Assessment of the urban and tourism development in the Fener-Balat Districts

Fener and Balat districts are located on the historic peninsula of Istanbul, Turkey. Rehabilitation programme of those districts is the first work in Istanbul after UNESCO has declared it as a world heritage site in 1985. The aim of the programme is to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of Balat and Fener. Buildings and environment of Balat and Fener, that a great part consists of traditional dwellings, demonstrate many problems of decay and dereliction. Occupiers of those buildings are the ones, who have low incomes. In the past years, this historic area took attention of the visitors like other historic quarters in Istanbul by the influence of the rehabilitation programme and world heritage site status. And these districts meet to tourism. But tourism can be a threat for historic areas without a proper urban planning. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the impacts of the tourism and recent urban planning in those historic districts and find a balance between urbanism and tourism.Peer Reviewe

Assessment of the urban and tourism development in the Fener-Balat Districts

Fener and Balat districts are located on the historic peninsula of Istanbul, Turkey. Rehabilitation programme of those districts is the first work in Istanbul after UNESCO has declared it as a world heritage site in 1985. The aim of the programme is to improve the living conditions of the inhabitants of Balat and Fener. Buildings and environment of Balat and Fener, that a great part consists of traditional dwellings, demonstrate many problems of decay and dereliction. Occupiers of those buildings are the ones, who have low incomes. In the past years, this historic area took attention of the visitors like other historic quarters in Istanbul by the influence of the rehabilitation programme and world heritage site status. And these districts meet to tourism. But tourism can be a threat for historic areas without a proper urban planning. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the impacts of the tourism and recent urban planning in those historic districts and find a balance between urbanism and tourism.Peer Reviewe

“You Can’t Dispose of Mercedes Lightly”: Mercedes de Acosta, Queer Women, and Queer Female Desire in the Early Twentieth Century

This thesis is based off of the life of Mercedes de Acosta (1893-1968), an out lesbian who was very active in the literary, theatrical, and screenwriting spheres at different points in her life. While many could consider her a “failed” artist, given that none of her works were financial successes, she is notable in this time period for the noted quality of her work, her many interpersonal relationships (romantic or otherwise) with others in her trade, and her artistic exploits on both sides of the Atlantic. Being out was incredibly unusual for LGBT+ identified people in this time period, and the homophobia of the period paired with the lack of financial success of her works may have contributed to the fact that she died in poverty. This thesis looks at the life and the historiography of Mercedes de Acosta in an attempt to reconstruct what a lesbian identity meant in this period for women and how her lesbian identity affected both de Acosta\u27s life and her relationships, as well as how she was remembered afterward

Low-cost liquid medium for in vitro cultivation of Leishmania parasites in low-income countries

Background: Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) induced by Leishmania aethiopica has two clinical manifestations: ulcerating, self-healing CL and non-ulcerating, non-healing CL. The grossly disfiguring multiple nodules on the face and exterior surface of limbs during non-ulcerative CL are sometimes misdiagnosed as other skin infections. Thus the need for definitive and prompt laboratory diagnosis will be required. Identifying Leishmania parasite by culture method is considered as a definitive method for initiation of treatment and as an effective component of leishmaniasis control methods. Recently the involvement of Fas (CD95) and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF) Related Apoptosis Inducing Ligand (TRAIL) induced apoptotic pathways were proposed to be involved in tissue destruction and ulceration during L. major induced CL. Aims: 1) to develop an alternative culture media that could minimize the cost for culturing Leishmania from patient lesions. 2) to investigate if the expression of FasL and TRAIL differs in ulcerating and non- ulcerative CL. Methods: GALF-1 media was formulated in our lab and compared to RPMI 1640 medium and conventional Locke s semi solid media (LSSM) which is one of the modifications of Novy-MacNeal-Nicolle (NNN) culture media. Amastigotes transformation, cryopreservation, recovery of parasites, cost and mass cultivation were analysed. Expression of Fas ligand (FasL), TRAIL and apoptosis were assessed by immunohistology in human skin biopsies from L. aethiopica induced ulcerative or non-ulcerative CL. FasL and TRAIL blocking experiments were performed in a murine model of CL. Results and discussion: GALF-1 is cheap and its ingredients available in a low income country such as Ethiopia. GALF-1 was able to transform amastigotes from Ethiopian patients samples and could be used to cultivate promastigotes in large quantities. Cost analysis showed 80% to 95 % decreased costs as compared to conventional media. Promastigotes cultured with GALF-1 could be cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen with comparable re-culture potential to conventional media. Affordability of diagnostic assays is a key issue for resource poor countries and the possibility to cut the cost of the efficient culture method for diagnosis through the use of inexpensive local formulated reagents could improve the diagnosis of leishmaniasis in low income endemic countries. More FasL expressing cells were detected in dermis of ulcerative CL as compared to non-ulcerative CL and controls. TRAIL expression was higher in ulcerative CL as compared to non-ulcerative CL and controls in both epidermis and dermis. Increased dermal expression of FasL and TRAIL was associated with ulcer formation during CL. This correlated with an inhibition of the ulcerative process in a murine CL model during FasL and TRAIL neutralisation.The mechanisms of the involvement of FasL and TRAIL in ulceration was not elucidated and putative reason(s) for the difference in dysregulation of apoptosis are discussed

Treatment of head lice with dimeticone 4% lotion: comparison of two formulations in a randomised controlled trial in rural Turkey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dimeticone 4% lotion was shown to be an effective treatment for head louse infestation in two randomised controlled trials in England. It is not affected by insecticide resistance but efficacy obtained (70-75%) was lower than expected. This study was designed to evaluate efficacy of dimeticone 4% lotion in a geographically, socially, and culturally different setting, in rural Turkey and, in order to achieve blinding, it was compared with a potential alternative formulation.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Children from two village schools were screened for head lice by detection combing. All infested students and family members could participate, giving access to treatment for the whole community. Two investigator applied treatments were given 7 days apart. Outcome was assessed by detection combing three times between treatments and twice the week following second treatment.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the intention to treat group 35/36 treated using dimeticone 4% had no lice after the second treatment but there were two protocol violators giving 91.7% treatment success. The alternative product gave 30/36 (83.3%) treatment success, a difference of 8.4% (95% CI -9.8% to 26.2%). The cure rates per-protocol were 33/34 (97.1%) and 30/35 (85.7%) respectively. We were unable to find any newly emerged louse nymphs on 77.8% of dimeticone 4% treated participants or on 66.7% of those treated with the alternative formulation. No adverse events were identified.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results confirm the efficacy of dimeticone 4% lotion against lice and eggs and we found no detectable difference between this product and dimeticone 4% lotion with nerolidol 2% added. We believe that the high cure rate was related to the lower intensity of infestation in Turkey, together with the level of community engagement, compared with previous studies in the UK.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Trials ISRCTN10431107</p