Sivas İlindeki Okul Öncesi Yaş Grubu Çocukların Diş Sağlığı Durumlarının Değerlendirilmesi

Amaç: Çalışmanın amacı, Sivas bölgesindeki okul öncesi yaş grubundaki çocuklarda df(t) ve df(s) skorlarının saptanarak, diş çürüğünün yaşa ve cinsiyete göre dağılımının değerlendirilmesidir. Gereç ve Yöntem: Çalışmaya okul öncesi (3-6) döneminden üç, dört, beş ve altı yaş olmak üzere 4 grup oluşturacak şekilde toplam 1244 çocuk dahil edilmiştir. Çocuklar okul ortamında, doğal ışık altında ayna ve sond kullanılarak Dünya Sağlık Örgütü’nün (WHO) kriterleri doğrultusunda muayene edilmişlerdir. Bulgular formlara kaydedilmiştir. Bulgular: Çalışmanın sonuçlarına göre df(t) indeks değerleri 3 yaş grubunda 1,63, 4 yaş grubunda 2,72, 5 yaş grubunda 3,04, 6 yaş grubunda 3,64 olarak hesaplanmıştır. Yaşlara göre df(t) değerleri karşılaştırıldığında farklılık önemli bulunmuştur (p<0,05). Sonuç: Çürük prevelansı yaş ile birlikte istatistiksel olarak anlamlı oranda artmaktadır. Çalışmada edinilen sonuçlar Dünya Sağlık Örgütü tarafından belirlenen hedeflerin henüz gerisindedir. Bu durum dikkate alınarak, ağız-diş hastalıklarını önlemeye yönelik olarak “Koruyucu Diş Hekimliği Hizmetleri”nin yaygınlaştırılması gerekmektedir

Protein engineering approaches for antibody fragments: directed evolution and rational design approaches

The number of therapeutic antibodies in preclinical, clinical, or approved phases has been increasing exponentially, mostly due to their known successes. Development of antibody engineering methods has substantially hastened the development of therapeutic antibodies. A variety of protein engineering techniques can be applied to antibodies to improve their affinity and/or biophysical properties such as solubility and stability. Antibody fragments (where all or some parts of constant regions are eliminated while the essential antigen binding region is preserved) are more suitable for protein engineering techniques because there are many in vitro screening technologies available for antibody fragments but not full-length antibodies. Improvement of biophysical characteristics is important in the early development phase because most antibodies fail at the later stage of development and this leads to loss of resources and time. Here, we review directed evolution and rational design methods to improve antibody properties. Recent developments in rational design approaches and antibody display technologies, and especially phage display, which was recently awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize, are discussed to be used in antibody research and development

Conformational changes in a Vernier zone region: Implications for antibody dual specificity

Understanding the determinants of antibody specificity is one of the challenging tasks in antibody development. Monospecific antibodies are still dominant in approved antibody therapeutics but there is a significant body of work to show that multispecific antibodies can increase the overall therapeutic effect. Dual-specific or "Two-in-One" antibodies can bind to two different antigens separately with the same antigen-binding site as opposed to bispecifics, which simultaneously bind to two different antigens through separate antigen-binding units. These nonstandard dual-specific antibodies were recently shown to be promising for new antibody-based therapeutics. Here, we physicochemically and structurally analyzed six different antibodies of which two are monospecific and four are dual-specific antibodies derived from monospecific templates to gain insight about dual-specificity determinants. These dual-specific antibodies can target both human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 and vascular endothelial growth factor at different binding affinities. We showed that a particular region of clustered Vernier zone residues might play key roles in gaining dual specificity. While there are minimal intramolecular interactions between a certain Vernier zone region, namely LV4 and LCDR1 of monospecific template, there is a significant structural change and consequently close contact formation between LV4-LCDR1 loops of derived dual-specific antibodies. Although Vernier zone residues were previously shown to be important for humanization applications, they are mostly underestimated in the literature. Here, we also aim to resurrect Vernier zone residues for antibody engineering efforts

Assessing population status and conservation of endangered Marmaris salamander, Lycisalamandra flavimembris (Mutz and Steinfartz, 1995), in Southwestern Turkey

International audienceThe Marmaris salamander is an endemic and endangered amphibian species in Southwestern Anatolia. Here, we estimated some population parameters of Marmaris salamander by conducting 40-day intensive fieldworks in between 2017-2019. We marked 323 salamanders and recaptured 46 of them. The population consists of % 36 in juveniles % 28; in males; and % 36 in females and female-biased sex ratio (m: f= 0.77) was observed. Population size was calculated between 73 and 295 individuals. The capture probability ranged from 0.15 to 0.54 and the survival rate ranged from 0.53 to 0.86 among the populations. The potential distribution area could narrow between 9% and 62% in the next 30-50 years. The most important threats are land convention, climate change, and forest fires. If no action is taken, it could relatively restrict the narrow area and some populations might go extinct

Factors Affecting Death Anxiety in Patients Undergoing Open Heart Surgery: A Cross-Sectional Study

After the operation, death anxiety of patients is affected by many factors. This study aims to investigate the factors affecting death anxiety of patients undergoing open heart surgery. A descriptive, cross-sectional study. Data were collected using the ‘Introductory Information Form,’ the 'Templer’s Death Anxiety Scale,’ and the ‘Spiritual Well-being Scale.’ This study was conducted with 313 intensive care patients. The mean scores of the patients on the “Death Anxiety Scale” were moderate (7.96 (4.28)). According to the study findings, age, gender, length of stay in the intensive care unit, and spiritual well-being were found to be important predictors of death anxiety (F (4,308) = 16.149, p <.001). Considering gender differences in nursing care, it is thought that the intensive care period will be shortened, the level of spiritual well-being will increase and death anxiety will decrease