Identifying probability distributions using neural networks

Ankara : The Department of Economics and the Institute of Economics and Social Sciences of Bilkent University, 1995.Thesis(Master's) -- Bilkent University, 1995.Includes bibliographical references leaves 75-77Economics deal with real life phenomena by constructing representative models o f the system being questioned. Input data provide the driving force for such models. The requirement o f identifying the underlying distributions of data sets is encountered in economics on numerous occasions. Most of the time, after the collection o f the raw data, the underlying statistical distribution is sought by the aid o f nonparametric statistical methods. At this step o f the problem, the feasibility of using neural networks for identification o f probability distributions is investigated. Also, for this purpose, a comparison with the traditional goodness o f fit tests is carried out in this study.Yılmaz, AnılM.S

Magnetically Levitated Microrobotic Mixer

Microfluidic systems, when combined with microrobots, offer enhanced precision in chemical synthesis by precisely controlling reaction conditions. These systems, when integrated with analytical tools, allow for real-time monitoring and are cost-efficient due to their minimal volume requirements, thereby reducing risks associated with hazardous chemicals. In our study, we have investigated the mixing efficiency of Thymolphthalein indicator with NaOH solution in a magnetically levitated microrobotic mixer. A PMMA microfluidic chip was used to transfer fluid containing two different solutions and achieve fast and efficient mixing. By adjusting five different flow rates and altering the rotational speeds of the microrobots, the mixing efficiency was observed. The studies were carried out under the laminar regime, with incompressible Newtonian flow rates and varying actuator speeds. The measurement of mixing efficiency was accomplished through the calculation of changes in pixel intensity observed in microscopic images acquired throughout the mixing process. The presence of the microrobots resulted in the best efficiency at 80.37% at 500 rpm and 7 mL/min flow rate. Their potential in advanced reactions, such as nanoparticle synthesis and encapsulation, suggests promising avenues for improving product yields.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

Endovascular treatment of aorto-iliac occlusive disease using the kissing balloon technique: mid-term follow-up

This study aimed to present our mid-term experience in the endovascular treatment of aortoiliac occlusive disease using the kissing balloon technique. Materials and Methods: This two-center, retrospective study included 36 patients (male, n=23; female, n=13; mean age 62.7±9.7 years) with an aortoiliac occlusive disease, who received intervention using the kissing balloon technique between January 2017 and December 2019. Results: Thirty-six patients with aortoiliac occlusive disease underwent percutaneous intervention. The procedure could not be continued in three patients because of technical failure. Hence, 33 patients were successfully treated using the kissing balloon technique. The technical success rate was 91.6% and the one year patency rate was 83.3%. Of the 33 patients, 3 underwent surgery because of stent occlusion. After 1-year follow-up, in all 30 patients, all the vessels and stents were patent and no re-stenosis, no occlusion and no procedure related morbidity and mortality occurred. Conclusion: The endovascular treatment of aortoiliac occlusive diseases with kissing balloon technique demonstrated high success and patency rates in appropriate cases. However, in some patients technical failure may occure and the procedure could not be completed. The use of newer recanalization devices, materials or techniques, enrollment of larger cohort and more than 1 year of follow-up may clarify the long-term results of the kissing balloon technique

Natural diterpenoid alysine A isolated from Teucrium alyssifolium exerts antidiabetic effect via enhanced glucose uptake and suppressed glucose absorption

Teucrium species have been used in folk medicine as antidiabetic, antiinflammatory, antiulcer, and antibacterial agents. We have explored in vitro antidiabetic impacts of 2 natural diterpenoids, alysine A and alysine B, isolated from Teucrium alyssifolium. The lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) cytotoxicity assay, glucose uptake test, glucose utilization (glycogen content) test, glucose transport test, glucose absorption (α-glucosidase activity) test, insulin secretion test, RNA isolation and cDNA synthesis assay, qPCR quantification assays, and statistical analyses were carried out in the present study. Alysine A exerted the following effects at non-cytotoxic doses: • Enhanced the glucose uptake, as much as the insulin in the C2C12, HepG2, and 3T3-L1 cells • Increased the glycogen content in the C2C12 and HepG2 liver cells, significantly higher than the insulin and metformin • Suppressed the alpha-glucosidase and the GLUT2 expression levels in the Caco-2 cells • Suppressed the SGLT1 and GLUT1-5 expression levels in the Caco-2 cells • Induced the insulin receptor substrate (IRS)1 and GLUT2 expression levels of the BTC6 pancreatic cells • Induced the insulin receptor (INSR), IRS2, phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K), GLUT4, and protein kinase (PK) expression levels of the 3T3-L1 and C2C12 cells • Increased glucose transport through the Caco-2 cell layer • Did not influence insulin secretion in the pancreatic BTC6 cells Consequently, these data strongly emphasized the antidiabetic action of alysine A on the particularly critical model mechanisms that assume a part in glucose homeostasis, such as glucose uptake, utilization, and storage. Moreover, the expression level of the essential genes in glucose metabolism and insulin signaling was altered in a way that the results would be antihyperglycemic. A blend of in vitro and in situ tests affirmed the antihyperglycemic action of alysine A and its mechanism. Alysine A has exercised significant and positive results on the glucose homeostasis; thus, it is a natural and pleiotropic antidiabetic agent. Advanced in vivo studies are required to clarify the impact of this compound on glucose homeostasis completelyThis work was supported by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey under TÜBİTAK, under Project No.: 114Z640, and Pamukkale University under Project No.: PAUBAP-2014FBE029

The Prevalence of Exposure to Violence Among Healthcare Professionals in Adana and Their Opinion on Violence in Health

Objective:Workplace violence is an important source of problem for employees worldwide. The present study aimed to identify the prevalence of exposure to violence among healthcare professionals, the type of violence they experienced and influencing occupational features, and to determine the healthcare professionals’ opinion about the causes of violence and the potential measures to be taken against violence in health.Methods:A 37-question survey was performed in 598 medical doctors and 357 healthcare assistants including nurses as well in Adana, Turkey. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) for Windows 25.0 program was used for the statistical analysis of study data.Results:Of the 955 healthcare professionals participated in the study, 48.5% were male and 51.5% were female, and 85.9% have been subjected to violence at least once in their professional lifetime. The most common type of violence was psychological or verbal attack, which stated to be most frequently committed by the patient relatives and by male gender. Male healthcare workers were exposed to statistically significantly more physical violence. There was statistically significant correlation between the number of patients healthcare professionals dealt with in a day and the rate of exposure to violence. It was found that those who had been exposed to physical violence filed a complaint more than those who had been subjected to other forms of violence.Conclusion:High rates of violent behavior against healthcare workers are at worrying levels indicating that violence in health is a critical problem. Solution of this problem requires all parties’, primarily the health policy makers’ undertaking important tasks

The Significance of Opportunistic Parasitosis and Blastocystosis in Patients with Gastric Cancer: a Study with Control Group

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of opportunistic parasites and Blastocystis spp. in patients with gastric cancer (CA) and to determine the significance of these parasite. Methods: The patient group and the control group were composed of 100 people each. The stool samples were examined under the microscope for intestinal parasites with the native-Lugol method. Then, samples were multiplied by formol-ethyl acetate method and stained with modified acid-fast method. Results: Intestinal parasite positivity was indicated in 14% of the gastric CA, and 2% of the healthy individuals (p=0.001). Blastocystis spp. (p=0.009) was identified in 11%, Cryptosporidium spp. was identified in 4%, G. intestinalis was identified in 2%, and C. cayetanensis was identified in 1% of the patient group. There were significant differences between the intestinal parasite positivity (p=0.012), abundant Blastocystis spp. positivity (p=0.041) and all Blastocystis spp. positivity (p=0.037) in patient and control groups. Most of the patients who were positive for parasites had diarrhea. Conclusion: Based findings, it was concluded that it would be beneficial to evaluate gastric CA patients, especially those with diarrhea, for intestinal parasites

Quantitative assessment of left atrial functions by speckle tracking echocardiography in hypertensive patients with and without retinopathy

Purpose:The association between hypertensive retinopathy and left atrial(LA) impairment is unknown. Accordingly, it was aimed to investigate the possiblerelationship between hypertensive retinopathy and LA phasic functions by means oftwo-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (2D-STE).Methods:A total of 124 hypertensive patients and 27 control subjects were includedin the study. LA reservoir strain (LAS-S), LA conduit strain (LAS-E), and LA boosterstrain (LAS-A) parameters were used to evaluate LA myocardial functions.Results:Hypertensive patients (with and without retinopathy) displayed an obviousreduction in the LA reservoir strain (LAS-S),and LA conduit strain (LAS-E). Moreover,further impairment in LA reservoir and conduit strain was found in patients withhypertensive retinopathy than in the isolated hypertensive patients. There were nosignificant differences in LA booster strain (LAS-A) among the three groups. ImpairedLAS-S(OR: 0.764, CI: 0.657–0.888, andp< 0.001), LAS-E(OR: 0.754, CI: 0.634–0.897,andp=0.001), and hypertension (HT) duration (OR: 2.345, CI: 1.568–3.507, andp< 0.001) were shown to be independent predictors of hypertensive retinopathy.Conclusion:Impaired LA reservoir and conduit strain may be used to predict hyper-tensive patients at higher risk of developing hypertensive retinopathy, and to deter-mine which patients should be followed more closely for hypertensive retinopath

Comparison of inflammatory biomarkers for detection of coronary stenosis in patients with stable coronary artery disease

Erdogan, Turan/0000-0003-2986-5457; Cetin, Mustafa/0000-0001-6342-436X; yilmaz, adnan/0000-0003-4842-1173WOS: 000319223400015PubMed: 23329531BACKGROUND: the objective of the current study was to evaluate the role of various inflammatory biomarkers in detection of coronary stenosis in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) and healthy people. METHODS: A total of 111 patients with stable coronary artery disease, and 66 healthy subjects were enrolled in the study. Serum levels of lipoprotein-associated-phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA(2)), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and myeloperoxidase (MPO) were measured to compare patient and control groups. RESULTS: Baseline characteristics were similar between healthy and patient groups, with the exception of age. ANCOVA and log-transformed data of inflammatory biomarkers revealed that, Lp-PLA(2) (p < 0,001) and hs-CRP (p < 0,05) levels in all patient groups were significantly higher than in the control group. Conversely, there was no significant difference in MPO levels among groups. CONCLUSIONS: in stable CAD patients, serum Lp-PLA(2) levels are more compatible than hsCRP and MPO levels in the detection of coronary stenosis.PfizerPfizer; ServierServier; Astra ZenecaAstraZenecaThis study was supported by the drug companies Pfizer, Servier and Astra Zeneca. the Authors thank all of the companies that helped during this investigation

Does Providing Clinical Care for Trauma Patients have a Positive Effect on Physicians’ Perspective on Child Passenger Safety?

Introduction: Motor vehicle crashes are the most common cause of the mortality in the pediatric population. Preventive strategies are the best approach to reduce mortality and morbidity due to motor vehicle crashes. Since parents mostly refer to them for guidance, doctors should have a high level of knowledge and awareness to increase the usage of car safety seats. We thought that providing care for trauma patients could have a positive effect on the physicians’ awareness and knowledge level. Based on this, we aimed to assess the awareness and knowledge of pediatricians and emergency physicians and trauma doctors. Methods: An electronic survey consisting of 23 questions was prepared. Demographic features, awareness and knowledge level of the physicians were assessed on three sections. Five suggestions in the guideline of the American Academy of Pediatrics were used to assess physicians’ knowledge level. The respondents were grouped as those providing clinical care for trauma patients and those do not. Results: The questionnaires were sent to 641 physicians and 323 who completed the questionnaire were included in the study. One hundred and fourteen (35.3%) of the respondents were providing clinical care for trauma patients. One hundred ninety (59.2%) respondents had children. Majority of the physicians had a satisfactory level of knowledge about car safety seat (CSS). The number of respondents reported having adequate self-awareness was found statistically significantly higher in the groups of doctors who have children and provide clinical care for trauma patients (p0.05). Interestingly, the knowledge level in physicians who had children was statistically significantly lower than in those with no children (p<0.01). Conclusion: Our survey revealed that physicians who provide clinical care for trauma patients think they have a high level of knowledge about CSS. Unfortunately, their knowledge level was low as other physicians in the study group

Recent Advances in Health Biotechnology During Pandemic

The outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), which emerged in 2019, cut the epoch that will make profound fluctuates in the history of the world in social, economic, and scientific fields. Urgent needs in public health have brought with them innovative approaches, including diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. To exceed the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, various scientific authorities in the world have procreated advances in real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) based diagnostic tests, rapid diagnostic kits, the development of vaccines for immunization, and the purposing pharmaceuticals for treatment. Diagnosis, treatment, and immunization approaches put for- ward by scientific communities are cross-fed from the accrued knowledge of multidisciplinary sciences in health biotechnology. So much so that the pandemic, urgently prioritized in the world, is not only viral infections but also has been the pulsion in the development of novel approaches in many fields such as diagnosis, treatment, translational medicine, virology, mi- crobiology, immunology, functional nano- and bio-materials, bioinformatics, molecular biol- ogy, genetics, tissue engineering, biomedical devices, and artificial intelligence technologies. In this review, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the development of various scientific areas of health biotechnology are discussed