Turk J Med Sci
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A SARS-Cov2 infection which was first arised from Wuhan in December 2019 and named as COVID-19. Still there lacks either a specific treatment or a vaccine to treat COVID-19. Convalescent plasma (CP) was previously used successfully to treat SARS-CoV-1 and MERS infections. Health authority in Turkey has published a guideline to integrate this promising option in the treatment process of patients who are prone to high risk of developing severe COVID 19. ⋯ According to the results of this study, CP is an efficient conjunct to conventional therapy against COVID-19 with a favorable safety profile.
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We still do not know the cause(s) of Behçet syndrome. Most probably several, separate disease mechanisms are involved. I, like some others, propose we call it not a disease but a syndrome, a construct with a list of strong and weak elements. I like to think that this frank admission of our ignorance of its cause(s) will be an important semantic stimulus for more meaningful research.
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Migraine is a multifaceted brain disorder where multisensory disturbances are associated with headache. Yet sensory symptoms are conventionally justified by dysfunctions confined to the cerebral cortex, a perspective through the complex interplay of thalamocortical network would provide the entire picture, more pertinent to the central sensory processing. ⋯ Accordingly, cortical spreading depression (CSD), implicated in migraine pathophysiology can be seen as a tool to disconnect thalamocortical network by functionally eliminating cerebral cortex. Hence, including thalamic reticular nucleus and higher order thalamic nuclei, which conveys the information transthalamically among visual, somatosensory, language and motor cortical areas, would greatly improve our current understanding of migraine.
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A fracture that does not unite in nine months is defined as nonunion. Nonunion is common in fragmented fractures and large bone defects where vascularization is impaired. The distal third of the tibia, the scaphoid bone or the talus fractures are furthermore prone to nonunion. ⋯ BMP family, as the biggest subfamily of TGFβ superfamily, is also reported to be the most effective growth factors in bone and development, which makes them one of the most popular cytokines used in bone regeneration. Complications depending on the excess use of growth factors, and pleiotropic functions of BMPs are however the main reasons of why they should be approached with care. In this review, the Smad dependent signaling pathways of TGFβ and BMP families and their relations and the applications in preclinical and clinical studies will be briefly summarized.
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Cancer gene therapy emerged as a promising treatment modality 3 decades ago. However, the failure of the first gene therapy trials in cancer treatment has decreased its popularity. Likewise, immunotherapy has followed a similar course. ⋯ Immunotherapy became one of the main options for cancer treatment with the successful use of immune checkpoint inhibitors in clinics approximately 10 years ago. The success of immunotherapy has increased even more with the introduction of cancer gene therapy methods in this area. With the identification of the oncolytic herpes simplex virus and Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells, immune gene therapy has become an essential modality in cancer treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and targeted therapies.