Premarital screening of 466 Mediterranean women for serum ferritin, vitamin B12, and folate concentrations

Background/aim: Iron, folate, and vitamin B12 serum levels are closely related with dietary habits and have an essential role in the healthy development of a fetus. We aimed to investigate hemoglobin, ferritin, folate, and vitamin B12 levels in preconceptional women in an area where a plant-based diet referred to as Mediterranean cuisine is commonly used. Materials and methods: The study population included 466 women between the ages of 18 and 45 years admitted for thalassemia screening. Sociodemographic variables and history of menometrorrhagia, pica, and dietary habits were collected. Serum vitamin B12, folate, ferritin, and hemoglobin levels were measured. Ferritin of <12 μg/L, vitamin B12 of <200 pg/mL, and folate of <4 ng/mL were accepted as deficiencies. Hemoglobin level of <12 g/dL was classified as anemia. Results: Polymenorrhea was present in 11.7% and hypermenorrhea in 24.8% of women. Anemia was detected in 24.9% and thalassemia trait in 3.0% of women. Low ferritin levels were observed in 46.1%, vitamin B12 in 21.6%, and folate in 3.4% of women. In the group with low vitamin B12, decreased meat consumption was more prevalent (27.5% vs. 16.9%; P = 0.019). Conclusion: Vitamin B12 and iron are the main micronutrients depleted in our community. This necessitates implementing a public health program for women consuming a Mediterranean diet. © TÜBİTA

Organic Seed Hydration-Dehydration Techniques Improve Seedling Quality of Organic Tomatoes

The use of pre-sowing organic hydration-dehydration techniques to improve quality and performance of organic seeds has already been lacking in the literature as well as in the organic farming regulations of different countries. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the effects of organic hydration (hydropriming and organic priming) and dehydration treatments on germination and early seedling growth in organic tomato seeds. Following each priming treatment, the seeds were surface dried and divided into two sub-groups. First part of the seeds was taken to the germination tests immediately while the second part was dried back until the original seed moisture content was reached before the germination tests were set up. Then, responses of organic tomato seeds to organic hydration and dehydration treatments were observed on the bases of viability (normal germination rate) and different vigour parameters such as mean germination time, germination index, seedling dry weight and seedling vigour index. When the overall data were assessed, the best results were obtained from the hydropriming and organic priming with 250 ppm seaweed extract solution followed by both dehydration treatments in organic tomato seeds. Consequently, these results suggested that hydropriming and organic priming could be used both in seed and seedling industries to improve organic seed quality and performance. Furthermore, the results indicated that the addition of these organic hydration-dehydration protocols to the current procedures of the regulations of organic tomato production could be a useful strategy.Key words: Lycopersicon esculentum, Ascophyllum nodosum, hydropriming, organic priming, seed viability, seed vigou

Applications of Subordination Principle to Log-Harmonic Mappings

MSC 2010: 30C45, 30C55The aim of this paper is to give some applications of subordination principle to log-harmonic mappings

The contamination status of trace metals in Sinop coast of the Black Sea, Turkey

The concentration of some heavy metals in sediment from the Sinop coasts of the Black Sea were measured to monitor metal pollution in 2013. The distribution of the heavy metals in sediments of the Black Sea shows a variable pattern. The objectives of the present study were to elucidate the distribution of heavy metals such as Cu, Pb, Zn, Ni, Mn, Fe, As, Cd, Cr, Hg and Co in sediment from Sinop coast of the Black Sea. In order to determine the quality of sediment in the Black Sea, pollution levels of the metals were evaluated using the enrichment factor technique (EF). The lowest EF values were between 0-5 in Cu, Fe, Zn, Ni, Cd, Pb, Mn and Co. These values did not have statistically significant differences. As, Cr and Hg concentrations were estimated relatively higher enrichment values than other the metals. The results indicated that contamination of surface sediments in Sinop Coast is dominated by As (10.2-7.4 mg.kg-1), Cr (67-374 mg.kg-1) and Hg (0.07-0.03 mg.kg-1) and to a lesser extent Cu (7.24- 5.09 mg.kg-1), Fe (1.76-1.12%), Zn (19.3-13.8 mg.kg-1), Ni (16.2-12.5 mg.kg-1), Cd (0.06-0.04 mg.kg-1), Pb (7.12-6.32 mg.kg-1), Mn (470-227 mg.kg-1), Co (9.5-5.9 mg.kg-1). Also, the requirement of age determination is of great importance to assess the extent of the anthropogenic contribution in pollution

WC/Co-Ti Kompozitlerinin ısıl ve elastik özelliklerinin ultrasonik dalga hızı ile ilişkisi

In this study,it is aimed to produce various composites and reveal their physical properties. Tungsten carbide (WC) powder and the two of cobalt (Co) and titanium (Ti) powders as binder phase have been used for the preparation of WC-Co-Ti ceramic-metal composite with powder metallurgy. Two different ultrasonic non-destructive techniques were employed to measure the mechanical wave velocity in WCCo-Ti composites. The study was performed on various specimens with different WCx content at the range from 60 to 80% and Co/Ti content in 3:1, 1:1 and 1:3 groups. The WCx content in examined materials was determined using the standard destructive analysis. The Young modulus (E) of the produced composites and the ultrasonic velocity measured through ultrasonic pulse-echo method and immersion method. Thermal conductivity of samples has been measured via hot disk method. The relation between the Young modulus' values with ultrasonic wave velocity, which is obtained through two different methods and thermal conductivity has been physically examined and the results have been compared with the literature

Morphology, histology and phylogeny of Henneguya sinova sp. nov. (Myxobolidae: Myxozoa) infecting gills of Parablennius tentacularis in the Black Sea, Turkey

Myxosporeans of the genus Henneguya have a global distribution and infect organs and tissues of both marine and freshwater fishes. Here we describe the morphological, histological and molecular characteristics of Henneguya sinova sp. nov. parasitizing the gill arches of tenta-cled blenny Parablennius tentacularis (Perciformes: Blenniidae) collected from the coast of Sinop on the Black Sea in Turkey. Several oval whitish plasmodia of different sizes in the gill arches of fish were found. The mature spores were rounded oval in frontal view, with a mean (range) total length 57.5 (51.5-68.0) µm; the spore body was 11.7 (11.3-12.0) µm in length by 7.6 (7.3-8.3) µm in width and 6.7 (6.6-6.8) µm in thickness. The caudal appendages, measuring 46.0 (40.0-55.0) µm in length, were very thin at the tapered end. The prevalence of infection by H. sinova sp. nov. was 35.5%. Phylogenetic analysis of nuclear small subunit ribosomal DNA (SSU rDNA) clearly suggested H. sinova as a new species which is clustered within the marine Henneguya lin­eage. Pairwise nucleotide similarities and DNA distance values of SSU rDNA between H. sinova sp. nov. and other related Henneguya species also supported this suggestion

Profile and functional analysis of small RNAs derived from Aspergillus fumigatus infected with double-stranded RNA mycoviruses

Background: Mycoviruses are viruses that naturally infect and replicate in fungi. Aspergillus fumigatus, an opportunistic pathogen causing fungal lung diseases in humans and animals, was recently shown to harbour several different types of mycoviruses. A well-characterised defence against virus infection is RNA silencing. The A. fumigatus genome encodes essential components of the RNA silencing machinery, including Dicer, Argonaute and RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRP) homologues. Active silencing of double-stranded (ds)RNA and the generation of small RNAs (sRNAs) has been shown for several mycoviruses and it is anticipated that a similar mechanism will be activated in A. fumigatus isolates infected with mycoviruses. Results: To investigate the existence and nature of A. fumigatus sRNAs, sRNA-seq libraries of virus-free and virus-infected isolates were created using Scriptminer adapters and compared. Three dsRNA viruses were investigated: Aspergillus fumigatus partitivirus-1 (AfuPV-1, PV), Aspergillus fumigatus chrysovirus (AfuCV, CV) and Aspergillus fumigatus tetramycovirus-1 (AfuTmV-1, NK) which were selected because they induce phenotypic changes such as coloration and sectoring. The dsRNAs of all three viruses, which included two conventionally encapsidated ones PV and CV and one unencapsidated example NK, were silenced and yielded characteristic vsiRNAs together with co-incidental silencing of host fungal genes which shared sequence homology with the viral genomes. Conclusions: Virus-derived sRNAs were detected and characterised in the presence of virus infection. Differentially expressed A. fumigatus microRNA-like (miRNA-like) sRNAs and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) were detected and validated. Host sRNA loci which were differentially expressed as a result of virus infection were also identified. To our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the sRNA profiles of A. fumigatus isolates