Identification and expression profiling of toxic boron-responsive microRNAs and their targets in sensitive and tolerant wheat cultivars

Post transcriptional gene regulation in wheat cultivars caused by boron (B) toxicity has not been reported to date. In this study, two wheat cultivars Bolal-2973 (B-tolerant) and Atay-85 (B-sensitive) were compared with regard to the transcriptional regulation of miR319, miR172 and miR398 and their plausible target genes in order to address differences in their performances under high B levels. The expression levels of Cu/ZnSOD gene were found to be greater in Atay exposed to toxic B compared to Bolal, as verified by stable expression level of miR398. In wheat cultivars, both toxic B concentrations might cause an induction of leaf senescence mechanism due to stable level of JA and ethylene-related miRNAs, miR172 and miR319. miR172 targeting transcription factor TOE1 was only induced under B toxicity in sensitive cultivar Atay. However, MY133 as target of miR319 was significantly upregulated under toxic B in both cultivars. Also, computational prediction of these miRNA targets in wheat was performed and their orthologs in Arabidopsis thaliana were determined. Functional protein association networks of proteins encoded by miRNA targets and gene ontology enrichment analyses of these genes were identified. We identified new sets of genes that are targets of miR172, miR319 and miR398 in T. aestivum. In addition, miR172, miR319 and miR398 are responsive to different nutrient deficiencies or toxicities such as Fe, P, B, S and Cu, suggesting crosstalk between the post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms involving miRNAs in plants

Teaching Efficacy of Physical Education Teacher Candidates

In this research it is aimed to identify the teaching efficacy of physical education teacher candidates in Turkey and analyzing their efficacy in respect of gender, grade variables. Research group consists of 689 (Mage=21.728, SD=2.043) physical education teacher candidates that study in 3rd & 4th grade of Physical Education and Sports Teaching Department of 6 different universities located in different cities of Turkey, 368 (53.4%) of these preservice teachers are male and 321 (46.6%) of them are female. As the data collection tool, personal information form and Physical Education Teaching Efficacy Scale were used. In analysis of data, t-test technique was used for independent groups and descriptive statistics (number, per cent, arithmetic means and Standard deviation) were used to identify the difference between and dependent and independent variables. As a result, it was concluded that teaching efficacy level of physical education teacher candidates were in medium level, physical education teacher candidates felt themselves sufficient about the subject such as using and managing lesson field and tools efficiently, providing lesson safety, motivation, communication, using computer and internet technologies, they faced with problems about transferring of information that they obtained from lessons to practice, efficacy levels of female preservice teachers were higher than male preservice teachers and physical education teacher candidates in 3rd & 4th grade had similar values in terms of efficacy. Key Words: physical education, teaching efficacy, teacher educatio

Cellular automata segmentation of brain tumors on post contrast MR images

In this paper, we re-examine the cellular automata(CA) al- gorithm to show that the result of its state evolution converges to that of the shortest path algorithm. We proposed a complete tumor segmenta- tion method on post contrast T1 MR images, which standardizes the VOI and seed selection, uses CA transition rules adapted to the problem and evolves a level set surface on CA states to impose spatial smoothness. Val- idation studies on 13 clinical and 5 synthetic brain tumors demonstrated the proposed algorithm outperforms graph cut and grow cut algorithms in all cases with a lower sensitivity to initialization and tumor type

Simultaneous heat and mass transfer inside a heated cavity with a moisture source

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.In many engineering problems, momentum, energy and mass transport take place together and these equations must be analyzed simultaneously. Especially in food industry, the most important step of processes like cooking, drying, smoking is the simultaneous heat and mass transfer. During these processes, significant changes in physical, chemical and nutritional properties of food occur. Most of these changes are functions of temperature, humidity and time. In cavities with moisture sources, investigating simultaneous heat and mass transfer is important to reveal the behavior of the system. In this study, an experimental and numerical investigation was carried out on the simultaneous heat and mass transfer inside a heated cavity which has a moisture source in it. For analyzing simultaneous heat and mass transfer, a model of a heated cavity having a porous mass source (brick) was established. For analysis studies, commercial FLUENT® software which solves basic momentum, energy and mass transport equations is used. In order to express the vaporization of the water in the brick, an external code is written. Within the scope of experimental studies, a cavity which had a water soaked brick within was used. The brick was heated by hot air which was forwarded into cavity. During the tests, the temperature change in the cavity and brick were recorded. In order to express the mass loss of the brick, the mass change of the brick was also recorded. The boundary values which are needed in the modeling studies were determined experimentally. The results of the analysis studies implemented were compared with the experimental results and good agreement was observed for the temperature of the brick and the mass loss of the brick.dc201

Dissociative experiences in bipolar disorder II: Are they related to childhood trauma and obsessive-compulsive symptoms?

Objective The aim of this study is to investigate the presence of dissociative symptoms and whether they are related to childhood trauma and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in bipolar disorder type II (BD-II). Methods Thirty-three euthymic patients (HDRS<8, YMRS<5) and 50 healthy subjects were evaluated by SCID-I and SCID-NP. We excluded all first and second-axis comorbidities. All patients and healthy subjects were examined with the Dissociative Experiences Scale (DES), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ-53), and Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder scale (Y-BOCS). Results In pairwise comparisons between the BD-II and control groups, the total CTQ, emotional abuse, emotional neglect, DES, and total Y-BOCS scores in the BD-II group were significantly higher than those in the control group (p < 0.05). There were five cases with DES scores over 30 (15.2%) and one case (2%) in the control group. DES was weakly correlated with total CTQ and Y-BOCS in patients diagnosed with BD-II (r = 0.278, p < 0.05 and r = 0.217, p < 0.05, respectively). While there was no correlation between total CTQ and Y-BOCS, the CTQ sexual abuse subscale was found to be related to Y-BOCS (r = 0.330, p < 0.05). Discussion These results suggest that there is a relation between childhood traumas and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, or that dissociative symptoms are more associated with anxiety than obsessive symptoms, which prevents the increase of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in BD-II

Dissociative experiences in bipolar disorder II: Are they related to childhood trauma and obsessive-compulsive symptoms?

Objective The aim of this study is to investigate the presence of dissociative symptoms and whether they are related to childhood trauma and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in bipolar disorder type II (BD-II). Methods Thirty-three euthymic patients (HDR

Relationship between anxiety, heart rate and efficiency of pistol shootingTabanca atış başarısı, kaygı düzeyi ve kalp atım hızı arasındaki ilişki

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between anxiety, heart rate and efficiency of pistol shooting. In this study, 291 male volunteers working for the Turkish National Police within the age range of 20-23 years participated. The efficiency of pistol shooting was evaluated by the total points of the bullets which hit the target from 10 metres. The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) was used to assess anxiety. The “Polar Team2 Pro” device for heart rate was used. Significant differences were found between the sets of participants according to shot accuracy groups for state anxiety level, anxiety variability, average heart rate, maximal heart rate and heart rate changes. The correlation coefficient between the pistol shooting result and change in heart rate, anxiety variability, mean heart rate during shooting, state anxiety and maximal heart rate during shooting was significant. However, there was no significant correlation between shot accuracy and resting heart rate and trait anxiety. Based on the findings, it was concluded that as a result of the higher state anxiety levels, the tremor which is caused by increased heart rate negatively affects the shooting performance in police. ÖzetBu çalışmanın amacı tabanca atış başarısı, kaygı düzeyi ve kalp atım hızı arasındaki ilişkileri araştırmaktır. Bu çalışmaya Türk Polis Teşkilatında görev yapan 20-23 yaş arasındaki 291 gönüllü erkek katılmıştır. Tabanca atış başarısı 10 metre mesafeden hedef üzerine isabet eden fişeklerin toplam puanı üzerinden değerlendirilmiştir. Kaygı düzeylerinin değerlendirilmesi için Durumluk ve Sürekli Kaygı Envanteri (STAI) kullanılmıştır. Kalp atım hızı ölçümü için “Polar Team2 Pro” cihazı kullanılmıştır. Atış başarısı gruplarına göre katılımcıların durumluk kaygı düzeyi, kaygı düzeyi değişimi, atış ortalama kalp atım hızı, maksimal kalp atım hızı ve kalp atım hızı değişimi arasında anlamlı farklılık bulunmuştur. Tabanca atış başarısı sonuçları ile kalp atım hızı değişimi, kaygı düzeyi değişimi, atış ortalama kalp atım hızı, durumluk kaygı düzeyi, maksimal kalp atım hızı arasındaki korelasyon katsayı anlamlı bulunmuştur. Ancak atış başarısı ile dinlenik kalp atım hızı ve sürekli kaygı düzeyi arasında herhangi korelasyon bulunmamıştır. Araştırmanın bulgularına dayanarak, durumluk kaygı düzeyi yükseldikçe artan kalp atım hızının yarattığı sarsıntının polislerin atış yeteneklerini olumsuz etkilediği sonucuna varılmıştır

Epicardial adipose tissue and pericoronary fat thickness measured with 64-multidetector computed tomography: potential predictors of the severity of coronary artery disease

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between pericoronary fat and the severity and extent of atherosclerosis, quantified using 64-multidetector computed tomography, in patients with suspected coronary artery disease. METHODS: The study population consisted of 131 patients who were clinically referred for noninvasive multislice computed tomography coronary angiography for the evaluation of coronary artery disease. Patients were classified as follows: no atherosclerosis, Group 1; nonobstructive atherosclerosis (luminal narrowin

Utility of Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) system to predict coronary artery disease severity in low to moderate risk hypertensive patients undergoing elective coronary angiography

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of mortality in hypertensive patients. Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) is the preferred scoring system to predict future fatal cardiovascular events in hypertensive patients. However, the relationship between SCORE and coronary atherosclerosis is not well described. We aimed to investigate whether SCORE has a relationship with CAD severity in hypertensive patients, even in the absence of high risk features. Material and methods: Four hundred and fifty-two hypertensive patients who underwent elective coronary angiography and defined as low or moderate risk according to SCORE were included into the study. Patients were divided into two groups. Patients with a SCORE &lt; 1% were defined as low risk group, and patients with a SCORE ≥ 1% and &lt; 5% were defined as moderate risk group. The groups were compared regarding CAD severity. Results: The frequency of stenotic CAD and multivessel disease, and mean SYNTAX score, were significantly higher in SCORE ≥ 1%, and &lt; 5% group compared to patients with SCORE &lt; 1%. Correlation analysis revealed a significant positive moderate correlation between SCORE and SYNTAX score (Pearson’s r: 0.679, p &lt; 0.001). ROC curve analysis demonstrated that a SCORE ≥ 3% predicted SYNTAX score &gt; 22 with a sensitivity of 75% and a specificity of 86.5% (AUC: 0.879, p &lt; 0.001). Furthermore, multivariate analysis demonstrated that SCORE was an independent predictor of stenotic CAD (OR: 1.616, p &lt; 0.001), multivessel disease (OR: 1.913, p &lt; 0.001), and SYNTAX score &gt; 22. (OR: 1.817, p &lt; 0.001). Conclusion: Our results suggest that SCORE is associated with CAD severity in hypertensive patients even in theabsence of high risk features. The SCORE system may be useful in further risk stratification of hypertensive patientswith moderate risk features and suspected CAD