A Prospective Study of Etiology of Childhood Acute Bacterial Meningitis, Turkey

Vaccines to prevent bacterial meningitis in this region must provide reliable protection against serogroup W-135

Power System Integration of Electric Vehicles: A Review on Impacts and Contributions to the Smart Grid

In recent years, electric vehicles (EVs) have become increasingly popular, bringing about fundamental shifts in transportation to reduce greenhouse effects and accelerate progress toward decarbonization. The role of EVs has also experienced a paradigm shift for future energy networks as an active player in the form of vehicle-to-grid, grid-to-vehicle, and vehicle-to-vehicle technologies. EVs spend a significant part of the day parked and have a remarkable potential to contribute to energy sustainability as backup power units. In this way, EVs can be connected to the grid as stationary power units, providing a range of services to the power grid to increase its reliability and resilience. The available systems show that EVs can be used as alternative energy sources for various network systems like smart grids, microgrids, and virtual power plants besides transportation. While the grid–EV connection offers various contributions, it also has some limitations and effects. In this context, the current study highlights the power system impacts and key contributions of EVs connected to smart grids. Regarding the power system impacts in case of EV integration into smart grids, the challenges and difficulties are categorized under the power system stability, voltage/current distortions, load profile, and power losses. Voltage/current distortions like sags, unbalances, harmonics, and supraharmonics are also detailed in the study. Subsequently, the key contributions to the smart grid in terms of energy management, grid-quality support, grid balancing, and socio-economic impacts are explained. In the energy management part, issues such as power flow, load balancing, and renewable energy integration are elaborated. Then, the fault ride-through capability, reactive power compensation, harmonic mitigation, and grid loss reduction are presented to provide information on power quality enhancement. Lastly, the socio-economic impacts in terms of employment, net billing fees, integration with renewable energy sources, and environmental effects are elucidated in the present study

Analyzing Growth Curves of Turkeys Reared in Different Breeding Systems (Intensive and Free-Range) with some Nonlinear Models

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to identify the growth curve of live weight of turkeys reared in different systems (intensive and free- range) with the best mathematical model. To achieve this goal, the live weight of male and female turkeys (Large White) reared for 0-18 weeks were used. Logistic, Gompertz, Von Bertalanffy, and Gauss were used to determine the best model for the turkeys. In comparison of the models, values of Coefficient of Determination (R2), Mean Squares of Error (MSE) and Model Efficiency (ME) were used. In Von Bertalanffy model, the coefficient of determinations for males and females were found as 0.9974 and 0.99915 in intensive system and 0.9794 and 0.9804 in Free-Range system, respectively. As a result of this study, because the highest R2 and the lowest MSE were observed in Von Bertalanffy model, it was the best among the models to identify growth curve of the turkeys

Anterior Cruciate Ligament Quality Of Life Questionnaire

Objectives: Despite a number of questionnaires in the area of ACL injuries there is a need for cross-cultural adaptation for patients with ACL reconstruction (ACL-R). To test the measurement properties of the Turkish version of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament Quality of Life Questionnaire (ACL-QOL). Methods: One-hundred nineteen patients with ACL-R completed internal consistency, agreement, construct validity, floor and ceiling effect analyses. Eighty out of 119 patients with ACL-R completed the Turkish adapted version of the ACL-QOL questionnaire twice for the test-retest reliability. A subgroup of thirty-nine patients undergoing physiotherapy were also asked to answer the ACL-QOL questionnaire, the Lysholm knee scale (LKS), Knee Outcome Survey – Activities of Daily Living Scale (KOS-ADLS) and the Short Form-36 (SF-36) at preoperative, 16th week and 2 years post-operatively to assess responsiveness. Results: The questionnaire had high internal consistency (Cronbach α=.95). The paired t-test showed no significant difference between the test-retest means. The intraclass correlation was excellent for reliability and agreement in five domains and overall score (ICC: 0.95, 0.95, 0.97, 0.95, 0.96, and 0.95; p<0.001). The standard error of measurement (SEM) and the minumum detectable change (MDC95) were found to be 3.14 points and 8.70 points, respectively. The questionnaire showed a fair correlation (r=0.23) with (LKS) and a poor correlation (r=0.14) with (KOS-ADLS); good and very good construct validity (r=0.51, r=0.62) with SF-36 physical component score and mental component score, respectively. We observed no ceiling and floor effects overall on the ACL-QOL questionnaire except the subdomain of “work-related concerns” (22.9%). The responsiveness demonstrated a dramatic effect size of 2.12 at the 16th week and large effect size of 0.97 at 2 years follow-up. Conclusion: The Turkish version of the ACL-QOL questionnaire is a reproducible and responsive instrument that can be used in clinical studies.PubMe

Turkish version of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament Quality of Life questionnaire

To test the measurement properties of Turkish version of the Anterior Cruciate Ligament Quality of Life (ACL-QOL) questionnaire

Ultrasound-guided adductor canal block using levobupivacaine versus periarticular levobupivacaine infiltration after totalknee arthroplasty: a randomized clinical trial

ABSTRACT BACKGROUND: Both postoperative pain control and range of motion are important in total knee arthroplasty (TKA). However, in the literature, there is little comparison of peripheral nerve blocks and periarticular infiltration techniques using levobupivacaine. The aim of our study was to measure pain with visual analogue scale (VAS) and knee range of motion (ROM) between in patients undergoing adductor canal block (ACB) for TKA using levobupivacaine compared to periarticular levobupivacaine infiltration (PAI-L). DESIGN AND SETTING: Prospective randomized clinical trial in a university hospital. METHODS: Patients aged 40-85 years who underwent unilateral TKA were included; 39 were treated withperiarticular infiltration using 40 ml (0.125 mg) of levobupivacaine (PAI-L group); and 40 were treated with ACB using 20 ml of 0.25% levobupivacaine (ACB-L group). Postoperative pain scores at rest and during active physical therapy were assessed using a VAS, along with knee ROM in flexion and extension. In addition, 100-foot walking time results, total morphine consumption and time of first analgesia requirement were recorded postoperatively. RESULTS: VAS scores at rest and during active physical therapy and the total amount of morphine consumed were lower in the ACB-L group than in the PAI-L group (P < 0.05). In contrast, knee ROM in flexion and extension and 100-foot walking times were greater in the PAI-L group than in the ACB-L group (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: ACB-L was superior to PAI-L regarding pain treatment after TKA; however, PAI-L was superior to ACB-L regarding postoperative ROM and walking ability. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRY: ACTRN-12618000438257

Synthesis and characterization of new thiosemicarbazonato molybdenum(VI) complexes and their in vitro antimicrobial activities

Eight new mixed ligand complexes of dioxomolybdenum(VI) with 2-hydroxy-3-methoxy/3,5-dibromo benzaldehyde 4-phenyl/ethyl-S-methyl/butyl thiosemicarbazones (L) were synthesized. The complexes of general formula [MoO2LD] (D: methanol, pyridine) were characterized by elemental analysis, IR, UV, and H-1-NMR spectroscopy. The structure of 3a was also determined by X-ray single-crystal diffraction. The thiosemicarbazone ligands are coordinated to dioxomolybdenum(VI) center through ONN set and the sixth coordinated site of the molybdenum is occupied by the second ligand (D). The in vitro antimicrobial activities of all thiosemicarbazones and their dioxomolybdenum(VI) complexes were tested against Candida albicans, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus

Detection of primary clarithromycin resistance of Helicobacter pylori and association between cagA(+) status and clinical outcome

WOS: 000314409400007PubMed ID: 22956464Helicobacter pylori was examined in 110 patients (82 (74.5) with gastritis, 18 (16.4) with duodenitis, six (5.5) with duodenal ulcer and gastroesophageal reflux, and four (3.6 %) with normal) with gastrointestinal problems living in rural area, no history of macrolide use, and detected by culture (71.8) or direct detection from gastric biopsies by PCR (82.7 %). Also, cagA gene was identified using PCR and was found positive in 68/91 (74.7 %) strains. The prevalence of clarithromycin-resistant H. pylori was investigated by two methods including PCR-RFLP (7.7 (A2142G 1.1 and A2143G 6.6 %)) and twofold agar dilution (8.9 %) to detect phenotypic and genotypic status simultaneously. Among all the H. pylori positive patients, eight (8.8 %) isolates were found to be resistant to clarithromycin by at least one of the AD and/or PCR-RFLP methods. H. pylori positive rates were significantly correlated with patients' sex, age, and endoscopic findings (p = 0.040, < 0.001 and < 0.001, respectively). There were no differences in gender or endoscopic findings related to cagA (+) and cagA (-) patients. The gene of cagA was not significantly helpful in predicting the clinical outcome of H. pylori infection alone. In conclusion, we revealed that there was a low prevalence of primer clarithromycin resistance in patients living in rural area with no history of macrolide use. The prevalence of mutant strains among the macrolide-resistant H. pylori varies even geographically between close provinces