The effects of Aminoethoxyvinylglycine and Methyl Jasmonate on bioactive compounds and fruit quality of ‘north wonder’ sweet cherry

Background: AVG is an organic ethylene inhibitor. AVG treatments retarded the ripening process, increased fruit sizes and delayed loss of postharvest fruit flesh firmness by inhibiting ethylene. MeJA is a natural plant growth regulator and plays a regulatory role in various metabolic reactions. Apart from its role in fruit ripening, cell activities like anthocyanin and carotenoid synthesis and inhibitive role in aromatic material formation, chlorophyll and lycopene production.Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted to determine the effects of pre-harvest aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) and methyl jasmonate (MeJA) treatments on bioactive compounds, mineral nutrients and other fruit quality characteristics of ‘North Wonder’ sweet cherries variety in 2011. AVG was sprayed on experimental trees at 125 mg L-1 dose in two different periods i.e. 3 weeks and 2 weeks before the anticipated harvest date. MeJA was applied 3 week before the anticipated harvest date at a dose of 2240 mg L-1.Results: MeJA significantly increased fruit weight and geometric mean diameter. AVG significantly decreased fruit weight and flesh/stone ratio, significantly increased L*, chroma and hue angle values. Effects of both AVG and MeJA on flesh firmness were also found to be significant. While soluble solids concentration and pH values significantly decreased with AVG treatment, titrate acidity significantly increased. Both AVG and MeJA treatments significantly decreased total phenolics (TP), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total anthocyanin (TA). Effects of AVG on such decreases in TAC and TA were more efficient than MeJA. While the effects of both AVG and MeJA on iron content were significant, effects of only MeJA on nitrogen and phosphor contents were found to be significant.Conclusion: Growth regulators significantly decreased bioactive compounds. AVG was more effective in such decreases than MeJA.Key words: Antioxidant, color, flesh firmness, mineral nutrients, phenolics, Prunus avium L

Tree Growth Yield and Fruit Quality of Different Apple Cultivars Trained as Super Spindle

This study was carried out on Topaz, Cooper 39 and Muscat apple cultivars grafted on M27 rootstocks under Tokat ecological conditions during 2008 - 2010. The trees planted in 2.0 m x 0.5 m row spacing (10,000 trees ha-1) and trained to super spindle (SS) training system. The vegetative development, yield and fruit quality performances of the trees supported by wire – pole combination were observed for three years. At the end of the experiment, it was determined that Cooper 39 had a higher trunk cross sectional area (TCA) than Topaz and Muscat. While cumulative yield (CY) per tree and cumulative yield efficiency (CYE) were determined to be the highest in Cooper 39, these values were found to be the lowest in Topaz. CY per hectare over the first three crop year was found to be the highest in Cooper 39 and the yield reached to 142.9 t.ha1. The lowest CY per hectare (69.6 ton ha-1) was determined in Topa

THE EFFECTS OF AMINOETHOXYVINYLGLYCINE AND METHYL JASMONATE ON BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS AND FRUIT QUALITY OF ‘NORTH WONDER’ SWEET CHERRY

Background: AVG is an organic ethylene inhibitor. AVG treatments retarded the ripening process, increased fruit sizes and delayed loss postharvest fruit flesh firmness by inhibiting ethylene. MeJA is a natural plant growth regulator and plays a regulatory role in various reactions. Apart from its role in fruit ripening, cell activities like anthocyanin and carotenoid synthesis and inhibitive role in aromatic formation, chlorophyll and lycopene production. Materials and Methods: The present study was conducted to determine the effects of pre-harvest aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) and jasmonate (MeJA) treatments on bioactive compounds, mineral nutrients and other fruit quality characteristics of ‘North Wonder’ sweet variety in 2011. sprayed on experimental trees at 125 mg L-1 dose in two different periods i.e. 3 weeks and 2 weeks before anticipated harvest date. MeJA was applied 3 week before the anticipated harvest date at a dose of 2240 mg L-1 .Results: MeJA significantly increased fruit weight and geometric mean diameter. AVG significantly decreased fruit weight and flesh/stone significantly increased L*, chroma and hue angle values. Effects of both AVG and MeJA on flesh firmness were also found to be significant. While soluble solids concentration and pH values significantly decreased with AVG treatment, titrate acidity significantly increased. Both and MeJA treatments significantly decreased total phenolics (TP), total antioxidant capacity (TAC) and total anthocyanin (TA). Effects on such decreases in TAC and TA were more efficient than MeJA. While the effects of both AVG and MeJA on iron content were significant, effects of only MeJA on nitrogen and phosphor contents were found to be significant. Conclusion: Growth regulators significantly decreased bioactive compounds. AVG was more effective in such decreases than MeJA

EFFECTS OF PRE-HARVEST METHYL JASMONATE TREATMENT ON POST-HARVEST FRUIT QUALITY OF JAPANESE PLUMS

Background: Plum fruits constitute a good source of natural antioxidant substances. Particularly, plums contain large amounts of phenolic compounds and flavonoids having natural antioxidant activity which is effective in human diet. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of pre-harvest MeJA treatment on the fruit quality and bioactive compounds of three different Japanese plums under storage conditions. Materials and Methods: The effects of pre-harvest methyl jasmonate treatment (MeJA) on weight loss, color characteristics (L*, C* and h°), firmness, soluble solids content (SSC), titratable acidity (TA), total phenolics (TP) and total antioxidant activity (TAA) of ‘Black Beauty’, ‘Black Amber’ and ‘Fortune’ plum fruits during the cold storage (at 0±0.5 C and 90±5% RH) were investigated in this study. Results: MeJA did not have significant effects on the weight loss (%) of ‘Black Amber’ and ‘Fortune’ fruits, whereas it was effective in delaying the weight loss of ‘Black Beauty’ at the end of storage. The color characteristics of all plum cultivars were not significantly affected by MeJA at the end of storage. In all plum cultivars, the SSC increased, while TA significantly (

The Effectiveness of Manual Detorsion Applied in the Emergency Department in Testicular Torsion: A Single - Center Experience of 13 Years

Objective: As a urological emergency, testicular torsion is one of the causes of acute scrotum in all age groups. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of manual detorsion performed before surgical intervention. Materials and Methods: Retrospective data analysis of the patients with acute scrotum who applied to the emergency department of a 3rd level hospital between the years January 2010 and January 2023 with the complaint acute unbearable pain within the first 12 hours of its onset was performed. Patients were grouped according to whether or not manual detorsion was performed in the emergency department. Successful manual detorsion was defined as postprocedural normal color Doppler ultrasound findings and complete resolution of pain. All patients had undergone surgical exploration. Age, laterality of the torsional testis, manual testicular detorsion attempt (if any), and surgical conditions resulting in testis preservation or orchiectomy were the patient data analyzed. Results: Sixty patients were included in the study. Manual detorsion was performed in 29 (48.3%) patients in the emergency department (Group 1). Scrotal exploration was performed in 31 (51.7%) patients without applying manual detorsion (Group 2). In Group 1, testicular preservation was achieved in 26 (89.7%) patients. In Group 1, in 3 patients (10.3%) testicular necrosis occurred due to failure to achieve adequate blood supply, while orchiectomy was performed in 11 (35.5%) patients in Group 2. Lower rates of orchiectomy were observed in Group 1 compared to Group 2 (p=0.021). We also observed that manual detorsion decreased the rate of orchiectomy (rho- 0.297, p=0.021), and the probability of undergoing orchiectomy increased with increasing age (rho 0.512, p<0.001). Conclusion: Manual testicular detorsion is a noninvasive method that can be safely applied to all patients diagnosed with testicular torsion. We think that it will shorten the duration of testicular ischemia in the emergency department and contribute to testicular salvage

Presence of Class I and Class II Integrons in Methicilin Resistant Staphylococci and Their Relations with Antibiotic Resistance: A Preliminary Study from Turkey

Background: Emergence of antibiotic resistance is a major public health concern. It is known that antibiotic resistance is transferred by different ways. Integrons as one of these mechanisims cause to spread antibiotic resistance in Gram negative bacteria but also it is shown to be effective for transferring genes in Gram positive bacteria. In the present study we aimed to examine the prevalence of class I and class II integrons in MRSA and MRCNS strains isolated from patients and to determine the relationship between antibiotic resistance and the presence of integrons. Methods: Sixty four MRSA and 62 MRCNS strains were included in this study. Antibiotic susceptibility testings were performed. Genomic and plasmid DNAs were extracted and Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) was used for the detection of the intI and intII genes. The PCR products were visualised in 1.5 % agarose gel electrophoresis. Pearson chi-square test and Fisher’s exact test were used for comparing categorical variables. Results: Among 126 staphylococci 11 (8.7% - 4 MRSA and 7 MRCNS) were shown to carry class I integron; whereas 7 MRCNS (5.5%) were class II positive. Both of class I and class II integrons were detected to possess in four MRSA (3.2%). There was no statistically significant relation between presence of integrons and resistance to each of antibiotics (p&gt;0.05). Conclusion &amp; Recommendation: In the present study we did not find any significant relation between resistance rates and the presence of integrons but we suggest that these results showed an important data about the extended distributions of integrons not only among Gram negative bacteria but also in staphylococci.Keywords: MRSA, MRCNS, class I integron, class II integron, anbiotic resistanceDOI: 10.7176/JHMN/75-0

Analysis, design and "in silico" evaluation of e-selectin antagonists

E-selectin, is member of a family of cell-adhesion proteins, which plays a crucial role in many physiological processes and diseases [1], and in particular, in the early phases of the inflammatory response. Its role is to promote the tethering and the rolling of leukocytes along the endothelial surface [2]. These steps are then followed by integrin-mediated firm adhesion and final transendothelial migration. Therefore, control of the leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion process may be useful in cases, where excessive recruitment of leukocytes can contribute to acute or chronic diseases such as stroke, reperfusion injury, psoriasis or rheumatoid arthritis [3]. In this work, efforts to develop in silico-based protocols to study the interaction between E-selectin and its ligands, are presented. Hence, different protocols had to be developed and validated. In particular, a new procedure for the analysis of the conformational preferences of E-selectin antagonists was established and the results compared to those obtained with the MC(JBW)/SD approach, which had already demonstrated its validity in the past [161,168]. Thus, the comparison between the two protocols permitted to recognize a different conformational preference of the two methods for the orientation of the sialic acid moiety of sLex (3) (torsions Φ3 and Ψ3, Figure A), which reflects the contrasting opinions existing for the conformation adopted by sLex (3) in solution [150–168]. A more detailed analysis revealed that probably both approaches deliver only a partially correct view and that in reality, in solution, sLex (3) exists as a mixture of low energy conformers and not as supposed to date [150–154,161–163] as a population of a single conformer. In addition, a docking routine was established and the impact of different partialcharge methods and of explicit solvation on the binding mode studied. MD simulations enabled to gain an insight into the dynamical character of the protein-ligand interactions. In particular, the observations done in an atomic-force microscopy study [350], describing the interactions between the carboxylic group of sLex and Arg97, and between the 3– and 4–hydroxyls of fucose and the calcium ion, as the two main energy barriers for the dissociation process of the protein-ligand complex, found confirmation in our MD-investigations. Thus, these two contacts always lasted longer than any other in the MD simulation. QSAR-models with Quasar [270–272,351] and Raptor [315,316,335] were successfully derived and will permit a semi-quantitative in silico estimation of the binding affinity for the ligands that will be designed in the future. Finally, the developed protocols and models were applied for the development of new E-selectin antagonists. Unfortunately, to date, only few biological data is available to evaluate our design strategies. However, the impact of the ligand’s pre-organization on the binding affinity could be established at least for the Lexcore of sLex (3). Hence, the importance of the exo-anomeric effect, of the steric compression, and of the hydrophobic interaction between the methyl group of fucose and the β-face of galactose was clearly demonstrated

Can pretreatment hepatic artery perfusion scintigraphy in patients with liver malignancies predict the treatment response of the selective internal radiation therapy with 90Y resin microspheres?

PURPOSEWe aimed to evaluate whether the perfusion pattern from pretreatment hepatic artery perfusion scintigraphy (HAPS) in patients with liver malignancies can predict response to selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT).METHODSThis retrospective study analyzed 152 consecutive patients treated with yttrium-90 (90Y) resin microspheres between April 2015 and July 2017. HAPS using single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography (SPECT/CT) with 99mtechnetium macroaggregated albumin (99mTc-MAA) was performed before SIRT. Investigators visually classified perfusion patterns of tumors as heterogeneous or diffuse in HAPS. Between diffuse and heterogeneous pattern group, positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were performed in third and sixth month after SIRT, and tumor response assessed and compared by using RECIST 1.1 or mRECIST. Overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were also compared with Kaplan-Meier/log-rank analyses.RESULTSOf 216 SIRT procedures, 172 were classified as heterogeneous and 44 as diffuse. Diffuse 99mTc- MAA uptake was associated with longer median OS than heterogeneous (22.2 vs. 14.4 months, respectively; P = .047). Subsegmental infusion was associated with longer OS than either lobar or segmental infusion (P = .090). Mean estimated OS was longer in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (34.2 months) than with colorectal carcinoma (CRC) (16.4 months) (P = .044). Patients with both diffuse and heterogeneous patterns were able to show complete response after SIRT. No statistically significant differences were observed between perfusion patterns and PFS or response rates to SIRT.CONCLUSIONAlthough tumor perfusion patterns from preplanning HAPS analyses are useful for estimating tumor uptake of 90Y, they may not reliably predict hepatic treatment response, as patients with different perfusion patterns can show clinical response to SIRT