The Effect of Increased Coverage on U.S. Medical Expenditures

The purpose of this research paper is to examine the effect of the health reform bill, known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), on total medical expenditures in the United States. Since the PPACA will provide health insurance to an additional 32 million Americans, medical expenditures can be expected to increase since the government will have to insure individuals who presently have no health insurance. This paper will outline the present healthcare system in the United States and explain why there was a growing call for healthcare reform in the country. A regression analysis was performed using data from the 2006 Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), a comprehensive survey of over 34 thousand civilian, non-institutionalized United States respondents designed to measure respondents’ medical history and how they utilized medical treatments and care. The result of the regression analysis estimated that medical expenditures can be expected to increase by 7.44%, or roughly $17 billion, after full implementation of the PPACA in 2019

Influence of different cytokinins used in in vitro culture on the stoma morphology of pistachio (Pistacia vera L. cv. Siirt)

Three different cytokinins (BA, kinetin and TDZ at 1 mg/l) were tested in order to study their effects on pistachio stoma morphology. Additional BA concentrations of 0.25, 0.625 and 2 mg/l were also tested.The stoma morphology of pistachio leaves in vitro was affected by cytokinins. Stomas obtained from 1 mg/l BA medium were similar to those developed in vivo. TDZ, kinetin and other BA concentrations resulted in abnormal stoma development

The Impact of Forests in Climate Change

As parallel to industrialization and increasing population, pressures on natural resources have rised, soil, water and air have been polluted. These problems threaten the human. So, environmental protection or in awider meaning nature conservation became a very important duty for the human in this century. The duty is a special action against eradication of living base for the organisms Forest ecosystems are of course economical natural resources. The ecosystem is a monotonous forest area by compositions, characteristics and relationsihips of the main elements within the forest. In the article, firstly, forest ecosystems and their functions were examined, then, importance of forest as natural resources, their roles for preventing risk of climatically changes, and contribution of forests for sustainable development within Turkiye were studied

Waste Management of Ege University during the COVID-19 period

Ege University manages packaging wastes, hazardous wastes, electronic wastes and organic wastes within the scope of integrated waste management and has been awarded the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization Zero Waste Certificate. For packaging waste, recycled and non-recyclable wastes are collected separately. Recycled wastes are collected in blue boxes and gray boxes are used for non-recyclable wastes. Along with the pandemic period, with the directive of the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, extra gray boxes were added and used to collect waste materials such as masks, gloves, etc. The first COVID case in Turkey started in March 2020 and these studies came into effect in April. In this context, all staff and students are informed and the health of the community and the environment is protected.Keyword: waste management, mask and glove waste management, COVID-1

Biotransformation of ß-estradiol isolated from Sonchus eruca

The biotransformation of ß-estradiol (1,3,5-estratriene-3,17,ß-diols) by Bacillus subtillus resulted in four metabolites which were (1) 3,5-estratriene-3-ol–17–one, (2) 1,3,5-estratriene-3,16,17-triol, (3) 1,3,5,7- estratetra-ene-3-ol-17-one and (4) 1,3,5,6, estratetra-ene-3-ol-17-one. The structures were elucidated on the basis of spectroscopic techniques. Compound 3 showed good inhibitory activity against lipoxygenase enzyme.Key words: Microbial transformation, ß-estradiol (1,3,5-estratriene-3,17,ß-diols), Bacillus subtillus, Aspergillus niger, lipoxygenase

Microwave-assisted synthesis, characterizations, antimicrobial activities, and DFT studies on some pyridine derived Schiff base

This study reports a joint experimental, theoretical and microbiological investigation on the (E)-N,N-dimethyl-4-((pyridine-2-ylmethylene)amino)aniline (5), (E)-N,N-dimethyl-4-((pyridine-4-ylmethylene)amino)aniline (6) and (E)-N,N-dimethyl-4-((pyridine-3-ylmethylene)amino)aniline (7). These compounds were synthesized with microwave method and their structures characterized by FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and elemental analysis tecniques. In the theoretical studies, torsional barriers analysis, ground state structure, Fourier Transform Infrared spectra (FT-IR), and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectra (NMR) of 5, 6, and, 7 were calculated by Density Functional Theory (DFT) computations. The conformers obtained from the torsional barrier scanning were optimized by B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) level. The harmonic vibrational frequencies, potential energy distribution (PED), infrared intensities, and NMR chemical shifts of the most stable conformers were determined using the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p). Theoretically, predicted spectral data were compared with experimental results. Antimicrobial studies of the synthesized compounds were performed against various microbial strains. Antimicrobial activities of 5, 6, and, 7 were tested against selected bacteria and yeast through minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and diffusion method. Compound 7 was found to be the most active against bacteria and yeast, while compound 5 was found to be moderately active. Compounds 6 (against S. aureus and C. albicans) and, 7 were found to have a very high minimum inhibitory concentration, ranging between 1.95 and 7.81 g/mL (against P. aeruginosa and E. coli). Compounds (6 and 7) showed zone of inhibition values in the range of 10–20 mm against other bacteria except L. monocytogenes and S. thyphimurium. © 2022 Elsevier B.V

Outcomes and prognostic factors in parotid gland malignancies: A 10-year single center experience.

Objectives:To describe a 10-year single center experience with parotid gland malignancies and to determine factors affecting outcomes. Study Design:Retrospective review. Methods:The institutional cancer registry was used to identify patients treated surgically for malignancies of the parotid gland between January 2005 and December 2014. Clinical and pathologic data were collected retrospectively from patient charts and analyzed for their association with overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS). Results:Two hundred patients were identified. Mean age at surgery was 57.8 years, and mean follow-up time was 52 months. One hundred two patients underwent total parotidectomy, while 77 underwent superficial parotidectomy, and 21 underwent deep lobe resection. Seventy patients (35%) required facial nerve (FN) sacrifice. Acinic cell carcinoma was the most common histologic type (22%), followed by mucoepidermoid carcinoma (21.5%) and adenoid cystic carcinoma (12.5%). Twenty-nine patients (14.5%) experienced recurrences, with mean time to recurrence of 23.6 months (range: 1-82 months). Five- and 10-year OS were 81% and 73%, respectively. Five- and 10-year DFS were 80% and 73%, respectively. In univariate analyses, age > 60, histologic type, positive margins, high grade, T-stage, node positivity, perineural invasion, and FN involvement were predictors of OS and DFS. In the multivariate analysis, histology, positive margins, node positivity, and FN involvement were independent predictors of OS and DFS. Conclusions:Our single-center experience of 200 patients suggests that histology, positive margins, node positivity, and FN involvement are independently associated with outcomes in parotid malignancies. Level of Evidence:4

Prevalence and detection of cytomegalovirus by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and simple ELISA in pregnant women

A total of 327 women were screened, amongst them, 7 (2.14%) were cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA positive by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Antibodies against toxoplasma were also detected in 106 (32.41%) women, while 54 (16.51%) were anti CMV positive. Eleven (3.36%) and thirteen (3.97%) women were anti HSV and anti Rubella virus positive, respectively. High prevalence was recorded in age group 21 to 30 years which was 2.53% (4/158), followed by the age group <20 years which was 2.27% (1/44), then in age group 31 to 40 years, 2.25% (2/89) CMV DNA were detected by PCR and 0% was recorded in age group of above 40 years. The overall prevalence of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection in 16 to 45 year-old was 2.14% by PCR and the number of abortion noted was 0 to 5 times. Active infection of HCMV was observed in women with number of abortion. Force of infection was significantly higher among age group 21 to 30 and 31 to 40 years. PCR was a more sensitive, reliable and accurate method for the detection of HCMV infection in pregnant women during this study.Key words: Cytomegalovirus, PCR, human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) and ELIS

Accession in Centella asiatica; Current Understanding and Future Knowledge

Centella asiatica is described as a potential cure-all because of its wide usage. The accessions in Centella asiatica make standardisation important before using it. In Malaysia alone, there are more than 15 accessions of Centella asiatica with each having variation in their secondary metabolites. There are several reports from India to Korea, from Madagascar to Malaysia and from Thailand to South Africa about variations in chemical profiling of secondary metabolites and the reasons for these variations in Centella asiatica. Despite all these reports, there has been no attempt to bring all these variations together and discuss them under one heading resulting into scattered information about accession in Centella asiatica. In this review, we discuss the impact of accessions in Centella asiatica and what more need to be done to our knowledge of accession in Centella asiatica

Musculoskeletal sonography in juvenile systemic lupus erythematosus

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