Investigation of serum surfactant protein a and d levels in children exposed to cigarette smoke

Background: Depending on the degree of exposure to cigarette smoke, various health problems can emerge in children. It is needed to have biochemical data of passive smoking to define the risks and to count the benefits of anti-smoking responses. Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of smoke exposure on the surfactant protein (SP) A and D by measuring the cotinine level in the lungs of the children who are exposed to passive cigarette smoke. Methods: This case–control study was conducted between December 2012 and September 2013. İn this study, total 79 children were included who were admitted to the general pediatric outpatient clinic of a medical university. Out of them, 51 children were exposed to cigarette smoke and 28 children were not exposed to cigarette smoke. In a survey was applied to evaluate the smoke exposure, and urinary cotinine levels were measured. Cotinine level was measured by chemiluminescence method (children’s urines are used), and serum SP-D and SP-A levels were measured by ELISA method (peripheral venous blood is used). Results: The average urinary cotinine level of the children who were exposed to smoking was 622.27±600.66 ng/ml and 4.25±7.50 ng/ml of the children who were not exposed. The mean serum SP-A level was high (2.64±0.78 U/L) in children exposed to smoking than that in non-exposed children (2.2±0.76 U/L) and this difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). The serum SP-D level was high in children who were exposed to smoking, but it was not statistically significant. It was verified that there was a correlation between the average urinary cotinine level and serum SP-A level (r=0.257, p=0.02) but it was not true for SP-D level. Conclusion: We found that the serum SP-A level, which has a big role on lungs’ natural immune system, is higher in the children who are exposed to smoking when compared to the non-exposed children. This indicates that cigarette’s inflammatory effect increases as a response to its anti-inflammatory effect in the serum level

Evaluation of effective demographic variables in competition performances of Turkish wrestling referees

Management of wrestling competitions of equal competitors is often assigned to successful referees. For this reason, it is important to determine the demographic variables that influence the referees’ level of success. In this context, the aim of the study was to evaluate the effective demographic variables in competition performances of Turkish wrestling referees using the logistic regression analysis. The purpose of this research was explained to the referees and voluntary participation was provided. The research data consist of demographic variables and the referee evaluation reports of the year 2016 calculated by the Central Referee Committee of the Turkish Wrestling Federation. The referees were classified as successful (between 7-8.5 points) and unsuccessful (between ≥8.5-10 points) according to their performance scores. Accordingly, the international referees were 49 times more successful than the national referees in a competition. The referees who wrestled at the international level were 6 times more successful than the referees wrestling at the national level and who did not wrestle. Referees whose ages 31-40 and ≥41 were 7.9 and 24.9 times more successful than ≤30 age respectively. Moreover, it was determined that those who were refereeing for social identity, a hobby, and other reasons in a competition were, respectively, 6, 39 and 22 times more possible to be successful than those who were refereeing for social status. Consequently, if a successful referee performance was desired, the ones should be selected as who were over 41 years of age and wrestled at the international level, and who were international level referees that were refereeing as a hobby or other. Thus, a more successful referee performance can be achieved in competitions

The investigation of sportsmanship behaviors of university students

The aim of the present study was to examine the effective factors on sportsmanship behaviors of university students. With this purpose, students' attitudes for rules, injurious acts, opponent game perspective and sportsmanship behaviors were examined, and the effects of these factors were modeled via structural equation modeling. To measure the effective factors on students sportsmanship behaviors, a likert scale type questionnaire, ranging from 1 'strongly disagree' to 5 'strongly agree' was applied on a face-to-face basis. The sportsmanship questionnaire about sportsmanship was composed of 45 questions. In the statistical analysis obtained data, SPSS and LISREL software were used. The results of the analyses indicate that while "game perspective" is the most effective factor on students' sportsmanship behavior, the factors; "opponent", "rules", and "injurious acts" are also statistically significant.El objetivo del presente estudio fue examinar los factores efectivos sobre el comportamiento deportivo de los estudiantes universitarios. Con este propósito, se examinaron las actitudes de los estudiantes respecto a las reglas, los actos perjudiciales, la perspectiva del juego del oponente y los comportamientos de deportividad, y los efectos de estos factores se modelaron mediante el modelado de ecuaciones estructurales. Para medir los factores efectivos en los comportamientos de deportividad de los estudiantes, se aplicó un cuestionario tipo escala tipo Likert, que varía de 1 "totalmente en desacuerdo" a 5 "totalmente de acuerdo" en persona. El cuestionario de deportividad sobre deportividad estaba compuesto por 45 preguntas. En el análisis estadístico de los datos obtenidos, se utilizaron el software SPSS y LISREL. Los resultados de los análisis indican que si bien la "perspectiva del juego" es el factor más efectivo en el comportamiento deportivo de los estudiantes, los factores; "Oponente", "reglas" y "actos nocivos" también son estadísticamente significativos.O objetivo do presente estudo foi examinar os fatores efetivos no comportamento esportivo de universitários. Para tanto, foram examinadas as atitudes dos alunos em relação a regras, atos prejudiciais, a perspectiva de jogo do adversário e o comportamento esportivo, e os efeitos desses fatores foram modelados através da modelagem de equações estruturais. Para medir os fatores efetivos no comportamento esportivo dos alunos, foi aplicado um questionário da escala do tipo Likert, que varia de 1 "discordo totalmente" a 5 "concordo totalmente" pessoalmente. O questionário de espírito esportivo foi composto por 45 perguntas. Na análise estatística dos dados obtidos, foram utilizados os softwares SPSS e LISREL. Os resultados das análises indicam que, embora a "perspectiva do jogo" seja o fator mais eficaz no comportamento esportivo dos estudantes, os fatores; "Oponente", "regras" e "atos prejudiciais" também são estatisticamente significativos

Energy Response and Longitudinal Shower Profiles Measured in CMS HCAL and Comparison With Geant4

The response of the CMS combined electromagnetic and hadron calorimeter to beams of pions with momenta in the range 5-300 GeV/c has been measured in the H2 test beam at CERN. The raw response with the electromagnetic compartment calibrated to electrons and the hadron compartment calibrated to 300 GeV pions may be represented by sigma = (1.2) sqrt{E} oplus (0.095) E. The fraction of energy visible in the calorimeter ranges from 0.72 at 5 GeV to 0.95 at 300 GeV, indicating a substantial nonlinearity. The intrinsic electron to hadron ratios are fit as a function of energy and found to be in the range 1.3-2.7 for the electromagnetic compartment and 1.4-1.8 for the hadronic compartment. The fits are used to correct the non-linearity of the e pi response to 5% over the entire measured range resulting in a substantially improved resolution at low energy. Longitudinal shower profile have been measured in detail and compared to Geant4 models, LHEP-3.7 and QGSP-2.8. At energies below 30 GeV, the data, LHEP and QGSP are in agreement. Above 30 GeV, LHEP gives a more accurate simulation of the longitudinal shower profile

Synchronization and Timing in CMS HCAL

The synchronization and timing of the hadron calorimeter (HCAL) for the Compact Muon Solenoid has been extensively studied with test beams at CERN during the period 2003-4, including runs with 40 MHz structured beam. The relative phases of the signals from different calorimeter segments are timed to 1 ns accuracy using a laser and equalized using programmable delay settings in the front-end electronics. The beam was used to verify the timing and to map out the entire range of pulse shapes over the 25 ns interval between beam crossings. These data were used to make detailed measurements of energy-dependent time slewing effects and to tune the electronics for optimal performance

Design, Performance and Calibration of the CMS Forward Calorimeter Wedges

We report on the test beam results and calibration methods using charged particles of the CMS Forward Calorimeter (HF). The HF calorimeter covers a large pseudorapidity region (3\l |\eta| \le 5), and is essential for large number of physics channels with missing transverse energy. It is also expected to play a prominent role in the measurement of forward tagging jets in weak boson fusion channels. The HF calorimeter is based on steel absorber with embedded fused-silica-core optical fibers where Cherenkov radiation forms the basis of signal generation. Thus, the detector is essentially sensitive only to the electromagnetic shower core and is highly non-compensating (e/h \approx 5). This feature is also manifest in narrow and relatively short showers compared to similar calorimeters based on ionization. The choice of fused-silica optical fibers as active material is dictated by its exceptional radiation hardness. The electromagnetic energy resolution is dominated by photoelectron statistics and can be expressed in the customary form as a/\sqrt{E} + b. The stochastic term a is 198% and the constant term b is 9%. The hadronic energy resolution is largely determined by the fluctuations in the neutral pion production in showers, and when it is expressed as in the electromagnetic case, a = 280% and b = 11%

An Evaluation of Risk Factors in Cases of Perinatal Asphyxia

Aim: To determine the demographic characteristics of cases followed up with a diagnosis of perinatal asphyxia and to examine the risk factors in these cases. Material and Method: This retrospective study included 81 cases diagnosed with perinatal asphyxia and applied with hypothermia therapy in the neonatal intensive care unit of a tertiary level hospital between June 2018 and January 2020. The demographic characteristics of the cases and data related to perinatal risk factors were collected from the patient files and were analyzed using SPSS software. Results: When the pregnancy follow-up of the mothers was examined, 43.2% had attended antenatal examinations and 56.8% had not had regular follow-up. Delivery was by caesarean section in 24 (29.6%) cases and the normal spontaneous vaginal route in 57 (70.4%) cases. Risk factors determined before the birth were fetal bradycardia in 10 (10.1%) cases, pre-eclampsia in 5 (5.1%) cases, and gestational diabetes mellitus in 7 (7.1%) cases. Birth complications were recorded as prolonged difficult labour in 42 (42.4%) cases, cord prolapse in 7 (7.1%), abruptio placentae in 6 (6.1%) and amniotic fluid with meconium in 7 (7.1%) cases. No risk factors for perinatal asphyxia were determined in 4 (4.0%) cases. Conclusion: Perinatal asphyxia was observed at a higher rate in male gender infants and perinatal asphyxia was determined to develop more often in the infants of mothers who had not had antenatal follow-up. Of the known risk factors in the antenatal period and during the birth, difficult labour was observed at the highest rate

Determination of Factors Effected Dietary Glycemic Index in Turkish University Students

We aimed to determine any factors like as smoking, being regular activity affect dietary glycemic index in university students. This study was carried out at Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey. The participants were 577 randomly selected Turkish healthy female university students aged 17-32 years. The survey included a questionnaire that assessed demographic, 3-day self-reported nutrient intake. The dietary intake was based on the of the recipients. The 3 days included 1 weekend day and the previous or next 2 days. A weighted GI was designed to the diet of the participants with the use of values from the 2002 international table of GI values. BMI was calculated from measurements of height and weight. The differences between living area (house or dormitory)/regular physical activity (do or not)/smoking/nutrition education and mean dietary glycemic index was determined by Independent Sample t-Test. Dietary glycemic index was found high (>70) in 98.4% of participants. Mean dietary glycemic index was found 85.1±6.80 and it was significantly (p<0.05) differences between participants staying house or dormitory, doing physical activity or not, smoking or not and educated on nutrition or not. Participant’s who are smoking, staying dormitory and no educated about nutrition dietary glycemix index was found high than who are not smoking, staying house, doing regular physical activity and educated on nutrition. Conclusion and Implication: It’s important that educated students on health and nutrition to prevent their diets content high glycemic index. It can be help to prevent obesity in the future

Evaluation of Plasma Amino Acid Levels in Preterm Infants and Their Potential Correlation with Retinopathy of Prematurity

Aim. The aim of this study is to ascertain whether the level of circulating amino acids (aa) is associated with retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Methods. This is a randomized controlled study of 55 infants born at gestational age (GA) ≤32 weeks or birth weight (BW) ≤1500 grams. Serum samples were obtained from two groups: Group A comprised of 26 preterm infants with ROP and Group B comprised of 29 preterm infants without ROP. Plasma aa levels were analyzed using liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Correlation test and multivariate regression analysis were used to evaluate the relationship between plasma aa levels and variables. Results. The mean serum arginine and glutamine levels were significantly higher, but the mean lysine and aspartic acid levels were significantly lower in Group A, compared to Group B (p=0.04, p=0.002, p=0.029, and p=0.002, respectively). In multivariate analysis, the mean arginine and lysine levels were significantly associated with the stage of the disease (p=0.03 and p=0.01, respectively). No significant differences were determined between the groups in terms of alanine, asparagine, valine, leucine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, serine, proline, citrulline, cysteine, ornithine, tryptophan, methionine, threonine, taurine, and isoleucine amino acids (p>0.05, respectively). Conclusions. These results indicate a significant association between high arginine and glutamine, with low lysine and aspartic acid serum concentrations with ROP. Due to higher serum concentrations in ROP, extra arginine-glutamine supplementation in hyperoxic conditions may be unfavorable through pathways involving reactive oxygen, particularly in patients with ROP