Refugee children with beta-thalassemia in Turkey: Overview of demographic, socioeconomic, and medical characteristics

PMID = 3070699

Current practice of autologous hematopoietic progenitor cell mobilization in adult patients with multiple myeloma and lymphoma: The results of a survey from Turkish hematology research and education group (ThREG)

Autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) is an established treatment option for adult patients presenting with multiple myeloma (MM), Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and various subtypes of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in upfront and/or relapsed/refractory disease settings. Although there are recently published consensus guidelines addressing critical issues regarding autologous hematopoietic progenitor cell mobilization (HPCM), mobilization strategies of transplant centers show high variability in terms of routine practice. In order to understand the current institutional policies regarding HPCM in Turkey and to obtain the required basic data for preparation of a national positional statement on this issue, Turkish Hematology Research and Education Group (ThREG) conducted a web-based HPCM survey. The survey was designed to include multiple-choice questions regarding institutional practice of HPCM in adults presenting MM, HL, and NHL. The representatives of 27 adult HCT centers participated to the study. Here we report the results of this survey shedding light on the real-world experience in Turkey in terms of autologous HPCM mobilization strategies in patients presenting with MM and lymphoma. © 2017 Elsevier Lt

Effects of the overstory on the diversity of the herb and shrub layers of Anatolian black pine forests

Understory plants are important components of forests because they are responsible for the majority of the vascular plant diversity of forest ecosystems. The richness and composition of understory communities are closely related to the tree layer diversity, structure and composition. The aim of this study was to examine the understory diversity of Anatolian black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold subsp. pallasiana (Lamb.) Holmboe)-dominated forests on the KazdagA +/- Mountains of West Turkey. To describe the overstory structure and composition in a numerically and quantitatively well-defined manner, cumulative abundance profiles (CAPs) of the tree species were used. The resemblance of the sampling plots was classified into five stand types assessing the CAP through the Fuzzy C-Means clustering method. A permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) was performed to test the variance of the community ecological distance between the five stand types, and the results showed significant differences in these clusters. Many shade-tolerant plants were associated with the mixed stands of Anatolian black pine-KazdagA +/- fir. The composition of the herb and shrub layer could not be explained by the environmental variables but by differences in the overstory structure of the stands. Pure or nearly pure Anatolian Black pine stands were more diverse than mixed oak-Anatolian black pine and KazdagA +/- fir-Anatolian black pine stands. However, although dense and young pure Anatolian black pine stands had the most diverse plant species in the shrub layer, they were ranked third in terms of the herb layer diversity. The Anatolian black pine-KazdagA +/- fir mixed stands had the lowest herb and shrub layer diversity. These results allow us to comprehend the relationship between the overstory structure and composition, and the understory diversity. Understanding this relationship is important for the conservation of understory plant diversity in the management of forest ecosystems