Endo-pectinase Production by Bacillus pumilus NRRL B-212 and Optimization by RSM using Sugar Beet Pulp

The present study aimed at optimization of culture conditions for endo-pectinase production by Bacillus pumilus NRRL B-212. In the first stage of the study, submerged fermentation experiments were performed to investigate effects of initial pH, carbon and nitrogen sources, salts and phosphate on endo-pectinase activity and maximum enzyme production was at pH: 8. The effect of initial pectin concentration on enzyme production was examined, and 1 % (w/v) pectin concentration was selected as the optimum pectin concentration. Yeast extract, (NH4)2SO4, and peptone were used as nitrogen sources, and the medium containing 0.05 % (w/v) ammonium sulphate was the medium where maximum activity was achieved. In the experiments investigating the effect of salts, the maximum activity value was determined in the medium containing 0.02 % NaCl. In addition, the effect of phosphate concentration on enzyme production was investigated, and the highest endo-pectinase activity was determined in medium containing 0.3 % K2HPO4 + 0.15 % KH2PO4. In the second stage of the study, solid-state fermentation studies were performed, and sugar beet pulp was used as agricultural waste. In order to obtain maximum endo-pectinase production and reveal the parameters influencing enzyme activity using sugar beet pulp, a Central Composite Design (CCD) was applied. The highest endo-pectinase activity was obtained as 147.75 U mL–1 in medium containing 6.78 % sugar beet pulp, 0.48 % (NH4)2SO4 and 0.12 % yeast extract. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Transitional Justice and Security Sector Reform: The Role of the EU and other Multilateral Institutions in Building Kosovo's Police Force

Security Sector Reform (SSR) and transitional justice are increasingly viewed as mutually supporting methodologies in post-conflict situations, yet the relationship between them is largely underexplored, even if they share many of the same goals: accountability for past crimes, capacity building to strengthen the rule of law, and deterrence. This article traces and analyzes the inter-institutional division of labor between the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Kosovo, the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), and the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) concerning police reform and transitional justice processes in Kosovo. Transitional justice and SSR are critical in post-conflict settings, particularly when it comes to the reform of judicial systems, intelligence services, police, correctional systems, and the military, and addressing systemic massive human rights abuses committed by individuals representing these institutions. Accordingly, the SSR and transitional justice nexus deserves a special attention from the academic community. International efforts in Kosovo to build a multiethnic police force provide an interesting case study. After briefly summarizing the evolution of cooperation on SSR and transitional justice matters between different international organizations in Kosovo, the paper provides an overview of the literature on transitional justice, SSR and police reform, outlines the role of international organizations in establishing the police service, and discusses the process of recruiting minorities into the force. Following a discussion of some of the obstacles and challenges associated with building and reforming the police, the final section of the paper discusses the linkage between SSR and transitional justice and concludes with a summary of key findings

ANALYSIS OF SHORT TRACK SPEED SKATERS COURAGE LEVELS FROM DIFFERENT VARIABLES

The object of this work is to analyze the courage levels of short track speed skaters from different variables. The study has been carried out on a total of 20 individuals, including 6 women and 14 men, who performed as short track speed skaters in Erzurum province of Turkey in 2017. DBA courage scale developed by (Imamoğlu, 1998) has been applied to skaters in the study9. SPSS 21 package program has been used for the analysis of the data. In the analysis of the data, frequency distribution for the demographic characteristics, T test to examine the relationship between two independent variables and courage level and ANOVA Variance analysis tests have been used to examine the relationship between more than two variables and courage level. The difference between the variables has been interpreted based on p 0.05 relevance level. According to the findings, it is determined that there is a significant difference between the level of courage of the athletes and being a national athlete. It is also determined that there is no significant difference between gender, education level, age, type of school they attended, educational background of mother and father and mother and father’s occupations. It is observed that, courage levels of national athletes are higher than that of non-national athletes. It is proposed that, it is important to determine the variables that will positively influence the level of courage for the athletes to be successful in sports and daily life.  Article visualizations

Research for University Students’ Levels of Dealing with Stress from Different Types of Variables

This research aims to investigate university students’ levels of dealing with stress, from different types of variables. The study was carried out on a total of 500 individuals, including 346 female and 154 male students studying at Atatürk University Kazim Karabekir Faculty of Education in 2016/2017 academic year. In this work, Oral, Çok ve Kutlu (2005) "The Level of dealing with Stress in Educational System" scale was for the students. SPSS 21 package program was used in the analysis of the data. For the analysis of the data, and in determining the demographics, the frequency distribution was used. T test was applied to examine the relationship between two independent variables and stress coping sub-dimensions and Anova Warians analysis tests were used to examine the relationship between two and over variables and stress subscale sub-dimensions. The difference between the variables has been interpreted on the basis of p0.05 significance level. According to the findings, it was found that, there is a significant difference between individuals' stress coping sub-dimensions and gender, book reading habits and spare time activity. There was no significant difference between age, family structure and monthly income variables.It was found out that the scores of female students were higher than the average scores of male students with regard to studying from students' gender and stress coping levels subscales, preparing for an exam and affective, behavioral sub-dimensions. The students who stated that they had the habit of reading books, were found to have high scores in studying, preparing for an exam and the affective behavioral sub-dimensions. It was deduced that the students who spent their leisure time with their family got higher scores from students who spent their spare times with their friends or alone, with regard to studying, preparing for an exam and the affective behavioral sub-dimensions.In order to make students, more effective and successful in educational system, the factors that affect the stress levels should be determined and similar studies are necessary in order to have positive effects for students, which, constitutes the part of the proposal of our study. Keywords: University student, Stress, Dealing with stres

The relationship between visceral adipose tissue and intima-media thickness in patients with kidney disease

Introduction: Increase in visceral adipose tissue (VAT) is associated with cardiovascular risk. However, the relationship between atherosclerosis and VAT has not yet been adequately studied in chronic kidney disease (CKD). The aim of this study was to assess the relationship among VAT, adipokines, and atherosclerosis in patients with CKD.Materials and methods: 45 healthy control, 53 predialysis patients, and 52 hemodialysis patients have been enrolled in the study. Intima media thickness (IMT) of the carotid artery, and VAT measurements were evaluated via ultrasonography.Results: IMT (p:0.002), VAT (p:0.021), adiponectin (plt;0.001) and pentraxin-3 (p:0.003) were higher in predialysis patients than healthy controls. The values of IMT (plt;0.001), VAT (p:0.0014), adiponectin (p:0.005), pentraxin-3 (p: lt;0.001), C reactive protein (CRP) (p:0.009), triglyceride (p: lt;0.001) and parathyroid hormone (PTH) (plt;0.001), were higher in hemodialysis patients than healthy controls. VAT was positively correlated with CRP(r: 0, 23 p: 0.005), IMT (r: 0.347 plt;0.001), body mass index (BMI) (r: 0.33 plt;0.001), and negatively correlated with creatinine clearance (R: -0.245 p: 0.003). VAT is independently related with adiponectin (ß:-0.213 p: 0.008), BMI (ß: 0.369, Plt;0.001), and CRP (ß:0.164, P:0.032) in multiple regression analysis. IMT was positively correlated with VAT (r: 0.347 plt;0.001), CRP (r: 0.186 p: 0.022), age (r: 0.333 plt;0.001), BMI (r: 0.444 plt;0.001) in all participants.Conclusion: These findings show that VAT is a strong risk factor for atherosclerosis in patients with CKD. However IMT was not correlated with adiponectin, pentraxin-3, and leptin in patients with CKD. Also sonographic measurement of VAT could be useful to stratify the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with CKD

The morphological investigations on the heart and some vessels of bovine foetus between the 15th and 25th weeks of gestation

Background: The aim of this study was to define the morphological and morphometric development of the foetus heart obtained from the domestic cattle in the gestation period of 15–25 weeks. Materials and methods: For this purpose, a total of 30 hearts belonging to cattle foetuses (15 males, 15 females) were used. The ages of foetuses were calculated according to the forehead-to-tail length and examined in three different groups. After dissection; biometric, macroanatomic, morphometric and histological findings were obtained from the foetal hearts according to the groups. In addition, mean values of the morphometric findings were determined. Results: As a result of the study, it was found that with the advancing age the convexity of margo ventricularis dexter increased and margo ventricularis sinister transformed from a convex-concave shape to a flat shape. The heart-to-body weight ratio was determined as 0.08% for Group II female foetuses and 0.09% for all other groups. The heart heights for Groups I, II, and III females were identified as 26.21, 41.00, and 46.27 mm, respectively, and for the males 26.45, 34.89, and 47.15 mm, respectively. In the statistical analysis, it was determined that all the morphometric values measured from the heart correlated significantly with the forehead-to-tail length. Conclusions: The data obtained as a result of the study is thought to help understand the morphological and morphometrical development of the heart, pioneer the attempts to create a foetal cattle heart model, and thus help in the diagnosis of the foetal heart pathologies.acieleck

A prenatally detected adrenal cyst treated by adrenal-sparing surgery: case report and review of the literature

A neonatal case of left adrenal cyst detected in utero and successfully treated by adrenal-sparing surgery is presented and discussed with review of the literature. Incidentally discovered prenatal adrenal masses present a diagnostic dilemma. Benign and malignant conditions can present as a fetal suprarenal mass. There is a wide spectrum of management modalities ranging from followup by serial sonographic scanning during pregnancy to early primary excision of the mass. We report a neonate with prenatal diagnosis of a cystic mass arising from the left adrenal gland. Postnatal excision of the mass without adrenalectomy was carried out. Frozen sections of the mass and a biopsy of the left adrenal gland confirmed the benign nature of the cyst and normal adrenal tissue. The uniloculated cyst was reported as a pseudocyst. After surgery, the recovery was uneventful, and the patient was discharged 4 days postoperatively in good condition. On the basis of this case and review of the literature, we may conclude that early primary surgical excision is recommended for either diagnosis or treatment if the results of prenatal or postnatal imaging studies are unreliable for the precise diagnosis of suprarenal mass. Adrenal-sparing surgery is recommended if pathological evaluation of frozen sections has confirmed the benign nature of the mass.Keywords: adrenal-sparing surgery, neonates, prenatal diagnosis, suprarenal cys

A Therapeutic and Diagnostic Dilemma: Granular Cell Tumor of the Breast

Six to eight percent of granular cell tumors are seen in the breast. Although mostly benign, they rarely have malignant features clinically and radiologically reminding of breast cancer. This may lead to a potential misdiagnosis of breast carcinoma and overtreatment of patients. The final diagnosis is made by immunohistochemical examination. We performed excisional biopsy on a patient who was diagnosed to have a breast mass. The histopathological examination of the mass revealed granular cell tumor