EVALUATION OF LABORATORY DIAGNOSIS OF THE FIRST NOROVIRUS OUTBREAK IN TURKEY IN 2008

Norovirus (NoV) is one of the most prominent agents of gastroenteritis and water/food-borne outbreaks affecting all of the age groups in the world. As the identification of the etiologic agent is important during gastroenteritis outbreaks, it is recommended to combine two different methods for rapid and reliable laboratory diagnosis of NoV. Although Nov outbreaks have been observed in many different countries of the world, there was no report on "NoV outbreak" in Turkey till 2008 due to the absence of a regular surveillance system for non-bacterial gastroenteritis. This study aimed to present the laboratory results for "the first Nov outbreak" in Turkey in 2008. A number of cases with diarrhea and nausea/vomiting initially emerged in Aksaray (located at the southern part of central Anatolia) in May 2008, followed by cases from Sereflikochisar, Kirsehir, and Adana provinces (located at central and southern Anatolia; geographically closer regions). However, regional laboratories declared that no known bacterial (Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli), viral (Rotavirus, Adenovirus) and parasitic agents were detected. A total of 50 stool samples were sent to the Virology Reference Laboratory (Refik Saydam Hygiene Center, Ankara) for further investigations including NoV. For the investigation of NoV, the samples were analysed by using antigen-ELISA (Ridascreen, R-Biopharm, Germany) and real-time polymerase chain reaction(PCR) (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Germany) methods. Of the samples, 26% (13/50) were found antigen positive, whereas 33% (13/40) were positive for viral nucleic acids. The positivity rates determined by ELISA and PCR were as follows, respectively; 57% (4/7) and 71% (517) in Aksaray, 25% (1/4) and 25% (1/4) in Sereflikochisar, 28% (7125) and 40% (6/15) in Kirsehir, 7% (1/14) and 7% (1/14) in Adana. Nine (69.2%), and 4 (30.8%) out of 13 positive samples were genotyped as NoV GI and GII, respectively. The sensitivity and specificity of antigen-ELISA method were found as 61.5% and 100%, respectively, when compared with real-time PCR. In conclusion, further epidemiological studies and genomic analysis are needed for the detection and control of circulating strains in Turkey, since Nov outbreaks spread rapidly and cause serious economical and workforce loss

Practitioners’ Perspectives towards Requirements Engineering: A Survey

In this paper, we discuss the results of our survey among 84 practitioners in order to understand practitioners’ perspectives towards requirements engineering. We asked 28 questions to learn the practitioners’ motivations, the techniques and technologies used for different activities, practitioners’ experiences with customer involvement, and any challenges encountered. Some important results are as follows: the practitioners’ top motivations are the precise communication of requirements and analyzing the requirements to detect issues. Most practitioners (i) insist on using natural languages, (ii) specify requirements as the use case and scenario descriptions, (iii) neglect using/transforming requirements for making high-level decisions and reasoning about requirements, (iv) neglect the specifications of quality requirements and their reasoning while considering quality requirements important, and (v) neglect any technologies for facilitating requirements engineering (e.g., meta-modeling technologies, formal verification tools, and advanced tools). Practitioners are challenged by the cost and effort spent in specifying requirements, the omissions of errors, misinterpretations of requirements and their incorrect (manual) transformations, and customers’ lack of technical knowledge. With the survey results, practitioners can gain an awareness on the general perspectives, academics can trigger new research addressing the observed issues, and tool vendors can improve their tools with regard to the weaknesses determined

THE PLACE OF THE HELICOBACTER PYLORI ON THE ETIOPATHOGENESIS OF IDIOPATHIC RECURRENT APHTHOUS STOMATITIS (RAS)

The most frequent cause of oral mucosal diseases is idiopathic recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS). RAS is a disease characterized by painful and recurrent ulcerations localized on oral mucosa and is affecting up to 10-25% of the population on the world. Local and systemic conditions, genetic, immunological and microbial factors may play a role in the pathogenesis of RAS. Although the etiopathogenesis of the disease is not known, the recent investigations have been focused on Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) as a causative agent. Aphthous ulcers and H. pylori lesions are similar in histopathological examination. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of the H.pylori infections on the pathogenesis of IRAS

Determination of Fatigue Following Maximal Loaded Treadmill Exercise by Using Wavelet Packet Transform Analysis and MLPNN from MMG-EMG Data Combinations

The muscle fatigue can be expressed as decrease in maximal voluntary force generating capacity of the neuromuscular system as a result of peripheral changes at the level of the muscle, and also failure of the central nervous system to drive the motoneurons adequately. In this study, a muscle fatigue detection method based on frequency spectrum of electromyogram (EMG) and mechanomyogram (MMG) has been presented. The EMG and MMG data were obtained from 31 healthy, recreationally active men at the onset, and following exercise. All participants were performed a maximally exercise session in a motor-driven treadmill by using standard Bruce protocol which is the most widely used test to predict functional capacity. The method used in the present study consists of pre-processing, determination of the energy value based on wavelet packet transform, and classification phases. The results of the study demonstrated that changes in the MMG 176-234 Hz and EMG 254-313 Hz bands are critical to determine for muscle fatigue occurred following maximally exercise session. In conclusion, our study revealed that an algorithm with EMG and MMG combination based on frequency spectrum is more effective for the detection of muscle fatigue than EMG or MMG alone.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-015-0304-

Molecular epidemiology of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus in Turkey: Occurrence of local topotype

The goal of this study was to investigate the molecular epidemiology of Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus (CCHFV) in Turkey. The study was performed on a total of 48 confirmed human CCHF cases from 2006 to 2008. The majority of the CCHF viral strains in Turkey were found to belong to the European lineage. Local CCHF viral strains are grouped into two main clusters, which can be further divided into two sub-groups. We also identified an AP92-like virus causing clinical disease in Corum (a mid-Anatolian province). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the most recent CCHFV infections were caused by intrinsic (or native) CCHF viral strains, which we identified as the local topotype. Comparison of deduced amino acid sequences of S-segment RNAs indicated that the local topotype was derived from viruses of previous years, most likely by a low rate recombination. No genetic differences, based on S- and M-segment RNA sequences, were found between human and tick viral isolates. This data suggest that replication of CCHFV in the tick vector, whether Rhiphicephalus spp. or Hyalomma spp., has no effect on the viral genomic structure. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Characterization of a sandfly fever Sicilian virus isolated during a sandfly fever epidemic in Turkey

Background: Phleboviruses cause sandfly fever but isolates are rare. Objectives: To analyse samples from concurrent outbreaks of suspected sandfly fever in the Mediterranean provinces of Adana, Izmir and the central province of Ankara, Turkey. Study design: Samples from acute cases were analysed by immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Virus isolation was attempted and pyrosequencing performed. Results: In IFA 38% of 106 samples tested scored IgM positive for sandfly fever Sicillian virus (SFSV), 12% for SFSV/sandfly fever Cyprus Virus (SFCV) and only 4% for SFCV. A sandfly fever Sicilian type virus designated sandfly fever Turkey virus (SFTV) was isolated. The S-segment sequence of SFTV had a homology of 98% to that of SFCV. The M-segment sequence showed a 91.1% homology to the only SFSV sequence available. The L-segment sequence showed a homology of 58% and 60.3% to Toscana virus and Rift Valley Fever virus sequences, a partial 201 nt sequence showed 95.5% homology to the SFSV Sabin strain. Conclusion: A new phlebovirus related to sandfly fever Sicilian virus, SFTV was isolated and characterized from acute patient material. The sandfly fever Sicilian virus activity seems to be changing in Turkey. Entomological studies are needed