The 2005 - 2007 Bala (Ankara, central Turkey) earthquakes: a case study for strike-slip fault terminations

An intense seismic activity has been observed after the Bala (Ankara, NW central Turkey) earthquakes (30 July 2005: Mw=5.3, 20 December 2007: Mw=5.4, and 26 December 2007: Mw=5.3), continuing up to the present. The epicenters and the focal mechanism solutions of the earthquakes indicate that the right lateral strike-slip Afşar fault, trending N55-60°W, is responsible for the main shocks. The Afşar fault is thought to be the NW continuation of the Tuzgölü fault zone, which is one of the main neotectonic elements in central Anatolia. On the other hand, the aftershock distributions of the 2005 event have a NNE trend, and those of the 2007 event show a NW trending. Some focal mechanism solutions of the 2005 Bala earthquake aftershocks indicate normal and oblique normal faulting that corresponds to the NNE-trending Karakeçili fault. It seems that seismic activation of the NNE-trending Karakeçili fault was triggered by the 2005 main shock (Mw=5.3) that occurred on the NW trending right lateral strike-slip Afşar fault. The overall neotectonic framework is that the northwestern edge of the Tuzgölü fault zone, represented by the Afşar fault in Bala, terminates in an extensional system represented by the oblique-slip Karakeçili fault

Plant regeneration from seeds responds to phylogenetic relatedness and local adaptation in Mediterranean Romulea (Iridaceae) species

Seed germination is the most important transitional event between early stages in the life cycle of spermatophytes and understanding it is crucial to understand plant adaptation and evolution. However, so far seed germination of phylogenetically closely related species has been poorly investigated. To test the hypothises that phylogenetically related plant species have similar seed ecophysiological traits thereby reflecting certain habitat conditions as a result of local adaptation, we studied seed dormancy and germination in seven Mediterranean species in the genus Romulea (Iridaceae). Both the across-species model and the model accounting for shared evolutionary history showed that cool temperatures (≤ 15°C) were the main factor that promoted seed germination. The absence of embryo growth before radicle emergence is consistent with a prompt germination response at cool temperatures. The range of temperature conditions for germination became wider after a period of warm stratification, denoting a weak primary dormancy. Altogether these results indicate that the studied species exhibit a Mediterranean germination syndrome, but with species-specific germination requirements clustered in a way that follows the phylogenetic relatedness among those species. In addition, species with heavier seeds from humid habitats showed a wider range of conditions for germination at dispersal time than species from dry habitats possessing lighter seeds. We conclude that while phylogenetically related species showed very similar germination requirements, there are subtle ecologically meaningful differences, confirming the onset of adaptation to local ecological factors mediated by species relatedness

European Vegetation Archive (EVA): An integrated database of European vegetation plots

© 2016 International Association for Vegetation Science. The European Vegetation Archive (EVA) is a centralized database of European vegetation plots developed by the IAVS Working Group European Vegetation Survey. It has been in development since 2012 and first made available for use in research projects in 2014. It stores copies of national and regional vegetation- plot databases on a single software platform. Data storage in EVA does not affect on-going independent development of the contributing databases, which remain the property of the data contributors. EVA uses a prototype of the database management software TURBOVEG 3 developed for joint management of multiple databases that use different species lists. This is facilitated by the SynBioSys Taxon Database, a system of taxon names and concepts used in the individual European databases and their corresponding names on a unified list of European flora. TURBOVEG 3 also includes procedures for handling data requests, selections and provisions according to the approved EVA Data Property and Governance Rules. By 30 June 2015, 61 databases from all European regions have joined EVA, contributing in total 1 027 376 vegetation plots, 82% of them with geographic coordinates, from 57 countries. EVA provides a unique data source for large-scale analyses of European vegetation diversity both for fundamental research and nature conservation applications. Updated information on EVA is available online at http://euroveg.org/eva-database

Cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitors in postoperative pain management [Postoperatif agri tedavisinde siklooksijenaz-2 inhibitörleri]

PubMedID: 15382000Management of acute postoperative pain remains suboptimal; nearly 80% of the patients report moderate to extreme pain following surgery. Nonselective nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) have a role in postoperative pain management, but conventional NSAIDs can cause gastrointestinal ulceration, renal injury, and disruption of platelet function and hemostasis. Recently, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) specific inhibitors such as rofecoxib and celecoxib were developed to provide the increased efficacy of non-specific NSAIDs while limiting associated side effects. These drugs have demonstrated analgesic efficacy and opioid sparing effect after variety of surgical procedures. This article will review the role and outcome of COX-2 inhibitors for postoperative pain management

Insecticidal activity of the Thymus, Veronica and Agrimonia's essential oils against the cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae

The insecticidal activities of essential oils obtained from each Thymus vulgaris, Veronica officinalis and Agrimonia eupatoria were investigated against the cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae (Homoptera: Aphididae) under laboratory conditions. All of the three tested essential oil had significantly reduced the daily fecundity of the cabbage aphid and caused higher mortality rates. In this study, essential oil extracted from T. vulgaris was found to be the most effective insecticide, as no adult apterous have managed to survive more than three days on the T. vulgaris oil that has been applied to the petri dishes. However, although, there was no dose-dependent significant effects of the three tested essential oils, there has been an important reduction in the reproduction potential when a 2 l dose of these oils has been applied. Exposure time to the applied essential oil had also an important effect, since daily fecundity of the cabbage aphid has generally decreased after 3 days in all of the treatments (except for control). The results obtained indicated that the three tested essential oils, particularly T. vulgaris oil that had the highest percentage of the monoterpene phenols; Thymol and Carvacrol, have had a great potential on cabbage aphid population control. © 2008 Akadémiai Kiadó

A retrospective evaluation of cancer pain patients [Kanser agrisi nedeniyle başvuran hastalarin retrospektif degerlendirilmesi]

In this study, 663 patients admitted to the Algology Department of our university were evaluated in order to define the patient characteristics, our treatment modalities and complications related to the medications and interventions. The age and sex of the patient, the origin of the neoplasm, the reason, intensity and distribution of pain, the antineoplastic and analgesic therapy taken before inclusion to the study, the treatment modalities performed in our clinic, the routes of administriation, the follow-up duration, the comlications related to the treatment are defined and recorded. The avarage age of the patients were 50 ± 16 years. The origins of the neoplasms were gastrointestinal tract (33.6 %), respiratory system (19.0 %), genitourinary tract (18.1 %). There was metastasis in 78.3 % of the patients. 29.4 % of the patients had only surgical intervention, 9.5 % had chemotherapy, 4.8 % had radiotherapy and 0.3 % had hormonal therapy before coming to our clinic. 38.2 % had two or more antineoplastic therapy. 13.6 % of the patients didn't have analgesic therapy before us. The most dominant painful region was abdomen (21.1 %). 24.9 % of the patients had pain at more than three regions. In 92.2 % of the patients, the reason of the pain was tumor invasion. 93.2 % had recieved co-analgesics with the analgesic therapy. Main route of analgesic administration was oral route (89.7 %). Most of the patients (84.0 %) came to the clinic 1-5 times for the follow-up. For the medications; nausea, vomitting, pruritus, constipation, urinary retention, for the interventions; contamination, difficulty of dural penetration, obstruction of the catheter, headache, allergy to the port, subarachnoido-cutaneal fistula were the complications we have seen. As a result we believe that in order to have more effective treatment procols and reduce the complication rates, detailed prospective studies with long follow-up times are needed

A comparison of a 5% potassium hydroxide solution with a 5-fluorouracil and salicylic acid combination in the treatment of patients with anogenital warts: A randomized, open-label clinical trial

Anogenital warts are caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), over 30 types of which are infectious for the anogenital tract. Without treatment, warts may regress spontaneously, remain unchanged, or increase in number and size. This study compared the efficacy of a topical 5% potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution with that of a topical 0.5% 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and 10% salicylic acid (SA) combination in the treatment of anogenital warts. Sixty patients were randomly assigned to receive topical KOH or 5-FU + SA. Both groups demonstrated a significant decrease in numbers of lesions (P 0.05). The mean number of lesions decreased from baseline to week 12 from 17.03 ± 12.64 to 3.73 ± 7.30 and from 16.13 ± 12.97 to 3.10 ± 4.90 in the KOH and 5-FU + SA groups, respectively (P 0.05). No serious adverse events were reported. Neither treatment was more efficacious. Safety and ease of application are important goals in treatments for anogenital warts. A 5% KOH solution is a promising alternative treatment because it is effective and inexpensive and causes minimal side effects. © 2014 The International Society of Dermatology

Comparison of different doses of remifentanil in brief surgical procedures [Sedonanaljezide farkli dozda remifentanil uygulamasi]

This study was designed to compare the safety and analgesic effectiveness of remifentanil when administred as intermittent bolus injections or a single bolus injection followed by two different dosages of continuous infusion during brief painful procedures. Sixty adult patients undergoing breast or lymph node biopsy were premedicated with intravenous 0.15 mg kg-1 midazolam following haemodynamic and respiratory monitoring Patients were randomly assigned to one of the three modes of remifentanil administration. Group I received 1 kg-1 bolus of remifentanil at 30-60 seconds followed by intermittent 0.5 µg kg-1 bolus of remifentanil as needed. Group II received 1 µg kg-1 bolus of remifentanil followed by a continuous infusion of remifentanil at a rate 0.1 µg kg-1 min-1 Group III received 1 µg kg-1 bolus of remifentanil followed by a continuous infusion of remifentanil at a rate 0.2 µg kg-1 min-1 Discomfort, pain, sedation scores, haemodynamic variables and complications were recorded at pretreatment and 1, 5 and 15 minutes after administration. In all groups, respiratory rate was significantly lower than preoperative control values at 1 and 5 min (p<0.05), whereas heart rate was only lower at 1 min (p<0.05) There were no differences in oxygen saturation and blood pressure (systolic-diastolic) among the groups. Patient comfort and VAS were superior in the 0.2 µg kg-1 min-1 remifentanil group (p<0.05) whereas sedation scores and incidence of O2 desaturation were higher than group I and II during the procedures (p<0.05). Both bolus injections and continuous infusions of remifentanil provided effective analgesia for pain control during brief surgical procedures without using local anaesthetic but was complicated by a high incidence of O2 desaturation at higher doses of 0.2 µg kg-1 min-1