Sense of place in the changing process of house form: Case studies from Ankara, Turkey

This paper aims to investigate the impact of typomorphological changes of residential environments on residents’ sense of place’. Seven housing developments representing different types introduced in Ankara, Turkey since the late 19th-century are selected as case studies. Their morphological characters at the building, street and neighbourhood scales are examined, and typological transformations among the cases in terms of the degrees of continuity are identified. The paper proposes a conceptual model consisting of ten indicators to assess sense of place at the building, street and neighbourhood scales of the residents of the seven cases. The scores of sense of place are generated through structured interviews with the residents and analysed in SPSS. The results show that sense of place is negatively affected by typomorphological changes over time, particularly when mutational changes occur. Continuity in typomorphological transformation helps to maintain sense of place at a desirable level. Furthermore, physical changes at the street and neighbourhood scales have larger impact on sense of place than that at the building scale. The research thus suggests that planning and design should be responsive to traditional types in residential development, particularly at the street and neighbourhood scales to maintain residents’ sense of place

Search For Heavy Pointlike Dirac Monopoles

We have searched for central production of a pair of photons with high transverse energies in $p\bar p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} = 1.8$ TeV using $70 pb^{-1}$ of data collected with the D\O detector at the Fermilab Tevatron in 1994--1996. If they exist, virtual heavy pointlike Dirac monopoles could rescatter pairs of nearly real photons into this final state via a box diagram. We observe no excess of events above background, and set lower 95% C.L. limits of $610, 870, or 1580 GeV/c^2$ on the mass of a spin 0, 1/2, or 1 Dirac monopole.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

From the periphery to the brain: Lipocalin-2, a friend or foe?

Lipocalin-2 (LCN2) is an acute-phase protein that, by binding to iron-loaded siderophores, acts as a potent bacteriostatic agent in the iron-depletion strategy of the immune system to control pathogens. The recent identification of a mammalian siderophore also suggests a physiological role for LCN2 in iron homeostasis, specifically in iron delivery to cells via a transferrin-independent mechanism. LCN2 participates, as well, in a variety of cellular processes, including cell proliferation, cell differentiation and apoptosis, and has been mostly found up-regulated in various tissues and under inflammatory states, being its expression regulated by several inducers. In the central nervous system less is known about the processes involving LCN2, namely by which cells it is produced/secreted, and its impact on cell proliferation and death, or in neuronal plasticity and behaviour. Importantly, LCN2 recently emerged as a potential clinical biomarker in multiple sclerosis and in ageing-related cognitive decline. Still, there are conflicting views on the role of LCN2 in pathophysiological processes, with some studies pointing to its neurodeleterious effects, while others indicate neuroprotection. Herein, these various perspectives are reviewed and a comprehensive and cohesive view of the general function of LCN2, particularly in the brain, is provided.Ana Catarina Ferreira and Sandro Da Mesquita are recipients of PhD fellowships by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal)/FEDER. Fernanda Marques is an assistant researcher IF/ 00231/2013 of the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal). This work was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) and COMPETE through the project: EXPL/NEUOSD/2196/2013 (to Marques F). The authors thank Nadine Santos for the helpful comments on the manuscript

Mean platelet volume as an inflammation marker in active pulmonary tuberculosis

Background: The mean platelet volume (MPV) reflects the size of platelets. It has been shown to be inversely correlated with level of the inflammation in some chronic inflammatory diseases. This prospective study aims to show the usability of MPV as an inflammation marker in patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) by comparison with healthy controls. In addition, its relationships with other inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein (CRP) and the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) as well as with the radiological extent of disease were examined. Methods: This study included 82 patients with active PTB and 95 healthy subjects (control group). Whole blood counts, CRP level, and ESR were compared between the two groups. In the PTB group, the relationships between the radiological extent of disease and the MPV and other inflammation markers were investigated. Results: The MPV was 7.74 ± 1.33/µL in the PTB group and 8.20 ± 1.13/µL in the control group (p = 0.005). The blood platelet count, CRP level, and ESR were significantly higher in the active PTB group than in the control group (p < 0.0001). In the PTB group, CRP levels (r = 0.26, p = 0.003) and ESR (r = 0.39, p = 0.003), but not MPV (p = 0.80), were significantly correlated with the radiologic extent of the disease. Conclusions: The MPV was lower in patients with PTB than in healthy controls, however, the difference was limited. The MPV does not reflect the severity of the disease. The use of MPV as an inflammation marker and a negative acute-phase reactant in PTB does not seem to be reliable