Seed micromorphology and anatomy of 36 Muscari (Asparagaceae) taxa from Turkey with notes on their systematic importance

This study presents the first in-depth evaluation of the morphological and anatomical characters, as well as their taxonomic importance, of the seeds of 36 taxa in subgenera Muscari, Leopoldia, Pseudomuscari and Botryanthus of the genus Muscari in Turkey, where 24 of the taxa are endemic. The results indicate that the taxa generally differ from each other in terms of seed shape and dimension. Seed dimensions vary between 1.66 mm and 3.21 mm in length, and between 1.12 mm and 2.63 mm in width. The seed surface ornamentation is grouped into nine forms: ruminate, reticulate, reticulate-areolate, reticulate-foveate, alveolate, scalariform, rugose, verrucate and areolate. The most common type is ruminate, while areolate, reticulate-foveate and scalariform ornamentation forms were found to be taxon-specific. Testa structures of the taxa examined consist in general of two different layers: the epidermis and the subepidermis in scleranchymatous or parenchymatous structures. The subepidermis may be absent in some of taxa. The structure and thickness of the epidermis and the subepidermis are very important characteristics that disclose interspecific relations among the examined taxa. We also provide a key for the identification of the studied taxa based on seed features

Neurological Soft Signs, Circadian Preferences and Emotion Regulation in Bipolar Disorder and First-Degree Relatives

INTRODUCTION: This study aimed to investigate the relationships between neurological soft signs (NSS), circadian preferences, and emotional regulation difficulties in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and their unaffected first-degree relatives (FDRs). METHODS: A total of 105 people (35 BD patients, 35 FDRs, and 35 healthy controls) enrolled in the study. They completed a sociodemographic information form, the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire (MEQ), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), and Neurological Evaluation Scale (NES). RESULTS: NES motor coordination, complex motor movements, other subscale and total scores were significantly higher in BD and FDRs compared to the control group. The subscales of the DERS including nonacceptance, goals, impulse, strategies, accessibility, and total DERS scores were also significantly higher in patients than the relative and control groups. A statistically positive, weak, and significant relationship emerged between the patient group's other NES sub-dimension and the DERS sub-dimensions of impulse and awareness. Meanwhile, significant relationship was found in the FDRs between NSS and the NES sub-dimensions emotional integration and complex motor movements. A significant relationship was also found between the DERS sub-dimension nonacceptance and the NSS sub-dimension complex motor movements. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study discovered that NSS are associated with negative emotional regulation strategies in patients with BD during in euthymic period and FDRs. NSS and circadian preferences may be endophenotype candidates for BD

Investigation of the effects of mir-219-1 gene variants on the development of disease in non-small cell lung cancer patients

Background: Various variants of the miR-219-1 gene are one of the first genes associated with NSCLC prognosis in the literature. Objectives: We aimed to genotype two different variants of the miR-219-1 gene and to investigate to using of the result as a biomarker in the diagnosis and treatment of NSCLC. Materials and Methods: The patients were chosen according to International NSCLC criteria and genomic DNA was isolated from blood (138 patients and 100 healthy individuals). Then qRT-PCR was applied to determine the rs213210 and rs421446 variants of miR-219-1 gene polymorphisms. Allele and genotype frequencies were compared using Pearson’s chi-square and Fisher’s exact tests test. Results: We found that TT genotype (p=0,381) in rs213210 compared with CC genotype (p=0,165) and CC genotype (p=0,823) in rs421446 compared with TT genotype (p=0,537) did not show a significantly increased risk of NSCLC. There is no relationship between polymorphisms in miR-219-1 and the outcome of NSCLC. Conclusion: miRNA single nucleotide polymorphisms can be used as genetic biomarkers to predict cancer susceptibility, early diagnosis, and prognosis. Our study has shown that two variants of miR-219-1 were not related to NSCLC in the Turkish population. The reason for this can be differences in ethnicity, regions, and background of population and these differences could lead to various outcomes. Keywords: NSCLC; miR-219-1 gene; single-nucleotide polymorphisms

Prevalence and co-incidence of geriatric syndromes according to the ECOG performance status in older cancer patients

BackgroundGeriatric syndromes may be more common in older cancer patients than in those without cancer. Geriatric syndromes can cause poor clinical outcomes. The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG-PS) is often used as a clinically reported functional status score in oncology practice.MethodsOur study was designed as a cross-sectional study and included 218 older cancer patients. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and relationship of geriatric syndromes according to the ECOG-PS in older cancer patients.ResultsThe mean age of 218 participants was 73.0 ± 5.6 years, with 47.7% being women and 52.3% men in our study. ECOG-PS 0, 1, and 2 groups contained 51, 39, and 10% of the patients, respectively. The mean number of geriatric syndromes in the ECOG 0, 1, and 2 groups was 2.3 ± 2.2, 4.3 ± 2.4, and 5.7 ± 2.1, respectively (p < 0.001). After adjusting for age and sex, it was determined that dynapenia was 2.9 times, probable sarcopenia was 3.5 times, frailty was 4.2 times, depression was 2.6 times, malnutrition was 3.3 times, insomnia 2 was.2 times, falls was 2.5 times, and the risk of falling (TUG) was 2.4 times more likely in those with ECOG-PS 1 compared to those with ECOG-PS 0. In addition, it was found that dynapenia was 6 times, probable sarcopenia was 6.8 times, frailty was 10.8 times, depression was 3.3 times, malnutrition was 6.3 times, the risk of falling (Tinnetti Balance) was 28 times, and the risk of falling (TUG) was 13.6 times more likely in those with ECOG-PS 2 compared to those with ECOG-PS 0.ConclusionOur study found that the prevalence of geriatric syndromes increased as the ECOG-PS increased. Geriatric syndromes and their co-incidence were common in older cancer patients, even in normal performance status. Oncologists should incorporate geriatric syndromes into the decision-making process of cancer treatment to maximize the impact on clinical outcomes in older patients with cancer

GLUING AND HILBERT FUNCTIONS OF MONOMIAL CURVES

In this article, by using the technique of gluing semigroups, we give infinitely many families of 1-dimensional local rings with non-decreasing Hilbert functions. More significantly, these are local rings whose associated graded rings are not necessarily Cohen-Macaulay. In this sense, we give an effective technique for constructing large families of 1-dimensional Gorenstein local rings associated to monomial curves, which support Rossi's conjecture saying that every Gorenstein local ring has a non-decreasing Hilbert function

How does collectively seeking social media community support help employees solve organizational injustice-related problems? : An analysis of Twitter Big Data

The current job market is characterized by turbulence and uncertainty, and employees seem to become highly sensitive to issues related to injustice. When employees perceive organizational injustice (i.e., distributive, procedural, interactional, and informational), they may seek social support. We suggest that employees, instead of approaching their supervisor/manager, colleagues, family, or friends as support providers, resort to social media to seek support from the network community. The communal nature of social media that embodies the possibility of interacting with individuals with similar characteristics makes it possible for those seeking collective support to benefit from the available mechanisms. Seeking community support seems to play a pivotal role, in that it can be focused on actions or emotions depending on what individuals actually need and look for when they seek social support. When seeking community-social support, employees may plan and act collectively. In response to their collective action, the social media community may engage in an intervention either by taking necessary actions (instrumental support) to help employees solve their problems related to organizational injustice or through supporting employees in managing their emotions (emotional support). Emotional community support is most likely as consequential as the instrumental one, given that providing emotional support is a strong indicator of choosing sides. Companies use social media to understand their reputation within society; therefore, when employees reach out to social media to seek support, that community support becomes eligible to help them out.  Twitter, a widely accessible social media that allows exploring different social phenomena, will be utilized for event-specific targeted data collection. Streamed Twitter posts shared by publicly available accounts will be included in the dataset. A broad enough time period to encompass pre-, intra-, and post-event periods will be chosen. The analysis will consist of data cleaning, and structuring, where initial auto-coding will be completed by manually proofing. Plans for the initial analysis involve word frequency, polarization, network analysis, centrality, positive/negative sentiment, and sociogram. Findings are expected to be explorative for a better understanding of the above-detailed mechanisms about the capacity and eligibility of social-media community support that may help employees solve their organizational problems related to injustice. Ej belagd</p

Validation of the Turkish version of medication regimen complexity index among elderly patients

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to validate the Turkish version of the Medication Regimen Complexity Index' (MRCI). MethodsThis validation study has been conducted in prescriptions of the first 100 elderly patients who had visited the pharmacy for their prescription refill to evaluate convergent and divergent validity of the Turkish version. The reliability of the Turkish version was assessed with inter-rater and test-retest analysis after its translation and cultural adaptation. ResultsThe mean age of the 100 patients (53 women) was 74.9years (SD=7.58, 65-95). The scale showed high inter-rater reliability and test-retest reliability for the total and subscale scores (p0.05). ConclusionThese results show that the Turkish version of MRCI is a reliable and valid tool in elderly patients

Turkish Validation of Patient Satisfaction Towards Patient Oriented Pharmacy Services Questionnaire in Patients with Chronic Disease

Objective: The aim of the study was to validate the Turkish version of the patient satisfaction questionnaire that evaluated satisfaction of patients with chronic diseases regarding pharmacy services. Methods: The present study was conducted between September 2015 and November 2015 among patients who had chronic diseases at least for 6 months and applied to community pharmacies. After appropriate language translation, pre-test, test-retest validity, and factor analysis were conducted. Results: The mean age of 154 patients (91 male, 63 female) was 58.6 +/- 13.8 years. The mean score of the Patient-Oriented Pharmacy Services Questionnaire (PSPSQ) 2.0 was 3.29 +/- 0.47, and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient was 0.944. A strong correlation was determined between the test-retest validity of the total and subscale scores (p<0.001). Three domains (quality of care, patient-pharmacist relationship, and overall satisfaction) were obtained in factor analysis of PSPSQ 2.0, as in the original study. Conclusion: In the present study, the Turkish form of PSPSQ 2.0 was determined to be a reliable and valid scale to assess patients' satisfaction regarding patient-oriented pharmacy services

Investigation of Physicians' Perspectives of Drug Promotional Activities

Objective: Pharmaceutical company promotional activities (PCPAs) are listed among the factors that influence the prescribing behavior of physicians. This study aimed to determine the opinions of family physicians (FPs) and specialist physicians (SP) on the impact of these activities. Methods: A survey comprising 1062 FPs working in primary health centers and 562 SPs working in public hospitals at different cities in Turkey was conducted. The questions thoroughly evaluated physicians' approaches toward PCPAs, particularly drug promotional activities. Answers were evaluated with respect to the demographic and occupational characteristics of physicians. Results: Based on the statements of participants, 82.8% of FPs and 88.6% of SPs declared that physicians always or sometimes are influenced by PCPAs. Percentage of SPs who declared themselves as always or sometimes influenced by PCPAs was significantly higher than that of FPs (p=0.006). Overall, 56.3% of FPs and 43.3% of SPs were visited >5 times during the last 5 working days by pharmaceutical sales representatives. When considering features of drugs prescribed after PCPAs, both FPs and SPs declared that these drugs were cheaper (52.8% and 47.8%, respectively) and safer (52.7% and 49.3%, respectively) than their alternatives. Conclusion: Physicians' statements showed that they were often visited by pharmaceutical sales representatives and highly influenced by PCPAs. Differences with respect to the experiences and approaches of FPs and SPs regarding this issue are critical factors warranting careful consideration of a rational PCPA implementation