ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL INTERACTION OF 2001 CRISIS: IMPLICATIONS FOR 2008 RECESSION?

As it is known, Turkey experienced a severe economic crisis in the year 2001. This economic crisis has been costly for the Turkish economy and has typically been accompanied by a collapse of output and employment as well as striking declines in real wages. Not only economic insufficiencies and bottlenecks but also political uncertainty had sizeable impacts in the formation of economic crisis. The 2001 Crisis interestingly caused a set of catastrophe and it is worthy to analyze its emergence, mal-administration, and wide damage on the Turkish economy and to show the structure that transformed political climate in the post-crisis period. The interaction of political and economic dimensions of 2001 crisis also accompanies strong implications for 2008 recession and this paper finally discusses lessons of 2001 crisis for 2008 recession through the lenses of interplay between politics and economics

Can SMEs in developing countries resist crisis? An analysis on Turkish and Albanian cases

SMEs have an important role in terms of their economic share in developedand developing economies, though there are different definitions of SMEamong various organizations and countries. Today, instead of giantindustries, SMEs having gained importance in the developing economies,become advantageous being economic enterprises having the capability ofquick adjudication, working with less capital but more intense labor andhaving low cost of management and thus having cheap production. In short,the concept of small is beautiful becomes important in the current economic conjuncture with giant firms.In this context, SME definition and SME's role in Turkish and Albanianeconomies will be dealt with. It will be also questioned whether SMEs indeveloping countries resist crisis or not

Testing for causality between the foreign direct investment, current account deficit, GDP and total credit: Evidence from G7

In this study, countries were analyzed between 1990 and 2011 in order to determine whether a causal relationship exists among current account deficit, GDP, foreign direct investment, and total credits of G7. Analysis took into account the cross-sectional dependence and was applied to test the causality among the variables form the panel. Firstly, panel unit root tests were used for determining stationary of variables. As a result of the panel unit root tests, it was found that GDP and foreign direct investment have a stationary structure and that total credits and current account deficit contain unit root. In order to see whether there is a long-term relationship among the variables or not, the panel co-integration test was used. As a result of the test, it was concluded that there is a co-integration relationship among the series. The possibility of a causal relationship was analyzed among the variables using the causality test developed by Elena Ivona Dumitrescu and Christophe Hurlin (2012). Results of the analysis showed a unidirectional causal relationship from current account deficit and foreign direct investment to GDP. Bidirectional causality was found between current account deficit and total credits. Finally, a unidirectional relationship was found from foreign direct investment to current account deficit and total credits

The impact of vessel clamps on endothelial integrity and function of saphenous vein grafts

İstanbul Bilim Üniversitesi, Tıp Fakültesi.Background: Saphenous vein graft (SVG) failure can be associated with endothelial damage during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Endothelial damage may develop after application of occlusive vessel clamps on SVGs. This study was designed to investigate the effect of plastic and metal clamps on the endothelial integrity and function of SVGs. Methods: Saphenous vein samples were obtained from 10 consecutive patients, who underwent an elective CABG using SVG. Plastic (group 1) and metal (group 2) clamps were sequentially applied on the vein. Each set of clamps (1 plastic and 1 metal) was removed and sampled at 5, 15, and 30 min, respectively. A short SVG segment was removed as control. The samples were fixed for histopathologic study using hematoxylin eosin staining and immunostaining for endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression. In each group, endothelial, elastic tissue, muscular layer, and adventitial changes were investigated under light microscope and compared using a histologic scoring system. The intensity of eNOS expression was assessed using histochemical scoring system. Results: In both groups, histopathologic examinations showed progressive endothelial damage in the zones of clamp application, compared with the control group (P < 0.001). Histopathologic changes were more favorable with the metal clamps, compared with the plastic clamps, at 5 and 15 min. No significant increase in endothelial damage occurred after 15 min. The eNOS immunoreactivity of SVGs significantly decreased in the damaged areas of the endothelium (P < 0.05). In metal clamps, the intensity of eNOS immunostaining was significantly high at 5 min, compared with plastic clamps (P < 0.05). However, the intensity of eNOS expression in metal clamps was significantly lower than plastic clamps at 15 min (P < 0.05). No significant difference was observed between the groups at 30 min. Conclusions: The endothelial cells can be better preserved with short-term application of SVGs with metal clamps rather than plastic clamps. These findings suggest that temporary use of metal clamps can be preferred without major effects on vascular integrity and function

Deteriorations of pulmonary function, elevated carbon monoxide levels and increased oxidative stress amongst water-pipe smokers

Objectives: A water pipe (hookah) is a tobacco smoking tool which is thought to be more harmless than a cigarette, and there are no adequate studies about its hazards to health. Water-pipe smoking is threatening health of the youth in the world today. The objective of this study has been to investigate the carbon monoxide (CO) levels in breath, examine the changes in pulmonary function tests (PFT) and to assess the change of the oxidative stress parameters in blood after smoking a water pipe. Material and Methods: This study is a cross-sectional analytical study that has included 50 volunteers who smoke a water pipe and the control group of 50 volunteers who smoke neither a cigarette nor a water pipe. Carbon monoxide levels were measured in the breath and pulmonary function tests (PFTs) were performed before and after smoking a water pipe. Blood samples were taken from either the volunteer control group or water-pipe smokers group after smoking a water pipe for the purpose of evaluation of the parameters of oxidative stress. Results: Carbon monoxide values were measured to be 8.08±7.4 ppm and 28.08±16.5 ppm before and after smoking a water pipe, respectively. This increment was found statistically significant. There were also significant reductions in PFTs after smoking a water pipe. Total oxidative status (TOS), total antioxidant status (TAS) and oxidative stress index (OSI) were found prominently higher after smoking a water pipe for the group of water-pipe smokers than for the control group. Conclusions: This study has shown that water-pipe smoking leads to deterioration in pulmonary function and increases oxidative stress. To the best of our knowledge this study is the only one that has shown the effect of water-pipe smoking on oxidative stress. More studies must be planned to show the side effects of water-pipe habit and protective policies should be planned especially for young people in Europe. Int J Occup Med Environ Health 2017;30(5):731–74

Investigation of iron's neurotoxicity during cerebral maturation in the neonatal rat model of haemolysis

Introduction: Haemolytic disease of newborns due to rhesus and ABO incompatibility is encountered frequently in neonatal clinics and may lead to severe haemolysis. In this study, it is suggested that important amounts of iron released with haemolysis may have a toxic effect on the brain parenchymal tissue, and the severity of the toxic effect can be correlated with the maturation of the brain barrier systems. To demonstrate the accumulation and the neurotoxic effects of free iron (Fe) in the brain an experimental haemolysis model with various maturation phases was performed

Design, synthesis and molecular modelling studies of some pyrazole derivatives as carbonic anhydrase inhibitors

Supuran, Claudiu/0000-0003-4262-0323; Ece, Abdulilah/0000-0002-3087-5145WOS: 000520863700001PubMed: 31797703In this study, newly synthesised compounds 6, 8, 10 and other compounds (1-5, 7 and 9) and their inhibitory properties against the human isoforms hCA I and hCA II were reported for the first time. Compounds 1-10 showed effective inhibition profiles with K-I values in the range of 5.13-16.9 nM for hCA I and of 11.77-67.39 nM against hCA II, respectively. Molecular docking studies were also performed with Glide XP to get insight into the inhibitory activity and to evaluate the binding modes of the synthesised compounds to hCA I and II. More rigorous binding energy calculations using MM-GBSA protocol which agreed well with observed activities were then performed to improve the docking scores. Results of in silico calculations showed that all compounds obey drug likeness properties. The new compounds reported here might be promising lead compounds for the development of new potent inhibitors as alternatives to classical hCA inhibitors

Effects of intravenous immunoglobulin therapy on behavior deficits and functions in sepsis model

Background: We aim to demonstrate behavioral alterations in a sepsis model using intravenous (IV) immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulins enriched with IgA and IgM (IgGAM)