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Martin NG, Defres S, Willis L, Beckley R, Hardwick H, Coxon A, Kadambari S, Yu LM, Liu X, Galal U, Conlin K, Griffiths MJ, Kneen R, Nadel S, Heath PT, Kelly DE, Solomon T, Sadarangani M, Pollard AJ. Paediatric meningitis in the conjugate vaccine era and a novel clinical decision model to predict bacterial aetiology. J Infect 2024; 88:106145. [PMID: 38552719 DOI: 10.1016/j.jinf.2024.106145] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2024] [Revised: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The aims of this study were to assess aetiology and clinical characteristics in childhood meningitis, and develop clinical decision rules to distinguish bacterial meningitis from other similar clinical syndromes. METHODS Children aged <16 years hospitalised with suspected meningitis/encephalitis were included, and prospectively recruited at 31 UK hospitals. Meningitis was defined as identification of bacteria/viruses from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and/or a raised CSF white blood cell count. New clinical decision rules were developed to distinguish bacterial from viral meningitis and those of alternative aetiology. RESULTS The cohort included 3002 children (median age 2·4 months); 1101/3002 (36·7%) had meningitis, including 180 bacterial, 423 viral and 280 with no pathogen identified. Enterovirus was the most common pathogen in those aged <6 months and 10-16 years, with Neisseria meningitidis and/or Streptococcus pneumoniae commonest at age 6 months to 9 years. The Bacterial Meningitis Score had a negative predictive value of 95·3%. We developed two clinical decision rules, that could be used either before (sensitivity 82%, specificity 71%) or after lumbar puncture (sensitivity 84%, specificity 93%), to determine risk of bacterial meningitis. CONCLUSIONS Bacterial meningitis comprised 6% of children with suspected meningitis/encephalitis. Our clinical decision rules provide potential novel approaches to assist with identifying children with bacterial meningitis. FUNDING This study was funded by the Meningitis Research Foundation, Pfizer and the NIHR Programme Grants for Applied Research.
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Affiliation(s)
- N G Martin
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Level 2, Children's Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; Department of Paediatrics, University of Otago Christchurch, 2 Riccarton Avenue, Christchurch Central City, Christchurch 8011, New Zealand
| | - S Defres
- Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, UK
| | - L Willis
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Level 2, Children's Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - R Beckley
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Level 2, Children's Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - H Hardwick
- Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, UK
| | - A Coxon
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Level 2, Children's Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - S Kadambari
- Department of Paediatric Infectious Diseases, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, London WC1N 3JH, UK; Infection, Immunity & Inflammation Department, University College London, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, 30 Guilford St, London WC1N 1EH, UK
| | - L-M Yu
- Nuffield Department of Primary Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Primary Care Building, Radcliffe Observatory Quarter, Woodstock Rd, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK
| | - X Liu
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Level 2, Children's Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - U Galal
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Level 2, Children's Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - K Conlin
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Level 2, Children's Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - M J Griffiths
- Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, UK; Department of Neurology, Alder Hey Children's NHS Trust, E Prescot Rd, Liverpool L14 5AB, UK
| | - R Kneen
- Department of Neurology, Alder Hey Children's NHS Trust, E Prescot Rd, Liverpool L14 5AB, UK
| | - S Nadel
- Department of Paediatrics, St. Mary's Hospital, Praed St, London W2 1NY, UK
| | - P T Heath
- Centre for Neonatal and Paediatric Infection & Vaccine Institute, St. George's, University of London, Cranmer Terrace, London SW17 0RE, UK
| | - D E Kelly
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Level 2, Children's Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
| | - T Solomon
- Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX, UK; Department of Neurology, Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Lower Ln, Fazakerley, Liverpool L9 7LJ, UK
| | - M Sadarangani
- Vaccine Evaluation Center, BC Children's Hospital Research Institute, 950 West 28th Ave, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4H4, Canada; Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, 4480 Oak Street, Vancouver, BC V5Z 4H4, Canada.
| | - A J Pollard
- Department of Paediatrics, University of Oxford and the Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Level 2, Children's Hospital, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK
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Paldor I, Madrer N, Vaknine Treidel S, Shulman D, Greenberg DS, Soreq H. Cerebrospinal fluid and blood profiles of transfer RNA fragments show age, sex, and Parkinson's disease-related changes. J Neurochem 2023; 164:671-683. [PMID: 36354307 DOI: 10.1111/jnc.15723] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2022] [Revised: 09/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Abstract
Transfer RNA fragments (tRFs) have recently been shown to be an important family of small regulatory RNAs with diverse functions. Recent reports have revealed modified tRF blood levels in a number of nervous system conditions including epilepsy, ischemic stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases, but little is known about tRF levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). To address this issue, we studied age, sex, and Parkinson's disease (PD) effects on the distributions of tRFs in the CSF and blood data of healthy controls and PD patients from the NIH and the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) small RNA-seq datasets. We discovered that long tRFs are expressed in higher levels in the CSF than in the blood. Furthermore, the CSF showed a pronounced age-associated decline in the level of tRFs cleaved from the 3'-end and anti-codon loop of the parental tRNA (3'-tRFs, i-tRFs), and more pronounced profile differences than the blood profiles between the sexes. In comparison, we observed moderate age-related elevation of blood 3'-tRF levels. In addition, distinct sets of tRFs in the CSF and in the blood segregated PD patients from controls. Finally, we found enrichment of tRFs predicted to target cholinergic mRNAs (Cholino-tRFs) among mitochondrial-originated tRFs, raising the possibility that the neurodegeneration-related mitochondrial impairment in PD patients may lead to deregulation of their cholinergic tone. Our findings demonstrate that the CSF and blood tRF profiles are distinct and that the CSF tRF profiles are modified in a sex-, age-, and disease-related manner, suggesting that they reflect the inter-individual cerebral differences and calling for incorporating this important subset of small RNA regulators into future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iddo Paldor
- The Neurosurgery Department, Rambam Health Care Campus, Haifa, Israel
| | - Nimrod Madrer
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,Department of Biological Chemistry, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Shani Vaknine Treidel
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,Department of Biological Chemistry, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Dana Shulman
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,Department of Biological Chemistry, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,The Rachel and Selim Benin School of Computer Science and Engineering, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - David S Greenberg
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,Department of Biological Chemistry, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Hermona Soreq
- The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel.,Department of Biological Chemistry, The Alexander Silberman Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
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Belimezi M, Kalliaropoulos A, Mentis AFA, Chrousos GP. Diagnostic significance of IgG and albumin indices versus oligoclonal band types in demyelinating disorders. J Clin Pathol 2023; 76:166-171. [PMID: 34526372 DOI: 10.1136/jclinpath-2021-207766] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/14/2021] [Accepted: 08/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
AIMS The laboratory diagnosis of demyelinating inflammatory disorders (DIDs) relies on both intrathecal oligoclonal band (OCB) positivity and IgG index. Although OCB typing remains the gold-standard test for DIDs, it can be laborious and ambiguous, complicating diagnostics, and unduly increasing diagnostic time. We examined whether serum or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) parameters can classify OCB types and, thus, be used as a replacement test to standard OCB typing. METHODS We retrospectively analysed >1000 prospectively collected samples of patients with DIDs and quantified albumin and IgG levels in the CSF and serum. We determined OCB types by isoelectric focusing combined with immunofixation and evaluated the diagnostic accuracies of IgG and albumin indices in discriminating OCB types by receiver operating characteristic curves and multinomial regression. RESULTS An IgG index cut-off of 0.589 differentiated types 2/3 from types 1/4 (area under the curve 0.780, 95% CI 0.761 to 0.812, p<0.001; specificity: 71.10%, sensitivity: 73.45%). Albumin quotient cut-off values of 6.625 and of 6.707 discriminated type 1 from type 4 and type 2 from type 3, respectively (specificity: <55%, sensitivity: <75%). Female sex, age, IgG index, CSF IgG and serum albumin were associated with different OCB types. CONCLUSIONS Our study reveals that IgG and albumin index can differentiate OCB types with adequate accuracy, especially if refined by age and gender.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Belimezi
- Diagnostic Services Laboratory, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece
| | | | - Alexios-Fotios A Mentis
- Diagnostic Services Laboratory, Hellenic Pasteur Institute, Athens, Greece .,University Research Institute of Maternal and Child Health and Precision Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - George P Chrousos
- University Research Institute of Maternal and Child Health and Precision Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
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Wang Y, Cao M, Zhu X, Ni Q, Liu X. The cerebrospinal fluid neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio is a sensitive biomarker for bacterial meningitis in children. Childs Nerv Syst 2022; 38:1165-1171. [PMID: 35389066 DOI: 10.1007/s00381-022-05501-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 03/15/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The cerebrospinal fluid neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (CSF NLR) as a diagnostic biomarker of bacterial meningitis has been reported in adult trials. The aim of this study was to evaluate the CSF NLR as a diagnostic biomarker of bacterial meningitis in children and to define an optimal CSF NLR concentration. METHODS We performed a retrospective cohort study of children with clinical findings compatible with meningitis. CSF NLR was calculated as the ratio of neutrophil count to lymphocyte count in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Initial data included clinical, radiological, and laboratory diagnostics. RESULTS We determined CSF parameters from children with infectious meningitis (n = 348) and subdivided them into bacterial meningitis (n = 112) and viral meningitis (n = 236). CSF NLR was significantly higher in bacterial meningitis than in viral meningitis (P < 0.001), and its level was higher in Gram-negative bacterial infections than in Gram-positive bacterial infections (P = 0.01). In the receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, CSF NLR was better than CSF protein/sugar/WBC in the ability to distinguish bacterial meningitis from viral meningitis (AUC 0.91 ± 0.02 versus 0.88 ± 0.03/0.87 ± 0.03/0.86 ± 0.03), and using a cutoff point of 0.68, the sensitivity was 0.90, and the specificity was 0.75. Compared with Gram-positive infection, CSF NLR with Gram-negative infection was higher (media, IQR (1.18 (0.19-2.33) versus 3.90 (1.50-8.91), P = 0.01). CONCLUSION CSF NLR is a more useful diagnostic tool to distinguish between bacterial meningitis and viral meningitis in children. While at a cutoff value of 0.68, CSF NLR has better sensitivity and specificity for bacterial meningitis, and the higher level of CSF NLR could be related to Gram-negative bacterial infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Wang
- The Affiliated Wuxi Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 299#, Qing Yang Road, Jiangsu Province, Wuxi, 214000, People's Republic of China
| | - Mei Cao
- The Affiliated Wuxi Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 299#, Qing Yang Road, Jiangsu Province, Wuxi, 214000, People's Republic of China
| | - Xi Zhu
- The Affiliated Wuxi Children's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, 299#, Qing Yang Road, Jiangsu Province, Wuxi, 214000, People's Republic of China
| | - Qiuying Ni
- Department of Pediatrics, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, 107#, Wen Hua Xi Road, Shandong Province, Jinan, 250012, People's Republic of China
| | - Xinjie Liu
- Department of Pediatrics, Qilu Hospital, Shandong University, 107#, Wen Hua Xi Road, Shandong Province, Jinan, 250012, People's Republic of China.
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Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio is associated with increased cerebral blood flow velocity in acute bacterial meningitis. Sci Rep 2021; 11:11383. [PMID: 34059730 PMCID: PMC8166920 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-90816-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2020] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
In community-acquired bacterial meningitis (CABM) intracranial vascular alterations are devastating complications which are triggered by neuroinflammation and result in worse clinical outcome. The Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte ratio (NLR) represents a reliable parameter of the inflammatory response. In this study we analyzed the association between NLR and elevated cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFv) in CABM-patients. This study included all (CABM)-patients admitted to a German tertiary center between 2006 and 2016. Patients’ demographics, in-hospital measures, neuroradiological data and clinical outcome were retrieved from institutional databases. CBFv was assessed by transcranial doppler (TCD). Patients’, radiological and laboratory characteristics were compared between patients with/without elevated CBFv. Multivariate-analysis investigated parameters independently associated with elevated CBFv. Receiver operating characteristic(ROC-)curve analysis was undertaken to identify the best cut-off for NLR to discriminate between increased CBFv. 108 patients with CABM were identified. 27.8% (30/108) showed elevated CBFv. Patients with elevated CBFv and normal CBFv, respectively had a worse clinical status on admission (Glasgow Coma Scale: 12 [9–14] vs. 14 [11–15]; p = 0.005) and required more often intensive care (30/30 [100.0%] vs. 63/78 [80.8%]; p = 0.01).The causative pathogen was S. pneumoniae in 70%. Patients with elevated CBFv developed more often cerebrovascular complications with delayed cerebral ischemia (DCI) within hospital stay (p = 0.031). A significantly higher admission-NLR was observed in patients with elevated CBFv (median [IQR]: elevated CBFv:24.0 [20.4–30.2] vs. normal CBFv:13.5 [8.4–19.5]; p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis, revealed NLR to be significantly associated with increased CBFv (Odds ratio [95%CI] 1.042 [1.003–1.084]; p = 0.036). ROC-analysis identified a NLR of 20.9 as best cut-off value to discriminate between elevated CBFv (AUC = 0.713, p < 0.0001, Youden's Index = 0.441;elevated CBFv: NLR ≥ 20.9 19/30[63.5%] vs. normal CBFv: NLR > 20.9 15/78[19.2%]; p < 0.001). Intracranial vascular complications are common among CABM-patients and are a risk factor for unfavorable outcome at discharge. Elevated NLR is independently associated with high CBFv and may be useful in predicting patients’ prognosis.
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Artificial Intelligence in Differential Diagnostics of Meningitis: A Nationwide Study. Diagnostics (Basel) 2021; 11:diagnostics11040602. [PMID: 33800653 PMCID: PMC8065596 DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics11040602] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2021] [Revised: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Differential diagnosis between bacterial and viral meningitis is crucial. In our study, to differentiate bacterial vs. viral meningitis, three machine learning (ML) algorithms (multiple logistic regression (MLR), random forest (RF), and naïve-Bayes (NB)) were applied for the two age groups (0-14 and >14 years) of patients with meningitis by both conventional (culture) and molecular (PCR) methods. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) neutrophils, CSF lymphocytes, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), blood albumin, blood C-reactive protein (CRP), glucose, blood soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR), and CSF lymphocytes-to-blood CRP ratio (LCR) were used as predictors for the ML algorithms. The performance of the ML algorithms was evaluated through a cross-validation procedure, and optimal predictions of the type of meningitis were above 95% for viral and 78% for bacterial meningitis. Overall, MLR and RF yielded the best performance when using CSF neutrophils, CSF lymphocytes, NLR, albumin, glucose, gender, and CRP. Also, our results reconfirm the high diagnostic accuracy of NLR in the differential diagnosis between bacterial and viral meningitis.
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Cag Y, Özdemir AA, Yükselmiş U, Akdeniz E, Özçetin M. Association Between Rapid Antigen Testing and Antibiotic Use and Accuracy of Peripheral Blood Parameters in Detecting Group A Streptococcus in Children With Tonsillopharyngitis. Front Pediatr 2019; 7:322. [PMID: 31428594 PMCID: PMC6688128 DOI: 10.3389/fped.2019.00322] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2019] [Accepted: 07/18/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Objectives: To investigate the effect of rapid antigen testing (RAT) on the practice of antibiotic prescription as well as the accuracy of peripheral blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) values in detecting group A beta-hemolytic Streptococcus (GABHS) in children with tonsillopharyngitis. Methods: In a multicenter study performed in Turkey, we retrospectively analyzed data from 668 consecutive pediatric patients under 17 years of age, who presented with signs and symptoms of tonsillopharyngitis and underwent RAT. The rates of positive and negative RAT results were determined and patients' antibiotic prescriptions were examined in relation to RAT results. In addition, the accuracy of peripheral blood NLR and CRP values was examined for 212 patients whose laboratory data were available, with RAT as the reference standard. Results: Positive RAT results were observed in 190 of 668 (28.4%) patients. Antibiotics were prescribed to all 190 patients with positive RAT results and to 8 of 478 patients with negative RAT results. Overall, the rate of antibiotic prescription was 29.6%. Patients with positive and negative RAT results did not differ significantly with regard to NLR and CRP values. In ROC analysis, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of NLR and CRP were 0.54 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.45-0.64), and 0.55 (95% CI 0.45-0.65), respectively. Conclusion: RAT results proved highly associated with antibiotic prescribing, suggesting that RATs could be of great value in preventing unnecessary antibiotic use. Our findings also suggest that NLR and CRP are poorly accurate to identify GABHS in children with tonsillopharyngitis.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yakup Cag
- Department of Pediatrics, Kartal Dr. Lutfi Kırdar Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
| | | | - Ufuk Yükselmiş
- Department of Pediatrics, Kartal Dr. Lutfi Kırdar Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Ezgi Akdeniz
- Department of Pharmacy, Süreyyapaşa Chest Diseases and Thoracic Surgery Training and Research Hospital, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
| | - Mustafa Özçetin
- Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey
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