Background: In order to control and eliminate the vaccine preventable diseases it is important to know the vaccination coverage and reasons for non-vaccination. The primary objective of this study was to determine the complete vaccination rate; the reasons for non-vaccination and the predictors that influence vaccination of children. The other objective was to determine coverage of measles vaccination of the Measles Immunization Days (MID) 2005 for children aged 9 month to 6 years in a region of Umraniye, Istanbul, Turkey.

Plasma isoniazid and rifampin concentrations, but not pyrazinamide and ethambutol concentrations, were decreased by about 50% (P < 0.05) in diabetic pulmonary tuberculosis patients. The prevalences of subnormal plasma isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol concentrations were 49% or 100% (P < 0.01), 66% or 100% (P < 0.05), 30% or 50% (P ‫؍‬ 0.198), and 32% or 21% (P ‫؍‬ 0.742) in nondiabetic or diabetic tuberculosis patients, respectively. These data show that plasma concentrations of isoniazid and rifampin were greatly reduced in diabetic tuberculosis patients. Diabetes mellitus (DM) is among the well-known major risk factors for tuberculosis (TB) (1-5), and the presence of DM affects the outcome of drug treatment negatively, reduces the cure rate, and enhances the risk of relapse and emergence of drug resistance (6-10). A recent study (11) has shown that DM is associated with slow response, and circulating levels of TB drugs (e.g., rifampin) are likely to be below the expected therapeutic ranges among diabetic TB patients. The circulating concentration of rifampin was also reported to decline in some (12) but not all (13, 14) studies in diabetic TB patients. Available data, however, are inconclusive with regard to whether DM affects serum therapeutic levels of anti-TB drugs.Hence, the present study was designed to determine plasma concentrations of isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol, the first line anti-TB drugs, in adult Turkish pulmonary tuberculosis patients with DM during the intensive phase of the short-course therapy under conditions of directly observed therapy (DOT).A total of 70 adult patients with newly diagnosed active pulmonary TB were enrolled in the study. Patients were divided into two groups. The first group consisted of 14 TB patients with type 2 DM who were receiving DM therapy with good glucose control (glycosylated hemoglobin level Ͻ 6.5%) at the time of recruitment, and they continued to use their antidiabetes drugs during the study. The second group consisted of 56 nondiabetic TB patients who were screened for DM, and patients with suspicious test results (fasting blood glucose Ͼ 100 mg/dl and/or hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c] Ͼ 6%) were excluded. Diagnosis of pulmonary TB was based on clinical symptoms, chest radiological examination, sputum microscopy, and culture. Patients with a comorbid disease (except for DM) as well as those using concomitant medications (except for antidiabetics) and having abnormal renal and/or hepatic function were excluded.Written informed consent was obtained from all patients before the commencement of the study. The study protocol and the contents of the written consent form were approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee (Acibadem University Ethical Committee, Istanbul, Turkey).All patients were administered orally identical drugs from a national manufacturer (Koçak Farma, Istanbul, Turkey) under conditions of DOT. Patients received daily administration of 300 mg of isoniazid, 600 mg of rifampin, 1,500 mg of pyrazinamide, and 1,000 mg ...

This study of workers naive to cotton dust exposure has demonstrated that respiratory symptoms and acute airway responses develop early following first exposure, and a tolerance effect develops in those workers with the continued exposure. Current smoking and increasing exposure predicts the development of work-related lower respiratory tract symptoms, while early symptoms and acute airway changes across the working week predict the longitudinal loss of lung function at 1 year.

Perchlorate, nitrate, and thiocyanate are competitive inhibitors of the sodium iodide symporter of the thyroid membrane. These inhibitors can decrease iodine uptake by the symporter into the thyroid gland and may disrupt thyroid function. This study assesses iodine status and exposure to iodide uptake inhibitors of non-pregnant and non-lactating adult women living in three different cities in Turkey (Istanbul, Isparta and Kayseri). We measured iodine and iodide uptake inhibitors in 24-hr urines collected from study participants (N = 255). All three study populations were mildly iodine deficient, with median urinary iodine (UI) levels of 77.5 µg/L in Istanbul, 58.8 µg/L in Isparta, and 69.8 µg/L in Kayseri. Perchlorate doses were higher in the study population (median 0.13 µg/kg/day), compared with a reference population (median 0.059 µg/kg/day), but lower than the U.S. EPA reference dose (0.7 µg/kg/day). Urinary thiocyanate levels increased with increasing exposure to tobacco smoke, with non-smokers (268 µg/L) significantly lower than light smokers (1110 µg/L), who were significantly lower than heavy smokers (2410 µg/L). This pilot study provides novel data indicating that study participants were moderately iodine deficient and had higher intakes of the iodide uptake inhibitor perchlorate compared with a reference population. Further investigation is needed to characterize the thyroid impact resulting from iodine deficiency coupled with exposure to iodide uptake inhibitors such as perchlorate, thiocyanate and nitrate.

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