Nuray Kepil

Relative Proportions of Stromal to Cellular Components of Pleomorphic Adenomas Determination With Shear Wave Elastography

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the relative proportions of stromal to cellular components of pleomorphic adenomas have an effect on the shear elastic modulus determined by shear wave elastography (SWE).

Successful management of hepatic mucormycosis in an acute lymphoblastic leukaemia patient: a case report and review of the literature.

We present a case of hepatic mucormycosis in a 9‐year‐old boy with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. Despite long‐term use of combined liposomal amphotericin B and posaconazole therapy, the lesion persisted and could only be treated by surgical excision. After surgery, antifungal treatment was continued with posaconazole. On follow‐up, the patient had two episodes of ascending cholangitis which were responsive to intravenous antibiotics. He is doing well at the moment in remission for 2.5 years. Mucormycosis was long regarded as a fatal infection with poor prognosis. With early medical and surgical management, survival rates increase. Isolated hepatic mucormycosis is rare and only seven cases were reported in the literature up to now. We wanted to emphasise the role of early surgery in patients with hepatic mucormycosis in view of the literature.

A Rhizopus oryzae strain isolated from resected bone and soft tissue specimens from a sinonasal and palatal mucormycosis case. Report of a case and in vitro experiments of yeastlike cell development

We report a histologically and mycologically proven sinonasal mucormycosis case causing palatal necrosis in a nondiabetic patient with renal failure. Mycological examination of Giemsa stained imprinted tissue preparations revealed abundant yeast-like cells besides the typical mucoraceous hyphae. The fungus was isolated from surgical specimens and identified as Rhizopus oryzae by phenotypic and genotypic tests. Laboratory studies were performed to investigate the association of the yeast-like cells observed in tissue specimens and the fungus recovered in culture. In vitro induced yeast-like cell development of the case isolate was found under certain growth conditions and documented by photomicrographs.

Microsatellite instability and B-type Raf proto-oncogene mutation in colorectal cancer: Clinicopathological characteristics and effects on survival

Prognostic significance of microsatellite instability (MSI) status and B-type Raf proto-oncogene (BRAF) mutation in colorectal cancer is controversial. The aim of this study was to examine the clinical and pathological characteristics associated with microsatellite stability and the effect of MSI and BRAF mutation on the survival of patients with colorectal cancer. The study included 145 colorectal cancer cases. All the patients were examined for DNA mismatch repair (MMR) proteins with an immunohistochemical method. Molecular assessment of MSI was available in a subset of 41 patients. In addition, BRAF mutation analysis was performed in 30 cases. Immunohistochemically, MMR deficiency was present in 28 (19.3%) patients. Female gender (p = 0.001), lesion size ≥5 cm (p = 0.013), Crohn-like response (p = 0.035), and right-sided localization (p < 0.001) were significantly more frequent among MMR-deficient patients. The overall survival was 44.1 ± 5.1 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 33.7-54.4). Multivariate analyses identified only high tumor grade as an independent predictor of poor overall survival: odd ratio, 6.7 (95% CI 2.1-21.7), p = 0.002. In the subset of patients with available BRAF assessment (n = 30), a negative BRAF status was associated with better survival when compared to a positive BRAF status (36.7 ± 2.1 vs. 34.1 ± 7.2 months, p = 0.048). The sensitivity and specificity of the immunohistochemical method in predicting positive MSI status, with the molecular method as a reference, were 85.7% (95% CI: 56.2%-97.5%) and 88.9% (95% CI: 69.7%-97.1%), respectively. BRAF appears to be a significant predictor of a worse outcome in patients with colorectal cancer. Further studies with a large spectrum of clinical and biological variables are warranted.

Comparative Study of Adhesion Molecule Expression in Nodular Lesions of Behçet Syndrome and Other Forms of Panniculitis

Adhesion molecules have a role in many vasculitic disorders. Our aim was to evaluate the status of adhesion molecules in nodular lesions of Behçet syndrome (BS) and compare them with results for the 2 most common types of panniculitis, erythema nodosum (EN) and nodular vasculitis (NV). We included the data for 28 patients with nodular lesions of BS, 24 with EN, and 22 with NV. A panel of monoclonal antibodies against E-selectin, P-selectin, vascular cell adhesion molecule-1, platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1, and intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 were applied. The distribution and intensity of adhesion molecules were assessed. There were no statistically significant differences between the BS and control groups in regard to these adhesion molecules except for ICAM-1. The percentage of strongly ICAM-1-stained endothelial cells in subcutaneous fat tissue in relation to the total number of endothelial cells was the lowest in BS (P= .0208). Because many lesions of BS were related to an enhanced inflammatory response, the lower percentage of ICAM-1 expression seems counterintuitive.

Machine learning aided diagnosis of hepatic malignancies through in vivo dielectric measurements with microwaves

In the past decade, extensive research on dielectric properties of biological tissues led to characterization of dielectric property discrepancy between the malignant and healthy tissues. Such discrepancy enabled the development of microwave therapeutic and diagnostic technologies. Traditionally, dielectric property measurements of biological tissues is performed with the well-known contact probe (open-ended coaxial probe) technique. However, the technique suffers from limited accuracy and low loss resolution for permittivity and conductivity measurements, respectively. Therefore, despite the inherent dielectric property discrepancy, a rigorous measurement routine with open-ended coaxial probes is required for accurate differentiation of malignant and healthy tissues. In this paper, we propose to eliminate the need for multiple measurements with open-ended coaxial probe for malignant and healthy tissue differentiation by applying support vector machine (SVM) classification algorithm to the dielectric measurement data. To do so, first, in vivo malignant and healthy rat liver tissue dielectric property measurements are collected with open-ended coaxial probe technique between 500 MHz to 6 GHz. Cole-Cole functions are fitted to the measured dielectric properties and measurement data is verified with the literature. Malign tissue classification is realized by applying SVM to the open-ended coaxial probe measurements where as high as 99.2% accuracy (F1 Score) is obtained.

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) status evaluation in advanced gastric cancer using immunohistochemistry versus silver in situ hybridization

Accurate identification of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) status in advanced gastric cancer patients is of utmost importance in terms of treatment planning. This study aimed to examine the HER-2 status in advanced gastric cancer patients using both immunohistochemistry (IHC) and silver in situ hybridization (SISH) techniques and to investigate concordance and diagnostic accuracy. In addition, associations between clinical parameters and HER 2 status were examined. A total of 313 patients diagnosed with locally advanced (Stage III: T3-4, N+) recurrent or metastatic adenocarcinoma of the stomach or esophagogastric junction, between 2009 and 2015, were included. HER-2 status was examined using both IHC and SISH techniques and the findings were compared. Overall SISH-confirmed HER-2 positivity rate was 22%. Multivariate analysis identified only well-differentiated tumor as a significant predictor of HER-2 positivity (OR: 2.9, 95% CI: 1.4-5.9, p = 0.003). When IHC 2+ and 3+ were considered positive for HER-2 status, sensitivity, specificity, and concordance rate (κ) was 95.7%, 93.8%, and 0.84, respectively. Corresponding figures when only IHC 3+ cases were considered positive were lower: 50%, 100%, and 0.61, respectively. The present method used for the identification of HER-2 positive gastric cancer patients provides satisfactory results. However, better categorization of IHC 2+ cases has the potential to improve the diagnostic accuracy, which is particularly important when more sophisticated methods are not readily available.

Histopathological Response and Adhesion Formation After Omentectomy with Ultrasonic Energy, Bipolar Sealing, and Suture Ligation

This study was designed to evaluate the histopathological response and intra-abdominal adhesion formation after an omentectomy in rats using the bipolar vessel-sealing device, ultrasonic coagulator, and suture ligation techniques. Forty Wistar albino rats were used, divided into four random groups. The rats underwent a midline laparotomy, and a partial omentectomy was performed using a 3–0 silk suture with suture ligation in group 1, bipolar device in group 2, and ultrasonic coagulator in group 3; only a laparotomy was performed on the control group. Lateral thermal damage was examined the same day, and a piece of the omentum was left in the animals to be examined on postoperative day 15. A relaparotomy was performed to assess adhesion formation and histopathological response. In pairwise comparisons, there was no statistically significant difference among the ultrasonic device, bipolar device, and suture ligation groups in terms of microscopic adhesion scoring; however, the scores of the bipolar device and suture ligation groups were significantly higher compared with those of the control group (p < 0.01). Furthermore, the macroscopic adhesion scores were significantly lower for the ultrasonic device group when compared with those of the bipolar device and suture ligation groups (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01). The ultrasonic device seems to be superior to the bipolar device and suture ligation in terms of macroscopic adhesion formation, but no significant difference was found in terms of the histopathological response in rats following an omentectomy. Further research may be required.