The microorganisms responsible for dental plaque formation and the relation of these microorganisms with consumed foods.

Biyofilm yapıları yüzeylere DNA, protein ve polisakkarit içeren bir ekzopolisakkarit tabaka içinde tutunan mikroorganizma kümeleri olarak tanımlanmaktadır. Dental plak diğer bir deyişle biyofilm diş yüzeylerinde pek çok nedenle oluşabilmektedir. Daha çok streptokok türlerinin neden olduğu bu yapılarda farklı pek çok mikroorganizmanın var olduğu çeşitli çalışmalarda gösterilmiştir. Dental plak olarak başlayan yapıların diş çürükleri ve hastalıkları ile ilişkili olduğu da bilinmektedir. Dolayısıyla, ağız ve diş sağlığını korumak açısından biyofilm yapılarını engelleyebilecek önlemlerin alınması gerekmektedir. Tükettiğimiz gıdaların çoğunun plak oluşumuna katkıda bulunduğu, özellikle sakkaroz başta olmak üzere karbonhidratların bakteriyel yapıların gelişimini teşvik ettiği ileri sürülmektedir. Buna karşın, bazı bitki ekstraktlarının biyofilm oluşumunu azaltıcı/engelleyici etkisinin olduğu ileri sürülmektedir. Günlük diyetimizde yer alan bitkisel gıdalar diş sağlığının korunması açısından önem arz etmektedir. Son yıllarda özellikle probiyotik gıda tüketiminin insanların immün sistemi ve bazı hastalıklara karşı korunmasındaki etkisi ise çeşitli araştırmalarla gösterilmiştir. Dental plak oluşumunun önlenmesi bakımından, bu gibi gıdaların tüketimi ile probiyotik mikroorganizmaların biyofilm yapısındaki popülasyonunun arttırılması ve streptokok kaynaklı hastalık etmeni bakterilerin uzaklaştırılmasında olumlu etki oluşturduğu ifade edilmektedir. Sonuç olarak, günlük diyetimizde yer alan gıdaların dental plak oluşumuna olumlu ya da olumsuz yönde katkısı sözkonusudur.Biofilms are determined as the microorganism communities that are adherent into exopolysaccharide containing DNA, protein and polysaccharide. Dental plaque, in other word biofilm, can be formed on tooth surfaces due to many reasons. It is exhibited in various studies that many microorganisms are included in this structure which is formed by mainly streptococci. It is also known that the formation starts with dental plaque may be in the relationship between dental caries and diseases. Therefore, in order to protect oral health some precautions should be taken to prevent biofilm formation. It is asserted that consumed food has contribution on dental plaque formation, the carbohydrates especially saccharose encourage the bacterial growth. Whereas, decreasing/inhibiting effect of some plant extracts on biofilms are put forward. The plant origin foods in our Daily diet are significant to sustain tooth health. In recent years the effect of probiotic food consuming on the immune system of people and protective effect against diseases has been presented in various studies. It is determined that in order to inhibition of dental plaque formation, with the consumption of such foods, increasing the population of probiotic microorganisms in biofilms and removing the pathogenic bacteria like streptococci create a positive impact. As a conclusion, the foods involved in our daily diet have a positive or negative impact on dental plaque formation

Does daily consumed herbal tea have an inhibitory effect on dental plaque formation?

In this study, developmental conditions of some bacteria responsible for the formation of dental plaque on teeth were identified, levels of dental plaque formation were determined, and the antimicrobial effect of some herbal extracts on the biofilm producing bacteria was investigated. For this purpose, 9 dental bacterial strains and Streptococcus mutans ATCC 25175 selected as standard were allowed to create biofilm on dental composite material. In later stages, the bacterial numbers on the restorative material were determined. Then, inhibitory effects of green tea, black tea, linden, sage, ginger and cinnamon extracts, which are often consumed in daily life, on bacteria responsible for dental plaque formation was examined. To the results, almost all of the isolates and S.mutans found to form biofilm in the range of 3.62 to 5.05 log CFU/mm2 on the dental composite resin surface while the highest attachment was determined as 4.71 log CFU/mm2 for S. mutans. Also, all of the herbal extracts showed antimicrobial activity at different levels. Besides, the dental strains were identified as different species of Enterobacter, Halanaerobacter, Klebsiella, Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, Thermoproteus genera. Finally, it was found that cinnamon, ginger and green tea presented the highest inhibitory effect among plant extracts used in the study.Ankara Üniversitesi Biyoteknoloji Enstitüsü Laboratuvar

Gözenekli si ve ge nanoyapılarının ileri teknoloji güneş gözelerine uygulanması

TÜBİTAK MFAG01.04.2014Uluslararası ikili işbirliği projesi olan bu çalışmada amaca uygun olarak gözenekli silisyum ve germanyum nanoyapılar silisyum oksit matris içerisinde büyütülmüş ve optoleektronik aygıt üretiminde kullanılmıştır. Söz konusu yapıları elde edebilmek için silisyum ve germanyum-zengin silisyum oksit ince filmler fiziksel yolla buhar depolama yöntemlerinden yararlanarak üretilmiş ve kristal oluşumunu sağlamak için de yüksek sıcaklık fırını, hızlı termal tavlama ve lazer tavlama yöntemleri gibi farklı teknikler kullanılarak tavlanmıştır. Bu sayede farklı boyutlarda nanokristaller oluşturulmuş ve elde edilen yapıların optik band aralığının değişken olması sağlanmıştır. Böylece bu proje ile güneş spektrumundan daha fazla ve daha verimli yararlanmak amaçlı optik band aralığı ayarlanabilir malzemeler üretmiş bulunmaktayız. Öte yandan ürtetilen filmler, aygıt üretiminde gerekli olan elektrik akım geçişini sağlamk açısından da istenen şartları sağlamıştır. Böylece proejnin en önemli hedefi olan kuantum etkileri koruyarak, iletken tabakaların elde edilmesi hedefine ulaşılmıştır. Daha sonra bu yapılar, heteroeklem türü p-n eklemlei üretilmiş ve bu eklemlerin elektro- optik özellikleri belirlenmiştir. Si nanoyapılı örnekler güneş gözesi özellikleri sergilerken, Ge nanoyapılı örnekler de daha çok fotoalgılama yeteneği öne çıkmıştır. Bu çalışma ile ilk defa üretilen ve umut verici sonuçlar veren bu tür aygıtların daha da geliştirilmesi için yeni çalışmaların yürütülmesi gerekmektedir. Proje önerisi 24 ay gibi nispeten kısa bir sürede çok sayıda iş yapmayı hedefleyen bir proje olarak sunulmuştur. Uluslararası bir organizasonu da içeren zorlu bir programı olanproje hedeflerine büyük ölçüde ulaşmıştır. Çok sayıda deney ve çalışma yürütülmüştür. Bu çalışmaların bir özeti bu sonuç raporunda sunulmuştur.In this international bilateral cooperation project, silicon and germanium nanostructures embedded in silicon oxide matrix have been produced, optimized and used in some optoelectronic devices. In order to obtained these new material types, Si and Ge materials were co-sputtered together with SiO2 on a substrate, and annealed using conventional and rapid thermal annealing systems as well as laser annealing systems. In this way, nanostructures embedded in a dielectric matrix have been obtained. Such nanostructures are expected to yield materials with tunable band gap which depends on this size of the nanoparticles. A device having different band gap is expected to provide a more efficient light harvesting from the solar radiation. On the other hand, when these nanostructure are somehow interconnected, electrical transport becomes more feasible, which is contrary to the case where isolated nanocrystals are used. We have reached this goal through a series of experiments during this project. We have shown that both electrical transport and quantum confinement can be obtained in the same material system. After having optimized the material system, we have applied them to heterojunction type p-n diodes for demenstration. Devices with Si nanostructure have exhibited solar cell properties with weak efficiency, while those with Ge nanostructures have shown photodiode features only. These type of device have been produced for he first time in this project. They have shown some promising features. However, they need to be studied and optimized for an actual appliction. This porject was submitted as an ambitious study to be performed in a relatively short time. In addition to its scientific and tecjhnical program, it also included international oragnization tasks, which sometimes slows down the prject execution In spite of laa these difficulties, and the heavy content, we have achived most of goals through extensive experiments and studies. Below, we present a summary of our project acitivities and the results obtained from these studies

The frequency of Duchenne muscular dystrophy/Becker muscular dystrophy and Pompe disease in children with isolated transaminase elevation: results from the observational VICTORIA study

IntroductionElevated transaminases and/or creatine phosphokinase can indicate underlying muscle disease. Therefore, this study aims to determine the frequency of Duchenne muscular dystrophy/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) in male children and Pompe disease (PD) in male and female children with isolated hypertransaminasemia.MethodsThis multi-center, prospective study enrolled patients aged 3–216 months with serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and/or aspartate transaminase (AST) levels >2× the upper limit of normal (ULN) for ≥3 months. Patients with a known history of liver or muscle disease or physical examination findings suggestive of liver disease were excluded. Patients were screened for creatinine phosphokinase (CPK) levels, and molecular genetic tests for DMD/BMD in male patients and enzyme analysis for PD in male and female patients with elevated CPK levels were performed. Genetic analyses confirmed PD. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of the patients were analyzed.ResultsOverall, 589 patients [66.8% male, mean age of 63.4 months (standard deviation: 60.5)] were included. In total, 251 patients (188 male and 63 female) had CPK levels above the ULN. Of the patients assessed, 47% (85/182) of male patients were diagnosed with DMD/BMD and 1% (3/228) of male and female patients were diagnosed with PD. The median ALT, AST, and CPK levels were statistically significantly higher, and the questioned neurological symptoms and previously unnoticed examination findings were more common in DMD/BMD patients than those without DMD/BMD or PD (p < 0.001).DiscussionQuestioning neurological symptoms, conducting a complete physical examination, and testing for CPK levels in patients with isolated hypertransaminasemia will prevent costly and time-consuming investigations for liver diseases and will lead to the diagnosis of occult neuromuscular diseases. Trial RegistrationClinicaltrials.gov NCT04120168

Gözeneklige nanoyapıların dielektrik matris içerisinde üretimi ve yapısal, optik ve elektriksel analizi: olası üçüncü nesil güneş gözesi uygulamaları.

The primary goal of this thesis is to synthesize porous Ge nanostructures embedded in a dielectric matrix and perform a complete structural, optical and electrical characterization. Ge nanostructures can be a good candidate for use in third-generation solar cells, since they are alternative to Si nanostructures owing to their potentially higher photon conversion efficiencies. So far, most of the research is focused on the use of quantum dot structures in photovoltaic applications; although they provide quantum confinement of excitons, their drawback is the difficulties in electrical connection, which relies on tunneling probability through the dielectric matrix. As an alternative, we propose fabrication of porous Ge nanostructures embedded in a dielectric matrix via magnetron-sputtering technique, which is an interconnected Ge nanocrystal network where the electrical connection does not require any tunneling mechanism. We also suggest a way to preserve the quantum confinement effectby carefully tailoring the Ge content and engineering the structure of dielectric matrix.M.S. - Master of Scienc

Career Obstacles Faced by Female Nurse Academicians in Turkey

Background: Most academicians in the nursing field are women, and they face many difficulties throughout the course of their careers for various reasons

Career Obstacles Faced by Female Nurse Academicians in Turkey

Background: Most academicians in the nursing field are women, and they face many difficulties throughout the course of their careers for various reasons

NEURAL REGENERATIVE NANOMEDICINE

The administration of standardized exosomes secreted from stem cells under specific culture conditions and/or exosomes derived from stem cells designed to carry desired miRNAs, mRNAs, and proteins is promising for the treatment of many neurodegenerative diseases. However various barriers must be overcome before exosomes are applied in the clinic. For this reason, it is necessary to find a suitable method for the purification of exosomes that is scalable, compliant with CGMP guidelines, does not change the biological activity of them, and is effective to provide a homogeneous population of exosomes containing similar miRNAs, proteins, and lipids