Epicardial adipose tissue and pericoronary fat thickness measured with 64-multidetector computed tomography: potential predictors of the severity of coronary artery disease

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between pericoronary fat and the severity and extent of atherosclerosis, quantified using 64-multidetector computed tomography, in patients with suspected coronary artery disease. METHODS: The study population consisted of 131 patients who were clinically referred for noninvasive multislice computed tomography coronary angiography for the evaluation of coronary artery disease. Patients were classified as follows: no atherosclerosis, Group 1; nonobstructive atherosclerosis (luminal narrowin

Evaluation of EGFR, KRAS and BRAF gene mutations in renal cell carcinoma

A subset of renal cell carcinoma (RCC) patients has been shown to respond to anti-EGFR therapy. As KRAS and BRAF mutations are associated with poor response to anti-EGFR therapy in some cancers, it has been suggested that screening for KRAS and BRAF mutations in RCC may be a promising strategy to identify patients who might respond to EGFR-targeted therapy. The aim of this study was to investigate the mutation status of EGFR, KRAS and BRAF in RCC patients. Renal tumors and normal renal samples from forty-eight patients who underwent radical or partial nephrectomy for kidney cancer were used in this study. Histological classification of the tumors was performed according to International Union against Cancer (UICC) / American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) classification. Seventeen patients (48%) had clear-cell RCC, 7 (20%) had chromophobe RCC, and 11 patients (32%) had papillary RCC. DNA isolated from the samples was subjected to melting curve mutation analysis for EGFR, BRAF and KRAS using ABI-3130 DNA sequencer. DNA sequencing analysis of RCC samples, when compared with morphologically normal matched regions, did not show any exon mutations. Our results do not support the notion that EGFR, KRAS and BRAF might be mutated in RCC

Twelve-year trends in the prevalence and risk factors of diabetes and prediabetes in Turkish adults

There is concern about an emerging diabetes epidemic in Turkey. We aimed to determine the prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes, prediabetes and their 12-year trends and to identify risk factors for diabetes in the adult Turkish population. A cross-sectional, population-based survey, ‘TURDEP-II’ included 26,499 randomly sampled adults aged ≥ 20 years (response rate: 87 %). Fasting glucose and biochemical parameters were measured in all; then a OGTT was performed to identify diabetes and prediabetes in eligible participants. The prevalence of diabetes was 16.5 % (new 7.5 %), translating to 6.5 million adults with diabetes in Turkey. It was higher in women than men (p = 0.008). The age-standardized prevalence to the TURDEP-I population (performed in 1997–98) was 13.7 % (if same diagnostic definition was applied diabetes prevalence is calculated 11.4 %). The prevalence of isolated-IFG and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), and combined prediabetes was 14.7, 7.9, and 8.2 %, respectively; and that of obesity 36 % and hypertension 31.4 %. Compared to TURDEP-I; the rate of increase for diabetes: 90 %, IGT: 106 %, obesity: 40 % and central obesity: 35 %, but hypertension decreased by 11 % during the last 12 years. In women age, waist, body mass index (BMI), hypertension, low education, and living environment; in men age, BMI, and hypertension were independently associated with an increased prevalence of diabetes. In women current smoking, and in men being single were associated with a reduced risk. These results from one of the largest nationally representative surveys carried out so far show that diabetes has rapidly become a major public health challenge in Turkey. The figures are alarming and underscore the urgent need for national programs to prevent diabetes, to manage the illness and thus prevent complications. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10654-013-9771-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

University Students Grit Level And Grit Achievement Relation

Grit is explaining in Dictionary of the Turkish language Association as determination and desire to have identified the level of long-term goals. Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews, and Kelly (2007) are definiting it as, perseverance and passion for Long-Term Goals. In addition to stating that grit is an important factor in measuring the intelligence and the success. At the same time they have stressed that the grit is much more important predictors of success. Even Duckworth and Quinn (2009) argued that grit is more effective than intelligence scores for explainig the success. There are some studies that they are advocating grit is closely associated with self-discipline, self-regulation and goal orientation, and grit is the main factor for exlaining that concpts(Duckworth & Quinn, 2009; Peterson & Seligman, 2004). In this study, university student success and their grit's are analysed. Therefore, determining the relationship between success and grit is used for descriptive screening model. This study was conducted with 451 students in Education Faculty at Necmettin Erbakan University in 2015-2016 academic year spring semester. In order to data collecting "Grit-S scale", developed by Duckworth and Quinn (2009) and adapted to Turkish by Sarıcam and others (2015), was used. Datum were analysed by SPSS 16 soft ware and frequency, mean, standard deviation and regresion test were used as statistical techniques. The achievement scores of students have found a significant correlation between the grit scores

Determine Teacher Candidate Students' Views on Peer Assessment

The aim of this study is to expose the effect of peer assessment on teacher education and determine students' views about this practice. In the scope of this study three dimensions are discusse

Evaluation of Cell Counting in Body Fluids: Comparison of Two Automated Hematology Analyzers with Manual Microscopy

Background: Manual microscopic analysis (MMA) of body fluids has been widely replaced by automated systems. The aim of this study was to assess the performances of the Sysmex XN-1000 (XN-1000) and UniCel DxH800 (DxH800) for body fluid analysis and compare their results with MMA and with each other

Performance of automated urine analyzers using flow cytometric and digital image-based technology in routine urinalysis

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the analytical performances of Sysmex UF-5000 and Dirui FUS-200 and to compare the results with manual microscopy and between each other. Two hundred fifty urine samples were analyzed for evaluation. Mid-stream specimens were studied sequentially using Dirui FUS-200 and Sysmex UF-5000, and also with manual microscopy within one hour. The physical and chemical components of urinalysis, and sediment results were investigated. The precision results of the FUS-200 and UF-5000 for WBCs, RBCs, and ECs were acceptable. The both analyzers demonstrated good linearity (r > 0.97), with no carry-over. The comparisons of FUS-200 and UF-5000 with manual microscopy for RBCs, WBCs, and ECs on 250 samples exhibited good agreement with little bias (R > 0.780). Only, the moderate agreements were obtained for calcium oxalate for both analyzers (R = 0.512, and 0.648, respectively). The sensitivities of the FUS-200 and UF-5000 were 75.8% and 86.8%, with specificities of 92.3% and 87.8% for WBCs, for RBCs the sensitivities were 91.1%, and 84.4% with specificities of 82.2%, and 89.6% for both analyzers. Kappa values of the UF-5000 were higher than FUS-200 for WBCs, RBCs, ECs, and calcium oxalate. The FUS-200 and UF-5000 urine analyzers, are both accurate, very precise systems and can be safely used in clinical laboratories. However, due to the technological characteristics of the UF-5000 analyzer, its positive impacts on the morphologic recognition and enumeration of RBCs and WBCs should be taken into account, particularly in university hospital laboratories with high patient volumes

Detection of DNA single-strand breaks and glutathione in mononuclear blood cells of radiotherapy technicians

We wanted to investigate the effects of gamma radiation on DNA single-strand breaks (SSB) and glutathione (GSH) levels in mononuclear blood cells (MNC) of radiotherapy technicians. DNA SSB in MNC of radiotherapy technicians who use Co-60-gamma source in their works were detected by alkaline filter elution and compared to control subjects. In addition, GSH levels were measured using the enzymatic method in MNC. Blood samples were collected from radiotherapy technicians on Monday and Friday. DNA SSB levels were found to be significantly higher in smoking controls compared to non-smoking controls. Significant increases of 36% and 49% in DNA SSB were detected from Monday to Friday for non-smoking and smoking radiotherapy technicians, respectively. GSH levels were found to be decreased significantly from Monday to Friday. gamma-Radiation resulted in increased DNA SSB levels of MNC in radiotherapy technicians throughout the working week and these breaks have been observed to be repaired at the weekend. Smoking habit caused an additional increase in the SSBs observed in radiotherapy technicians

Genetic polymorphism of microsomal epoxide hydrolase in the Turkish bladder carcinoma patients

Microsomal epoxide hydrolase (mEH) is involved in the metabolism of highly reactive epoxide intermediates. The frequency of the genetic polymorphims is expected to vary among different ethnic and racial groups. The aim of this study is to investigate the genotype frequencies of mEH in Turkish bladder carcinoma patients (n:140) and healthy subjects (n: 114). According to data; genotype distribution in healthy controls and in bladder cancer patients detected by Tth111I digestion was found to be as follows: YY 66.7%, HH 11.4%; HY 21.9%; and YY 54.3%, HY 45.7%; HH not detected respectively. Our study provides aframe work for future studies concerning the role of geno-environmental interaction in the genesis of disease and in particular the role of mEH as a susceptibility for cancer