroke patients were investigated. The case-control study included 107 patients with cerebral infarct and 83 healthy unrelated controls. Distribution of PT A19911G and data on the combined effect of PT 19911G and PT 20210A alleles do not indicate that they constitute a risk in this group of patients.

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We followed 565 male patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) in two hospitals of Saudi Arabia. We investigated these cases for presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) by determining the HBsAg and anti-HCV. Anti-HCV positive cases were confirmed by PCR. The NHL cases were classified on the basis of working formulation. The results of HBV and HCV in cases of NHL were compared with the prevalence of these viruses in healthy male blood donors. We found 11.2% of cases of NHL were positive for HBV and 16.1% for HCV, compared to 3.4% HBV and 2.9% HCV among blood donors. The highest numbers of cases (48.4% of HBV and 56% of HCV) were seen in the intermediate and low grade of NHL, respectively. Follicular small cleaved was the predominant type in both types of infection. The variation in prevalence of HBV and HCV in NHL from that of the general population was statistically significant (p<0.001). We observed that the background prevalence of HBV definitely affects the rate of infection in NHL, while infection of HCV in cases of NHL is independent of its background prevalence.

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Lösemi tanısıyla takip edilen ve pulmoner aspergillozis seyrinde tam kalp bloğu gelişen bir vaka bildirilmiştir. Kemoterapi sonrası nötropenik dönemde, ani gelişen takipne, dispne, ateş, bilateral akciğerlerde infiltrasyon ve solunum yetmezliği tablosundaki hastaya olası pulmoner aspergillozis teşhisi konmuştur. Antifungal tedavinin altıncı gününde tam atrioventriküler blok gelişmiştir. Lipozomal Amfoterisin-B tedavisi sırasında tam kalp bloğu bildirilmemiştir. Hastamızda Aspergillozis’in lokal veya hematojen yayılımı sonrası miyokard tutulumunun, tam kalp bloğunun en olası sebebi olabileceği düşünülmüştür.

A patient with leukemia who developed complete heart block after the diagnosis of pulmonary aspergillosis is reported. The patient had probable invasive pulmonary aspergillosis with a sudden tachypnea, dyspnea, fever, bilateral pulmonary infiltrates and acute respiratory insufficiency after chemotherapy. On the sixth day of antifungal therapy, she developed complete atrioventricular block. Complete heart block has not been reported during liposomal amphotericin B (LAMB) therapy. Local or hematogenous involvement of the myocardium with aspergillosis may be the most likely explanation of the complete heart block.

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Multiple myeloma and acute leukemia may sometimes occur in the same patient, usually in patients with myeloma who receive chemotherapy and subsequently develop acute leukemia. However, simultaneous occurrence of myeloma and acute leukemia on presentation is rare, with only a handful of such cases reported in the literature.

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