Effect of valproic acid on withdrawal therapy in patients with overuse of chronic daily headache medications.

Discontinuation of medication is the treatment of choice for patients with chronic daily headache (CDH) who overuse their medications. This treatment may be difficult due to increased headache severity observed in patients immediately after withdrawal. We retrospectively evaluated the efficacy of valproic acid therapy in 66 patients with overuse of CDH medication during withdrawal therapy. Patients were all withdrawn from medications and valproic acid started at 250 mg or 500 mg daily. Forty-two (63.6%) patients had decreased headache severity, including 27.3% objective responses in the first week. At the last visit in the 12th week, 50 patients were headache-free and only one patient had persistent headache. Fifteen patients withdrew from therapy due to side effects and lost to follow-up within this timeframe. Thus, low dose valproic acid appears to be safe and effective in the management of withdrawal therapy.     

Effects of oral continuous 17beta-estradiol plus norethisterone acetate replacement therapy on abdominal subcutaneous fat, serum leptin levels and body composition.

AIM: To evaluate the effects of oral continuous 17beta-estradiol plus norethisterone acetate (E2/NETA) replacement therapy on abdominal subcutaneous fat, serum leptin level (SLL) and body composition in postmenopausal women. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A 6-month, prospective, randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study was conducted. Forty-three healthy naturally postmenopausal women aged 43-65 years were randomly assigned to receive E2/NETA (2 mg E2 plus 1 mg NETA, n = 22) or placebo (n = 21). Fasting SLL by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, subcutaneous abdominal fat thickness (STh) by ultrasound and the anthropometric indices of body weight (BW), body mass index (BMI), waist and hip circumference (WC, HC) and waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) were recorded at the beginning and the end of the study. RESULTS: After 6 months of therapy, BW and SLL increased in the placebo group (p = 0.043 and 0.033, respectively). WC, HC and STh decreased significantly in the E2/NETA group (p = 0.002, 0.006 and 0.000, respectively) and they were also significantly lower in women receiving E2/NETA than in women taking placebo (p = 0.000, 0.034 and 0.000, respectively). At baseline, SLL and STh were positively correlated with all anthropometric indices except WHR. CONCLUSION: Oral continuous combined regimen of E2/NETA significantly reduced central fat accumulation as assessed by WC and STh, and attenuated the increase in SLL. The observed changes in SLL were highly and positively related to changes in STh. The oral continuous combined E2/NETA regimen appears to have protective effects on cardiovascular function and probably on metabolic diseases by its slimming effect upon WC in postmenopausal women.     

Osteomyelitis as a late complication of Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination.

Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) osteomyelitis is a very rare complication of BCG vaccination. We report a 14-month-old boy who received BCG vaccination at birth. He developed pain and swelling in his left calf at 11 months of age. BCG osteomyelitis was diagnosed in right femur and left tibia. He had no evidence of immunodeficiency. After antituberculous therapy and surgical treatment, the bone lesions disappeared and he was discharged from hospital without any sequela during 11 months of follow-up.     

Early and late visual prognosis in solar retinopathy

Background: Solar retinopathy was observed in a total of 86 eyes of 58 patients following the solar eclipse over Turkey in April 1976. The visual prognosis and the presence of late complications were evaluated at the early and late periods. Methods: Of the 58 patients, 34 (51 eyes) presented during the first week and came for follow-up examination in the succeeding week, also after 1, 3, 12 and 18 months. After that they were examined at yearly intervals (mean 4.2 years). Twenty-four patients (35 eyes) presented during the period between 1 and 11 years post-eclipse and were followed up for a mean period of 3.4 years. After a period of 15 years, all of the patients were invited for re-examination and nine patients (14 eyes) attended. Results: The improvement in visual acuity was observed to have taken place mostly during the first 2 weeks to 1 month after the eclipse. Further improvement in visual acuity was not observed in any of the eyes after the 18-month examination. The improvement in visual acuity was more prominent and earlier in the eyes that had visual acuity of 0.2 or better initially. Only the eyes with initial visual acuity equal to or better than 0.4 had a chance to improve their acuity to 10/10. Having observed the 51 eyes for mean period of 4.2 years and the 35 eyes for 3.4 years, no change in visual acuity was observed. Among the total of 86 eyes, 9 were found to have pseudolamellar macular holes. Conclusion: Correlation was found between initial visual acuity and the funduscopic appearance after the 2nd week. Fluorescein angiography was not found to be a conclusive test in solar retinopathy. No late complications were observed.     

Traumatic growth and psychological resilience status of female victims of violence inpatients in a district psychiatric hospital

The aim of this study was to examine the traumatic mental growth and psychological resilience status of females who were receiving inpatient treatment at a district mental health hospital and had a history of being subjected to violence. One hundred-twenty female patients with a history of exposure to violence participated in the study. An introductory information form, the Traumatic Growth Inventory (TGI) and the Psychological Resilience Scale for Adults (PRSA) were used for data collection. This study found that all the participants were subjected to emotional violence, 65.8% to physical violence, 30.8% to sexual violence, and 94.2% to verbal violence at some point in their lives. Their TGI mean score (60.96?±?11.91) was above average, while their PRSA mean score (97.90?±?9.18) was below average. The participants' mean scores on the TGI and PRSA did not vary significantly by the type of violence (p?>?0.05) to which the women were exposed. Moreover, no statistically significant relationship was found between the TGI and the PRSA total scale and subscale mean scores (p?>?0.05). This study found that the posttraumatic growth of females who had a history of physical or emotional or sexual abuse was positive, and that their psychological resilience levels were inadequate.