Highlights There are limited number of studies analyzing viral load in COVID19 patients and any data that compare viral load to chest computerized tomography (CT) severity. There are limited number of studies that give the amount of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in clinical specimens by reporting cycle threshold (Ct) value for RT-PCR. The total stress score (TSS) was suggested to quantify pulmonary inflammation and correlate to the clinical classifications. TSS is a quantification method to score the severity of inflammation on CT images based on summing up degree of acute lung inflammation lesions involvement of each lobe (including ground-glass opacity or consolidation or other fuzzy interstitial opacities). To our knowledge, this is the first study that analyse TSS of chest CT and Ct values of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in both hospitalised and outpatients.

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To evaluate the application of an automated urine analyzer (AUA) for the diagnosis of bladder cancer (BC) Materials and Methods: A retrospective data analysis of 2365 urine specimens from the department of urology has been performed and matched with those patients, who have undergone cystoscopic evaluation or surgical treatment for different urological pathologies during 2018. After matching, clinical records of the patients has been further evaluated in order to select patients with recent or previous BC diagnosis. To assess the diagnostic efficacy of AUA, patients were divided into five groups according to the patient history of BC and healthy controls. Results: A total of 106 patients are included in this study and the majority (69.8%) of the patients are follow-up patients with previous diagnosis and treatment of non-muscle invasive BC (NMIBC). For patients with low-risk NMIBC (n=27), the sensitivity and specificity were calculated as 75% and 100%. For patients with high-risk NMIBC (n=47), who were previously treated with intravesical BCG, the sensitivity and specificity were calculated as 54.5% and 83.3%. All patients in radical cystectomy group (n=7) with muscle invasive BC had positive urine analyses results for atypical cells. And none of the patients in the control group (n=8) had positive AUA results and cystoscopic evaluation also did not show any bladder mass suspicious for BC. Conclusion:The results of this retrospective pilot study showed acceptable sensitivity and specificity rates of the "fluorescence flow cytometry" based AUA and the results of the low-risk group are especially valuable regarding its potential use to decide on performing a follow-up cystoscopy or not. A prospective study is currently on progress to validate the findings of the current study.

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Aeromonas spp. are associated with resistance to penicillins, cephalosporins, and carbapenems due to chromosomal β-lactamases. In this case report, it was aimed to present a patient with acute suppurative cholangitis caused by a carbapenem-resistant A. hydrophila/caviae. A 79-year-old male patient applied to emergency department with complaints of jaundice, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. The patient followed with an inoperable malignant tumor of the extrahepatic biliary tract was diagnosed to have an attack of acute suppurative cholangitis by radiological and laboratory findings, and intravenous imipenem was started empirically. Percutaneous abscess drainage was performed, and Gram-stained smear yielded abundant number of leukocytes and Gram-negative bacilli. Gram-negative bacilli grown both in drainage material and in blood culture becoming positive two days later were identified as A. hydrophila/caviae by VITEK ® 2 Compact (bioMérieux, Marcy l'Etoile, France) system. Antibiogram results obtained by the same system revealed that the bacteria were resistant to carbapenems and sensitive to colistin, cefepime, amikacin, gentamicin, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, and tigecycline. It was learned that the patient was died of sepsis when the microbiological findings were reported to the Intensive Care Unit. In conclusion, Aeromonas species, albeit rare, can be responsible for hepatobiliary infections in immunosupressed patients, and the choice of antibiotic should be based on their potential resistance profile. Klimik Dergisi 2016; 29(1): 36-8.