Analysis of the volatile components of five Turkish Rhododendron species by headspace solid-phase microextraction and GC-MS (HS-SPME-GC-MS)

Volatile constituents of various solvent extracts (n-hexane, CH2Cl2, H2O) of 15 different organs (leaves, flowers, fruits) of five Rhododendron species (Ericaceae) growing in Turkey were trapped with headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) technique and analyzed by GC-MS. A total of 200 compounds were detected and identified from organic extracts, while the water extracts contained only traces of few volatiles. The CH2Cl2 extract of the R. luteum flowers was found to exhibit the most diverse composition: 34 compounds were identified, with benzyl alcohol (16.6%), limonene (14.6%) and p-cymene (8.4%) being the major compounds. The CH2Cl2-solubles of R. x sochadzeae leaves contained only phenyl ethyl alcohol. This study indicated appreciable intra-specific variations in volatile compositions within the genus. Different anatomical parts also showed altered volatile profiles. This is the first application of HS-SPME-GC-MS on the volatiles of Rhododendron species

Prominent response with helical tomotherapy in recurrent ameloblastic carcinoma of maxillary sinus: a case report

INTRODUCTION: Ameloblastoma is a benign but locally aggressive tumor of odontogenic epithelial tissue. Reports of radiotherapy treatment modalities are limited in the literature. CASE PRESENTATION: A thirty-five year old male presented with complaints of headache radiating to his face for about six months and impaired vision. The patient’s Positron Emission Tomography (PET) showed a mass in the left maxillary sinus extending to the nasal cavity and invading the adjacent tissues. An R2 (macroscopic residual tumor) surgical resection performed to debulk the tumor. Due to the recurrence and residual mass, the patient was treated with helical tomotherapy. At 2 months post-radiotherapy, patient’s vision returned to normal. PET scan showed a significant reduction in lesion size 12 months post-radiation. CONCLUSION: In cases of ameloblastic carcinoma with, post-surgical recurrence or patients not suitable for surgical treatment, helical tomotherapy can be an effective treatment option

Rapid chemical analysis and antiprotozoal effect of the solvent extracts and the essential oil of Artemisia indica

Artemisia indica is used as antipyretic in malarial fevers during malaria outbreaks in India [1]. We selected this plant because reports concerning the presence of artemisinin is contradictory, the content of methoxyflavonoids that potentiate the antimalarial efficacy of artemisinin has remained unstudied and the essential oil of the plant from different regions shows great chemical variations. Solvent extracts [petroleum ether, n-hexane, dichloromethane, acetone, MeOH or EtOH (96, 80 or 60% v/v), and hot water] of A. indica leaves originated from the West Bengal region (India) were assessed by HPLC-DAD and HPLC-MS for the content of artemisinin and the characteristic Artemisia methoxyflavonoids, eupatin, casticin, chrysoplenetin, cirsilineol, chrysosphenol-D and artemetin. None of the extracts contained artemisinin or the methoxyflavonoids chrysosphenol-D and artemetin, while all extracts contained chrysoplenetin. Eupatin, casticin and cirsilineol were found in all extracts except for the p. ether, n-hexane and hot water infusion. The acetone and EtOH extracts contained the highest levels of polymethoxyflavonoids (1.15 – 1.17%), whereas the infusion was devoid of them. The essential oil of the plant was obtained by hydrodistillation and analyzed by GC and GC-MS simultaneously. Of the 92 compounds detected in the oil, camphor (13.0%) and caryophyllene oxide (10.87%) were the major components. All solvent extracts and the volatile oil showed in vitro antimalarial activity (1.8 – 20 µg/mL). Except for the infusion, all extracts were also active against other parasitic protozoa (Trypanosoma b. rhodesiense, T. cruzi, Leishmania donovani). This is the first study investigating both artemisinin and polymethoxyflavonoid content and detailed in vitro antiprotozoal potential of A. indica extracts and the essential oil

Locomotor Activity and Anxiety Changes With Acute and Chronic Exposure to Cigarette Smoke in Mice

The aim of this study was to investigate the locomotor activity and anxiety changes in acute and chronic exposure to cigarette smoke in mice. In the chronic exposure group, mice were exposed to the smoke of 10 cigarettes for 5 days a week, over 5 consecutiveweeks. In the acute group, the mice were exposed to the smoke of 10 cigarettes in one day. Locomotor activity tests and plus-maze tests were performed to determine the locomotor activity and anxiety levels of these mice. In the chronic exposure group, comparing with the both acute exposure and the control groups all parameters tested including distance travelled ( p<0.001), velocity of locomotor activity test (p<0.001), percentage of entrance through the open arm (p<0.001), and the duration of staying in the open arm of the plus-maze test (p<0.001) were significantly decreased .It has been concluded that the chronic cigarette smoke exposure resulted in decreased locomotor activity and increased anxiety levels in mice

Antiprotozoal Activity of Turkish Origanum onites Essential Oil and Its Components

Essential oil of Origanum species is well known for antimicrobial activity, but only a few have been evaluated in narrow spectrum antiprotozoal assays. Herein, we assessed the antiprotozoal potential of Turkish Origanum onites L. oil and its major constituents against a panel of parasitic protozoa. The essential oil was obtained by hydrodistillation from the dried herbal parts of O. onites and analyzed by Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID) and Gas Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The in vitro activity of the oil and its major components were evaluated against Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense, T. cruzi, Leishmania donovani, and Plasmodium falciparum. The main component of the oil was identified as carvacrol (70.6%), followed by linalool (9.7%), p-cymene (7%), γ-terpinene (2.1%), and thymol (1.8%). The oil showed significant in vitro activity against T. b. rhodesiense (IC50 180 ng/mL), and moderate antileishmanial and antiplasmodial effects, without toxicity to mammalian cells. Carvacrol, thymol, and 10 additional abundant oil constituents were tested against the same panel; carvacrol and thymol retained the oil's in vitro antiparasitic potency. In the T. b. brucei mouse model, thymol, but not carvacrol, extended the mean survival of animals. This study indicates the potential of the essential oil of O. onites and its constituents in the treatment of protozoal infections

Static malware detection Using Stacked BiLSTM and GPT-2

In recent years, cyber threats and malicious software attacks have been escalated on various platforms. Therefore, it has become essential to develop automated machine learning methods for defending against malware. In the present study, we propose stacked bidirectional long short-term memory (Stacked BiLSTM) and generative pre-trained transformer based (GPT-2) deep learning language models for detecting malicious code. We developed language models using assembly instructions extracted from .text sections of malicious and benign Portable Executable (PE) files. We treated each instruction as a sentence and each .text section as a document. We also labeled each sentence and document as benign or malicious, according to the file source. We created three datasets from those sentences and documents. The first dataset, composed of documents, was fed into a Document Level Analysis Model (DLAM) based on Stacked BiLSTM. The second dataset, composed of sentences, was used in Sentence Level Analysis Models (SLAMs) based on Stacked BiLSTM and DistilBERT, Domain Specific Language Model GPT-2 (DSLM-GPT2), and General Language Model GPT-2 (GLM-GPT2). Lastly, we merged all assembly instructions without labels for creating the third dataset; then we fed a custom pre-trained model with it. We then compared malware detection performances. The results showed that the pre-trained model improved the DSLM-GPT2 and GLM-GPT2 detection performance. The experiments showed that the DLAM, the SLAM based on DistilBERT, the DSLM-GPT2, and the GLM-GPT2 achieved 98.3%, 70.4%, 86.0%, and 76.2% F1 scores, respectively

COMPARISON OF THE EFFECTS OF MAT AND REFORMER PILATES ON MUSCLE SKELETAL SYSTEM COMPLAINTS, BODY COMPOSITION AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN OBESE WOMEN: RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED STUDY

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of mat pilates and reformer pilates training on musculoskeletal complaints, body composition and quality of life in obese women. Methods: A randomized controlled study included 36 obese women aged between 20-45 years with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 kg/m2 and above. Participants were divided into two groups as mat pilates group (n=18) and reformer pilates group (n=18). Pilates training was given to the cases in mat pilates and reformer pilates groups for 60 minutes per day, 3 days per week for 8 weeks. Before and after the training, the extremity and trunk circumference measurements of the cases were evaluated with Gullick strip, BMI with voit smart bluetooth digital scale, musculoskeletal complaints were evaluated with Nordic Musculoskeletal System Questionnaire and quality of life was evaluated with Obese Specific Quality of Life Questionnaire. Results: No significant difference was found between the age, height, weight and pre-pilates training BMIs of both groups (p>0.05). A significant decrease was obtained between the pre-test and post-test weight, BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist/hip ratio, fat ratio, muscle ratio and visceral fat ratio values of the mat pilates group and the reformer pilates group (p0.05). A significant difference was found between the pre-test and post-test values of the reformer pilates group’s musculoskeletal complaints (neck, shoulder, upper back, elbow, hand, hip and knee area) (p0.05). Conclusion: The results of our study showed that both pilates exercises increased body composition and quality of life, while reformer pilates was more effective than mat pilates by reducing musculoskeletal complaints

The effect of 8-week thera-band exercises on male swimmers’ 100 m freestyle swimming performance

The aim of this study is to investigate 8 weeks Thera-Band trainings' effects on male swimmers' 100 m freestyle swimming performance.The study group is created by 20 (n = 20) licenced male athletes that had trained at least 3 days in a week and have been active in swimming sport at least 3 years in Gebze Genclerbirligi Swimming Club 20 (n = 20). Athletes were divided into experiment group (n = 10) and control group (n = 10) randomly. Training programme was applied to the study group for 55-60 minutes for 3 days on alternate days and times when the club does not have swimming training. 12 different Thera-Band trainings were applied for 40-45 mins and each set was 15 minutes.Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze differences between groups and Wilcoxon signed rank test was applied for analyzing the differences of intra-groups. SPSS 21.0 Statistics package software was used for statistical analyzes. The results show that there are no significantly differences between experimental group's and control group's post test results. (p&gt;0.05). Statistically significant differences are found as a result of intra-group comparison of the experimental group's pre-test and post-test results (p&lt;0.05).Depending on the results obtained after reviewing the literature, it can be concluded that Thera-Band training is effective on the performance improvement of swimmers aged 13-15 years

Can Neutrophil-Lymphocyte Ratio and Lymph Node Density Be Used as Prognostic Factors in Patients Undergoing Radical Cystectomy?

Objective. To assessment the role of preoperative neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio and postoperative lymph node density in predicting prognosis in patients undergoing radical cystectomy for bladder cancer. Material and Methods. Preoperatively, neutrophil and lymphocyte counts as well as neutrophil-lymphocyte ratios were recorded in 201 patients who underwent radical cystectomy for bladder cancer. Patients with an infection were excluded. Based on the pathology reports, the number of positive lymph nodes was divided by the total number of lymph nodes to calculate lymph node density. Results. The mean follow-up duration was months in patients without lymph node involvement and months in those with lymph node involvement (). Median lymph node density was 17% (4–80) in patients with lymph node involvement. There was no difference according to lymph node density lower than 17% and greater than 17% . There was no significant difference between patients with an NLR below or above 2.5 in terms of overall survival (). Pathological T stage was associated with survival (). Conclusion. In patients undergoing RC for bladder cancer, lymph node density and preoperative NLR were not found to be independent predictors of prognosis

13-15 YAŞ GRUBU ERKEK YÜZÜCÜLERDE 8 HAFTALIK CORE ANTRENMANININ SIRT ÜSTÜ STİLİ 100 M PERFORMANSINA ETKİSİ

Bu araştırmada, 13-15 yaş grubu erkek yüzücülerde 8 haftalık core antrenmanının sırt üstü yüzme stili 100 m performansına etkisinin araştırılması amaçlanmıştır. Araştırmaya, Gebze Gençlerbirliği Yüzme Kulübünden 24 sporcu yer almıştır. Gruplar deney grubu ve kontrol grubu olmak üzere tesadüfi yöntemle 12’şer kişilik 2 gruba ayrılmıştır. Araştırma süresince Deney grubu haftada 3 gün de yüzme ile birlikte core antrenmanlarına katılmıştır. Kontrol grubu ise araştırma boyunca sadece yüzme antrenmanına katılmıştır. Antrenmanlar 8 hafta boyunca core bölgesine yönelik kuvvet antrenmanı olarak uygulanmıştır. Test ölçüm aracı olarak 100 m yüzme testi kullanılmıştır. Elde edilen verilerin analizi SPSS 21.0 istatistik paket programında Non-parametrik testlerden Wilcoxon Signed Ranks testi ile yapılmıştır. Grup içi ön test ve son test sonuçları karşılaştırıldığında deney grubunda istatistiksel olarak anlamlı farklılık bulunmuşken (p.05). Sonuç olarak,13-15 yaş grubu erkek yüzücülere yaptırılan core antrenmanlarının 100m sırtüstü performanslarına olumlu etkisinin olduğu görülmüştür