Amaç: Bu çalışmada amaç iç göçün Akciğer Tüberküloz (TB) epidemiyolojisine etkisini incelemek ve TB hastalarının sosyodemografik özelliklerini, tanı ve tedavi süreçlerini değerlendirmektir. Gereç ve Yöntem: Çalışma Yalova Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi (YEAH)’nde yürütüldü. Çalışmaya başlamadan önce gerekli kurum izinleri alındı. 2022-2024 arasında takip edilen TB hastalarına ait veriler, hastane bilgi sistem yönetimi üzerinden retrospektif olarak incelendi. Elde edilen veriler SPSS 22 programında analiz edildi. Bulgular: Akciğer TB hastalarının (n:40) %73’ü erkek olup; yaş ortalaması 55’tir. Hastaların %68’i Yalova ilinde yaşarken; %32’si Yalova çevresi illerde ikamet etmektedir. Hastaların %78’i en az bir kronik hastalığa sahip olmakla birlikte görülen kronik hastalıklar sırasıyla hipertansiyon, kronik obstrüktif akciğer hastalığı ve diyabetes mellitustur. Hastaların %93’ünün radyolojik görüntülemesinde TB lehine bulgular görülmüş olup bu hastaların balgam örneklerinde Aside Dirençli Basil (ARB) pozitiflik oranı %60; TB kültür pozitiflik oranı %87’dir. Mikobakteri epidemiyolojisi değerlendirildiğinde; klinik örneklerin %77’sinde Mycobacterium tuberculosis kompleks izole edilirken; %23’ünde TB dışı mikobakteri izole edildi. TB hastalarının %23’ünün TB tedavisi devam ederken, %60’ının TB tedavisi tamamlanmış olup; hastaların %17’si ise tedavi sürecinde ex olduğu görüldü. Hastaların %11’inde HBsAg pozitifliği ve %4’ünde Anti HIV pozitifliği saptandı. Sonuç: Çalışmamızda YEAH’a başvuran akciğer TB hastalarının en fazla oranda erkek cinsiyet olduğu, yaş ortalamasının yüksek olduğu ve kronik hastalık varlığına sahip bireyler olduğu görülmüştür. ARB pozitifliğinin orta düzeyde, kültür pozitifliğinin yüksek düzeyde olduğu belirlenmiştir. TB ülkemizde hala ciddi bir hastalıktır ve son yıllarda artan göç oranları nedeniyle vaka sayısının da artacağı öngörülmektedir. Göç alan illerin uygun alt yapı ve çevre düzenlemesi yapılmalı, hijyen eksikliği giderilmeli ve koruyucu sağlık hizmetlerinin sürekliliği sağlanmalıdır.

Son yıllarda gelişen antimikrobiyal direnç endişesiyle alternatif stratejiler geliştirmek amacıyla bitkisel yağların antimikrobiyal aktiviteleri araştırılmaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı; ticari olarak temin edilebilen beş farklı bitkisel yağın altı farklı standart bakteri suşu ile bir standart maya mantarı suşu üzerindeki minimum inhibitör konsantrasyonlarının (MİK) belirlenmesidir. Gram pozitif bakterilerden; Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 29213), Enterococcus faecalis (ATCC 29212); Gram negatif bakterilerden Escherichia coli (ATCC 225923), Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 13883), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853) ve Acinetobacter baumannii (ATCC 49139) ile maya mantarlarından Candida parapsilosis (ATCC 22019) üzerindeki antimikrobiyal aktiviteleri belirlemek için, ticari olarak temin edilen piren otu (Tanacetum santolinoides) yağı, tüylü adaçayı (Salvia lanigera) yağı, aynısafa (Calendula officinalis) yağı, zerdeçal (Curcuma longa) yağı ve argan (Argania spinosa) yağı olmak üzere beş bitkisel yağ kullanılmıştır. Bitkisel yağların etkili MİK değerleri resazurin mikrotitre testi (REMA) tekniği kullanılarak tespit edildi. Tüm bitkisel yağlar, farklı konsantrasyonlarda standart bakteri suşları ve standart maya mantarı suşu üzerinde etkili olmuştur. Bitkisel yağların her bir suş üzerindeki etkili konsantrasyon aralığı şu şekildedir; C. parapsilosis (ATCC 22019), K. pneumoniae (ATCC 1388), E. faecalis (ATCC 29212) ve E. coli (ATCC 25923) için 62,5-250 µg/ml, A. baumannii (ATCC 49139) ve P. aeruginosa (ATCC 27853) için 125-250 µg/ml, S. aureus (ATCC 29213) için 62,5-125 µg/ml olarak saptanmıştır. Yapılan bu çalışmada standart bakteri suşlarına ve standart maya mantarı suşuna karşı etkileri incelenen bitkisel yağların antimikrobiyal etkinliğinin farklı düzeylerde olduğu gözlenmiştir. Sonuç olarak araştırılan bu bitkisel yağların, sergiledikleri yüksek antimikrobiyal etkileriyle yeni antimikrobiyal ilaç ve antimikrobiyal madde çalışmalarına katkı sağlayabileceği düşünülmektedir.

Objective: Our study focused on retrospectively assessing variant of concern, specified by the World Health Organization (WHO), with one-step reverse transcription and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients after three doses of attenuated COVID-19 vaccine. Methods: 8.520 samples transported with viral nucleic acid buffer (vNAT) tubes between June 2021 and January 31, 2022, were tested and included in the study. All the patients whose samples were included in our research had 3 doses of CoronaVac (Sinovac Life Science Co, Ltd, Beijing, China). Gender distribution was 4686 (55%) female and 3834 ( 45%) males. Variant specific genome regions only found in B.1.351, P.1 and B.1.1.7 as well as ORF1ab and N gene regions are investigated by the Bio-Speedy® Emerging Plus kit (Bioeksen AR-GE Technologies, Turkey) used to identify the variants in the study. Results: All 8.520 samples were SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR positive. Our study detected alpha and delta variants in 1460 (17.14%) and 3570 (41.9%) patients respectively. 2570 (30.16%) patients did not have any variants according to test results. It was observed that the spread of beta, gamma and other suspicious variants remained at relatively low rates. Conclusion: The delta variant became dominant from July until to the end of the year. Declining delta variant rates and increasing cases of suspected variants towards the beginning of December 2021 suggest the omicron variant. Therefore, molecular surveillance studies that are planned to take epidemiological data into consideration and to examine the prevalence and gene-based analysis of local and worldwide variants are required.

Objectives: Main purpose of this study was evaluating inactive severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine subsequent anti-S1 IgG feedback and the aspects involved in such reactions for professionals in healthcare (HCP) as the dominant risk group.Methods: Thirty-six HCPs with previous COVID-19 infection and 164 with no priors, 200 in total, who was working in the Ankara Public Health Molecular Diagnosis Laboratory were included. Main tool of identifying humoral immune response quantifably in serum samples which were obtained 28 days after administering each of two doses of vaccine was Roche Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 kit.Results: Average antibody levels of 164 negative HCPs were 15.82 ± 8.59 IU/mL and 26.042 ± 10.73 IU/mL while 36 positive HCPs demonstrated antibody responses as 66.083 ± 33.927 IU/mL and 90 ± 27.012 IU/mL 28 days after each of two doses of vaccine for both individual groups respectively. A statistically meaningful difference was found in antibody levels after two vaccine doses in both groups (p < 0.0001). The authors observed statistically higher average antibody levels after initial vaccine dosage in HCPs with infection than the antibody levels of naive individuals after second dose (p < 0.0001). Age, gender and vaccination feedback did not have a statistically meaningful disparity (p > 0.05).Conclusions: It was concluded that the average antibody level achieved after inital dose n HCPs with COVID-19 infection was surpassing the average antibody level obtained after the second dose in naive HCPs. The authors recommend further clinical researches on antibody levels and the extent of protection to prohibit COVID-19

Objectives: Reverse transcription and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) based on the SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA demonstration is the gold standard in diagnosis. Data files obtained from PCR devices should be analysed by a specialist physician and results should be transferred to Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS). CAtenA Smart PCR (Ventura, Ankara, Türkiye) program is a local bioinformatics software that assess PCR data files with artificial intelligence, submits to expert approval and transfers the approved results to LIMS. The aim of this study is to investigate its accuracy and matching success rate with expert analysis. Methods: A total of 9400 RT-qPCR test results studied in Ankara Provincial Health Directorate Public Health Molecular Diagnosis Laboratory were compared with respect to expert evaluation and CAtenA results. Results: It was determined that the preliminary evaluation results of the CAtenA matched 86% of the negative and 90% of the positive results provided by expert analysis. 987 tests which CAtenA determined as inconclusive and suggested repeating PCR were found either negative or positive by expert analysis. A significant difference between positive and negative matching success rates and artificial intelligence (AI) based software overall accuracy was found and associated with the missed tests of the AI. Conclusions: As a result, it was suggested there is a low risk of confirming false positive results without expert analysis and test repetitions would cause losing time along with extra test costs. It was agreed that the PCR analysis used in CAtenA should be improved particularly in terms of test repetitions.

Aim: Importance of laboratory diagnosis has come to the spotlight once again with the Covid-19 pandemic caused by Sars-CoV-2 and significant changes have taken place in terms of laboratory operation. A global effort has emerged when all healthcare professionals faced a biological threat. Interlaboratory collaboration and multidisciplinary approach contributed to this effort. This study aims to explain step-by-step establishment of a fully capable laboratory for Sars-CoV-2 diagnosis to support local and global fight for the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: Several precautions were taken, and disaster plans were updated because of the changes in employee health and workload distribution. Some of these are setting up a laboratory from scratch for microorganism diagnostic tests performed in pandemic cases, measures for healthcare workers, personnel assignment planning, changes in the variety and number of tests, innovations in quality standards and the contribution of laboratories to scientific studies. Results: XXXXX Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory has become one of the laboratories in Türkiye where Sars-Cov-2 and its mutations have been studied the most with 1,710,856 samples between 01 October 2020 and 01 May 2022 since its establishment and it has become the laboratory with the highest number of equipment and technical personnel in the capital. Conclusion: This study summarizes all the phases of XXXXX Molecular Diagnostic Laboratory beginning with its establishment from the scratch and covers all the steps to render this facility fully operational. Keywords: COVID-19, laboratory disaster planning, laboratory staff, personal protective equipment, Sars-CoV-2