The Fourth Horseman of 21St Century: Covid-19 Pandemic

DergiPark: 819259tmsjAs the end of 2020 is approaching, its finest message to all of us has been how a pernicious virus like Sars-CoV-2 can change the pace of the world, by being an impetus to a global pandemic. COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by WHO on March 11, 2020. Since then, it has infected more than 40 million and killed at least 1.1 million people as this review was written (October 2020). However, the 2020's come not only with challenges, such as the pandemic itself, but also with opportunities for possible breakthroughs. Throughout human history, physicians examined their patients by touching them, arranged appropriate treat- ments by diagnosing them applying both usual and unusual methods, and tried their best to protect public health, in some cases even by testing the drugs and vaccines they discovered on themselves first. Bedside medicine to hospital medicine, followed by laboratory medicine, are the three crucial cornerstones accepted in the medical history. We now face a fourth potential corner- stone-to-be: could the telecommunication of physicians with their patients through the internet become the fourth essential cornerstone in the history of medicine

Advances in Plasmonic Technologies for Point of Care Applications

Demand for accessible and affordable healthcare for infectious and chronic diseases present significant challenges for providing high-value and effective healthcare. Traditional approaches are expanding to include point-of-care (POC) diagnostics, bedside testing, and community-based approaches to respond to these challenges. Innovative solutions utilizing recent advances in mobile technologies, nanotechnology, imaging systems, and microfluidic technologies are envisioned to assist this transformation.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (RO1 AI093282)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (RO1 AI081534)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (U54EB15408)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (R21 AI087107

How Are Entrepreneurial Intentions Affected by Emotional Intelligence and Creativity?

Entrepreneurship is important for developed countries to sustain their welfare levels and for developing countries to increase their level of welfare. Many entrepreneurs contribute significantly to the national economy of their countries. The purpose of our research is to determine how graduate students' entrepreneurial intentions are related to emotional intelligence and what role creativity plays in this process. This quantitative research study was conducted with graduate students at a private university in the southwest region of the USA. The data were collected from 399 participants via an online survey and analyzed by completing a Structural Equation Modelling. The results showed that entrepreneurial intentions are affected directly and positively by problem-solving skills, emotional self-awareness, and impulse control. Additionally, we found that problem-solving skills affect creativity directly and positively while creativity does not have a direct effect on entrepreneurial intentions

The association of MMP-13 rs2252070 with non-small cell lung cancer in the Turkish population

Aim: To evaluate the role of MMP-13 rs2252070 in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in the Turkish population. Method: A total of 95 NSCLC patients and 94 healthy controls were included in this study. The MMP-13 rs2252070 variant was genotyped by the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. The results of the analyses were evaluated for statistical significance. Results: There was no G/G homozygous genotype in the patient or control groups. The prevalence of genotypes of A/A and A/G profiles for the MMP-13 rs2252070 variant was 34.7% and 65.3%, respectively, in patients and 46.8% and 53.2%, respectively, in the control group. No significant difference was found between the patient and control groups in terms of MMP-13 rs2252070 genotype distribution and allele frequency (p= 0.091, OR: 0.605, CI 95%:0.337-1.086; p: 0.199, OR: 1.337, CI 95%: 0.858-2.083, respectively). Conclusions: Our results in this study showed no association between MMP-13 rs2252070 and NSCLC. To fully comprehend the mechanisms underlying NSCLC development, more research is required

Privacy Preserving Secure Online Advertising

AbstractOnline advertisement has generated 48.09 billion dollars in 2013 (IAB, 2014) in US sponsoring most of the free services and content on the Internet today. However, problems stemming from the rivalry to get a share of this high revenue can disrupt the system jeopardizing online privacy and security. There have been a lot of malicious cases where fraudsters have deployed methods such as malware or phishing to get a share from the market thus compromising the security of end users and thus harming the end users. In addition to this, tracking methods deployed to increase the targeting accuracy of the advertisements reveals a lot of private information about the users without any permission from them. The rules around collection and usage of personal data is ambiguous and can be harmful in various ways such when it is shared with third parties. In response to these threats, end users have been inclining to use ad-avoidance tools which disable user tracking or block ad requests completely. This situation harms the Internet ecosystem which heavily relies on online advertising. To remedy this problem, Comodo is developing secure and privacy-friendly advertising solutions around its “trusted ads” concept using methods such as anonymous user tracking, safe ad content delivery and continuous ad inspection (malware/virus scanning). These methods guarantee secure advertisements delivery to end users, while preserving effectiveness of ad delivery. The beta versions of the products have been deployed and tested in real life for 6 months. Based on our observations, users are concerned about their privacy; but they also want customized content according to their needs and make money from ads as long as it is not harmful to them. Based on this data, we are willing to expand our system and make it one of the major ad-delivery networks

Embolization of Ruptured Hepatic Hydatid Cyst to Pulmonary Artery in an Elderly Patient : Multidetector computed tomography findings

Pulmonary embolism due to hydatid disease is an unusual condition resulting from the rupture of a hydatic heart cyst or the opening of liver hydatidosis into the venous circulation. A 78-year old male patient complaining of dyspnea, cough and severe chest pain was admitted to our emergency department. A multidetector computed tomography of the chest revealed the presence of multiple nodules in both lungs especially in left and multiple hypodense filling defect in left main pulmonary artery and its branches. In addition, coronal reformatted multidetector computed tomography images also showed two hypodense cystic parenchymal masses on the left lobe of the liver with a cystic embolus in the right atrium. Pulmonary embolism should be kept in mind in patients who have hepatic hydatidosis if suddenly chest pain and dyspnoea occurs, especially in regions where hydatidosis is endemic

Analysis of the Volumes of the Posterior Cranial Fossa, Cerebellum, and Herniated Tonsils Using the Stereological Methods in Patients with Chiari Type I Malformation

Objective. The aim of this study was to determine the posterior cranial fossa volume, cerebellar volume, and herniated tonsillar volume in patients with chiari type I malformation and control subjects using stereological methods. Material and Methods. These volumes were estimated retrospectively using the Cavalieri principle as a point-counting technique. We used magnetic resonance images taken from 25 control subjects and 30 patients with chiari type I malformation. Results. The posterior cranial fossa volume in patients with chiari type I malformation was significantly smaller than the volume in the control subjects (P < 0.05). In the chiari type I malformation group, the cerebellar volume was smaller than the control group, but this difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). In the chiari type I malformation group, the ratio of cerebellar volume to posterior cranial fossa volume was higher than in the control group. We also found a positive correlation between the posterior cranial fossa volume and cerebellar volume for each of the groups (r = 0.865, P < 0.001). The mean (±SD) herniated tonsillar volume and length were 0.89 ± 0.50 cm3 and 9.63 ± 3.37 mm in the chiari type I malformation group, respectively. Conclusion. This study has shown that posterior cranial fossa and cerebellum volumes can be measured by stereological methods, and the ratio of these measurements can contribute to the evaluation of chiari type I malformation cases

Nanostructured Optical Photonic Crystal Biosensor for HIV Viral Load Measurement

Detecting and quantifying biomarkers and viruses in biological samples have broad applications in early disease diagnosis and treatment monitoring. We have demonstrated a label-free optical sensing mechanism using nanostructured photonic crystals (PC) to capture and quantify intact viruses (HIV-1) from biologically relevant samples. The nanostructured surface of the PC biosensor resonantly reflects a narrow wavelength band during illumination with a broadband light source. Surface-adsorbed biotarget induces a shift in the resonant Peak Wavelength Value (PWV) that is detectable with <10 pm wavelength resolution, enabling detection of both biomolecular layers and small number of viruses that sparsely populate the transducer surface. We have successfully captured and detected HIV-1 in serum and phosphate buffered saline (PBS) samples with viral loads ranging from 104 to 108 copies/mL. The surface density of immobilized biomolecular layers used in the sensor functionalization process, including 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane (3-MPS), N-gamma-Maleimidobutyryl-oxysuccinimide ester (GMBS), NeutrAvidin, anti-gp120, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) were also quantified by the PC biosensor

Efficient onchip isolation of HIV subtypes,&quot;

HIV has caused a global pandemic over the last three decades. There is an unmet need to develop pointof-care (POC) viral load diagnostics to initiate and monitor antiretroviral treatment in resourceconstrained settings. Particularly, geographical distribution of HIV subtypes poses significant challenges for POC immunoassays. Here, we demonstrated a microfluidic device that can effectively capture various subtypes of HIV particles through anti-gp120 antibodies, which were immobilized on the microchannel surface. We first optimized an antibody immobilization process using fluorescent antibodies, quantum dot staining and AFM studies. The results showed that anti-gp120 antibodies were immobilized on the microchannel surface with an elevated antibody density and uniform antibody orientation using a Protein G-based surface chemistry. Further, RT-qPCR analysis showed that HIV particles of subtypes A, B and C were captured repeatably with high efficiencies of 77.2 AE 13.2%, 82.1 AE 18.8, and 80.9 AE 14.0% from culture supernatant, and 73.2 AE 13.6, 74.4 AE 14.6 and 78.3 AE 13.3% from spiked whole blood at a viral load of 1000 copies per mL, respectively. HIV particles of subtypes A, B and C were captured with high efficiencies of 81.8 AE 9.4%, 72.5 AE 18.7, and 87.8 AE 3.2% from culture supernatant, and 74.6 AE 12.9, 75.5 AE 6.7 and 69.7 AE 9.5% from spiked whole blood at a viral load of 10 000 copies per mL, respectively. The presented immuno-sensing device enables the development of POC on-chip technologies to monitor viral load and guide antiretroviral treatment (ART) in resourceconstrained settings