Cerclage retention versus removal following preterm premature rupture of membranes and association with amniotic fluid markers

ObjectiveTo evaluate whether amniotic fluid markers can aid the decision of whether to retain or remove a cervical cerclage after preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM).MethodsA retrospective cohort study included pregnancies involving PPROM after diagnostic amniocentesis and cerclage placement. Cerclage was retained for more than 12 hours after PPROM in the study group (n = 18); the comparison group comprised women who underwent immediate cerclage removal after PPROM (n = 22). Analyses were performed using concentrations of interleukin (IL)â 6, glucose, and white blood cells (WBCs) in the amniotic fluid to measure relationships with adverse outcomes.ResultsThe latency period from PPROM to delivery was significantly shorter in the group that underwent immediate cerclage removal (P < 0.005). Latency periods of more than 48 hours (P < 0.001) and more than 7 days (P < 0.01), and chorioamnionitis (P < 0.05) were associated with cerclage retention. Neonatal outcomes were not significantly different between the study group and the comparison group. However, elevated ILâ 6 levels were associated with cumulative neonatal morbidity (P < 0.05). Low ILâ 6 (P < 0.001) and WBC (P < 0.05) levels were significantly associated with a latency period of more than 7 days.ConclusionAmniotic fluid levels of ILâ 6 and WBCs may be of clinical value for individualizing the management of patients with PPROM after cerclage.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135438/1/ijgo37.pd

More than smell - COVID-19 is associated with severe impairment of smell, taste, and chemesthesis

Recent anecdotal and scientific reports have provided evidence of a link between COVID-19 and chemosensory impairments such as anosmia. However, these reports have downplayed or failed to distinguish potential effects on taste, ignored chemesthesis, generally lacked quantitative measurements, were mostly restricted to data from single countries. Here, we report the development, implementation and initial results of a multi-lingual, international questionnaire to assess self-reported quantity and quality of perception in three distinct chemosensory modalities (smell, taste, and chemesthesis) before and during COVID-19. In the first 11 days after questionnaire launch, 4039 participants (2913 women, 1118 men, 8 other, ages 19-79) reported a COVID-19 diagnosis either via laboratory tests or clinical assessment. Importantly, smell, taste and chemesthetic function were each significantly reduced compared to their status before the disease. Difference scores (maximum possible change+/-100) revealed a mean reduction of smell (-79.7+/- 28.7, mean+/- SD), taste (-69.0+/- 32.6), and chemesthetic (-37.3+/- 36.2) function during COVID-19. Qualitative changes in olfactory ability (parosmia and phantosmia) were relatively rare and correlated with smell loss. Importantly, perceived nasal obstruction did not account for smell loss. Furthermore, chemosensory impairments were similar between participants in the laboratory test and clinical assessment groups. These results show that COVID-19-associated chemosensory impairment is not limited to smell, but also affects taste and chemesthesis. The multimodal impact of COVID-19 and lack of perceived nasal obstruction suggest that SARS-CoV-2 infection may disrupt sensory-neural mechanisms.Additional co-authors: Veronica Pereda-Loth, Shannon B Olsson, Richard C Gerkin, Paloma Rohlfs Domínguez, Javier Albayay, Michael C. Farruggia, Surabhi Bhutani, Alexander W Fjaeldstad, Ritesh Kumar, Anna Menini, Moustafa Bensafi, Mari Sandell, Iordanis Konstantinidis, Antonella Di Pizio, Federica Genovese, Lina Öztürk, Thierry Thomas-Danguin, Johannes Frasnelli, Sanne Boesveldt, Özlem Saatci, Luis R. Saraiva, Cailu Lin, Jérôme Golebiowski, Liang-Dar Hwang, Mehmet Hakan Ozdener, Maria Dolors Guàrdia, Christophe Laudamiel, Marina Ritchie, Jan Havlícek, Denis Pierron, Eugeni Roura, Marta Navarro, Alissa A. Nolden, Juyun Lim, KL Whitcroft, Lauren R. Colquitt, Camille Ferdenzi, Evelyn V. Brindha, Aytug Altundag, Alberto Macchi, Alexia Nunez-Parra, Zara M. Patel, Sébastien Fiorucci, Carl M. Philpott, Barry C. Smith, Johan N Lundström, Carla Mucignat, Jane K. Parker, Mirjam van den Brink, Michael Schmuker, Florian Ph.S Fischmeister, Thomas Heinbockel, Vonnie D.C. Shields, Farhoud Faraji, Enrique Enrique Santamaría, William E.A. Fredborg, Gabriella Morini, Jonas K. Olofsson, Maryam Jalessi, Noam Karni, Anna D'Errico, Rafieh Alizadeh, Robert Pellegrino, Pablo Meyer, Caroline Huart, Ben Chen, Graciela M. Soler, Mohammed K. Alwashahi, Olagunju Abdulrahman, Antje Welge-Lüssen, Pamela Dalton, Jessica Freiherr, Carol H. Yan, Jasper H. B. de Groot, Vera V. Voznessenskaya, Hadar Klein, Jingguo Chen, Masako Okamoto, Elizabeth A. Sell, Preet Bano Singh, Julie Walsh-Messinger, Nicholas S. Archer, Sachiko Koyama, Vincent Deary, Hüseyin Yanik, Samet Albayrak, Lenka Martinec Novákov, Ilja Croijmans, Patricia Portillo Mazal, Shima T. Moein, Eitan Margulis, Coralie Mignot, Sajidxa Mariño, Dejan Georgiev, Pavan K. Kaushik, Bettina Malnic, Hong Wang, Shima Seyed-Allaei, Nur Yoluk, Sara Razzaghi, Jeb M. Justice, Diego Restrepo, Julien W Hsieh, Danielle R. Reed, Thomas Hummel, Steven D Munger, John E Haye

Türkçe’de tutum fiillerinin işlenişi ve anlambilimsel ve edimbilimsel incelenmesi: "zannet".

This thesis investigated the Theory of Mind (ability to infer mental states) in a verbal medium. In addition to that, some propositional attitude verbs that are used for providing such a medium are investigated semantically and pragmatically. Evaluated verbs were bil (know), düşün (think), and zannet (~falsely-believe). These verbs are used for creating a paradigm where speaker's beliefs are encoded in the utterance, and participants were expected to predict emotional responses to given situations using the this information. Their accuracy scores in these experiments were then compared and examined for correlation with their scores on the Autism-Spectrum Quotient questionnaire with which we aimed to measure the ability to process pragmatic inferences.Thesis (M.S.) -- Graduate School of Informatics. Cognitive Sciences

Argüman Yapısı ve Görünümün Adlaştırma Süreçlerindeki Rolü

Proje Türkçe türetimsel biçimbiliminde (İng. derivational morphology) yer alan adlaştırma süreçlerinin (İng. nominalization) detaylı bir analizini yapmak; (ii) bu analiz temelinde argüman yapısı (İng. argument structure) ve görünümün (İng. aspect) adlaştırma süreçlerindeki rolü üzerine literatürde devam etmekte olan tartışmalara katkı sunmak; ve (iii) berimsel biçimbilim çalışmalarına güvenilir insan yapısı bir veri tabanı oluşturmak amacıyla önerilmektedir. Bu amaçlara ulaşılmasında kuramsal çalışmanın yanı sıra iki işaretleyicinin eğitilerek veri işaretlemesi ve bu işaretlemelerin uyumluluğun karşılaştırılması, ve gerek duyulduğu takdirde bir takım adlaştırma süreçlerinin üretimselliğinin test edilmesi amacıyla web-tabanlı anket çalışmaları uygulanacaktır

Isophtalic acid terminated graphene oxide modified glassy carbon nanosensor electrode: Cd2+ and Bi3+ analysis in tap water and milk samples

In this study, graphene oxide was derivative with 5-aminoisophtalic acid by amidization reaction. The nanomaterial in suspension was denoted as graphene oxide-isophtalic acid. The graphene oxide-isophtalic acid suspension was covered on the glassy carbon electrode surface under the infrared lamb. The graphene oxide was characterized with transmission electron microscopy and x-ray diffraction. Surface characterization of the glassy carbon/graphene oxide-isophtalic acid was performed with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The ultrasensitive nanoplatform for the simultaneous electrochemical square-wave anodic stripping voltammetry assay of Bi3+ and Cd2+ in aqueous solution has been developed on the glassy carbon/graphene oxide-isophtalic acid. The linearity range of Bi3+ and Cd2+ were 1.0x10(-8) - 1.0x10(-12) M (S/N = 3). The responses of species were practically unaltered with the increase of various species concentration. The detection limits of Cd2+ and Bi3+ were determined as 8.1x10(-13) M and 1.06x10(-13) M, respectively. The electrode performance was checked with tap water and commercially milk samples

Genome-Wide DNA Methylation Analysis and Epigenetic Variations Associated with Congenital Aortic Valve Stenosis (AVS)

<div><p>Congenital heart defect (CHD) is the most common cause of death from congenital anomaly. Among several candidate epigenetic mechanisms, DNA methylation may play an important role in the etiology of CHDs. We conducted a genome-wide DNA methylation analysis using an Illumina Infinium 450k human methylation assay in a cohort of 24 newborns who had aortic valve stenosis (AVS), with gestational-age matched controls. The study identified significantly-altered CpG methylation at 59 sites in 52 genes in AVS subjects as compared to controls (either hypermethylated or demethylated). Gene Ontology analysis identified biological processes and functions for these genes including positive regulation of receptor-mediated endocytosis. Consistent with prior clinical data, the molecular function categories as determined using DAVID identified low-density lipoprotein receptor binding, lipoprotein receptor binding and identical protein binding to be over-represented in the AVS group. A significant epigenetic change in the <i>APOA5</i> and <i>PCSK9</i> genes known to be involved in AVS was also observed. A large number CpG methylation sites individually demonstrated good to excellent diagnostic accuracy for the prediction of AVS status, thus raising possibility of molecular screening markers for this disorder. Using epigenetic analysis we were able to identify genes significantly involved in the pathogenesis of AVS.</p></div

Newborn blood DNA epigenetic variations and signaling pathway genes associated with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF).

Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is the most common Critical Congenital Heart Defect (CCHD). The etiology of TOF is unknown in most cases. Preliminary data from our group and others suggest that epigenetic changes may play an important role in CHD. Epidemiologically, a significant percentage of CHD including TOF fail to be diagnosed in the prenatal and early newborn period which can negatively affect health outcomes. We performed genome-wide methylation assay in newborn blood in 24 non-syndromic TOF cases and 24 unaffected matched controls using Illumina Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChips. We identified 64 significantly differentially methylated CpG sites in TOF cases, of which 25 CpG sites had high predictive accuracy for TOF, based on the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUC ROC) ≥ 0.90). The CpG methylation difference between TOF and controls was ≥10% in 51 CpG targets suggesting biological significance. Gene ontology analysis identified significant biological processes and functions related to these differentially methylated genes, including: CHD development, cardiomyopathy, diabetes, immunological, inflammation and other plausible pathways in CHD development. Multiple genes known or plausibly linked to heart development and post-natal heart disease were found to be differentially methylated in the blood DNA of newborns with TOF including: ABCB1, PPP2R5C, TLR1, SELL, SCN3A, CREM, RUNX and LHX9. We generated novel and highly accurate putative molecular markers for TOF detection using leucocyte DNA and thus provided information on pathogenesis of TOF

Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis of methylation profiles for four specific markers associated with aortic valve stenosis.

<p>AUC: Area Under Curve; 95% CI: 95% Confidence Interval. Lower and upper confidence interval was given in parentheses. We have identified six CpG sites (cg16464924, cg05890887, cg26196700, cg22469274 cg00994804 cg04836786) among 52 differentially methylated genes that have ROC AUC ≥0.75. At each locus, the FDR p-value for methylation difference between AVS subjects and controls was highly significantly different. Due to figure resolution, we have included only for four markers.</p

Highly Differentially Methylated CpG sites in Aortic Stenosis subjects.

<p>Differentially methylated genes with Target ID, Gene ID, chromosome location, % methylation change and FDR p-value for each gene methylated. CpG sites with significant FDR p-value indicating methylation status and ROC AUC ≥0.75 appear to have a strong potential as diagnostic biomarkers for AVS.</p