Seismic assessment of a curved multi-span simply supported truss steel railway bridge

Fragility curve is an effective method to determine the seismic performance of a structural and nonstructural member. Fragility curves are derived for Highway Bridges for many studies. In Turkish railway lines, there are lots of historic bridges, and it is obvious that in order to sustain the safety of the railway lines, earthquake performance of these bridges needs to be determined. In this study, a multi-span steel truss railway bridge with a span length of 25.7m is considered. Main steel truss girders are supported on the abutments and 6 masonry piers. Also, the bridge has a 300m curve radius. Sap 2000 finite element software is used to model the 3D nonlinear modeling of the bridge. Finite element model is updating according to field test recordings. 60 real earthquake data selected from three different soil conditions are considered to determine the seismic performance of the bridge. Nonlinear time history analysis is conducted, and maximum displacements are recorded. Probabilistic seismic demand model (PSDMs) is used to determine the relationship between the Engineering Demand Parameter (EDP) and Intensity Measure (IMs). Fragility curve of the bridge is derived by considering the serviceability limit state, and results are discussed in detail

Depression and anxiety may be cause or effect of attacks in hereditary angioedema

Introduction: The study aims to determine the depression and anxiety levels of patients with hereditary angioedema using the Beck depression inventory(BDI), Beck anxiety inventory (BAI) and to compare the results with the patients' demographic characteristics, the number of attacks, attack types, and healthy controls.Methods: 60 hereditary angioedema patients and 60 healthy controls were included in the study. The demographic characteristics of the patients, the total number of attacks/months before treatment, the number of attacks according to the localization of the attacks, and the number of attacks/month after treatment were filled in retrospectively from their hospital records. BDI and BAI were used for anxiety and depression levels.Results: Median BAI (11 vs 5; p=0.001) and BDI (11 vs 7; p=0.024) in HAE patients, the ratio of patients with moderate anxiety (21.7% vs 1.7%; p=0.001) and the ratio of patients with severe anxiety (8.3% vs. 0%; p=0.001) were compared to the control group, was high. There was no statistically significant difference between the number of attacks under treatment and the BAI and BDI scores. A positive correlation was found between the number of untreated attacks and the number of attacks under treatment and the BAI score (r=0.759; p=0.001) and BDI score (r=0.599; p=0.001).Conclusions: Due to the high prevalence of depression and anxiety in HAE patients, health care providers should be attentive of this comorbidity and refer patients to mental health specialists, when needed.Keywords: Hereditary Angioedema, Beck Depression Inventory, Beck Anxiety Inventor

The healing effects of the topical mesenchymal stem cells application on colonic anastomosis subjected to ischemia reperfusion injury

Intestinal ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) is a challenging problem and it adversely affects the healing of colonic anastomosis. Our experimental study aimed to investigate the role of mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) administration in the healing of colonic anastomosis. A total of 33 rats were grouped as Control, IRI and MSC treatment groups. Three rats were reserved for obtaining MSCs. Colonic resection and anastomosis procedure was performed in all groups. Anastomotic line was wrapped with MSCs impregnated spongostan after colonic anastomosis in the rats of the MSC treatment group. All rats were sacrificed and anastomotic line were sampled for examination on the post operative seventh day. Tissue hydroxyproline (HP) levels and anastomotic bursting pressures were statistically compared. Anastomotic bursting pressures were found to be significantly high in MSC treatment group rats. The lowest anastomotic bursting pressure was detected in IRI group rats. Hydroxyproline content of the anastomotic sites were also found to be significantly higher in the rats of the MSC treatment group when compared with the IRI group rats. Our study showed that the detrimental effects of IRI on the healing process of colonic anastomosis in an experimental model may be alleviated with the treatment of MSCs. © 2021, Veteriner Fakultesi Dergisi. All rights reserved

Prımary teachers and candıdate teachers’ perceptıons of the concept of mentor-mentee relatıon: a metaphorıc study

Bu çalışmanın amacı, sınıf öğretmenlerinin ve öğretmen adaylarının “mentor-menti ilişkisi”ne yönelik algılarının metaforlar aracılığıyla belirlenmesidir. Araştırmanın verileri, 2016-2017 eğitim-öğretim yılı bahar döneminde Nevşehir Hacı Bektaş Veli Üniversitesi, Mersin Üniversitesi, Kastamonu Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Sınıf Eğitimi Anabilim Dalı’nda öğrenim gören 165 öğretmen adayı ile Nevşehir ve Mersin il merkezinde görev yapan toplam 83 sınıf öğretmeninden elde edilmiştir. Araştırmada, temel nitel araştırma deseni kullanılmıştır. Veriler, araştırmacılar tarafından geliştirilmiş açık uçlu bir ölçme formu aracılığıyla toplanmıştır. Verilerin analizinde içerik analizi kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın sonucuna göre, katılımcılar mentor-menti ilişkisini aynı metaforla açıklamışlardır. Hem sınıf öğretmenlerinin hem de öğretmen adaylarının “mentor-menti ilişkisi” için en fazla ürettikleri metafor usta-çıraktır. “Mentor-menti ilişkisi”nin anlamına yönelik olarak öğretmen adaylarının en fazla ürettikleri metafor yardımlaşma; sınıf öğretmenlerinin ise tecrübeden faydalanmadır. “Mentor-menti ilişkisi”ne yönelik olarak akıllara gelen ilk kişi öğretmen adayları için üniversite hocası; sınıf öğretmenleri içinse mentorum olmuştur. Hem öğretmen adaylarının hem de sınıf öğretmenlerinin “mentor-menti” ilişkisine yönelik geliştirdikleri metaforlar “tek taraflı destek” ve “karşılıklı fayda birlikteliği” kategorileri altında toplanmıştır.The main propose of this study is to determine primary teachers and teacher candidates’ mental images about “mentor-mentee relation” via metaphors. This research was carried out by participating of 83 primary teachers working in the city center of Nevsehir and Mersin and by participating of 65 candidate teachers studying at Nevsehir Haci Bektas Veli University, Mersin University and Kastamonu University Education Faculty Department of Primary Education in the 2016-2017 academic year. Basic qualitative research design was used in the research. The data were collected through an open-ended measurement form developed by the researchers. Content analysis was used in the analysis of the data. Both candidate teachers and primary teachers explained the mentor-mentee relationship mostly through master-apprentice, teacher-student, mother-child metaphors. According to the results of the study, the participants explained the mentor-mentee relationship with the same metaphor. Metaphor master-apprentice is the most produced by both primary teachers and candidate teachers for the “mentor-mentee relationship”. In terms of the meaning of “mentor-mentee relationship”, the most metaphor produced by candidate teachers is “cooperation”; and for primary teachers is “benefiting from experience”. The first person to come to mind regarding of “mentor-mentee relationship” is “university teacher” for candidate teachers; and “my mentor” for the primary teachers. The metaphors developed by both candidate teachers and primary teachers for the concept of “mentor-mentee relation” have been gathered under the categories of “unilateral cooperation” and “mutual benefit cooperation”

DEHB ve otizm spektrum bozukluğu olan çocuklarda serum ürotensin-II düzeylerinin değerlendirilmesi

Objective: Urotensin-II (U-II) is one of the most vasoconstrictive substrates for the mammals. Lately, this substrate is thought to be responsible for developing of the neuropsychiatric disorders, by causing an abnormal brain bloodstream situation. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are frequently seen disorders in childhood and their etiologies are remain unclear. This study evaluated the serum urotensin-II levels of children with ASD and ADHD and compared with healthy subjects' urotensin-II levels. Methods: Total of 179 children between age of 4-12, 60 of them diagnosed with ADHD and 60 of children with ASD, according to the DSM-5 criteria and both had no treatment for at least a month and 59 of healthy subjects whom they all admitted to the Ankara Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Training and Research Hospital were included. Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children, a semi-structured interview, was applied to all subjects. Venous samples of the participants were given after a-12 hours starvation. Serum U-II levels were analyzed by the use of ELISA kits. SPSS 16.0 was used for analysis and p<0.05 was accepted as significance level. Results: U-II levels of children with ASD were found higher than that of ADHD and healthy groups. There was also a positive correlation between U-II levels and autism behavior checklist scores. Discussion: Higher U-II levels and its levels' correlation with symptom severity of disorder are thought to be a responsible factor that could play a role in ASD etiology. Further studies with larger sample size could be useful to investigate the role of UII in the etiology and treatment research of AS

An implicit cause of prolonged neonatal jaundice: vitamin B12 deficiency

Objective Prolonged jaundice is defined as a serum bilirubin level of more than 5 mg/dL, which persists at postnatal 14 days in term infants and 21 days following birth in preterm infants. Although the underlying causes cannot be found in the majority of prolonged jaundice cases, this may be the first sign of a serious issue. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the association between vitamin B12 deficiency and prolonged jaundice in newborns.Material and Methods This descriptive cross-sectional study was performed in a university hospital between January 1, 2015 and October 1, 2020. All participants consisted of infants who were admitted to the pediatric outpatient clinics. Infants > 35 weeks of gestation and with prolonged jaundice of unknown etiology were included in the study group. The control group consisted of infants > 35 weeks of gestation without prolonged jaundice. Demographic and clinical characteristics and serum vitamin B12 levels were evaluated comparatively.Results A total of 126 infants, 66 of whom had prolonged jaundice, were included. The mean gestational week of the study group was 38.4 +/- 1.8, and the control group was 38.6 +/- 1.9 weeks. There was no difference between the groups in terms of demographics and laboratory data. The vitamin B12 level of the study group was significantly lower (median = 170 pg/mL) than the control (median = 268 pg/mL).Conclusion Based on the findings of this study, vitamin B12 deficiency was thought to be an important cause of prolonged jaundice, and further studies are needed to explain the role of vitamin B12 deficiency in the etiology of prolonged jaundice

Prediction of the preeclampsia: a view of biochemical markers

Preeclampsia is a diverse, multiorgan group of related disease processes that occurs in up to 5%-8% of pregnancies after 20 weeks’ gestation and it is one of the leading causes of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Many molecular mechanisms are contributed to the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. Although it is unknown whether the mechanisms act independently or have synergistic effects. This review describes review of primary papers investigating blood based biomarker such as PAP-A, Inhibin A, sFlt1, and PP13 in general and first trimester biochemical markers and combinations of them specifically for preeclampsia

Yol Verme Davranışı: Sürücülerin Yol Verme Davranışını Anlamak Üzerine Karma Yöntemli Bir Çalışma

Sürücülerin yayalara yol verme davranışını incelemek üzere saha gözlemleri ve yarı-yapılandırılmış mülakatlar yapılmıştır. 1140 araç-yaya gözlemi sonucunda yapılan Cramer’in V katsayısı ve lojistik regresyon analizleri, sürücü cinsiyeti ve yaya yaşı ile yol verme davranışı arasında anlamlı bir ilişki olduğunu göstermiştir. Yaş ve cinsiyetin yanı sıra, sürücü-yaya ilişkisinin doğasını anlamak adına yol özelliklerinin bu ilişkiye etkisi de incelenmiştir. Mülakatlar ise tematik analiz yöntemi ile incelenmiş ve katılımcıların yol verme davranışı ile ilgili düşünceleri 4 tema altında toplanmıştır. Bunlar; "Karşılaşma yerleri", "Kurallara olan güven", "Yol verme davranışını etkileyen faktörler" ve "Geleceğe yönelik çözümler" olarak belirlenmiştir. Hem saha gözlemleri hem de mülakatlar sürücü-yaya ilişkisinin trafik güvenliği ile ilgili önemli bir faktör olduğunu göstermiştir

GAMIFICATION IN URBAN PLANNING - EXPERIENCING THE FUTURE CITY

Virtual Reality (VR) systems have been commonly used in the game and entertainment industries and are also increasingly explored in architecture and urban planning. They assist designers to communicate design ideas to a wider public and can engage them in the design processes. In this paper, we explore gaming environments to allow users to learn about smart city applications, such as innovative mobility approaches, urban farming, drone delivery, etc. The project is part of a real-world project for a future city for 50,000 inhabitants in the European side of Istanbul, Turkey. VR technologies can offer a testing ground for testing ideas, simulating performance, crowdsourcing ideas, before building the actual city physically. Gaming incentivizes citizens to participate in the design process, and the data collected provides a significant feedback loop to shape the city of the future. Citizens can immerse themselves in the VR environment, and experience the design via four circulation modes, e.g., walking, biking, driving, and flying. They allow users to explore novel circulatory approaches within new and innovative city arteries. Indeed, the design of the city accommodates a portfolio of mobility options, and the gamification allows testing pioneering designs, e.g., parallel streets for pedestrians, vehicles, etc. Furthermore, the game allows users to collect points when engaging in smart city topics, such as urban farming, solar energy usage, carbon neutrality, etc. Feedback loop that helps to iterate on the design. The project consists of three phases, a. an immersive VR version of the city experienced on head-mounted-displays, b. edutainment and the gamification of the city, and c. the integration of the digital version of the city into Meta’s multi-user space. In the paper, we present early findings of the project, the methods/tools explored, and discuss the utility of VR technologies in the design processes of architecture and urban planning