Browsing by Author "Ayten, Omer"

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Potential treatment of COVID-19
(2020) Ayten, Omer; Ozdemir, Cengiz; Akturk, Ulku Aka; Sen, Nazan; 0000-0002-4171-7484; AAI-8947-2021
Following the first reported cases of pneumonia of unknown etiology at the end of 2019 in Wuhan city, Hubei province, China, the causative agent was demonstrated to be a new coronavirus that has not been defined in humans before. The World Health Organization (WHO) named this virus as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and the disease caused by the virus as coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). The disease spread rapidly to other countries through human-to-human transmission, and WHO declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. As of April 2020, the number of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 related deaths continue to increase rapidly worldwide. The main reason for the increase in the rate of infection is person-to-person transmission, while the main reason for the increase in mortality rate is the lack of a proven medical treatment specific to COVID-19 and the severe course of the disease in the elderly with low immunity. While a vast majority of individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2 are asymptomatic or recover after displaying mild symptoms, hospitalization is required in 14% of cases and severe disease requiring intensive care admission is seen in 5% of the infected individuals. WHO and national guidelines do not make clear recommendations regarding treatments for symptomatic patients. Currently, there is no vaccine or specific antiviral treatment for COVID-19, however supportive care, isolation and protective measures and experimental drugs/treatments are being used for the management of COVID-19. Medical treatments being used for COVID-19, aim to prevent the entry of the virus into the cell, to inhibit or reduce its replication, and to suppress the increased inflammatory response. In addition, "convalescent" plasma, which includes antibodies of patients who were completely recovered from the infection, is among the treatment options.
Proadrenomedullin determining clinical severity and analyzing prognostic value for pneumonia
(2019) Demirsoy, Sedat; Okutan, Oguzhan; Kartaloglu, Zafer; Tas, Dilaver; Ayten, Omer; Canoglu, Kadir
AIMS: In pneumonia patients, we need practical biomarkers that can contribute to the diagnosis, prognosis and the prediction of mortality, and that can direct therapy and treatment setting. In this study, the diagnostic importance and value to predict prognosis and mortality are investigated for plasma proadrenomedullin (proADM) levels in pneumonia patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-three consecutive patients who had been diagnosed with pneumonia, as well as 54 volunteers as the control group, making 117 in total, enrolled in this study. The participants' ProADM, leukocyte count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, and procalcitonin levels were measured, and their pneumonia severity index (PSI) and CURB-65 scores were calculated. RESULTS: Plasma proADM levels were higher in the controls. When we compare patients' proADM levels in the initiation, and after the treatment, patients' proADM levels were lower on the 7th day after the treatment. No significant supremacy was identified over the other markers. The ProADM levels were significantly correlated with PSI stages, but in deciding of the site of care, the distribution of proADM levels for the PSI and CURB-65 risk groups (as low and high risk) were statistically irrelevant. The mean proADM levels among the patients who developed complications were slightly higher than the others, but not to a statistically significant degree. A relationship was identified between the clinical severity scores and complications, and short-term mortality was 7.93%. The plasma proADM levels among the nonsurvivors were 0.7 nmol/L and 0.90 nmol/L in the survivors. Given these data, proADM failed to predict mortality while PSI and CURB-65 were superior predictors. CONCLUSION: Using proADM levels alone to predict pneumonia prognosis and mortality and deciding upon a therapy setting makes no sense, although in consideration of previous studies, proADM would be useful as a supplementary contributor to clinical severity scores.
Proadrenomedullin determining clinical severity and analyzing prognostic value for pneumonia
(2020) Demirsoy, Sedat; Okutan, Oguzhan; Kartaloglu, Zafer; Tas, Dilaver; Ayten, Omer; Canoglu, Kadir; AAI-8056-2021
The Relationship Between COVID-19 Severity and Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG)/ Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Exposure History in Healthcare Workers: A Multi-Center Study
(2021) Torun, Serife; Ozkaya, Sevket; Sen, Nazan; Kanat, Fikret; Karaman, Irem; Yosunkaya, Sebnem; Sengoren Dikis, Ozlem; Asan, Ali; Aydogan Eroglu, Selma; Semih Atal, Sefa; Ayten, Omer; Aksel, Nimet; Ermis, Hilal; Ozcelik, Neslihan; Demirelli, Meryem; Kara, Iskender; Sumer, Sua; Marakoglu, Kamile; Uzer, Fatih; Uyar, Yasin; Cicek, Tuba; Unsal, Zuhal E.; Vatansev, Husamettin; Botan Yildirim, Berna; Kuruoglu, Tuba; Atilla, Aynur; Ersoy, Yasemin; Kandemir, Bahar; Durduran, Yasemin; Goksin Cihan, Fatma; Demirbas, Nur; Yildirim, Fatma; Tatar, Dursun; Akcay, M. Sule; 0000-0002-6530-6153; 0000-0002-8697-4919; 34014806; ABF-1652-2021
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought countries' health services into sharp focus. It was drawn to our group's attention that healthcare workers (HCWs) had a lower mortality rate against higher COVID-19 incidence compared to the general population in Turkey. Since risk of exposure to tuberculosis bacillus among healthcare workers are higher than the population, we aimed to investigate if there is a relationship between BCG and Mycobacterium tuberculosis exposure history with COVID-19 severity in infected HCWs. This study was conducted with 465 infected HCWs from thirty-three hospitals to assess the relationship between COVID-19 severity (according to their hospitalization status and the presence of radiological pneumonia) and BCG and Mycobacterium tuberculosis exposure history. HCWs who required hospital admission had significantly higher rates of chronic diseases, radiological pneumonia, and longer working hours in the clinics. Higher rates of history of contact and care to tuberculosis patients, history of tuberculosis, and BCG vaccine were observed in hospitalized HCWs. HCWs who had radiological pneumonia had a significantly increased ratio of history of care to tuberculosis patients and a higher family history of tuberculosis. The findings from our study suggest that the lower mortality rate despite the more severe disease course seen in infected HCWs might be due to frequent exposure to tuberculosis bacillus and the mortality-reducing effects of the BCG vaccine.