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Aim: Autism spectrum disorders are lifelong neurodevelopmental disorders whose pathogeneses are not fully understood. Borna disease virus is a neurotropic virus that affects the central nervous system. Considering the neuropsychiatric and behavioral effects of the virus, it can be suggested that it may play a role in autism spectrum disorder. However, there are insufficient evidence to support this. In this study, we aimed to investigate the presence of Borna disease virus in patients with autism spectrum disorders and healthy controls. Methods: This case-control study, performed in children with autism spectrum disorders and a control group, included patients with autism who visited the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry outpatient clinic between December 2017 -December 2018. Borna virus positivity was assayed with the ELISA method in serum samples. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 22. Results: The study included 63 children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and 31 healthy controls. The age range of autism patients was 3-14 years, their mean age was 7.83 (1.96) years, and The Childhood Autism Rating Scale score was 51.09 (5.71). The seropositivity rate for Borna disease virus in the autism and healthy control groups were 25.39% and 25.80%, respectively (P=0.966). For all patients, seropositivity rate was 25.53%. Conclusion: No relationship was found between autism spectrum disorders and Borna disease virus. The clinical significance of Borna disease virus positivity in society is unknown. We conclude that Borna disease virus is not involved in the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders.

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Purpose Time‐dependent surgical instrument contamination and the effect of covering during arthroplasty have not been investigated. This study aimed to evaluate time‐dependent contamination of surgical instruments and the effect of covering on contamination as well as to perform bacterial typing of contaminated samples. The hypothesis was that covering the surgical instruments would decrease contamination rates. Methods Sixty patients who underwent total knee arthroplasty were randomized and divided into two groups: surgical instruments covered with a sterile towel or surgical instruments left uncovered. K‐wires were used to extract microbiological samples. The K‐wires were placed in a liquid culture medium at 0, 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min. After 24‐h incubation period, samples from liquid cultures were cultured on blood agar using swabs. Samples with growth after 48 h were considered contaminated. Microscopic, staining, and biochemical properties were used for bacterial typing. Results Bacterial growth started after 30 and 60 min in the uncovered and covered groups, respectively. An increase in the number of K‐wires contaminated with time was detected. At least 10,000 CFU/mL bacterial load was observed in the culture samples. Contamination was more significant in the uncovered group. A statistically significant difference in contamination was found between the uncovered and covered groups at 30‐, 60‐, 90‐, and 120 min (p = 0.035, p = 0.012, p = 0.024, and p = 0.037, respectively). The most common bacteria on the contaminated instruments were coagulase‐negative Staphylococci (60.4%), Staphylococcus aureus (22.9%), and Streptococcus agalactia (16.7%), respectively. Conclusion The risk of contamination increases with time. However, it may decrease if surgical instruments are covered. In the clinical practice, empiric antibiotic regimens based on the type of identified microorganisms in this study may be developed for postoperative periprosthetic joint infection prophylaxis. Level of evidence Prognostic, Level II.

Background & Objective: Liver and intestines are anatomically and physiologically linked. Zonulin is a protein modulating intercellular tight junctions and regulating intestinal permeability. Copeptin was studied as a marker of systemic circulation disorders in research about vasopressin and was associated with liver disease prognosis. Serum zonulin and copeptin levels were measured in patients with diagnosis of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) with the aim of easing antiviral treatment management in clinical applications and to investigate the association with normal population and viral load. Methods: Analysis included the serum of 30 CHB patients and 17 controls. HBV-DNA real-time PCR tests were completed. CHB patients were divided into three subgroups according to viral load in serum. Zonulin and copeptin levels were measured using ELISA kits. Results: Serum zonulin and copeptin levels were significantly low in CHB patients compared to controls (p<0.001). When CHB subgroups are investigated in terms of serum zonulin and copeptin levels, there was an inverse correlation observed with significant difference (p<0.01, p<0.05). Conclusion: The negative correlation between serum zonulin and copeptin with HBV-DNA load revealed in our study shows they may be used to monitor treatment. Zonulin and copeptin assays provide the possibility of developing new approaches to CHB diagnosis and monitoring. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.3.144 How to cite this:Calgin MK, Cetinkol Y. Decreased levels of serum zonulin and copeptin in chronic Hepatitis-B patients. Pak J Med Sci. 2019;35(3):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.35.3.144 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.