unreinforced masonry buildings

A recent earthquake of M=4.9 occurred on 29 October 2007 in C, ameli, Denizli, which is located in a seismically active region at southwest Anatolia, Turkey. It has caused extensive damages at unreinforced masonry buildings like many other cases observed in Turkey during other previous earthquakes. Most of the damaged structures were non-engineered, seismically deficient, unreinforced masonry buildings. This paper presents a site survey of these damaged buildings. In addition to typical masonry damages, some infrequent, event-specific damages were also observed. Reasons for the relatively wide spread damages considering the magnitude of the event are discussed in the paper

Effects of compaction pressure, speed and punch head profile on the ultrasonically-extracted physical properties of pharmaceutical compacts

Despite a well-established manufacturing-process understanding, tablet quality issues are frequently encountered during various stages of drug-product development. Compact breaking force (tensile strength), capping and friability are among the commonly observed characteristics that determine the integrity, quality and manufacturability of tablets. In current study, a design space of the compaction pressure, compaction speed and head flat types is introduced for solid dosage compacts prepared from pure silicified microcrystalline cellulose, a popular tableting excipient. In the reported experiments, five types of head flat types at six compaction pressure levels and two compaction speeds were employed and their effects on compact mechanical properties evaluated. The mechanical properties of the tablets were obtained non-destructively. It is demonstrated these properties correlate well with compact porosity and tensile strength, thus their availability is of practical value. The reported mechanical properties are observed to be linearly sensitive to the tableting speed and compaction pressure, and their dependency on the head-flat profile, while clearly visible in the presented waveforms, was found to be nonlinear in the range of the parameter space. In this study, we detail a non-destructive, easy-to-use approach for characterizing the porosity and tensile strength of pharmaceutical tablets

Seroprevalence of Human Brucellosis in a Rural Area of Western Anatolia, Turkey

This study was conducted to determine the seroprevalence of human brucellosis and identify the potential risk factors in a rural area of Western Anatolia, Turkey. A simple random-sampling method was used for identifying 1,052 subjects for the study. Blood samples, collected from all the subjects, were studied following the methods of Rose Bengal slide agglutination and standard tube agglutination tests. One thousand and one samples (95.2%) were seronegative, and 51 (4.8%) were seropositive. There was a statistically significant correlation between seropositivity and age, sex, consuming fresh cheese and cream made from unboiled milk (p values 0.005, 0.019, <0.001, and <0.001 respectively). Seropositivity was not related to educational level (0.270). It is concluded that pasteurization of milk and dairy products and education regarding eating habits must be pursued for eradication of human brucellosis from rural areas. The findings of the study suggest that human brucellosis is still an important public-health problem in the western Anatolia region of Turkey, especially in rural areas

Gender Specificity of Genistein Treatment in Penicillin-Induced Epileptiform Activity in Rats

We investigated gender-dependent differences of genistein (isoflavone phytoestrogen) treatment in a penicillin-induced experimental epilepsy rat model. Twenty-eight adult Wistar Albino rats (14 females and 14 males) were devided into four groups, control and genisteintreatmed males and females. Genistein (100 µg/kg, i.p) or saline was given during 15 days before the electrocorticography (ECoG) recordings. The epileptiform activity was induced by penicillin G potassium solt (500 IU, i.c) injections into the left somatomotor cortex. Significant differences among the groups were found in the latency to onset of epileptiform activity. This value in the female control group was significantly longer than the latencies in the male control, male genistein, and female genistein groups (respectively, P = 0.002, 0.015, and 0.032). There were no significant differences regarding the spike/wave frequencies and amplitudes in epileptiform activity between female/male genistein and control groups within all observation intervals (P > 0.05). Thus, genistein exerts a proconvulsant effect in the penicillin-induced epilepsy model, and the effect demonstrates the clear gender specificity related to the specificity of hormonal backgrounds in males and females.Ми досліджували залежні від статі відмінності впливу ґеністеїну (ізофлавоноїдного фітоестрогена) в умовах індукованої пеніциліном експериментальної моделі епілепсії у щурів. 28 дорослих щурів лінії Вістар (14 самиць і 14 самців) були поділені на чотири групи – контрольних та лікованих ґеністеїном самців і самиць. Ґеністеїн (100 мкг/кг, внутрішньоочеревинно) або фізіологічний розчин уводився тваринам протягом 15 діб, після чого у них відводились електрокортикограма (ЕКоГ). Епілептиформна активність індукувалась ін’єкцією пеніциліну G калієвої солі (500 МО) в ліву соматомоторну кору. Істотні міжгрупові відмінності були виявлені щодо латентного періоду початку епілептиформної активності (P = 0.013). Ця величина в контрольній групі самиць була істотно більшою, ніж аналогічні значення в контрольній групі самців та групах самців і самиць, лікованих ґеністеїном (P = 0.002, 0.015 та 0.032 відповідно). Не було виявлено істотних відмінностей щодо частоти комплексів пік/хвиля та амплітуди епілептиформної активності у всіх чотирьох груп у межах інтервалу спостережень (P > > 0.05). Зроблено висновок, що ґеністеїн впливає на пеніцилініндуковану модель епілепсії як проконвульсант; відповідні ефекти демонструють значну гендерну специфіку, очевидно, залежну від гормонального фону в самців і самиць

Sexually Coercive Male Chimpanzees Sire More Offspring

SummaryIn sexually reproducing animals, male and female reproductive strategies often conflict [1]. In some species, males use aggression to overcome female choice [2, 3], but debate persists over the extent to which this strategy is successful. Previous studies of male aggression toward females among wild chimpanzees have yielded contradictory results about the relationship between aggression and mating behavior [4–11]. Critically, however, copulation frequency in primates is not always predictive of reproductive success [12]. We analyzed a 17-year sample of behavioral and genetic data from the Kasekela chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) community in Gombe National Park, Tanzania, to test the hypothesis that male aggression toward females increases male reproductive success. We examined the effect of male aggression toward females during ovarian cycling, including periods when the females were sexually receptive (swollen) and periods when they were not. We found that, after controlling for confounding factors, male aggression during a female’s swollen periods was positively correlated with copulation frequency. However, aggression toward swollen females was not predictive of paternity. Instead, aggression by high-ranking males toward females during their nonswollen periods was positively associated with likelihood of paternity. This indicates that long-term patterns of intimidation allow high-ranking males to increase their reproductive success, supporting the sexual coercion hypothesis. To our knowledge, this is the first study to present genetic evidence of sexual coercion as an adaptive strategy in a social mammal

Phylogeny and S1 Gene Variation of Infectious Bronchitis Virus Detected in Broilers and Layers in Turkey

Citation: Yilmaz, H., Altan, E., Cizmecigil, U. Y., Gurel, A., Ozturk, G. Y., Bamac, O. E., . . . Turan, N. (2016). Phylogeny and S1 Gene Variation of Infectious Bronchitis Virus Detected in Broilers and Layers in Turkey. Avian Diseases, 60(3), 596-602. doi:10.1637/11346-120915-Reg.1The avian coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus (AvCoV-IBV) is recognized as an important global pathogen because new variants are a continuous threat to the poultry industry worldwide. This study investigates the genetic origin and diversity of AvCoV-IBV by analysis of the S1 sequence derived from 49 broiler flocks and 14 layer flocks in different regions of Turkey. AvCoV-IBV RNA was detected in 41 (83.6%) broiler flocks and nine (64.2%) of the layer flocks by TaqMan real-time RT-PCR. In addition, AvCoV-IBV RNA was detected in the tracheas 27/30 (90%), lungs 31/49 (62.2%), caecal tonsils 7/22 (31.8%), and kidneys 4/49 (8.1%) of broiler flocks examined. Pathologic lesions, hemorrhages, and mononuclear infiltrations were predominantly observed in tracheas and to a lesser extent in the lungs and a few in kidneys. A phylogenetic tree based on partial S1 sequences of the detected AvCoV-IBVs (including isolates) revealed that 1) viruses detected in five broiler flocks were similar to the IBV vaccines Ma5, H120, M41; 2) viruses detected in 24 broiler flocks were similar to those previously reported from Turkey and to Israel variant-2 strains; 3) viruses detected in seven layer flocks were different from those found in any of the broiler flocks but similar to viruses previously reported from Iran, India, and China (similar to Israel variant-1 and 4/91 serotypes); and 4) that the AVCoV-IBV, Israeli variant-2 strain, found to be circulating in Turkey appears to be undergoing molecular evolution. In conclusion, genetically different AvCoV-IBV strains, including vaccine-like strains, based on their partial S1 sequence, are circulating in broiler and layer chicken flocks in Turkey and the Israeli variant-2 strain is undergoing evolution. © 2016 American Association of Avian Pathologists