BackgroundEpidemiological studies show that vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency are common worldwide and associated with many diseases including asthma. Our aim was to evaluate vitamin D insufficiency and its clinical consequences.MethodsThis cross-sectional study was carried out on 170 children consisted of 85 who were asthmatic and 85 who were not, aged 2 to 14 years in Tekirdag, Turkey, from September 2009 to May 2010. Children’s basal serum D vitamin levels were determined, and their eating habits, vitamin D intake, exposure to sunlight and use of health services during the previous year were investigated. The severity of asthma and levels of asthma control were assessed according to the Global Initiative for Asthma guidelines.ResultsThe difference between mean vitamin D levels in the asthmatic group (mean +/- SD) 16.6 +/- 8.5 ng/mL and the healthy control group (mean +/- SD) 28.2 +/- 19.5 ng/mL was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.001). Children in the asthma group had less exposure to sunlight and ate a diet less rich in vitamin D (p < 0.001). A significant difference was observed between the groups regarding the frequency of respiratory tract infections leading to emergency unit admissions and number of hospitalizations (p < 0.001). It was also shown that a decrease in vitamin D level increased the severity of asthma (p < 0.001) and decreased the frequency of controlled asthma (p = 0.010).ConclusionThis study has demonstrated the correlation between plasma 25 (OH) D levels and childhood asthma. Evidently, this relationship being influenced by multiple factors other than vitamin D, further studies should be conducted to explore the interrelation between all such factors.

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Background: Diabetic patients often exhibit severe, asymptomatic coronary artery disease (CAD). The relationship between osteoprotegerin (OPG), inflammatory markers and silent myocardial ischemia remains to be elucidated. Methods: We recruited 45 type 2 diabetic patients and 33 healthy controls and assessed them for silent myocardial ischemia (SMI) by myocardial perfusion imaging. Patient blood was tested for OPG, IL-6 and leptin concentrations. Results: OPG, leptin and IL-6 levels were found significantly elevated in diabetic patients (p < 0.001, p < 0.01, p < 0.05). Based on our classification of presence/absence of SMI in our diabetic group, we found that there was a significant association between SMI and the biomarkers IL-6 (p < 0.001), leptin (p < 0.001) and OPG (p < 0.05). In multivariate regression analyses, OPG was found to be significantly related to diabetes mellitus and to SMI. Age, sex and smoking increased the association between OPG and SMI. Conclusion: High OPG, leptin and IL-6 levels are associated with the presence and severity of SMI in type 2 diabetic patients.

Purpose. This study has researched the affect of different methodologies of harvesting and analysing the samples in determining the mediators emerging after the rat articular cartilage injury. Materials and Methods. One hundred and forty-four male wistar rats were divided into 2 groups. Synovial fluid samples were taken from all of the rats. We entered into the right knees of the rats in group I (n = 36) under anaesthesia and took cartilage tissue samples from their distal femur. Samples were taken as reference values for enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and histopathological evaluations. We entered into the right knees of the rats in group II (n = 108) and formed complete layer of cartilage injury in their medial femoral condyles. At the end of the 15th day, the rats were sacrificed after taking synovial fluid samples from their right knees creating defect in the rats in group II. The molecular markers in the synovial fluid and cartilage tissue samples which were taken from the experimental and control groups (MMP-9, MMP-13, TIMP-1, TNF-α, and NO) were analysed by direct or indirect methodologies. SPSS 18.0 Package program was used in the statistical evaluation. Students t-test where the measurement variables between the experimental and control groups were compared was applied. Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curves were used in the determination of the diagnostic sufficiency from the tissue. Results. No difference was found between TIMP-1 (P = 0.67) and MMP-9 (P = 0.28) levels in synovial fluid and cartilage tissue. From the molecular markers, when MMP-9, MMP-13, NO, TIMP-1, TNF-α′, the area under ROC curve, and P values were examined, MMP-13 (P < 0.0001, 95% CI: 0.70–0.85), NO (P < 0.0001, 95% CI: 0.72–0.86), and TNF-α (P < 0.0001, 95% CI: 0.91–0.98) results were found to be statistically significant. Inferences. The indirect ELISA protocol which we apply for the cartilage tissue as an alternative to synovial lavage fluid is a reliable method which can be used in the determination of articular cartilage injury markers.