Investigation of the Attitudes of Academicians towards Sports

The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes of academicians towards sports at Firat University, 191 academicians participated in the investigation as part of our study. "Attitude Scale towards Sports" was used to determine the attitudes of the academicians participating in the study towards sports. The scale is designed in likert type 5 grading, consisting of 22 substances and "Psychosocial, Physical and Mental Development" consisting of 3 sub-dimensions. In line with the study findings, academicians at Firat University have a general score of 1 to 5 scale scoring is x̄= 3.93, "Mental Development" sub-dimension size is x̄= 3.53, "Psycho-social Development" sub-dimension size is x̄= 3.98, and "Physical Development" sub-dimension size with an average of x̄= 4.08 was observed to have high attitude levels towards sports. There was a statistically significant difference in terms of attitude levels towards sports and age, participation in sports, title and working year variables for Academicians at Firat University. According to the gender variable, it was not found that the attitudes of academicians towards sports were not statistically significant. Academicians’ attitudes towards sports are very important. Students often see their instructors as their cult figure. Academicians' attitudes towards sports are thought to make them feel good about themselves in terms of health and will be a positive example for students who consider themselves cult figures

Examination of the Levels of Digital Game Dependency of the Students of the Faculty of Sports

The aim of our study was to examine the digital game addiction levels of the students of the Faculty of Sports Sciences in terms of some variables. The research group of our study consists of 397 randomly selected undergraduate students studying at Firat University Faculty of Sports Sciences and Inonu University Faculty of Sports Sciences in 2019. Frequency of variables (f) and percentage (%) distributions were calculated and two-way variance analysis (ANOVA) was used in multiple group variables and t-test was used for the significance of the difference between the two independent groups. Tukey test was used to determine which groups it was among in the analysis in which significant differences were detected. According to the findings of our study, undergraduate students studying in the departments of Firat University Faculty of Sports Sciences and Inonu University Faculty of Sports Sciences; It was determined that there was no statistically significant difference in the level of digital game dependency of the undergraduate students depending on the department, class, gender and age variables in which they studied. There was a statistically significant difference between digital game dependency levels based on the state of playing the digital game and the daily playing time variables. In line with the study findings, digital game addiction with an average of 2.29 on the digital game addiction scores of undergraduate students studying at Firat University Faculty of Sports Sciences and Inonu University Faculty of Sports Sciences levels were below average

Football Teams and Levels Supported by University Students

Football and its propensity have been spread globally, leading to the division/unification of the masses. The prevalence of football in the world has been a source of many researches.The aim of the study is to determine the football team support levels of the university students and the football teams supported. The research “football team supported by university students and self-defined levels of follow-up (“fanatical”, “team supporter” and “football lover”) are different, based on the basic hypothesis. The opinion poll developed by the researchers for the purpose of the research consisted of five questions. The data transferred to the computer environment, as a result of the percent, frequency and Chi-Square analyses, provided literature support in the light of scientific data and resulted in general conclusions for the purposes of the research.The survey, which was developed by the researcher to test the hypothesis of the research, consisted of five questions aimed at determining the gender, age, class, supported football team and support level. They were asked to determine the level of support they considered appropriate after giving information about team support types such as “football lover”, “team supporter” and “fanatic”. Only their own information is included in the questions. These questions are for the opinions of university students.92) it is high. The data collection tool used in the study is a personal (opinion) data survey, not scale.893 university students attended the study in different departments, 68% of them were male. 40.4% of the participants support Galatasaray, 35.5% support Fenerbahce and 24.1% support Besiktas teams. The university students who define themselves as fanatic (26.4%) are less than those who define football fans (37.5%) and team supporters (36.1%).In a gender-based analysis, it was observed that the ratio of women who define themselves as fanatic was 8.4% in males and 35% in females. Different levels of follow-up between women and men are significant when compared to Chi-square analysis.Among the university students, it was observed that the fans of Galatasaray were more than the others. 28.8% of the Galatasaray, 27.4% of the Besiktas Fenerbahceliler 23% of them identified as fanatic

PLGA-chitosan/PLGA-alginate Nanoparticle Blends as Biodegradable Colloidal Gels for Seeding Human Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stem Cells

The natural polymers chitosan and alginate represent an attractive material choice for biodegradable inplants. These were used as coating materials to make positively and negatively charged PLGA nanoparticles, respectively. After blending at total solids concentration >10% wt/vol, these oppositely charged nanoparticles yielded a cohesive colloidal gel. Electrostatic forces between oppositely charged nanoparticles produced a stable 3-D porous network that may be extruded or molded to the desired shape. This high concentration colloidal system demonstrated shear-thinning behavior due to the disruption of interparticle interactions. Once the external force was removed, the cohesive property of the colloidal gel was recovered. Scanning electron micrographs of dried colloidal networks revealed an organized, 3-D microporous structure. Rheological studies were employed to probe the differences in plasticity and shear sensitivity of colloidal gels. Viability tests of hUCMSCs seeded on the colloidal gels also demonstrated the negligible cytotoxicity of the materials. All the results indicated the potential application of the biodegradable colloidal gels as an injectable scaffold in tissue engineering and drug release

Signalling strategies for osteogenic differentiation of human umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells for 3D bone tissue engineering

Human umbilical cord mesenchymal stromal cells (hUCMSCs) have recently shown the capacity to differentiate into multiple cell lineages in all three embryonic germ layers. The osteogenic differentiation of hUCMSCs in monolayer culture has been reported, while the differentiation in three-dimensional biomaterials has not yet been reported for tissue-engineering applications. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of using hUCMSCs for bone tissue engineering. hUCMSCs were cultured in poly( L -lactic acid) (PLLA) scaffolds in osteogenic medium (OM) for 3 weeks, after which the scaffolds were exposed to several different media, including the OM, a mineralization medium (MM) and the MM with either 10 or 100 ng/ml insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1. The osteogenic differentiation was confirmed by the up-regulation of Runx2 and OCN , calcium quantification and bone histology. Switching from the OM to the MM promoted collagen synthesis and calcium content per cell, while continuing in the OM retained more cells in the constructs and promoted higher osteogenic gene expression. The addition of IGF-1 into the MM had no effect on cell proliferation, differentiation and matrix synthesis. In conclusion, hUCMSCs show significant potential for bone tissue engineering and culturing in the OM throughout the entire period is beneficial for osteogenic differentiation of these cells. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/63045/1/176_ftp.pd

Immunohistochemical and transcriptional expression of Matrix Metalloproteinases in full-term human umbilical cord and Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are extracellular zinc-dependent endopeptidases involved in the degradation and remodelling of extracellular matrix in physiological and pathological processes. MMPs also have a role on cell proliferation, migration, differentiation, angiogenesis and apoptosis. Umbilical cord is a special organ subjected to many changes during pre-natal life and whose cells can maintain a certain degree of plasticity also in post-natal period; for example recently they have been used as a source of stem cells. In this work we investigated the expression of MMPs in human umbilical cord and Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC) though immunohistochemistry, RT-PCR and gelatin zymography. MMP-2 protein is expressed in the amniotic epithelium of human umbilical cord and in few sub-epithelial fibroblasts, while MMP-3 and MMP-10 only in the umbilical epithelium. MMP-8, MMP-9 and MMP-13 immunoreactivity is localised in the epithelium and in Wharton\u2019s jelly mesenchymal cells. Immunocytochemistry also revealed protein expression for MMP-2, 3, 8, 9 and 10 in cultured HUVEC. In agreement with immunohistochemical data, RT-PCR analysis performed on samples of whole umbilical cord confirmed the transcriptional expression for the genes encoding all the six matrix metalloproteinases investigated, while in HUVEC only the expression of MMP-2, 3, 9, 10 and 13 mRNAs was detected. Gelatin zymograpgy showed a clear MMP-2 and MMP-9 enzymatic activity in the conditioned medium of HUVEC at different culture passages, suggesting that HUVEC secrete gelatinases, that afterwards undergo extracellular activation, and this ability is not affected by passage number

Functional Expression of the Extracellular Calcium Sensing Receptor (CaSR) in Equine Umbilical Cord Matrix Size-Sieved Stem Cells

The present study investigates the effects of high external calcium concentration ([Ca(2+)](o)) and the calcimimetic NPS R-467, a known calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) agonist, on growth/proliferation of two equine size-sieved umbilical cord matrix mesenchymal stem cell (eUCM-MSC) lines. The involvement of CaSR on observed cell response was analyzed at both the mRNA and protein level.A large (>8 µm in diameter) and a small (<8 µm) cell line were cultured in medium containing: 1) low [Ca(2+)](o) (0.37 mM); 2) high [Ca(2+)](o) (2.87 mM); 3) NPS R-467 (3 µM) in presence of high [Ca(2+)](o) and 4) the CaSR antagonist NPS 2390 (10 µM for 30 min.) followed by incubation in presence of NPS R-467 in medium with high [Ca(2+)](o). Growth/proliferation rates were compared between groups. In large cells, the addition of NPS R-467 significantly increased cell growth whereas increasing [Ca(2+)](o) was not effective in this cell line. In small cells, both higher [Ca(2+)](o) and NPS R-467 increased cell growth. In both cell lines, preincubation with the CaSR antagonist NPS 2390 significantly inhibited the agonistic effect of NPS R-467. In both cell lines, increased [Ca(2+)](o) and/or NPS R-467 reduced doubling time values.Treatment with NPS R-467 down-regulated CaSR mRNA expression in both cell lines. In large cells, NPS R-467 reduced CaSR labeling in the cytosol and increased it at cortical level.In conclusion, calcium and the calcimimetic NPS R-467 reduce CaSR mRNA expression and stimulate cell growth/proliferation in eUCM-MSC. Their use as components of media for eUCM-MSC culture could be beneficial to obtain enough cells for down-stream purposes

Risk factors in the development of stem cell therapy

Stem cell therapy holds the promise to treat degenerative diseases, cancer and repair of damaged tissues for which there are currently no or limited therapeutic options. The potential of stem cell therapies has long been recognised and the creation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) has boosted the stem cell field leading to increasing development and scientific knowledge. Despite the clinical potential of stem cell based medicinal products there are also potential and unanticipated risks. These risks deserve a thorough discussion within the perspective of current scientific knowledge and experience. Evaluation of potential risks should be a prerequisite step before clinical use of stem cell based medicinal products

Different populations and sources of human mesenchymal stem cells (MSC): A comparison of adult and neonatal tissue-derived MSC

The mesenchymal stroma harbors an important population of cells that possess stem cell-like characteristics including self renewal and differentiation capacities and can be derived from a variety of different sources. These multipotent mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) can be found in nearly all tissues and are mostly located in perivascular niches. MSC have migratory abilities and can secrete protective factors and act as a primary matrix for tissue regeneration during inflammation, tissue injuries and certain cancers