Solitary cecal diverticulitis, a rare cause of right lower quadrant pain: Four cases

Solitary cecal diverticulitis is a rare clinical condition. Like diverticulitis in other segments of the colon, it requires immediate surgical intervention if it is causing complications. Solitary cecal diverticulitis may be misdiagnosed as acute appendicitis, since it causes right lower quadrant pain, or as a cecal tumor or inflammatory bowel disease, due to an intraoperative appearance resembling an inflammatory mass. Four patients with solitary cecum diverticulitis presenting with acute right lower quadrant pain are discussed in this report. Three patients underwent surgery with a preliminary diagnosis of acute appendicitis or cecal tumor, and 1 patient was diagnosed with cecal diverticulitis and treated medically. The treatment approach may change depending on a preoperative or intraoperative diagnosis of cecal diverticulitis. Therefore, in areas where this disease is uncommon, cecum diverticulitis should not be forgotten in the differential diagnosis of acute right lower quadrant pain or inflammatory bowel mass

Effects of long‐term paroxetine or bupropion treatment on puberty onset, reproductive and feeding parameters in adolescent male rats

Antidepressant use in adolescents has become more common in recent years. We have found several studies stating that prenatal antidepressant exposure can lead to delayed or earlier puberty onset but there was no study on postnatal paroxetine or bupropion. The main aim of this study was to investigate the effect of postnatal exposure to bupropion or paroxetine on puberty onset, reproductive and feeding results. The male rats (n = 8/group) aged 21 days were exposed to paroxetine (3.6 mg/ kg) or bupropion (17 mg/kg) orally by gastric gavage every day from postnatal day 21–90. Also, control group received only saline orally as a vehicle. Postnatal exposure to bupropion or paroxetine delayed puberty onset compared to control group, but it was not significant. Sperm counts were significantly lower in the paroxetine and bupropion groups compared to control group. Sperm motility was significantly lower in only bupropion group. In addition, sperm motility was lower in paroxetine group, but it was not significant. In the histopathological examination, there was damage to the testicular structure in both treatments. Taken together, our result indicates that postnatal paroxetine or bupropion exposure may affect puberty onset and contribute to the impairment in fertility in male rats.TÜBİTAK (113S193

Development of a Selective Wet-Chemical Etchant for 3D Structuring of Silicon via Nonlinear Laser Lithography

Recently-demonstrated high-quality three-dimensional (3D) subsurface laser processing inside crystalline silicon (c-Si) wafers opens a door to a wide range of novel applications in multidisciplinary research areas. Using this technique, a novel maskless micro-pillars with precise control on the surface reflection and coverage are successfully fabricated by etching the laser processed region of c-Si wafer. To achieve this, a particular selective wet chemical etching is developed to follow subsurface laser processing of c-Si to reveal the desired 3D structures with smooth surfaces. Here, we report the development of a novel chromium-free chemical etching recipe based on copper nitrate, which yields substantially smooth surfaces at high etch rate and selectivity on the both laser-processed Si surface and subsurface, i.e., without significant etching of the unmodified Si. Our results show that the etch rate and surface morphology are interrelated and strongly influenced by the composition of the adopted etching solution. After an extensive compositional study performed at room temperature, we identify an etchant with a selectivity of over 1600 times for laser-modified Si with respect to unmodified Si. We also support our findings using density functional theory calculations of HF and Cu adsorption energies, indicating significant diversity on the c-Si and laser-modified surfaces

In-chip microstructures and photonic devices fabricated by nonlinear laser lithography deep inside silicon

Silicon is an excellent material for microelectronics and integrated photonics1–3 with untapped potential for mid-IR optics4. Despite broad recognition of the importance of the third dimension5,6, current lithography methods do not allow fabrication of photonic devices and functional microelements directly inside silicon chips. Even relatively simple curved geometries cannot be realised with techniques like reactive ion etching. Embedded optical elements, like in glass7, electronic devices, and better electronic-photonic integration are lacking8. Here, we demonstrate laser-based fabrication of complex 3D structures deep inside silicon using 1 µm-sized dots and rod-like structures of adjustable length as basic building blocks. The laser-modified Si has a different optical index than unmodified parts, which enables numerous photonic devices. Optionally, these parts are chemically etched to produce desired 3D shapes. We exemplify a plethora of subsurface, i.e., “in-chip” microstructures for microfluidic cooling of chips, vias, MEMS, photovoltaic applications and photonic devices that match or surpass the corresponding state-of-the-art device performances

Outcomes of high-risk breast lesions diagnosed using image-guided core needle biopsy: results from a multicenter retrospective study

PURPOSEThe clinical management of high-risk lesions using image-guided biopsy is challenging. This study aimed to evaluate the rates at which such lesions were upgraded to malignancy and identify possible predictive factors for upgrading high-risk lesions.METHODSThis retrospective multicenter analysis included 1.343 patients diagnosed with high-risk lesions using an image-guided core needle or vacuum-assisted biopsy (VAB). Only patients managed using an excisional biopsy or with at least one year of documented radiological follow-up were included. For each, the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) category, number of samples, needle thickness, and lesion size were correlated with malignancy upgrade rates in different histologic subtypes. Pearson’s chi-squared test, the Fisher–Freeman–Halton test, and Fisher’s exact test were used for the statistical analyses.RESULTSThe overall upgrade rate was 20.6%, with the highest rates in the subtypes of intraductal papilloma (IP) with atypia (44.7%; 55/123), followed by atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) (38.4%; 144/375), lobular neoplasia (LN) (12.7%; 7/55), papilloma without atypia (9.4%; 58/611), flat epithelial atypia (FEA) (8.7%; 10/114), and radial scars (RSs) (4.6%; 3/65). There was a significant relationship between the upgrade rate and BI-RADS category, number of samples, and lesion size Lesion size was the most predictive factor for an upgrade in all subtypes.CONCLUSIONADH and atypical IP showed considerable upgrade rates to malignancy, requiring surgical excision. The LN, IP without atypia, pure FEA, and RS subtypes showed lower malignancy rates when the BI-RADS category was lower and in smaller lesions that had been adequately sampled using VAB. After being discussed in a multidisciplinary meeting, these cases could be managed with follow-up instead of excision

Finite element analysis of wooden chair strength in free drop

Wooden furniture is being widely used in all countries due to its convenience and being produced from the natural raw material. In furniture design esthetic, ergonomics and safety are the main criteria. Safety means the strength of furniture. Unfortunately, most of the time the strength of furniture is not taken into account in design as much as esthetic and ergonomics. This leads to the use of excess material meaning high cost or usage of less material causing some dangers in use. In literature, the first study of finite element method (FEM) in furniture design was in 1966. The technological developments in software and hardware promoted those studies. In those researches, the strength analysis had been done for different kinds of wood. In one of the latest studies, irregular types of sitting on the chair had been analyzed by FEM. In our study, the chair produced from southern red oak (Quercus falcata), pine red (Pinus resinosa) and Spruce Engelmann (Picea engelmannii) wood are simulated by free drop from two different heights defined in packaging standards. The strength at different parts and corners of the chair is analyzed as free dropped on its front legs by ANSYSTM. In this study, some suggestions are developed for furniture designers and manufacturers

European airports analysis using machine learning algorithms

Bu çalışma, son yıllarda Türkiye’de ve Dünya’da artan havacılık faaliyetleri göz önüne alınarak her geçen gün sayıları katlanarak artan havalimanlarının daha iyi bir şekilde analiz edilmesi ihtiyacından doğmuştur. Türkiye ve Avrupa havalimanları baz alınarak oluşturulan veri seti kullanılarak makine öğrenmesi gözetmeli ve gözetmesiz öğrenme teknikleri ile Microsoft Azure Machine Learning (ML) Studio üzerinde iki farklı uygulama yapılmıştır. İlk olarak gözetmesiz öğrenme uygulamasında K-Ortalamalar algoritması ile benzer havalimanlarını tespit etmek amacıyla kümeleme yapılmıştır. Optimum küme sayısını belirlemek için Azure ML Studio ve Kaggle online platformlarında Python ve R programlama dilleri ile Simplified Silhouette, Davies Bouldin, Dunn, Average Deviation, Elbow grafik metodundan ve R kütüphanesinin barındırdığı NbClust fonksiyonunun sağladığı 30 farklı metrikten yararlanılmıştır. İkinci olarak gözetmeli öğrenme uygulamasında havalimanı taşınan yolcu sayıları tahmini gerçekleştirilmiştir. Burada Lineer Regresyon, Bayesyen Lineer Regresyon, Karar Ormanı Regresyonu, Artırılmış Karar Ağacı Regresyonu ve Poisson Regresyon algoritmalarından faydalanılmıştır. Ortaya çıkan sonuçlar Ortalama Mutlak Hata, Kök Ortalama Kare Hatası, Bağıl Mutlak Hata, Bağıl Kare Hatası ve Belirlilik Katsayısı metrikleri kullanılarak değerlendirilmiştir.This study has been arisen to analyse the airports, with incrementally increasing numbers, in a better way considering the constantly improving aviation operations in the world. Two different applications were implemented on the Azure ML Studio Platform employing supervised and unsupervised machine learning techniques as well as using the dataset based on the airports located in Turkey and Europe. Firstly, in the unsupervised learning application, clustering was performed with the K-Means algorithm to determine similar airports. In order to determine the optimum number of clusters, 30 different metrics provided by NbClust function found in R library, and Simplified Silhouette, Davies Bouldin, Dunn, Average Deviation and Elbow graphics method as well as Python and R programming languages on Azure ML Studio and Kaggle platforms were employed. Secondly, in the supervised learning application, the number of passengers carried at the airports were estimated. Therefore, linear Regression, Bayesian Linear Regression, Decision Forest Regression, Boosted Decision Tree Regression, and Poisson Regression were utilized. The results were evaluated using Mean Absolute Error, Root Mean Squared Error, Relative Absolute Error, Relative Squared Error, and Coefficient of Determination

Normalizing Non-canonical Turkish Texts Using Machine Translation Approaches

With the growth of the social web, user-generated text data has reached unprecedented sizes. Non-canonical text normalization provides a way to exploit this as a practical source of training data for language processing systems. The state of the art in Turkish text normalization is composed of a token level pipeline of modules, heavily dependent on external linguistic resources and manually defined rules. Instead, we propose a fully automated, context-aware machine translation approach with fewer stages of processing. Experiments with various implementations of our approach show that we are able to surpass the current best-performing system by a large margin.Peer reviewe

Analysis of the service quality perceived by the customers, customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in building and facility operations

Küreselleşme ile rekabet ortamı giderek zorlaşmış, günümüzde müşterilerin arzu ve gereksinimleri değişmiştir. Bugün itibariyle yeni müşteri profilinin gereksinimlerinin bilinmesi bu doğrultuda müşteri memnuniyetinin ve sadakatinin sağlanması daha fazla çabayı gerektirmektedir. Ürüne odaklanan hizmet anlayışının yerini artık müşteri odaklı hizmet anlayışı almıştır. Bu noktada da hizmet kalitesi kavramı önem kazanmaktadır. Araştırmada algılanan hizmet kalitesi, müşteri sadakati ve müşteri tatmini algısının demografik faktörlere göre farklılık gösterip göstermediği incelenmiş, bina ve tesis işletmelerinden hizmet alan ve kolayda örnekleme yöntemi ile seçilen 250 müşteriye anket uygulaması yapılmıştır. Araştırma kapsamında veriler SPSS 22 istatistik programı kullanılarak, bağımsız 2 grubun karşılaştırılmasında t-testi, ikiden fazla grubun karşılaştırılmasında ANOVA testi, araştırma değişkenleri arasındaki etkileri tespit etmek için ise Regresyon analizine tabi tutulmuştur. Sonuç olarak değerlendirildiğinde hizmet kalitesi algısı, müşteri sadakati ve müşteri tatmini değişkenlerinin cinsiyet dışında tüm demografik faktörlere göre farklılık gösterdiği, araştırma değişkenleri arasında anlamlı bir etki olduğu sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. Bu kapsamda cinsiyet ile ilgili hipotezler dışındaki tüm hipotezler kabul edilmiştir