Učinak mamografskog postupka na serumske razine upalnih i/ili tumorskih biljega

Mammography is one of the gold standard screening tests for breast cancer. The effects of mammography procedure on blood parameters are not known. This study aimed to investigate whether the procedure-associated breast compression affects the widely and simultaneously performed blood measurements of C-reactive protein (CRP), carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), and cancer antigen (CA) 15-3. According to breast ultrasound examination results, participants were divided into 3 groups as follows: group 1 (participants with breast mass size ≥20.0 mm, n=48); group 2 (participants with breast mass size <20.0 mm, n=17); and group 3 (participants with no breast mass, n=23). In groups 1 and 2, on the day of the mammographic imaging study, serum CRP, CEA, and CA 15-3 levels were measured before and after the imaging study. Participants in group 3 had their blood parameters measured without mammography and/or any breast compression. Post-mammography blood measurements displayed a significant increase in serum CRP levels, and a significant decrease in serum CEA and CA 15-3 levels in group 1 (in comparison with the same day pre-mammography blood sampling levels; p<0.05 all). Although pre-mammography serum CEA levels in group 1 participants were significantly higher than those in group 2 and 3 participants, this significant elevation became nonsignificant at post-mammography measurements (p0.05, respectively). On the day of the mammographic imaging study, the optimal time of blood sampling for testing CRP, CEA and CA 15-3 levels in persons with a breast mass is before, but not after the mammographic imaging procedure. This issue requires additional detailed studies.Mamografija je jedan od ‘zlatnih’ standardnih testova probira za rak dojke. Učinci mamografskog postupka na krvne parametre nisu poznati. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je ispitati djeluje li kompresija dojke povezana s ovim postupkom na često i istodobno izvođena mjerenja C-reaktivnog proteina (CRP), karcinoembrijskog antigena (CEA) i karcinom antigen (CA) 15-3 u krvi. Ispitanice su podijeljene u 3 skupine prema rezultatima ultrazvučnog pregleda dojki: 1. skupina (ispitanice s masom u dojci ≥20,0 mm, n=48); 2. skupina (ispitanice s masom u dojci <20,0 mm, n=17); 3. skupina (ispitanice bez mase u dojci, n=23). U 1. i 2. skupini serumske razine CRP, CEA i CA 15-3 mjerene su prije i nakon mamografskog postupka. Kod ispitanica 3. skupine krvni parametri mjereni su bez mamografije i/ili bilo kakve kompresije dojke. Mjerenja provedena nakon mamografije pokazala su značajan porast serumskih razina CRP i značajan pad serumskih razina CEA i CA-15-3 u 1. skupini u usporedbi s razinama tih parametara zabilježenim istoga dana prije mamografije (p<0,05 sve). Iako su razine CEA u serumu prije mamografije bile značajno više u 1. skupini u usporedbi s 2. i 3. skupinom, značajnost tog porasta izgubila se kod mjerenja nakon mamografije (p0,05). Dakle, u danu kad je zakazana mamografija optimalno vrijeme za uzorkovanje krvi za mjerenje razina CRP, CEA i CA 15-3 kod osoba s masom u dojci je prije, a ne poslije mamografskog postupka. Ovo pitanje zahtijeva daljnje podrobne studije

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever in Turkey

Nineteen cases of suspected Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever reported from Turkey

Advanced Power Sharing Scheme under Unbalanced and Nonlinear Loads in an Islanding Microgrid

Active, unbalanced, and harmonic power sharing inaccurately between distributed generators (DGs) and voltage quality problems are critical issues under unbalanced and nonlinear loads in the micro grids. Thus, an advanced power sharing scheme with unbalanced and harmonic loads in islanding micro grid is presented to eradicate power sharing problems and reduce unbalanced voltage and harmonics distortion. The hierarchical control structure comprises primary and secondary levels. For improving voltage quality, a secondary controller is designed to manage compensation of unbalanced and harmonic voltage at point common coupling (PCC). The Primary controller consists of distributed generators local controllers. The local controllers mainly include power droop for sharing active and reactive power among DGs without communication, voltage and current controllers, and virtual impedance control loop. Virtual impedance loop for positive and negative sequences of fundamental and harmonic components is used to achieve better power sharing of reactive, unbalance and harmonic powers. The design procedure of the hierarchical control structure is discussed in detail. The proposed approach is able to operate in islanded micro grids for voltage quality enhancement. Effectiveness of the hierarchical power sharing scheme is presented on MATLAB/Simulation and the simulation results of the proposed method are provided to demonstrate that PCC voltage distortion decreased from 9.47% to 4.62% while reactive, unbalanced, and harmonic powers is shared proportionally among DGs after compensation.Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department o

Design and control of a diagnosis and treatment aimed robotic platform for wrist and forearm rehabilitation: DIAGNOBOT

Therapeutic exercises play an important role in physical therapy and rehabilitation. The use of robots has been increasing day by day in the practice of therapeutic exercises. This study aims to design and control a novel robotic platform named DIAGNOBOT for diagnosis and treatment (therapeutic exercise). It has three 1-degree-of-freedom robotic manipulators and a single grasping force measurement unit. It is able to perform flexion-extension and ulnar-radial deviation movements for the wrist and pronation-supination movement for the forearm. The platform has a modular and compact structure and is capable of treating two patients concurrently. In order to control the DIAGNOBOT, an impedance control-based controller was developed for force control, which was required for the exercises, as well as a proportional-integral-derivative controller for position control. To model the resistive exercise, an angle-dependent impedance control method different from traditional methods has been proposed. Experiments were made on five healthy subjects and it has been demonstrated that the proposed robotic platform and its controller can perform therapeutic exercises