Evaluation of apoptosis along with bcl-2 and ki-67 expression in patients with intestinal metaplasia

The primary aim is to compare individuals with intestinal metaplasia (IM), chronic active gastritis (CAG), and normal gastric mucosa (NGM) in terms of apoptosis, proliferation, and Bcl-2 expression. The secondary aim is to determine whether these parameters are different between patients with and without gastric cancer in first-degree relatives. We enrolled 106 patients whose histopathological results were consistent with IM (n: 42), CAG (n: 51), or NGM (n: 13). Antral biopsies were immunohistochemically stained for Bcl-2 and Ki-67 expression. Apoptosis was detected using TUNEL assay. While no significant difference was determined between three groups with regard to apoptosis and Bcl-2 expression (p > 0.05), Ki-67 expression was significantly higher in the IM group when compared with the CAG and NGM groups (29.90 ± 22.87 vs. 18.18 ± 16.22 vs. 18.54 ± 20, respectively; p = 0.012). Helicobacter pylori was determined to increase apoptosis (49.3% vs. 25.7%, p < 0.05), nevertheless, it had no significant effect on proliferation and Bcl-2 expression. Bcl-2 and Ki-67 expression and apoptosis were not different among patients with and without a history of gastric cancer in first degree relatives. Although intestinal metaplasia cases demonstrate an increase in proliferation, no elevation is observed in apoptosis. This can be an important factor in the progression to gastric cancer

Öğrencilerin ortaöğretim kurumu tercihinde okullarla ilgili faktörlerin etkisi

It is studied that to determine the school related factors which affects the students&rsquo; choices of the high school, according to the type of the schools. This is a survey study. The participants are 523&nbsp; 9 th grade students in 21 secondary schools in Adapazarı. SPSS is used for analyzing data. Kay-Kare Test is used to determine the demografic differences due to the type of the school. To analyze the data for the school related factors, Kruskal Wallis is used. As a result, it is expressed that in the choices of the schools, similar factors are important. On the other hand, the most important factors are; the fame of the school due to its succesful education, the easiness of entering the university after completing the school and the teachers of the school, who are talented and famous with their successBu araştırma ile &ouml;ğrencilerin orta &ouml;ğretim kurumu tercihlerinde etkili olan okullarla ilgili fakt&ouml;rler incelenmiştir. Bu ama&ccedil;la Adapazarı&rsquo;nda 21 orta&ouml;ğretim kurumundaki 9. sınıf &ouml;ğrencilerinden 523 kişi ile anket &ccedil;alışması yapılmıştır. Veriler SPSS paket programı ile analiz edilmiştir. Okul t&uuml;r&uuml;ne g&ouml;re demografik farklılıkları belirlemek i&ccedil;in iki değişkenli Kay-Kare testi kullanılmıştır. Okul tercihine etki eden okullara ait fakt&ouml;rlerle ilgili verilerin analizi i&ccedil;in Kruskal Wallis kullanılmıştır. Yapılan &ccedil;alışma sonucunda okul tercihinde t&uuml;m okul t&uuml;rlerine g&ouml;re benzer fakt&ouml;rlerin etkisi olduğu, en etkili fakt&ouml;rlerin okulun &ccedil;evrede iyi eğitim veren başarılı bir okul olarak tanınmış olması, bu okuldan mezun olmanın &uuml;niversiteye girişte sağladığı kolaylık (ek puan, sınavsız ge&ccedil;iş hakkı gibi.) ve okulun &ouml;ğretmen kadrosunun deneyimli ve tanınmış &ouml;ğretmenlerden oluşması olduğu saptanmıştı

Comparison of mean platelet volume values among different causes of pulmonary hypertension

Background: Pulmonary hypertension is caused by a heterogenous group of disorders with diverse pathophysiological mechanisms, with ultimate structural changes in the pulmonary vascular bed. Platelet activation plays an important role in the development of pulmonary arterial hypertension, while it is unknown whether it contributes to pathogenesis in other conditions. We aimed to investigate platelet activation in different causes of pulmonary hypertension by means of mean platelet volume measurement. Methods: A total of 67 patients with different causes of pulmonary hypertension, and 31 controls, were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with pulmonary hypertension were further grouped according to underlying disease, including pulmonary arterial hypertension, pulmonary hypertension due to left ventricular failure, and pulmonary hypertension due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder. All patients and controls&#8217; past medical data, admission echocardiograms and complete blood counts were reviewed. Results: Patients with pulmonary hypertension had higher mean platelet volume levels compared to healthy controls (8.77 &#177; 1.18 vs 7.89 &#177; 0.53; p < 0.001), and statistical significance was still present when pulmonary arterial hypertension patients were not included in the pulmonary hypertension group (8.59 &#177; 1.23 vs 7.89 &#177; 0.53; p < 0.001). Among patients with pulmonary hypertension, the pulmonary arterial hypertension group and the pulmonary hypertension due to left ventricular failure group had higher mean platelet volumes compared to healthy controls. Mean platelet volume did not correlate with pulmonary artery pressure. Conclusions: Our results indicate that mean platelet volume is not only elevated in pulmonary arterial hypertension, but also due to other causes of pulmonary hypertension. (Cardiol J 2012; 19, 2: 180&#8211;187

Online training platform for library professionals: ANKOS Academy

In Turkey, librarianship education is given at academic institutions offering 4 year undergraduate programs. There are no regular professional training program leading to certification for people working in library and information services. Therefore, workers employed in information services in Turkey are complaining about the lack of such professional training programs. Graduate programs leading to advanced academic degrees such as MA and PhD, are not suited for the needs of professionals in their daily activities as those degrees are used for entering the academic life or for supporting the academic background of professionals towards managerial positions. ANKOS Academy group has started its activities in 2015 in order to offer continuous training programs for information services professionals. The programs aim to enable the professionals to advance their abilities for a better positioning in today’s pierce competition environment at national and international level. ANKOS Academy has the following objectives for professionals: - enhancing application oriented skills, - focusing on professional specialization, transforming competencies into action. ANKOS Academy has developed several training programs to suit the needs of today’s changing librarianship environment. Those trainings are decided to be offered online via virtual classrooms. After examination of available platforms, GoToMeeting has been selected as the medium of delivery due to its advantages in terms of performance. “Selection and Management of Electronic Resources” and “Open Access and DSpace” are the two trainings developed by the ANKOS Academy group with support of the instructors of the courses. Those trainings are offered between 17 November 2015 and 8 December 2015 for the first time. For a selected group of participants, two parallel sessions are conducted by four instructors. The training is offered to 21 library professionals from 21 different academic libraries free of charge. This initial offering aimed to be an experiment in order to observe weak points for possible improvements. A survey has been applied to the participants after the training to evaluate the effectiveness of the training programs. In this paper, the phases of planning, development, and delivery of ANKOS Academy trainings will be examined in detail. Achievements of the trainings will be evaluated including the survey data. The results indicate that participants have benefited extensively from the trainings where the details will be explained in the paper. Based on the success of the initial trainings, ANKOS Academy has conducted a survey to determine the potential participants of future trainings. Future plans of ANKOS Academy will also be included in the paper

Comparison of two pandemics: H1N1 and SARS-CoV-2

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to compare the clinical, epidemiological, and prognostic features of the H1N1 pandemic in 2009 and the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic in 2020. METHODS: This retrospective study involved subjects from seven centers that were admitted and found to be positive for H1N1 or COVID-19 real-time polymerase chain reaction test. RESULTS: A total of 143 patients with H1N1 and 309 patients with COVID-19 were involved in the study. H1N1 patients were younger than COVID-19 ones. While 58.7% of H1N1 patients were female, 57.9% of COVID-19 patients were male. Complaints of fever, cough, sputum, sore throat, myalgia, weakness, headache, and shortness of breath in H1N1 patients were statistically higher than in COVID-19 ones. The duration of symptoms until H1N1 patients were admitted to the hospital was shorter than that for COVID-19 patients. Leukopenia was more common in COVID-19 patients. C-reactive protein levels were higher in COVID-19 patients, while lactate dehydrogenase levels were higher in H1N1 ones. The mortality rate was also higher in H1N1 cases. CONCLUSIONS: The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic is a major public health problem that continues to affect the world with its high rate of contagion. In addition, no vaccines or a specific drug for the benefit of millions of people have been found yet. The H1N1 pandemic is an epidemic that affected the whole world about ten years ago and was prevented by the development of vaccines at a short period. Experience in the H1N1 pandemic may be the guide to prevent the COVID-19 pandemic from a worse end

The frequency of Duchenne muscular dystrophy/Becker muscular dystrophy and Pompe disease in children with isolated transaminase elevation: results from the observational VICTORIA study

IntroductionElevated transaminases and/or creatine phosphokinase can indicate underlying muscle disease. Therefore, this study aims to determine the frequency of Duchenne muscular dystrophy/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) in male children and Pompe disease (PD) in male and female children with isolated hypertransaminasemia.MethodsThis multi-center, prospective study enrolled patients aged 3–216 months with serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and/or aspartate transaminase (AST) levels &gt;2× the upper limit of normal (ULN) for ≥3 months. Patients with a known history of liver or muscle disease or physical examination findings suggestive of liver disease were excluded. Patients were screened for creatinine phosphokinase (CPK) levels, and molecular genetic tests for DMD/BMD in male patients and enzyme analysis for PD in male and female patients with elevated CPK levels were performed. Genetic analyses confirmed PD. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of the patients were analyzed.ResultsOverall, 589 patients [66.8% male, mean age of 63.4 months (standard deviation: 60.5)] were included. In total, 251 patients (188 male and 63 female) had CPK levels above the ULN. Of the patients assessed, 47% (85/182) of male patients were diagnosed with DMD/BMD and 1% (3/228) of male and female patients were diagnosed with PD. The median ALT, AST, and CPK levels were statistically significantly higher, and the questioned neurological symptoms and previously unnoticed examination findings were more common in DMD/BMD patients than those without DMD/BMD or PD (p &lt; 0.001).DiscussionQuestioning neurological symptoms, conducting a complete physical examination, and testing for CPK levels in patients with isolated hypertransaminasemia will prevent costly and time-consuming investigations for liver diseases and will lead to the diagnosis of occult neuromuscular diseases. Trial RegistrationClinicaltrials.gov NCT04120168

Hasta sabitlemede kullanılan termoplastik maskelerin megavoltaj radyasyon için yüzey dozuna ve build-up bölgesine etkisi

AMA&Ccedil; Hastalarının sabitlenmesinde kullanılan termoplastik maskelerin Co-60 ve 6MV foton enerjilerinde y&uuml;zey dozuna etkisini incelemektir. GERE&Ccedil; VE Y&Ouml;NTEM &Uuml;&ccedil; adet Aquaplast termoplastik maske kullanıldı. Bu maskelerden bir tanesi standart olarak kullanıldı. Diğer ikisi delik &ccedil;apları standart maskenin delik &ccedil;apının 1.25 ve 2 katı olacak şekilde gerdirildi. Maskeler 1, 2, 3 olarak numaralandırıldı. Dozlar, a&ccedil;ık ve maskeli alanlarda Markus paralel plan (pp) iyon odası, EBT2 film ve MOSFET dozimetrisiyle &ouml;l&ccedil;&uuml;ld&uuml;. BULGULAR Co-60 i&ccedil;in 1 no&#39;lu maske, 10x10 cm2 a&ccedil;ık alan y&uuml;zey dozunu %24.2&#39;den %73.3&#39;e y&uuml;kseltirken 2 no&#39;lu maske %55.6&#39;ya, 3 no&#39;lu maske %40.6&#39;ya y&uuml;kseltmiştir. 6MV i&ccedil;in ise 1, 2 ve 3 numaralı maskeler, 10x10 cm2 a&ccedil;ık alan y&uuml;zey dozunu, %14.4&#39;ten sırasıyla %50.1, %34.7 ve %23.7&#39;ye y&uuml;kseltmektedir. Markus pp ile EBT2 film sonu&ccedil;ları birbiyle uyumludur. MOSFET ise daha y&uuml;ksek y&uuml;zey dozları &ouml;l&ccedil;mektedir. SONU&Ccedil; Maske materyalinin kalınlığı ve delik &ccedil;apı, cilt dozunu anlamlı olarak etkilemektedir. Cilt dozlarındaki artışı azaltmak i&ccedil;in, alan i&ccedil;indeki maske kesilmeli veya gerdirilerek delik &ccedil;apları b&uuml;y&uuml;t&uuml;lmelidir