CT is pathologic in the great majority of patients with TBM and is helpful in assessing the complications associated with the disease.

Elevated serum neuron-specific enolase levels are correlated with brain cell damage. Low scores according to Glasgow Coma Scale are also considered as serious poor prognostic factor. The aims of the study were to investigate whether there is a correlation between the two measurements in patients with traumatic brain injury and whether serum neuron-specific enolase levels have potential as a screening test to predict outcome. A total of 169 consecutive patients with traumatic brain injury admitted to our clinic between 2002 and 2005 are included in this study. Those patients, who had any major health problem before trauma, were excluded from the study. However, patients with isolated head injury were included in the study. Serial serum neuron-specific enolase concentrations taken at the first 2, 24, and 48 h after traumatic brain injury were analyzed. A computed tomography was performed on each patient on admission. Their Glasgow Coma Scale scores were recorded serially. The relationship between Glasgow Coma Scale scores and the serum neuron-specific enolase levels were assessed by statistical methods. There was a significant negative correlation between the serum neuron-specific enolase levels and Glasgow Coma Scale scores. The levels of neuron-specific enolase were significantly higher in the patients who died in 30 days after trauma and whose scores were lower than or equal to 8 points in Glasgow Coma Scale. Although there are several serious limitations of the use of neuron-specific enolase as a biomarker in traumatic brain injury (i.e., hypoperfusion, extracranial trauma, bleeding, liver, or kidney damage also increase the level of neuron-specific enolase), its concentrations may be useful as a practical and helpful screening test to identify neurotrauma patients who are at increased risk and may provide supplementary estimation with radiological and clinical findings.

The current study is based on a retrospective investigation of firearm deaths in Diyarbakir, which were autopsied by the Diyarbakir Branch of the Council of Forensic Medicine during the 6- year period. Four hundred-forty four deaths were investigated from January 1996 through December 2001, including homicide (296 cases, 66.7%), suicide (120 cases, 27%) and accidental shootings (28 cases, 6.3%). The age range of all firearm deaths in the study period was 5 to 75 years with a median age of 29.8 years. The majority were in the groups aged 16-25 years (38.7%). In the homicide group, 248 subjects (83.8%) were male, and 48 (16.2%) were female. The 31.1% of the homicide victims were in the group aged at 20-30 years. Of the 120 suicide victims, 56 (46.7%) were in the group aged 16-20 years. The head was by far the favoured site, accounting for 82 (68.3%) deaths: entry wounds in the right temple accounted for 72 of these. Twenty-eight cases were accidental shootings and 18 of them were male (64.3%). Twelve of the 28 accidental victims (42.9%) were in the group aged 0-10 years. The eight cases were due to their own accidental shootings, and the remaining 20 cases were shot by others. Our findings show that the contributing factors for increasing death by firearm are terrorists' activities, traditional habits of obtaining and using guns and blood feuds.

No abstract

Hydrocephalus is a common complication of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) in children. The aims of this study are to review our experience of hydrocephalus in childhood TBM and to evaluate the effect of the timing of ventriculoperitoneal shunting (VPS) on the final outcome. In this study, 156 patients with TBM and hydrocephalus were reviewed retrospectively between 1990 and 2000. Patients’ ages ranged from 6 months to 15 years, with a mean age of 4.1 years. There were 85 boys, and the male-to-female ratio was 1.19:1.0. Sixty-two percent of the children were younger than 6 years old. VPS was performed 2 days after the diagnosis in 100 patients, and in the remaining 56 patients, 3 weeks after the diagnosis. The average follow-up period was 8.5 months. Good recovery or minor sequelae was seen in 82 patients (52.6%), and 51 died (12.3%). The timing of the VPS procedure and cerebral complications had an effect on the final outcome. Early VPS gave a better outcome in mild and moderate hydrocephalus (p = 0.040). This study has shown that early surgical procedure for mild/moderate hydrocephalus has a positive effect on the morbidity and mortality of hydrocephalus in childhood TBM (p = 0.014, p = 0.040, respectively). In severe hydrocephalus, there was a tendency for early shunting to have a positive effect on morbidity, although this did not reach statistical significance.