Antioxidant Potential and Phenolic Compounds of Some Widely Consumed Turkish White Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Varieties

The antioxidant potential and phenolic compounds content were investigated in ten white bean varieties widely consumed in Turkey. Total phenolic contents of seeds varied between 0.33 and 0.63 mg GAE/g. The Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity (TEAC) determined by the ABTS assay and the Ferric-Reducing Antioxidant Power (FRAP) of bean varieties ranged from 3.50 to 5.17 mu mol Trolox/g seed and from 7.99 to 11.20 mu mol Fe2+-/g seed, respectively. Strong correlations were found between total phenolic content and FRAP (r=0.850) and between TEAC and FRAP (r=0.734). The antioxidant activity was investigated in a beta-carotene-linoleic acid model system, as well. Differences in the inhibition of emulsion oxidation by extracts of white bean varieties were slight. The RP-HPLC fingerprint analysis of extracts showed the presence of five dominant phenolic compounds which were described as ferulic or caffeic acids derivatives. Four of them significantly contributed to reducing power and antiradical activity against ABTS(center dot+) of extracts

Alcohol Consumption among Turkish Adolescents: A Test of General Strain Theory

The current study examined alcohol consumption among Turkish adolescents through the lens of Agnew’s General Strain Theory (GST) using data drawn from the 2008 Youth in Europe Survey. Although considerable attention has been paid to problematic alcohol consumption among adolescents, extant research has remained limited to western countries. Similarly, much of the support for GST was derived from research conducted in United States. The current study explores factors associated with alcohol consumption in Turkey and tests the generalizability of GST to countries with sociocultural and religious values differing from those in western countries. Results from ordinal logistic regression analyses indicate that school strain, economic strain, and peer strain were significantly associated with drinking behavior, while family strain was not associated with drinking behavior. Although students’ negative affective states were significantly associated with drinking behavior, they did not mediate the relationships between the strain variables and alcohol consumption as would be expected given the logic of GST. Implications for future research were discussed

Bridging gaps between in vitro and in vivo data in pulmonary aerosol delivery with focus on pharmacokinetics

Pulmonary aerosolized delivery of drugs incorporated into nanocarriers (nanodrugs) by inhalation is a promising route for the prolonged treatment of lung diseases such as pulmonary hypertension or lung rejection after transplantation. Due to the lack of validated in vitro testing systems, the PK and efficacy of nanodrugs during the preclinical phase of drug testing has to be measured in animal models. This work investigates the particokinetics of two nanodrugs, Ptx-NP and L-CsA, which incorporate the active drug Paclitaxel (Ptx) and Cyclosporine A (CsA) into polymeric or liposomal nanocarriers, respectively. The goal of the study was to evaluate the potential of aerosolized drug delivery combined with physiological in vitro cell culture models of the lung to predict the clinical outcome with a focus on PK. The VITROCELL® Cloud 6 system was used to deliver the nanodrugs in aerosolized form to in vitro models of the healthy and diseased human alveolar air-blood barrier cultured at air-liquid interface (ALI) conditions, and to analyze the transbarrier transport of the incorporated drugs. ALI conditions showed a direct cell-nanodrug interaction, which allowed clarifying cellular uptake mechanisms (caveolae-mediated endocytosis and passive diffusion) and mirroring real cellular transport rates. In a direct comparison between the healthy and diseased models, no significant differences in the transbarrier transport rates were found, which highlight the prolonged tissue-association of drugs incorporated in nanocarriers. The obtained particokinetics were further combined with physiological-based PK (PBPK) modeling to predict the PK profile of CsA and Ptx (e.g. maximum drug concentration cmax in the blood; time until cmax is reached (tmax)) after inhalation. This confirmed that cmax levels after inhalation were achieved fast (< 0.25 h). Moreover, the modeling revealed that cmax levels after inhalation are typically low, which highlights the advantage of targeting lung diseases by inhalation therapy as this avoids high drug levels in the blood that could lead to systemic toxicities. Besides the PK, the efficacy of Ptx-NP was investigated. The analysis of Ptx doses in different compartments of the in vitro model demonstrated a cell-association of 30% of the initial dose 24 h after the aerosolized delivery of Ptx-NP. Accordingly, the potential of prolonged drug interaction with the diseased tissue in vitro could be highlighted. Moreover, a dose of 0.7 μg Ptx/cm² increased FoxO1 transcription – a hallmark of pulmonary hypertension - by a factor of 3 as compared to untreated control. Consequently, the aerosolized drug delivery to ALI cell culture models of the alveolar tissue barrier combined with PBPK modeling can support the development of drug formulations with a beneficial PK profile in the clinical settings. Moreover, these types of in vitro models are well suited to study cellular uptake and transport mechanisms

Maş Fasulyesinin (Vigna radiata L.) Fenolik Bileşikleri ve Antioksidan Kapasitesi

Mung bean (Vigna radiata) is a summer growing legume and widely consumed in the Asian cuisine.In recent years, the functional properties of mung bean have received attention, particularly with respect toantioxidant, antitumor, anti-diabetic effects. In this research investigated the antioxidant capacity and phenoliccompound profiles of dried mung bean seeds. The total phenolic content, DPPH• scavenging activity, ferricreducingantioxidant power (FRAP), ABTS•+ scavenging activity were determined after methanol and acetoneextractions. HPLC analyse was used to identification mung bean phenolic compounds. The total phenoliccontent of mung bean seed was determined as 47.16 mg GA eq / g extract (504.65 mg / 100 g seed) and 66.05mg GA eq / g extract (526.41 mg / 100 g seed) after methanol and acetoneuse as extractans, respectively. Thedominant phenolic compounds of seeds were hydroxybenzoic acid derivatives. The radical scavenging activityof mung bean extracts against ABTS•+ was 1.093 mmol Trolox / g acetone extract. This study compared theantioxidant capacity of mung bean with literature data of antioxidant properties widely consumed different beanvarieties such as red and white beans. Obtained results suggest that mung bean can be evaluated as functionalingredient with high antioxidant activity in several foods therefore larger field productions can be achieved forthis legume.Maş fasulyesi (Vigna radiata) Asya mutfağında yaygın tüketilen yazlık bir baklagil çeşididir. Son yıllarda maş fasulyesi özellikle antioksidan, antitumor, antidiyabetik gibi fonksiyonel özellikleri açısından dikkat çekmektedir. Bu araştırmanın amacı kurutulmuş maş fasulyesi tohumlarının antioksidan kapasitesini ve fenolik bileşik profilini araştırmaktır. Bu amaçla metanol ve aseton extratlarında toplam fenolik madde, DPPH• radikal giderim aktivitesi, ferrik iyon indirgeme kapasiteleri, ABTS•+ katyon radikali giderim aktivitesi belirlenmiştir. Maş fasulyesinin fenolik bileşiklerini belirlemek amacıyla HPLC analiz yöntemi kullanılmıştır. Maş fasulyesinin toplam fenolik madde miktarı metanol ve aseton ektratlarında sırasıyla 47.16 mg GA eq / g ekstrat (504.65 mg / 100 g tane) and 66.05 mg GA eq / g ekstrat (526.41 mg / 100 g tane) olarak belirlenmiştir. Çalışmada, dominat fenolik bileşiklerin hidroksibenzoik asit ve türevleri olduğu bulunmuştur. Maş fasulyesinin aseton ekstresinde ABTS•+ katyon radikali giderim aktivitesi 1.093 mmol Trolox / g extract olarak belirlenmiştir. Bu çalışmada ayrıca maş fasulyesinin antioksidan kapasitesi, literetürde kırmızı ve beyaz fasulye gibi yaygın tüketilen fasulye çeşitlerinin antioksidan kapasiteleri ile karşılaştırılarak değerlendirilmiştir. Elde edilen bulgular sonucunda maş fasulyesinin yüksek antioksidan kapasitesi gibi çeşitli gıdalarda fonksiyonel ingredient olarak değerlendirilebileceği ve bu nedenle bu baklagilin daha geniş alanlarda üretilebileceği düşünülmektedir

A Comparative Analysis of Attitudes Toward Immigrants

The current study examined attitudes toward immigrants in four countries including the United States, China, South Africa, and Turkey, differing from each other by their economic development levels and past immigration experiences. Although considerable attention has been paid to public attitudes toward immigrants, extant research have remained limited to economic and cultural factors as potential determinants of public attitudes, and they have failed to widen the scope of the issue. Thus, they have ignored the role of countries' past immigration practices and effective immigration policies in shaping natives' perceptions of immigrants. The current study has added some unique and valuable findings to the literature on attitudes toward immigrants by revealing the distinctive impacts of countries' past immigration experiences and their immigration policies on natives' perceptions of immigrants. By using data drawn from the 2015 Global @dvisor Survey, the current study also provided up-to-date research outcomes on the topic

Pain Management

Postoperative pain is caused by neuronal damage that occurs during the surgical procedure and the stimulation of the nociceptors. In postoperative period, total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is painful, and pain management is quite difficult. The main purpose of postoperative pain relief is to reduce the pain of the patient, to contribute to the healing process, to shorten the length of hospital stay, and to reduce hospital costs. Techniques such as intravenous analgesia, epidural analgesia, and peripheral nerve blocks are used to prevent postoperative pain. In addition, oral and parenteral analgesics, patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), nerve blocks, and periarticular injection methods are used as multimodal analgesia methods. Pain scales such as visual analogue scale (VAS), verbal descriptive scale (VDS), and numerical rating scale (NRS) are used as the standard methods in the evaluation of pain of patients. Systemic opioids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and local anesthetics are used for postoperative analgesia. Preemptive analgesia, defined as analgesia initiated prior to surgical incision, and multimodal analgesia have been shown to reduce opioid consumption associated with high complication rates. Postoperative pain management should be planned considering the clinical characteristics of the patient, experience of the anesthetist, and clinical facilities. Early postoperative analgesia reduces systemic complication rates and improves early rehabilitation, patient satisfaction, and quality of life

School truancy among Turkish high school students: A test of General Strain Theory

School absenteeism is a complicated problem with a variety of causes. It has been shown to be one of the main predictors of school drop-outs as well as leading to delinquency and criminal behavior in adulthood. This study examines the applicability of General Strain Theory on educational factors by considering truancy as a risk behavior. In this empirical study, we test the explanatory powers of certain kinds of strain, including school strain, economic deprivation, negative life events, anger, college plans, past victimization, and depression on students’ truancy. Data were drawn from the part of 2008 Youth in Europe Survey conducted in Istanbul in 2008. The sample consists of 2445 high school students. Results indicate that school strain, anger, and negative life events are significantly associated with likelihood of truancy while past victimization and economic strain have no effect. College goal and depression, on the other hand, have relatively weaker effects on students’ school absenteeism. Findings revealed that there is a relationship between cutting classes and certain kinds of strain among Turkish adolescents. The study also demonstrates that General Strain Theory is applicable for problematic behaviors in an educational context and generalizable to countries other than the U.S

TEACHERS’ AWARENESS AND ACTUAL PRACTICES OF 21st CENTURY LEARNING AND INNOVATION SKILLS

This research study targets to examine Turkish teachers of English language awareness, motivation, organization (institution), and actual classroom practices in terms of 21st century learning and innovation skills which are named as communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity skills. For this purpose, 26 Turkish teachers of English language at Fırat University School of Foreign Languages were selected as the participants. With the aim of maintain the research study, mixed method descriptive case study was conducted. In order to gather data, a questionnaire (self-report instrument) and interviews were employed. Convenience sampling was administered in the phase of participant selection. Moreover, the collected quantitative data was analysed on SPSS program version 2.00 and qualitative data was analysed with reference to interview questions. At the result session, the analysis were explained and discussed in order to be a source, and present a different point of view for the further researches. The findings of the study proved that Turkish teachers of English Language in the context of the study were in short of theoretical and conceptual knowledge regarding 21st century learning and innovation skills, though they were excited to boost them up in the classrooms. Keywords: 21st century learning and innovation skills, 4Cs, communication, creativity, critical thinking, collaboration

Sustainability attitudes in nursing survey: A cross-cultural adaptation and validation study

Research aim: The aim of this study was to cross-culturally adapt the Sustainability Attitudes in Nursing Survey into Turkish and evaluate its validity and reliability among Turkish speaking nursing students. Methods: This methodological study was conducted with 400 nursing students, selected using a simple random sampling method from students studying at a state university in Turkey. Sociodemographic Characteristics Questionnaire and Sustainability Attitudes in Nursing Survey were used for data collection. The linguistic content validity analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis were performed to determine the validity of the survey. Test-retest reliability and Cronbach Alpha coefficient were determined for reliability of the survey. Findings: The Content Validity Index of the Turkish version of the Sustainability Attitudes in Nursing Survey was found to be 0.91. In the Confirmatory Factor Analysis, the survey was confirmed as a single-factor model. The Cronbach Alpha coefficient of the survey was determined to be 0.76 and the intra-class correlation was 0.81 as a result of the test-retest. Conclusions: The Turkish version of the survey has sufficient validity and reliability to evaluate sustainability attitudes of nursing students in the Turkish culture. It is recommended to conduct international comparative studies to identify nursing students’ sustainablity attitudes

Monitoring cantilever beam with a vision-based algorithm and smartphone

The study presented in this manuscript deals with a non-contact structural health monitoring approach based on the use of smartphone and computer vision algorithm to estimate the vibrating characteristics of a cantilever slender beam. We hypothesize that the vibration of the beam can be captured using a smartphone in slow-motion modality and the natural frequency of the beam can be extracted using a computer vision algorithm. The results show an excellent agreement between the conventional contact method and the non-contact novel approach proposed here