A study on antimicrobial, antioxidant and antimutagenic activities of Elaeagnus Angustifolia L. Leaves

Backround: The aim of this work was to investigate the antimicrobial, antioxidant, and antimutagenic potentials of methanol extracts from E. angustifolia.Materials and Methods: Methanol extracts were screened for antimicrobial activity against different species of 4 Gram positive and 3 Gram negative bacteria and one fungus. These bacteria included food pathogens. The leaf extract was tested using disc diffusion assay.Results: The methanol extract of E. angustifolia showed maximum inhibition zone of 16 mm against Yersinia enterocolitica. Whereas, the inhibition zone was not determined by methanol extract against Escherichia coli ATCC 1122 and Candida albicans RSKK 02029. The MIC was evaluated on plant extracts as antimicrobial activity. All of bacterial strains showed the lowest sensitivity to methanol extract of E. angustifolia (3.5 mg/mL), except Yersinia enterocolitica NCTC 11174. In addition, the plant extracts were tested against the stable DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1- picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate) free-radical. Finally, the methanol extract displayed a strong antioxidant activity (Trolox equivalent = 1.49 mM). Also, E. angustifolia methanol extracts were screened for their antimutagenic activity against sodium azide by Ames test in absence of rat microsomal liver enzyme (-S9). The results showed that E. angustifolia methanol extracts can inhibit mutagenic agents of sodium azide. The plant leaf extracts with the inhibition of 36% sodium azide showed moderate potential in decreasing mutagenic agents in Salmonella typhimurium TA100.Conclusion: E. angustifolia methanol extracts have antimicrobial, antioxidant and antimutagenic potential.Keywords: Elaeagnus, antimicrobial activity, antioxidant activity, antimutagenic activit

The biological activities of Moltkia aurea Boiss., an endemic species to Turkey

Background: Staphylococcus aureus is the direct reason of mastitis. Mastitis is a disease characterized by pathological changes in mammary glands as well as physical, chemical, bacteriological changes in milk. This disease causes loses in milk yield and quality. In recent years, it is reported that mastitis pathogens have developed a resistance to antibiotics as a natural consequence of widespread use of it. Today’s researches are focused on discovering and using new antibiotics against bacteria. The aim of this paper is to examine the antibacterial properties of Moltkia aurea Boiss.][o] (an endemic species to Turkey), and its other biological activities.Materials and Methods: All of the extracts were tested by disc diffusion assay in order to screen antibacterial activity. MIC values were evaluated as antibacterial activities of plant extracts. The non-enzymatic antioxidative activities including DPPH radical scavenging effects were studied in vitro.Results and Conclusions: Results shown that the extracts had strong antibacterial effects on three bacteria (S. aureus-17, S. aureus-18 and CNS-37) and the range of inhibition zone was 4-6mm. This three bacteria screened the lowest sensitivity to 65000 μg /mL concentration. Besides, the extracts were tested for non-enzymatic antioxidant activities. As a result, the methanol extract of the flower displayed a strong antioxidant activity. The various extracts of Moltkia aurea have different antibacterial and antioxidant properties.Keywords: Antibacterial activity, Antioxidant activity, Mastitis, Moltkia aure

The biological activities of Hypericum perforatum L.

Background: Mastitis reduces milk yield and alters milk composition. Antibiotics are widely used in the treatment of the disease. However, this widespread use of antibiotics causes both antibiotic residues in milks and antibiotic resistance developed in bacteria. Today’s researches are focused on discovering and using new antibiotics against bacteria.Objective: The aim of this work was to discover the antibacterial effects of Hypericum perforatum L. extracts against mastitis pathogens, and its other biological activities.Material and Methods: Kirby-Bauer assay was applied to the extracts. The other antibacterial activity was MIC for plant extracts. The non-enzymatic antioxidant activity was found using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH).Results: The extract was showed maximum inhibition zone against two bacteria (Coagulase-negative Staphylococci- 33 and 37; CNS 33 and 37), and the zone was 17 mm. A bacterium (CNS – 22) showed the lowest sensitivity to 812.5 μg /mL concentration. In addition, the extract was tried against the stable DPPH for antioxidant activity. As a result, the extract showed a strength antioxidant activity. Trolox equivalent is 0.83 mM.Conclusion: The extract of Hypericum perforatum have antibacterial, antioxidant and antimutagenic potentials.Keywords: Hypericum, Mastitis, Antibacterial activity, Antioxidant activity, Antimutagenic activit

A Procedure for Application of Critical Path Method with Fuzzy Sets and Fuzzy Operations

Critical Path Method (CPM), which is used to schedule construction activitiesdepending to each other with network relationships, is deterministic in regards of the certaindurations assigned to activities for its execution and the results it produces in certain values.Unfortunately, construction activities are performed under uncertain conditions. Project riskscause variation in activity durations and in turn, the entire network is affected from uncertainty. In this context, activity durations are represented by fuzzy sets and CPM network calculations are performed by fuzzy operations through a new procedure developed in this study. In construction projects, the duration of an activity can not be proposed certainly inadvance. The predictions like "this activity can be completed most probably between 7 and 10days but perhaps it takes 15 days maximum and 5 days minimum depending on theconditions" are frequently made. Fuzzy numbers enable modeling such kind of uncertain predictions mathematically. Since the activity durations are represented by fuzzy numbers and network calculations are performed by fuzzy operations, the activity early/late start/finishtimes and the project completion time are calculated as fuzzy numbers by the proposed procedure. An example CPM application with fuzzy sets is also presented in the paper. The findings show that CPM is applicable with fuzzy sets and the developed procedure operates well for modeling the uncertainty in CPM calculations

ENGLISH COURSE TEACHING PRACTICES

The purpose of this research is to reveal how the secondary school English course comes true and how teaching practices are implemented in line with the opinions of English teachers. In this research, the case study was adopted from the qualitative research designs. The study group consists of two teachers working in the central school, one working in the religious vocational secondary school, two working in the district, and one teacher working in the village. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six English teachers working in different schools and settlements. For this purpose, semi-structured interview forms were used. In data analysis, the content analysis method was used. The obtained data were coded by the same investigator for two months, the resulting codes were collected under the themes and the obtained themes were presented in tables. As a result of the study it was seen that teachers did not prepare annual and weekly / daily plans, did not do enough activities to improve speech and listening skills, and did not teach grammar in an integrated manner in language skills. It was also seen that teachers have importance to reading skills and vocabulary teaching and that they use the textbooks and supplementary materials as basic teaching materials. Teachers think that the lack of a branch system and the lesson time has a negative effect on language teaching. According to the results of the research, a number of suggestions were made.  Article visualizations

Influence of osmotic and metal stresses on nitrogenase activity of cyanobacteria ýsolated from paddy fields

Samples were collected from paddy fields in Corum-Turk.ye. Nitrogen-free BG-11 medium was used for isolation of nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria. Acetylene reduction technique was used to determine the effects of different chemical agents on the nitrogenase activities of the cyanobacteria, which were identified at the genus level. Nostoc showed the highest nitrogenase activity (0.09 ethylene ƒÊl/mg.h) at 50 mM salt concentration. At 60 mM sucrose concentration, Nostoc showed the highest nitrogenase activity (0.08 ethylene ƒÊl/mg.h). The highest tolerances for the metals were present in Anabaena (0.006 ethylene ƒÊl/mg.h) for iron (20 ppm), Nodularia 0.1 ethylene ƒÊl/mg.h (for manganese 20 ppm) and Nostoc 0.96 ethylene ƒÊl/mg.h (for zinc 5 ppm)

Statistical Inference and Reverse Engineering of Gene Regulatory Networks from Observational Expression Data

In this paper, we present a systematic and conceptual overview of methods for inferring gene regulatory networks from observational gene expression data. Further, we discuss two classic approaches to infer causal structures and compare them with contemporary methods by providing a conceptual categorization thereof. We complement the above by surveying global and local evaluation measures for assessing the performance of inference algorithms

Content Analysis of the Papers in 2015 High-Impact A-Class SSCI Journals

It was aimed in this study to reveal the general tendency of studies in the field of education by examining the papers in the high-impact A-class SSCI journals, to which qualified papers are accepted from all round the world, in terms of their dependent-independent variables, sample or study groups, research designs, data collection instruments, and data analysis techniques. The descriptive survey model was used in the research. The population of the research was all the journals surveyed in the field of educational sciences by SSCI. The journals and papers examined were selected with the purposive sampling method. 169 papers from six journals were subjected to examination within the scope of the research. Descriptive analysis and content analysis methods were used for analyzing the data. It was consequently seen that the papers used dependent variable of “student” the most which was followed by “teacher.” The most studied variable along with “student” was “academic performance.” It was found that a quite large number of dependent variables were used in the papers examined. It can be understood that studies on students among all study groups occupied the largest place, which was followed by teachers. It was seen that quantitative data analyses and experimental research studies was addressed more in the papers. Several documents and tests were mostly preferred as data collection instruments. It was noticed that the most used data analysis method was the regression analysis. Finally, some recommendations were developed in accordance with the research results. Keywords: Content analysis high-impact A-Class SSCI journals, dependent-independent variables, sample or study groups, research designs, data collection instruments, data analysis technique

The Antimicrobial Activity of Aliquidambar orientalis mill. Against Food Pathogens and Antioxidant Capacity of Leaf Extracts

Background: Medicinal plants are an important source of substances which are claimed to induce antimicrobial, antimutagenic and antioxidanteffects. Many plants have been used due to their antimicrobial treatments. Antimicrobial and antioxidant activities of L. orientalis have not beenreported to the present day. The aim of this work was to investigate of the antimicrobial and antioxidant potentials of different extracts from L.orientalis.Materials and Methods: The extracts were screened for antimicrobial activity against different food pathogens. These bacteria include 4 Grampositive and 3 Gram negative bacteria and one fungi. The leaf extracts of plant were tested by disc diffusion assay. The MIC was evaluated onplant extracts as antimicrobial activity. In addition to, the plant extracts were tested against the stable DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazylhydrate) free-radical.Results: The acetone, ethanol and methanol extracts of L. orientalis showed maximum inhibition zone of 12 mm against Yersinia enterocolitica,Listeria monocytogenes and Staphylococcus aureus. In addition to, the methanol extract displayed a strong antioxidant activity (trolox equivalent= 2.23 mM).Conclusion: L. orientalis extracts have antimicrobial, and antioxidant potential. Our results support the use of this plant in traditional medicineand suggest that some of the plant extracts possess compounds with good antibacterial properties that can be used as antibacterial agents in thesearch for new drugs.Key words: Antimicrobial activity; Antioxidant activity; L. orientalis

ANTIOXIDANT AND ANTIBACTERIAL ACTIVITIES OF DIFFERENT PLANTS EXTRACTS AGAINST STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS ISOLATED FROM SOCCER PLAYER’S SHOES AND KNOWLEDGE AND APPLICATIONS ABOUT FOOT HYGIENE OF THE SOCCER PLAYERS

Background: The microorganisms most commonly attacks the feet. Bacteria have an easier entry into the athlete’s epidermis. Staphylococcus aureus, commonly found on the skin or in the nose. The purpose of the study is to search the lack of knowledge about the antibacterial and antioxidant effects of different plants extracts and to search the knowledge about hygiene and hygiene of sports equipment of soccer players. Materials and Methods: The bacteria were isolated from soccer player’s shoes (n=28) from Balıkesir Spor soccer team after the competition. Additionally, ten plants were collected from Mugla, Hatay, and Hakkari in Turkey. In antibacterial activity studies, the plant materials were tested by disc diffusion assay. Furthermore, the different plants extracts were studied by ABTS decolorization assay. Results: The highest antibacterial activity was shown on S. aureus- BFT2 (22 mm) for Hypericum perforatum L. subsp. veranese (Schrant) H. Lindb. The different extracts possessed antibacterial activity, and showed MIC effect at 812.5 µg/mL. The antioxidant activities by ABTS assay were in the order of Arbutus andrachne (flower) > Arbutus andrachne (leaf) > Anthemis sp. (flower) > Crepis sancta L. (leaf) > Allium sphaerocephalon (root) > Plantango major (leaf) > Lavandula steochas (flower) > Anthemis sp. (flower) > Urtica dioica (leaf) > Lavandula steochas (leaf) > Anthemis sp. (leaf) > Hypericum perforatum L. subsp. veranese (Schrant) H. Lindb (flower) > Anthemis chia L. (leaf). Conclusion: Different plant extracts have antimicrobial, antioxidant and potential