Fragile sites are non-staining gaps and breaks on mammalian chromosomes. Several investigators have pointed out that these sites may act as factors that predispose to specific chromosomal rearrangements that are present in some cancer cases. The expression of common fragile sites induced by aphidicolin (Apc) was evaluated on prometaphase chromosomes obtained from the peripheral blood lymphocytes of 15 patients with lung cancer, 20 of their clinically healthy family members, and 20 agematched normal controls. As a result of cytogenetic evaluation carried out by the High Resolution Banding (HRB) technique, 1q21, 2q33, 3p14, 7q32, 13q13, 16q23, 17q21, and 22q12 are defined as fragile sites in patients and relatives. The rate of total fragile sites and 2q33, 3p14, and 16q23 are statistically significant in both patients and relatives when compared with the control group. Therefore, our results showed that common fragile sites might be unstable factors in the human genome and they can be used as suitable markers for genetic predisposition to lung cancer.

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OBJECTIVE:The aim of this study was to investigate the correlations among symptoms, laboratory findings of bone metastasis and whole body bone scanning (WBBS) and the frequency of occurrence of bone metastasesMATERIALS AND METHODS:Hundred and six patients who were diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) between June 2001 and September 2005 were investigated retrospectively. Bone pain, detection of bone tenderness on physical examination, hypercalcemia and increased serum alkaline phosphatase were accepted clinical factors of bone metastases. Presence of multiple asymmetric lesions in WBBS was also accepted as bone metastases. Subjects whose clinical factors and WBBS indicated doubtful bone metastases were evaluated with magnetic resonance and/or biopsy.RESULTS:Occurrence of bone metastases was 31.1% among all patients. Bone metastases were determined in 21 (52.5%) of 40 patients who had at least one clinical factor. Asymptomatic bone metastases without any clinical factors were established in 11.3% of all NSCLC patients and 15.3% of 26 operable patients. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of the clinical factors of bone metastases were 63.6, 73.9, 52.5, 81.8 and 70.7% respectively. There was no significant relationship between histologic type and bone metastases. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of WBBS in detection of bone metastases were 96.9, 86.3, 76.2, 98.4, 89.6% respectively.CONCLUSION:Sensitivity and specificity of the clinical factors of bone metastases are quite low. Routine WBBS prevented futile thoracotomies. Therefore, routine WBBS should be performed in all NSCLC patients, even in the absence of bone-specific clinical factors.

Our findings showed that the FHITI VS8-17 T to A alteration identified in bronchoscopy specimens from patients with clinically suspected lung cancer is a polymorphism found in the Turkish population. We think that this polymorphism does not affect gene function because it is located in the intron portion of the gene and is present in many cancer patients as well as healthy subjects. We suggest that the FHIT gene may be turned off in lung carcinogenesis via other genetic or epigenetic mechanisms rather than mutations.

Objectives. The most common cause of acute COPD exacerbation (AECOPD) is the respiratory tract infections. We sought to determine the bacteriological etiology of hospitalized acute exacerbations of COPD requiring hospitalization in consecutive two years. Methods. We aimed to determine the bacteriological etiology underlying in patients whom admitted to Uludag University Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pulmonary Medicine and hospitalized with AECOPD in the last two years. Medical records of the study participants were screened retrospectively and sociodemographic characteristics, routine laboratory tests and sputum culture results were analyzed. Results. A total of 242 patients hospitalized for AECOPD were enrolled. Of these 86.4% (n=209) were male. The mean age of the group was 66.6±11 years old. Sputum cultures were available in the 45 % (n=109) of the study group. The most frequent bacteria isolated from the sputum cultures of the study group were Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumonia, Haemophilus influenzae and Acinetobacter baumanii. Length of stay was longer in patients with the A. baumanii isolate than the rest of the group (p=0.024). Length of stay in hospital was independently associated with in-hospital mortality (OR: 1.37, 95% CI: 1.05-1.78). Isolation of A. baumanii and/or Staphylococcus aureus in sputum culture were identified as independent risk factors for prolonged length of stay in-hospital (b=0.26, p=0.008; b=15.40, p=0.003). Conclusions. Our study shows that P. aeruginosa, S. pneumonia, H. influenzae are common sputum isolates in AECOPD patients requiring hospitalization. Isolation of A. baumanii and/or S. aureus in sputum culture is associated with prolonged length of stay in hospital, which is an independent risk factor for in-hospital mortality.Eur Res J 2016;2(2):99-106