Background The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has emerged in Wuhan, China, and has rapidly become a global challenge, creating major challenges to health systems in almost every country in the world it has turned into a pandemic. COVID-19 poses a risky clinical situation that can range from mild illness to severe respiratory failure, requiring admission to intensive care. Main body It is known that SARS-CoV-2 infection causes a cytokine storm in some critically ill patients. However, more and more evidence showed that there is a dramatic increase in cytokine levels in patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Midkine (MK) is involved in various physiological and pathological processes, which some of them are desired and beneficial such as controlling tissue repair and antimicrobial effects, but some others are harmful such as promoting inflammation, carcinogenesis, and chemoresistance. Also, MK is expressed in inflammatory cells and released by endothelial cells under hypoxic conditions. Conclusions Considering all this information, there are strong data that midkine, an important cytokine known to increase in inflammatory diseases, may be overexpressed in patients who are positive for COVID-19. The overexpression of MK reveals a picture leading to fibrosis and damage in the lung. Therefore, questions arise about how the expression  of  MK  changes in COVID-19 patients and can we use it as an inflammation biomarker or in the treatment protocol in the future.

Background The aim of the study was to evaluate the presence and effects of hematological and biological parameters in the diagnosis of the disease by performing blood tests on COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Results Biochemical parameters from the blood samples of 279 patients who were confirmed to have COVID-19 and met the criteria for admission to the ICU were compared between discharged and deceased patients. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed in terms of mortality and probability of being discharged. The predictive value of serum C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), lymphocyte, neutrophil, leucocyte, and platelet (PLT) levels was evaluated by measuring the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). Comparisons made according to deceased and survival patients results revealed that while no statistically significant difference was observed between test groups lymphocyte and platelet-lymphocyte ratio values, statistically significant difference was found between the test groups regarding platelet, leukocyte, neutrophil, PCT, neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), and thrombocyte count × neutrophil count/lymphocyte count (SII) values. Conclusions This study showed that biochemical parameters examined are important in determining the prognosis of the disease and may be useful in determining the direction of the treatment process and predicting the risk of discharge or death after the initial evaluation of the patients in the ICU.

No abstract

Objectives: The aim of our study is to determine the drug interactions by using the Ministry of Health Hospital Medulla System and to ensure that the evaluations made on a patient basis are reflected in the clinic. Methods: Our study was carried out on 188 patients over the age of 65 who were receiving service from the Family Health Center No. 1 in Gebze and included in the Disease Management Platform database. The results of the follow-up and evaluation of the elderly over 65 years of age, the Lexicomb® drug interaction module, and the drugs used chronically by the patients were listed and their interaction levels were evaluated. In addition, the criteria used in the evaluation of inappropriate drug use in the elderly are also discussed. Results: According to our study results, a total of 529 potential drug-drug interactions were detected in 167 patients. No known interaction was detected in 52 (9.8%) of 529 interactions and the risk category was determined as A. The number of drug-drug interactions in the B, C, D and X risk categories were 74 (13,9%), 363 (68,6%), 33 (6,2%) and 7 (1,3%), respectively. A diagnosis of essential hypertension was present in 54% of the patients in the study. The most commonly used drug was acetylsalicylic acid (26%). Conclusion: The fact that the drug-drug interaction potential in category C is significantly higher than our data highlights the necessity of monitoring the treatment of patients more regularly and effectively. Drug-drug interactions detected in categories D and X mostly occurred between nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antihypertensive drugs, antipellet drugs, and central nerves system drugs. Particular attention should be paid to the follow-up of these drugs.

The current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has emerged in Wuhan, China and has rapidly become global challenges, creating major challenges to health systems in almost every country in the world it has turned into a pandemic. COVID-19 poses a risky clinical situation that can range from mild illness to severe respiratory failure requiring admission to intensive care. It is known to cause cytokine storm in some critically ill patients. However, more and more evidence showed that there is a dramatic increase in cytokine levels in patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Midkine (MK) is involved in various physiological and pathological processes, which some of them are desired and beneficial such as controlling tissue repair and antimicrobial effects, but some others are harmful such as promoting inflammation, carcinogenesis and chemo-resistance. Also, MK is expressed in inflammatory cells and released by endothelial cells under hypoxic conditions. Considering all this information, there are strong data that MK, an important cytokine known to increase in inflammatory diseases, may overexpressed in patients who are positive for COVID-19. The overexpression of MK reveals a picture leading to fibrosis in the lung damage. Therefore, questions arise about how the concentration of MK changes in CoVID-19 patients and can we use it as an inflammation biomarker or in the treatment protocol in the future.