Prediction of Low Factor V Levels in Patients with Herbal Medicine Related Acute Liver Injury

  Background: Prior epidemiologic studies predicted a rapid rise in herbal medicine-related acute liver injury (HILI) and liver transplantation (LT) as trading of traditional herbal medicine drugs is expanded. HILI is the leading cause of liver transplantation in the world. The indication for LT was defined as acute liver failure (ALF) with the factor V (FV) level below 35%. Objective: To explore the possible impact of herbal medicine-related to the liver failure on the laboratory parameters and to determine if simple laboratory values play a role in determining lower FV levels. Materials and methods: Totally, 38 HILI cases who were admitted to a tertiary care hospital between May 2016 and May 2018 were scanned, retrospectively. Need for LT was assessed by the determination of FV levels. Results: The mean age of participants was 37±13 years where 27 (71%) were female while the rest were male and 81% of the total population were farmers. Total 78% patients were reportedly consuming herbal medicine pills, and 22% reported consuming traditional Turkish herbs. Among 38 cases with HILI in critical care, 2 (5.2%) have died, 3 (7.8%) underwent LT and 33 (87%) were recovered and discharged. Results of 38 patients with available data also showed that factor V levels were positively correlated with the hemoglobin and platelet levels (p<0.05) and negatively correlated with prothrombin time (p<0.05). Conclusion: These findings suggest that detecting anemia and thrombocytopenia could be an important, economically feasible strategy for improving outcomes in HILI

How Abiotic Stress Conditions Affects Plant Roots

Roots are generally subject to more abiotic stress than shoots. Therefore, they can be affected by such stresses as much as, or even more, than above ground parts of a plant. However, the effect of abiotic stresses on root structure and development has been significantly less studied than above ground parts of plants due to limited availability for root observations. Roots have functions such as connecting the plant to the environment in which it grows, uptaking water and nutrients and carrying them to the above-ground organs of the plant, secreting certain hormones and organic compounds, and thus ensuring the usefulness of nutrients in the nutrient solution. Roots also send some hormonal signals to the body in stress conditions such as drought, nutrient deficiencies, salinity, to prevent the plant from being damaged, and ensure that the above-ground part takes the necessary precautions to adapt to these adverse conditions. Salinity, drought, radiation, high and low temperatures, heavy metals, flood, and nutrient deficiency are abiotic stress factors and they negatively affect plant growth, productivity and quality. Given the fact that impending climate change increases the frequency, duration, and severity of stress conditions, these negative effects are estimated to increase. This book chapter reviews to show how abiotic stress conditions affect growth, physiological, biochemical and molecular characteristics of plant roots

Serum testosterone levels and Colonic Diverticula

Background: Elderly men have a high risk of metabolic syndrome, including an increased risk of obesity. Whether low testosterone is associated with diverticular disease of the colon (DDC) risk independent of metabolic co-factors is not clear. Aim: This study was conducted this study to reveal the possible link between serum testosterone levels and colonic diverticula. Methods: This study was conducted between May 2018 and December 2018, total 208 subjects were enrolled for the study at a university hospital, Turkey. At total, 85 men with DDC were enrolled for the study. DDC was defined by non-contrast CT scan with colonoscopic examination. Control group (123 subjects without DDC; the mean age was 54.5 ±14.5) were selected from otherwise healthy men. Results: Of the 85 men with DDC, the mean age was 60.8 ± 13.5 years. Lower levels of total testosterone were associated with a 25% increased odds of prevalent DDC on adjusted analyses. Importantly, lower levels of total testosterone remained strongly associated with prevalent DDC, even in men with normal glucose levels (p=0.01). Conclusion: Decreasing levels of total testosterone, even within normal range, are independently associated with DDC in elderly age. Androgen deficiency may have an important role in the development of DDC in men and provide a potential novel target for DDC prevention

Peat Use in Horticulture

Peat is a spongy substance which is an effect of incomplete decomposition of plant residues in different stages of decomposition. Between the several organic matters which are used as substrate for horticultural plants cultivation in soilless conditions, peat is the unabandonable ingredient for mixtures for commercial production of plants. Peat is used in horticulture as a component of garden plant substrates, in agriculture for the production of garden soil and as an organic fertilizer, and in balneology as a material for baths and wraps. The use of peat for agriculture and horticulture is determined by the following quality parameters: the degree of decomposition, ash content, pH, the presence of carbonates, the density of the solid phase, bulk density, and porosity. As an organic material, the peat forms in the acidic, waterlogged, and sterile conditions of fens and bogs. The conditions seem like the development of mosses. The plants do not compose as they die. Instead of this, the organic matter is laid down and accumulates in a slow time as peat due to the oxygen deficiency in the bog. This makes peat a highly productive growing medium. In the present novel review, we discuss the peat use in horticulture

Melatonin: Role in Increasing Plant Tolerance in Abiotic Stress Conditions

Nowadays, due to the environmental stress factors that limit the production of crops, it has become very difficult to find suitable areas to enable the plant to reach its optimum product potential. Abiotic stress is very effective in decreasing agricultural production. Factors such as drought, salinity, high and low temperature, flood, radiation, heavy metals, oxidative stress, and nutrient deficiency can be considered as abiotic stress factors, and these sources of stress negatively affect plant growth, quality and productivity. Melatonin (MEL) was first identified in plants in 1995 and is increasingly becoming important for its role and effects in the plant system. MEL has been shown to have a substantial role in plant response to growth, reproduction, development, and different stress factors. In addition to its regulatory role, MEL also plays a protective role against different abiotic stresses such as metal toxicity, temperature, drought, and salinity. In plants, an important role of MEL is to alleviate the effects of abiotic stresses. In this review, the effects of MEL on plant growth, photosynthetic activity, metabolism, physiology, and biochemistry under abiotic stress conditions as a plant growth regulator will be examined

Relationships between permeability properties and structural-geometrical properties of fabrics

Kumaşın geçirgenlik özelliği farklı alanlarda kullanılan tekstil yapılarının beklenen bir performans özelliğidir. Kumaşın geçirgenlik özellikleri başta kumaşın yapısal özelliklerinin oluşturduğu gözenek özellikleri olmak üzere çevresel faktörlerin ve akışkan maddenin özelliklerinin bir fonksiyonu olarak oluşur. Bu nedenle belli bir kullanım alanı için ürün tasarlarken kumaşın gözenek yapısını belirleyen yapısal faktörler en uygun şekilde seçilmelidir. Bu çalışmada giyimden teknik tekstillere birçok kullanım alanına sahip dokuma kumaşların geçirgenlik özellikleri ile yapısal özellikleri arasındaki ilişkiler aynı numara çözgü ve atkı iplikleriyle üretilmiş farklı örgü tiplerine ve sıklıklara sahip bir grup test kumaşından elde edilen verilerin de yardımıyla incelenmiştir.Çalışmada kumaşın gözenek özellikleri öncelikle iplikler arası gözenek bölgeleri ve lifler arası gözenek bölgeleri olmak üzere iki bölgeye ayrılarak incelenmiştir. İplikler arası gözenek özelliklerini tanımlamak amacıyla sıklık, iplik numarası, kumaş kalınlığı gibi yapısal özelliklerden yararlanarak iki boyutlu (2-D) ve üç boyutlu (3-D) birim gözenek hücre modelleri ile 3-D örgü birim modelleri teorik olarak tanımlanmıştır. Ayrıca elde edilen düzlemsel ve enine kesit kumaş görüntülerinden görüntü analizi yöntemiyle gözenek özellikleri belirlenmiştir. İplikler arası gözenek özelliklerinin kumaşın yapısal özellikleri ve geçirgenlik özellikleri ile ilişkisi incelenerek farklı kumaş yapıları için aradaki ilişkiyi en iyi tanımlayan yaklaşım analiz edilmiştir. İplik içi gözenek özellikleri ise hem enine kesit görüntülerinden ölçülerek tanımlanmış, hem iplik ve lif özelliklerine kullanılarak faklı yaklaşımlara göre teorik olarak tanımlanmış, hem de hızlı ve objektif bir yöntem olan görüntü analizi yöntemi ile belirlenmiştir. Her iki bölge için kumaşın yapısal ve geometrik özelliklerinin belirlediği gözenek özellikleri faklı yaklaşımlara göre tanımlandıktan sonra, elde edilen gözenek özellikleri akış eşitliklerinde kullanılarak kumaşın hem düzleme dik yönde hem de düzlemsel yönde gerçekleşen geçirgenlik sonuçları teorik olarak tahminlenmiştir. Sonuç olarak, 2-D yaklaşımlardan elde edilen sonuçların farklı örgü yapıları arasındaki farkı ortaya koymada yetersiz olduğu; geçirgenlik özellikleri gözenek parametreleri ile tahminlenirken kumaşın 3-D yapısının her zaman dikkate alınması gerektiği bulunmuştur. The permeability properties of fabric are an expected performance property of textile structures used in different areas. The permeability properties of fabric occurs as a function of environmental properties, primarily pore properties formed by the structural properties of the fabric, and the properties of fluid. Therefore, the structural factors that determine the pore structure of the fabric should be chosen in the most suitable way while designing a product for a specific usage area. In this study, the relations between the permeability and structural properties of woven fabrics, which have a wide usage area such as clothing and technical textiles, are examined by the help of the data obtained from a group of test fabrics which is produced by warp and weft threads of the same count and which has different weave types and settings.In the study, permeability properties of the fabric are examined primarily by dividing into two regions, namely the inter-yarn pore regions and the inter-fiber pore regions. In order to define the inter-yarn pore properties, two-dimensional (2-D) and three-dimensional (3-D) unit pore cell models and 3-D weave unit models are defined theoretically by using structural properties such as setting, yarn count, fabric thickness. In addition, the pore properties are determined from the obtained surface and cross-sectional fabric images by image analysis method. The approach, which best defines the relation in-between for different fabric structures, is analyzed by examining the relation between the inter-yarn pore properties and the structural and permeability properties of the fabric. The intra-yarn pore properties are defined theoretically both by being measured from the cross-sectional images and by using fiber and yarn properties, and are determined by image analysis method, which is both fast and objective. After the pore properties determined by the structural and geometrical properties of the fabric are defined for both pore regions by different approaches, permeability results occurring as both through and in-plane directions are theoretically estimated by using the obtained pore properties in the flow equations. Consequently, it was found that the results of 2-D approaches were insufficient to exhibit the differences of fabrics having different weave types and the 3-D structure of the fabric should always be taken into consideration during predicting the permeability by using pore parameters

Investigation of pore parameters of woven fabrics by theoretical and image analysis methods

Fluid permeability property is an important performance feature of fabrics and must be considered during the designing processes of products. Since the rate of fluid flow through a textile is a function of viscosity, density, pressure gradient of fluid, and the pore properties of fabric, it is necessary to define pore properties by controlling the structural parameters of fabric for a certain area of use. Due to the complexity of fabric structure, modeling of pore structure and predicting the pore parameters are difficult. In this study, the interyarn porosity, pore size, and pore-size distribution of cotton woven fabrics were calculated by using two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) geometrical pore models and image analysis method. The effect of weave types and weft settings on the pore parameters and air permeability of fabrics were investigated, and the advantages of 2D, 3D geometrical pore models and image analysis method were compared

Three-dimensional computer simulation of 2/2 twill woven fabric by using B-splines

This study was carried out to obtain visual simulations of twill weave woven fabrics on a computer screen using certain fabric parameters. Warp and weft yarns in twill weave fabric structures are inclined in fabric longitudinal and transverse directions, and also stick out of the fabric plane because of being subjected to internal forces. Therefore, a two-dimensional model is not capable of defining the twill weave fabric geometry and a third dimension is necessary to define the inherent skewness. In constructing a preliminary model for the twill weave fabric structure, the yarn paths were divided into small linear segments. Having determined the dimensions and direction angles of yarn central axes, oB-splineo method was applied to convert the yarn path to a smooth curve. Finally the accuracy of model was controlled by comparing the calculated crimp and fabric weight values obtained from the theoretical model with those of the experimental fabrics