A Divided Government, an Ideological Parliament, and an Insecure Leader: Turkey's Indecision about Joining the Iraq War

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Objectives On March 1, 2003, the Turkish parliament rejected a government motion that would involve Turkey in the Iraq war and allow U.S. forces to use Turkish territory in an offensive against Iraq. This decision has been considered as a significant departure from traditional Western-oriented Turkish foreign policy. We investigate the reasons behind this rather unexpected foreign policy decision. Method To systematically examine the decision-making process and the outcome, we utilize the decision-units framework. We present primary and secondary evidence from government and media sources and utilize interviews conducted with some of the high-level decisionmakers that were involved in decision making at the time. This article combines traditional methodological tools, such as elite interviews and process tracing, with novel approaches in foreign policy analysis studies. Results The nature of the decision-unit, decision-making rules, the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the AKP (Adalet and Kalkinma PartisiJustice and Development Party) leadership, and the absence of a strong and decisive leader shaped the outcome. Conclusion The Turkish parliament's decision on its role in the Iraq war is an interesting and informative case for foreign policy studies. It challenges the conventional wisdom on parliamentary influence in foreign policy making in parliamentary regimes. Under certain circumstanceseven when a single-party enjoys parliamentary majorityparliaments can be major players in foreign policy decision making

Religious Discrimination and International Crises: International Effects of Domestic Inequality

Cataloged from PDF version of article.This paper explores religious discrimination against ethnic groups and foreign policy crisis linkages as part of the broader foreign policy approaches developed by McGowan and Shapiro (1973) and James and Özdamar (2005, 2008). Informed by the literature suggesting that domestic policies of repression and inequality may result in similar patterns of behavior internationally, this study tests whether states characterized by high levels of religious discrimination against ethnoreligious minorities are more likely to initiate or become involved in foreign policy crises with other states in general. A broad range of data sources, including an independently collected religious discrimination index, are used to test the hypothesized relationship between religious discrimination and international crisis during the period 1990-2003. The results suggest that religious discrimination is an important predictor of initiating and becoming involved in international crises. © 2013 International Studies Association

From good neighbor to model: Turkey's changing roles in the Middle East in the aftermath of the Arab Spring

Cataloged from PDF version of article.The recent Arab uprisings have forced many actors to reconsider their positions regarding Middle Eastern politics. Role theory provides a viable tool to explain changes in actors’ foreign policy behaviors, presuming that states’ foreign policies are shaped by the ruling elites’ foreign policy role conceptions. This article analyzes Turkish foreign policy roles with regard to the Middle East and North Africa before and since the Arab uprisings that began in December 2010. We argue that these uprisings caused Turkey to change its emphasis from roles built on soft power instruments to harder roles requiring material capabilities. We also discuss the implications of this change with reference to theories of international politics

Determinants of total factor productivity: Evidence from US Compustat firms and Triadic Patent Families

This study examines the determinants of total factor productivity (TFP) in US firms. Moreover, the firms' technology diversification and its effects on TFP is explored. This study uses the US Compustat database during the period 1976-2009. The overall results indicate that both firm and industry characteristics can be important factors for TFP. In addition, the determinants of TFP are examined during economic recession and economic growth periods. The results show the firms that their business activities are more related within similar technologies are able to report higher productivity, especially during economic recession periods. As such, firms can monitor productivity for strategic reasons such as corporate planning and organisation improvement. It can also be used for tactical reasons such as project control or controlling performance to budget

The Effects of the 2008 Health Reform on Out-of-Pocket Health Expenditures in Turkey

The Turkish health care system has been subject to significant and critical changes and reforms since 2003. One of the most important reforms has been implemented in 2008 where the Green Card holders are entitled to the same services, without any fee, as those with public health insurance, such as the Emekli Sandığı, BAĞKUR, SSK. This study initially examines the characteristics of health insurance schemes, determinants of holding one of the health insurance schemes (public, private, green card, no-insurance) in Turkey. It further analyses the effect of 2008 reform on out of pocket expenditures (OOPEs). The study will be the first in the related literature analysing the effect of this reform especially on the OOPEs of green card holders. The analysis relies on a detailed micro-data level survey, TUİK Household Budget Survey, over the period 2002-2011 and employs a difference-in-difference approach using a pseudo-panel based on propensity score matching. Initial results show that individuals who have public insurance are less inclined to face out-of-pocket health expenditures compared to those without health insurance and the Green Card holders. However, the difference of the OOPEs between the public health insurees and green card holders is reduced after the implementation of the 2008 reform

The impact of air pollution on health problems in Britain

This study explores the effects of air pollution on specific diseases and specifically skin conditions and allergy, chest and breathing and heart problems. The analysis is based on data derived by the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS), which is a panel dataset in the UK during the period 1991 to 2009. Moreover, this study explores the willingness to pay for improving the air quality in the UK using data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS). In particular, two air pollutants are examined; ground-level ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO). Regarding the skin conditions and allergy health problems the annual monetary values for O3 range between £45-£65 per year for a drop of one unit, while the respective values for the CO range between £70-£87. The respective values for O3 and CO range between £173-£218 for chest and breathing health problems and £178-£216 and £189-£222 for heart problems

CD10 expression in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder

Background. CD10 antigen is a 100-kDa-cell surface zinc metalloendopeptidase and it is expressed in a variety of normal and neoplastic lymphoid and nonlymphoid tissues. The aim of this study was to evaluate CD10 expression in urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder and to determine the correlation between immunohistochemical (IHC) CD10 expression and histopathologic parameters including grade and stage. Methods. 371 cases of urothelial bladder carcinomas, all from transurethral resections, were included in this study. Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) stained sections from each case were reevaluated histopathologically according to WHO 2004 grading system. The TNM system was used for pathologic staging. Selected slides were also studied by IHC and a semiquantitative scoring for CD10 expression based on the percentage of positive cells was performed. Results. 157 cases (42.3%) showed immunostaining while 214 cases (57.7%) were negative for CD10. 1+ staining was seen in 65 CD10 positive cases (41.4%), and 2+ in 92 cases (58.6%). Overall CD10 expression as well as 2+ immunostaining was significantly correlated with high histologic grade. Overall CD10 expression was also significantly higher in invasive pT1 and pT2-3 tumors compared to noninvasive pTa tumors. pT1 and pT2-3 tumors were also significantly correlated with 2+ immunostaining. Conclusion. To date, only a few comparative IHC studies have assessed CD10 expression in urothelial carcinoma of the urinary bladder and this study represents the largest series. Our findings indicate that CD10 expression is strongly correlated with high tumor grade and stage in urothelial carcinoma of the bladder, and that CD10 may be associated with tumor progression in bladder cancer pathogenesis. © 2009 Bahadir et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

P.025 Efficacy and safety results of the avalglucosidase alfa phase 3 COMET trial in participants with late-onset Pompe disease (LOPD)

Background: Phase 3 COMET trial (NCT02782741) compares avalglucosidase alfa (n=51) with alglucosidase alfa (n=49) in treatment-naïve LOPD. Methods: Primary objective: determine avalglucosidase alfa effect on respiratory muscle function. Secondary/other objectives include: avalglucosidase alfa effect on functional endurance, inspiratory/expiratory muscle strength, lower/upper extremity muscle strength, motor function, health-related quality of life, safety. Results: At Week 49, change (LSmean±SE) from baseline in upright forced vital capacity %predicted was greater with avalglucosidase alfa (2.89%±0.88%) versus alglucosidase alfa (0.46%±0.93%)(absolute difference+2.43%). The primary objective, achieving statistical non-inferiority (p=0.0074), was met. Superiority testing was borderline significant (p=0.0626). Week 49 change from baseline in 6-minute walk test was 30.01-meters greater for avalglucosidase alfa (32.21±9.93m) versus alglucosidase alfa (2.19±10.40m). Positive results for avalglucosidase alfa were seen for all secondary/other efficacy endpoints. Treatment-emergent adverse events (AEs) occurred in 86.3% of avalglucosidase alfa-treated and 91.8% of alglucosidase alfa-treated participants. Five participants withdrew, 4 for AEs, all on alglucosidase alfa. Serious AEs occurred in 8 avalglucosidase alfa-treated and 12 alglucosidase alfa-treated participants. IgG antidrug antibody responses were similar in both. High titers and neutralizing antibodies were more common for alglucosidase alfa. Conclusions: Results demonstrate improvements in clinically meaningful outcome measures and a more favorable safety profile with avalglucosidase alfa versus alglucosidase alfa. Funding: Sanofi Genzym

Spike pattern recognition by supervised classification in low dimensional embedding space

© The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Epileptiform discharges in interictal electroencephalography (EEG) form the mainstay of epilepsy diagnosis and localization of seizure onset. Visual analysis is rater-dependent and time consuming, especially for long-term recordings, while computerized methods can provide efficiency in reviewing long EEG recordings. This paper presents a machine learning approach for automated detection of epileptiform discharges (spikes). The proposed method first detects spike patterns by calculating similarity to a coarse shape model of a spike waveform and then refines the results by identifying subtle differences between actual spikes and false detections. Pattern classification is performed using support vector machines in a low dimensional space on which the original waveforms are embedded by locality preserving projections. The automatic detection results are compared to experts’ manual annotations (101 spikes) on a whole-night sleep EEG recording. The high sensitivity (97 %) and the low false positive rate (0.1 min−1), calculated by intra-patient cross-validation, highlight the potential of the method for automated interictal EEG assessment.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Epithelial cell polarity: a major gatekeeper against cancer?

The correct establishment and maintenance of cell polarity are crucial for normal cell physiology and tissue homeostasis. Conversely, loss of cell polarity, tissue disorganisation and excessive cell growth are hallmarks of cancer. In this review, we focus on identifying the stages of tumoural development that are affected by the loss or deregulation of epithelial cell polarity. Asymmetric division has recently emerged as a major regulatory mechanism that controls stem cell numbers and differentiation. Links between cell polarity and asymmetric cell division in the context of cancer will be examined. Apical–basal polarity and cell–cell adhesion are tightly interconnected. Hence, how loss of cell polarity in epithelial cells may promote epithelial mesenchymal transition and metastasis will also be discussed. Altogether, we present the argument that loss of epithelial cell polarity may have an important role in both the initiation of tumourigenesis and in later stages of tumour development, favouring the progression of tumours from benign to malignancy