Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between clinical features of rheumatic diseases and hematologic indices, including mean platelet volume (MPV), MPV/platelet ratio (MPR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio, and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR). Subjects andMethods: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA; n = 91), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; n = 51), systemic sclerosis (SSc; n = 39), and Behçet's disease (BD; n = 53) patients, and 55 healthy controls (HC) were enrolled. Hematological indices were calculated and one-way analysis of variance, Mann-Whitney U and χ² tests, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed. Results: The MPV and MPR were higher in the SLE group than the RA group (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). ROC analysis indicated that MPV (area under the curve, AUC, 0.68, 95% CI 0.58-0.77) and MPR (AUC 0.69, 95% CI 0.59-0.78) were sensitive and specific markers for SLE against RA. The NLR was higher in the RA, SLE, and SSc groups compared to the HC group (p < 0.05, p < 0.001, and p < 0.01, respectively). The NLR was higher in the active BD patients than those that were inactive (p = 0.008). Besides, NLR was higher in patients with neuro-BD and patients with active genital ulcers compared to patients without neurological involvement (p < 0.01) and active genital ulcers (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The MPV and MPR were significantly higher in the SLE group than in the RA group. They were also higher in the active than in the inactive BD patients. The MPV and MPR are useful diagnostic tools for SLE, and NLR reflects disease activity in BD. However, further research should be performed to standardize these tools.

It was reported that lipid peroxidation (LPO) products increase in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and increased LPO products reduce many antioxidants. Lipid hydroperoxides (LOOHs) are byproduct of LPO. Paraoxonase (PON), arylesterase (ARE), free sulfhydryl (SH) groups, and ceruloplasmin (CP) are enzymes or proteins with antioxidant characteristics. This study aims to determine the levels of LOOHs and SH, and the activities of PON1, ARE, and CP in RA patients. The study included 47 active RA cases and 23 healthy volunteers. The levels of LOOHs and SH, and the activities of PON1, ARE, and CP were determined using appropriate methods. Student's t test and Spearman's correlation analysis methods were employed in the statistical evaluation. The level of LOOHs was found to be higher (p<0.001), while the level of SH and the activities of PON1, ARE, and CP were found to be lower (p<0.001, <0.001, <0.01, and <0.01, respectively) in the RA patient group when compared with the control group. There was a negative correlation between the level of LOOHs and the activity of PON1 in the patient group (r= -0.420 and p<0.01). The results of our study indicate increased oxidant and decreased antioxidant presence in RA patients. PON1 and ARE are known to have antiatherosclerotic effects in addition to their antioxidant characteristics. As the decrease in these antioxidants, resulting from increased oxidative stress in RA patients, development of atherosclerosis besides tissue injury seems inevitable.

BackgroundHealthcare-associated bloodstream infections (HCA-BSI) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).ObjectivesWe aimed to determine the causative organisms and risk factors of HCA-BSIs in NICUs.MethodsThis study was performed between January 2011 and December 2014 in the neonatal intensive care unit of Dicle university, Turkey. The study consisted of 126 patients (infected group) with positive blood culture and 126 randomly selected patients (uninfected control group) with negative blood culture after four days of hospitalization.ResultsWe found that the most common causative agents isolated from nosocomial infections (NIs) were 20.7% Staphylococcus epidermidis, 26.7% Klebsiella spp., and 13.3% Acinetobacter spp. Incidences of low gestational age, low birth weight, vaginal birth type, and long length of hospitalization were higher in the infected neonates than in the uninfected neonates. In the univariate analysis, surgical operation, ventriculoperitoneal shunt, use of umbilical catheter, nasogastric or orogastric tube, urinary catheter, mechanical ventilation, surfactant treatment, erythrocyte transfusion, plasma transfusion, thrombocyte transfusion, total parenteral nutrition infusion, intracranial hemorrhage, length of hospital stay, fifth-minute Apgar score, and total parenteral nutrition time were significantly associated with NIs. In the multiple logistic regression analysis, fifth-minute Apgar, use of erythrocyte transfusion and surgical operation were found as the independent risk factors for HCA-BSI.ConclusionsThis study determined the causative organisms and risk factors of HCA-BSIs in NICUs.

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