Genetic Diversity of Some Quercus (Fagaceae) and their Putative Hybrids in Turkey

In the study, Inter-Simple Sequence Repeat (ISSR) method was used to identify and differentiate between twelve different white oaks to show their genetic diversity. On the other hand, interspecific hybridization is quite common among oak species. This situation makes the hybridization between closely related parents possible. Besides genetic diversity of some white oaks, the five putative hybrids which are morphologically indistinguishable were also studied. ISSR markers produced a total of 89.71 %25 polymorphism with Quercus taxa and a total of 175 bands were revealed by 11 ISSR primers. Statistical analysis softwares, Minitab, NTSYS-pc (Numerical Taxonomy and Multivariate Analysis System) and POPGENE (Population Genetic Analysis) softwares were used to reveal variations between these white oaks. Effective allelic frequency, Shannon index, genetic distance was calculated by the POPGENE software. The most distance taxon was Q. pontica, then Q. vulcanica found to be genetically distant among the taxa. The results of the two analyses, cluster (CA) and principal component (PCA) are in correlation with each other and giving four groups among the studied oak taxa. Putative hybrids are usually located between their presumed parents in the dendrogram and graphs. Consequently, this preliminary study showed that ISSR markers can be used with confidence for genetic diversity of white oaks. It can also be helpful for putative hybrids to some extent

Comparison of clinical and laboratory features and treatment options of 237 symptomatic and asymptomatic children infected with SARS-CoV-2 in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey

Since the first report of COVID-19 in December 2019, little is known about therapeutic usage of hydroxychloroquine in pediatric patients with COVID-19. We retrospectively retrieved data for SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive pediatric patients from 20 hospitals in 8 different cities in Turkey. We obtained patients' epidemiological, clinical, laboratory features and drugs used for treatment of COVID-19. 237 nasopharyngeal swab SARS-CoV-2 PCR positive children were included into the study from March 26 to June 20, 2020. The mean age of asymptomatic children (118±62 months) was found to be higher than that of symptomatic children (89±69 months). Symptomatic children had a significantly lower mean lymphocyte count and higher mean CRP, D-dimer value, procalcitonin and LDH than asymptomatic children in univariate analysis. Out of 156 children, 78 (50%) children received Hydroxychloroquine-containing regimen, 15 of them were treated with hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin + oseltamivir, 44 were treated with hydroxychloroquine + azithromycin and 21 were only treated with hydroxychloroquine. Among the 156 patients who received medical treatment, 90 (58%) patients had pre and/or post-treatment ECG performed upon them. However, none of them either reported ECG abnormalities or a need for discontinuation of hydroxychloroquine because of adverse drug reaction

Androgen and glucocorticoid receptor direct distinct transcriptional programs by receptor-specific and shared DNA binding sites

The glucocorticoid (GR) and androgen (AR) receptors execute unique functions in vivo, yet have nearly identical DNA binding specificities. To identify mechanisms that facilitate functional diversification among these transcription factor paralogs, we studied them in an equivalent cellular context. Analysis of chromatin and sequence suggest that divergent binding, and corresponding gene regulation, are driven by different abilities of AR and GR to interact with relatively inaccessible chromatin. Divergent genomic binding patterns can also be the result of subtle differences in DNA binding preference between AR and GR. Furthermore, the sequence composition of large regions (>10 kb) surrounding selectively occupied binding sites differs significantly, indicating a role for the sequence environment in guiding AR and GR to distinct binding sites. The comparison of binding sites that are shared shows that the specificity paradox can also be resolved by differences in the events that occur downstream of receptor binding. Specifically, shared binding sites display receptor-specific enhancer activity, cofactor recruitment and changes in histone modifications. Genomic deletion of shared binding sites demonstrates their contribution to directing receptor-specific gene regulation. Together, these data suggest that differences in genomic occupancy as well as divergence in the events that occur downstream of receptor binding direct functional diversification among transcription factor paralogs