Landslide susceptibility mapping of Cekmece area (Istanbul, Turkey) by conditional probability

International audienceAs a result of industrialization, throughout the world, the cities have been growing rapidly for the last century. One typical example of these growing cities is Istanbul. Today, the population of Istanbul is over 10 millions. Depending on this rapid urbanization, new suitable areas for settlements and engineering structures are necessary. For this reason, the Cekmece area, west of the Istanbul metropolitan area, is selected as the study area, because the landslides are frequent in this area. The purpose of the present study is to produce landslide susceptibility map of the selected area by conditional probability approach. For this purpose, a landslide database was constructed by both air ? photography and field studies. 19.2% of the selected study area is covered by landslides. Mainly, the landslides described in the area are generally located in the lithologies including the permeable sandstone layers and impermeable layers such as claystone, siltstone and mudstone layers. When considering this finding, it is possible to say that one of the main conditioning factors of the landslides in the study area is lithology. In addition to lithology, many landslide conditioning factors are considered during the landslide susceptibility analyses. As a result of the analyses, the class of 5?10° of slope, the class of 180?225 of aspect, the class of 25?50 of altitude, Danisment formation of the lithological units, the slope units of geomorphology, the class of 800?1000 m of distance from faults (DFF), the class of 75?100 m of distance from drainage (DFD) pattern, the class of 0?10m of distance from roads (DFR) and the class of low or impermeable unit of relative permeability map have the higher probability values than the other classes. When compared with the produced landslide susceptibility map, most of the landslides identified in the study area are found to be located in the most (54%) and moderate (40%) susceptible zones. This assessment is also supported by the performance analysis applied at end of the study. As a consequence, the landslide susceptibility map produced herein has a valuable tool for the planning purposes

Effects of Saccharomyces boulardii on antibiotic induced orocecal transit in rats

Clarithromycin is an antibiotic widely used for Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) eradication and together with amoxicillin and proton pump inhibitors they constitute the first line triple treatment regimen against H. pylori. Diarrhoea is one of the major drawbacks during H. pylori eradication and is majorly attributed to clarithromycin, while Saccharomyces boulardii is a probiotic and is shown to be effective in the treatment of antibiotic associated diarrhoea. We aimed to evaluate the effect of clarithromycin on orocecal transit in rats and to identify whether the supplementation with S. boulardii has a role on orocecal transit index. Adult rats of both sexes were divided into two groups to determine immediate or chronic effects of S. boulardii and clarithromycin on orocecal transit. The first group was given single dose of the test drug, while the second group received the test drugs for one week through orogastric intubation. Both groups were randomly distributed into four subgroups; the placebo group (group A), the S. boulardii group (group B), the clarithromycin group (group C), and the co-administration that is clarithromycin plus S. boulardii group (group D). Rats were given 20 mg kg−1 clarithromycin and 500 mg kg−1S. boulardii. We did not find any difference among the subgroups in group 1, where only single dose of the test drugs was administered. In chronic administration group, that is group 2, significant differences among the subgroups were observed (P=0.004). Post-hoc comparisons of orocecal transit index between group “2A and 2C” and “2C and 2D” were significantly different (P=0.013 and P=0.005, respectively). Our results show that long term clarithromycin administration leads to rapid orocecal transit index and S. boulardii supplementation to clarithromycin can abolish this adverse effect in rats. Those findings suggest the beneficial use of S. boulardii in H. pylori eradication regimens

DOUBLE BLIND CONTROLLED STUDY OF ADDING FOLIC ACID TO FLUOXETINE IN THE TREATMENT OF OCD

Background: Folate is important for the synthesis of serotonin the neurotransmitter which plays a main role in OCD. We, therefore, explored the efficacy of folic acid as add on treatment to fluoxetine in a double blind study among patients with OCD. Subjects and methods: A double blind, 12-week study comparing the efficacy of folic acid as add on treatment and placebo in patients with OCD was conducted on thirty six (36) patients. Patients were randomly assigned to folic acid (5 mg/day) or placebo group in addition to fluoxetine (40 mg/day). After the baseline assessment, on week 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 assessments were performed by using YBOCS, HAM-D, HAM-A and CGI-S. Serum folate, erythrocyte folate, serum homocysteine and B12 levels were measured both baseline and the end of study. Results: A mixed model repeated measures ANCOVA on Y-BOCS scores were used to determine the difference between folic acid and placebo groups. No significant differences were found in the ratios of gender or in the mean age, serum folic acid level, erythrocyte folate level, serum homocysteine level and serum B12 level between the treatment groups at the baseline. Consecutively scores collected over six measurements on YBOCS, HAM-D, HAM-A and CGI showed non-significant differences between folic acid and placebo groups. Conclusion: None of the biological markers of one carbon metabolism were associated with the change in YBOCS scores. It may be assumed that there is no beneficial effect of folic acid addition to fluoxetine in the treatment of OCD

Impaired fasting glucose is associated with increased perioperative cardiovascular event rates in patients undergoing major non-cardiothoracic surgery

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a well-established risk factor for perioperative cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in patients undergoing noncardiac surgery. However, the impact of preoperative glucose levels on perioperative cardiovascular outcomes in patients undergoing nonemergent, major noncardiothoracic surgery is unclear.</p> <p>Methods and Results</p> <p>A total of 680 patients undergoing noncardiothoracic surgery were prospectively evaluated. Patients older than 18 years who underwent an elective, nonday case, open surgical procedure were enrolled. Electrocardiography and cardiac biomarkers were obtained 1 day before surgery, and on days 1, 3 and 7 after surgery. Preoperative risk factors and laboratory test results were measured and evaluated for their association with the occurrence of in-hospital perioperative cardiovascular events. Impaired fasting glucose (IFG) defined as fasting plasma glucose values of 100 to 125 mg/dl; DM was defined as fasting plasma glucose ≥ 126 mg/dl and/or plasma glucose ≥ 200 mg/dl or the current use of blood glucose-lowering medication, and glucose values below 100 mg/dl were considered normal. Plasma glucose levels were significantly higher in patients with perioperative cardiovascular events (n = 80, 11.8%) in comparison to those without cardiovascular events (131 ± 42.5 <it>vs </it>106.5 ± 37.5, p < 0.0001). Multivariate analysis revealed that patients with IFG and DM were at 2.1- and 6.4-fold increased risk of perioperative cardiovascular events, respectively. Every 10 mg/dl increase in preoperative plasma glucose levels was related to a 11% increase for adverse perioperative cardiovascular events.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Not only DM but also IFG is associated with increased perioperative cardiovascular event rates in patients undergoing noncardiothoracic surgery.</p

The Influence of a Single Bout of Wrestling Exercise on Serum Levels of Ischemia-modified Albumin

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of single bouts of exercise on changes in ischemia-modified albumin (IMA). Twenty wrestlers (mean age, 28.8 ± 8.96 years) participated in this study. They performed a typical 1.5-hour wrestling training session. Blood was sampled before and immediately after training. The albumin-cobalt binding test was used to measure IMA levels. Serum albumin concentrations and blood lactate levels were also evaluated. Mean serum IMA levels were 0.281 ± 0.052 ABSU before training and 0.324 ± 0.039 ABSU after training. A single bout of acute exercise led to significant (p < 0.05) increases in IMA. The results of the correlation tests indicated that there was a positive correlation between IMA and lactate levels (r = 0.873; p < 0.001). There were no significant correlations between IMA and albumin (r = −0.058; p = 0.807), and between albumin and lactate levels (r = −0.120; p = 0.613). Our results showed that demanding, intense anaerobic physical activity might influence the generation of IMA

The local clinical validation of a new lithium heparin tube with a barrier: BD Vacutainer® Barricor LH Plasma tube

Introduction: Although serum-providing blood tubes with a barrier are still widely used due to their significant advantages, the use of blood tubes with a barrier to provide plasma is becoming widespread. We compared 22 analytes in a BD Vacutainer® Barricor LH Plasma tube for local clinical validation of this new lithium heparin tube with a barrier. Materials and methods: Samples from 44 volunteers were collected in different tubes (Becton Dickinson and Company): Z tube without additive (reference), clot-activator tube with gel (SST), lithium heparin tube without gel (LiH), and lithium heparin tube with barrier (Barricor). Analyte concentrations in different tubes were compared with the reference tube. All tubes were also evaluated according to additional testing (different centrifugation durations, blood-sampling techniques and individual differences). Results: Aspartate aminotransferase (AST), glucose (Glc), potassium (K), lactate dehydrogenase (LD), sodium (Na), and total protein (TP) had a significant bias in Barricor (9.19%, - 3.24%, - 4.88%, 21.60%, - 0.40%, 5.03%, respectively) relative to the reference tube. There was no statistical difference between different centrifugation durations and individual differences for AST, K and LD in LiH and/or Barricor (P > 0.05). There was a significant bias for LD between LiH and Barricor in terms of blood-sampling techniques (21.2% and 12.4%, respectively). Conclusions: Recently, the use of plasma has become prominent due to some of its advantages. In this study, plasma AST, K, LD, Glc and TP levels in Barricor were clinically different in comparison to serum. The results of additional tests showed that higher levels of LD in Barricor did not result from haemolysis, and they might be related to other factors including number of platelets, cellular fragility, or functional environment

Presence of factors that activate platelet aggregation in mitral stenotic patients' plasma

BACKGROUND: Although the association between mitral stenosis (MS) and increased coagulation activity is well recognized, it is unclear whether enhanced coagulation remains localized in the left atrium or whether this represents a systemic problem. To assess systemic coagulation parameters and changes in platelet aggregation, we measured fibrinogen levels and performed in vitro platelet function tests in plasma obtained from mitral stenotic patients' and from healthy control subjects' peripheral venous blood. METHODS: Sixteen newly diagnosed patients with rheumatic MS (Group P) and 16 healthy subjects (Group N) were enrolled in the study. Platelet-equalized plasma samples were evaluated to determine in vitro platelet function, using adenosine diphosphate (ADP), collagen and epinephrine in an automated aggregometer. In vitro platelet function tests in group N were performed twice, with and without plasma obtained from group P. RESULTS: There were no significant differences between the groups with respect to demographic variables. Peripheral venous fibrinogen levels in Group P were not significantly different from those in Group N. Adenosine diphosphate, epinephrine and collagen-induced platelet aggregation ratios were significantly higher in Group P than in Group N. When plasma obtained from Group P was added to Group N subjects' platelets, ADP and collagen-induced, but not epinephrine-induced, aggregation ratios were significantly increased compared to baseline levels in Group N. CONCLUSION: Platelet aggregation is increased in patients with MS, while fibrinogen levels remain similar to controls. We conclude that mitral stenotic patients exhibit increased systemic coagulation activity and that plasma extracted from these patients may contain some transferable factors that activate platelet aggregation