Correlation between live weight and body measurements in certain dog breeds

The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between live weight and body measurements in Zagar, Zerdava, and Catalburun dogs. Animal materials were obtained from various regions of Turkey. A total of 304 dogs from three breeds were used: Zagar (45 females, 59 males), Zerdava (50 females, 50 males), and Catalburun (62 females, 38 males). Live weights and certain body measurements were determined. A linear regression model was created using the parameters obtained in this study. The bodyweights calculated with the body measurements were found to be at a high or acceptable level in the Zagar, Zerdava, and Catalburun genotypes (R-2 = 0.902, 0.467, and 0.697, respectively).Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK)Turkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Arastirma Kurumu (TUBITAK)The authors would like to thank Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TUBITAK) and the owners of the Zagar, Zerdava and Catalburun dogs for their support to the project

KLEIN: A New Family of Lightweight Block Ciphers

Resource-efficient cryptographic primitives become fundamental for realizing both security and efficiency in embedded systems like RFID tags and sensor nodes. Among those primitives, lightweight block cipher plays a major role as a building block for security protocols. In this paper, we describe a new family of lightweight block ciphers named KLEIN, which is designed for resource-constrained devices such as wireless sensors and RFID tags. Compared to the related proposals, KLEIN has advantage in the software performance on legacy sensor platforms, while in the same time its hardware implementation can also be compact

Polymer crystallinity and crystallization kinetics via benchtop 1 H NMR relaxometry: Revisited method, data analysis, and experiments on common polymers

Semi-crystalline polymers play an enormously important role in materials science, engineering, and nature. Two-thirds of all synthetic polymers have the ability to crystallize which allows for the extensive use of these materials in a variety of applications as molded parts, films, or fibers. Here, we present a study on the applicability of benchtop 1H NMR relaxometry to obtain information on the bulk crystallinity and crystallization kinetics of the most relevant synthetic semi-crystalline polymers. In the first part, we investigated the temperature-dependent relaxation behavior and identified T=Tg+100 K as the minimum relative temperature difference with respect to Tg for which the mobility contrast between crystalline and amorphous protons is sufficient for an unambiguous determination of polymer crystallinity. The obtained bulk crystallinities from 1 H NMR were compared to results from DSC and XRD, and all three methods showed relatively good agreement for all polymers. In the second part, we focused on the determination of the crystallization kinetics, i.e., monitoring of isothermal crystallization, which required a robust design of the pulse sequence, precise temperature calibration, and careful data analysis. We found the combination of a magic sandwich echo (MSE) with a short acquisition time followed by a CarrPurcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) echo train with short pulse timings to be the most suitable for monitoring crystallization. This study demonstrates the application of benchtop 1H NMR relaxometry to investigate the bulk crystallinity and crystallization kinetics of polymers, which can lead to its optimal use as an in situ technique in research, quality control, and processing labs

Turner syndrome and associated problems in turkish children: A multicenter study

Objective: Turner syndrome (TS) is a chromosomal disorder caused by complete or partial X chromosome monosomy that manifests various clinical features depending on the karyotype and on the genetic background of affected girls. This study aimed to systematically investigate the key clinical features of TS in relationship to karyotype in a large pediatric Turkish patient population. Methods: Our retrospective study included 842 karyotype-proven TS patients aged 0-18 years who were evaluated in 35 different centers in Turkey in the years 2013-2014. Results: The most common karyotype was 45,X (50.7%), followed by 45,X/46,XX (10.8%), 46,X,i(Xq) (10.1%) and 45,X/46,X,i(Xq) (9.5%). Mean age at diagnosis was 10.2±4.4 years. The most common presenting complaints were short stature and delayed puberty. Among patients diagnosed before age one year, the ratio of karyotype 45,X was significantly higher than that of other karyotype groups. Cardiac defects (bicuspid aortic valve, coarctation of the aorta and aortic stenosi) were the most common congenital anomalies, occurring in 25% of the TS cases. This was followed by urinary system anomalies (horseshoe kidney, double collector duct system and renal rotation) detected in 16.3%. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis was found in 11.1% of patients, gastrointestinal abnormalities in 8.9%, ear nose and throat problems in 22.6%, dermatologic problems in 21.8% and osteoporosis in 15.3%. Learning difficulties and/or psychosocial problems were encountered in 39.1%. Insulin resistance and impaired fasting glucose were detected in 3.4% and 2.2%, respectively. Dyslipidemia prevalence was 11.4%. Conclusion: This comprehensive study systematically evaluated the largest group of karyotype-proven TS girls to date. The karyotype distribution, congenital anomaly and comorbidity profile closely parallel that from other countries and support the need for close medical surveillance of these complex patients throughout their lifespan. © Journal of Clinical Research in Pediatric Endocrinology

Behçet disease: evaluation of clinical manifestations in Turkish children

PubMe

Academic activism and its impact on individual-level mobilization, sources of learning, and the future of academia in Turkey

In January 2016, academics in Turkey distributed a peace petition calling for an end to hostilities and to restart negotiations with the Kurdish movement. The Turkish government responded by opening legal cases, jailing academics, and dismissing them from universities. In the state of emergency following the July 2016 coup attempt in Turkey, the government's extended powers allowed them to fire thousands of civil servants from every branch of government, including thousands of academics. This increased the number of academics who organized to form and teach in academic collectives. The current study evaluates how politicization occurs in scholars removed from the university environment. Traditional approaches to collective action and politicization suggest that empowerment is an important catalyst in politicization and continuation of collective political engagement. With the social and political restrictions that decree law dismissals place on scholars, what is it that motivates them to politicize? The current study was conducted through semistructured interviews with nine academics who work in these collectives. Participants described their politicization in terms of previous practice, reaction to injustice, and ideals of academia and academic freedom. They further evaluated current and prospective functions and possible barriers to academic collectives. Finally, although somewhat ambivalent, participants discussed feelings of efficacy, psychosocial support, and senses of solidarity and liberation in terms of being empowered. Their perspectives provide an opportunity to understand how and where academics engage in scholar activism for an independent and free academia in the context of consolidated political oppression.</p

Defining remission in childhood-onset lupus:PReS-endorsed consensus definitions by an international task force

Objective: To derive childhood-onset SLE (cSLE) specific remission definitions for future treat-to-target (T2T) trials, observational studies, and clinical practice. Methods: The cSLE International T2T Task Force conducted Delphi surveys exploring paediatric perspectives on adult-onset SLE remission targets. A modified nominal group technique was used to discuss, refine, and agree on the cSLE remission target criteria.Results: The Task Force proposed two definitions of remission: ‘cSLE clinical remission on steroids (cCR)’ and ‘cSLE clinical remission off steroids (cCR-0)’. The common criteria are: (1) Clinical-SLEDAI-2 K = 0; (2) PGA score &lt; 0.5 (0–3 scale); (4) stable antimalarials, immunosuppressive, and biologic therapy (changes due to side-effects, adherence, weight, or when building up to target dose allowed). Criterion (3) in cCR is the prednisolone dose ≤0.1 mg/kg/day (maximum 5 mg/day), whereas in cCR-0 it is zero. Conclusions: cSLE definitions of remission have been proposed, maintaining sufficient alignment with the adult-SLE definition to facilitate life-course research.</p