Evaluation of Proline, Chlorophyll, and Carotenoid Contents of Two Globe Artichokes [Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus (L.) Fiori] Leaves Based on the Growing Season

Globe artichoke [Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus (L.) Fiori], a member of the Asteraceae family, has been known since ancient times. Edible parts of this valuable vegetable are rich in antioxidants and polyphenols as well as possessing healing properties against certain diseases. When the life cycle of plants is taken into consideration, the processes which are highly affected by environmental conditions are photosynthesis and cell growth. Chlorophyll level is known as a good indicator of the photosynthesis of plants. Carotenoids, one of the important functions of which protects chlorophyll from photo-oxidation, can prevent the destruction of chlorophyll. Therefore, chlorophyll and carotenoids play an important role in photosynthesis and the protection of photosynthetic pathways against harmful free radicals. The proline concentration present in various plants is increased in many different stress conditions, such as cold, temperature, salinity, drought, UV, and heavy metals, thus, providing better tolerance to stress conditions. The aim of the present study was to comparatively evaluate the proline, chlorophyll (a and b), and carotenoid contents of the young and mature leaves of two OP cultivars (Bayrampaşa and Sakız) based on different growing seasons. Obtained results demonstrated that there were differences between two OP artichoke cultivars based on the growing season and young and mature leaves with regards to proline, chlorophyll (a and b), and carotenoid contents. Findings revealed that proline and chlorophyll b levels in autumn were quite promising, while in terms of chlorophyll a and carotenoid levels winter was prominent. Regarding the young and mature leaves, high proline and chlorophyll a levels were found to be dominant in young leaves. On the other hand, chlorophyll b and carotenoid were more accumulated in mature leaves. Turkey has several other globe artichoke cultivars and the findings of the present study may play a supportive role in determining proline, chlorophyll (a and b), and carotenoid contents for combating several environmental stress factors

Türkiye'de Perakende Sektöründe Analitik Hiyerarşik Süreç Yaklaşımıyla Tedarikçi Performans Değerlendirmesi

Artan rekabet kosullarında, isletmelerin tedarik zincirlerinin en önemli halkalarından biri olan tedarikçilerini değerlendirme ve seçme yöntemleri büyük önem kazanmıstır. Doğası gereği "çok amaçlı" bir karar verme problemi olan tedarikçi seçiminde çözüme giderken, "çoklu kritere" göre değerlendirme yapabilen yöntemler öne çıkmaktadır. Saaty (1980) tarafından gelistirilen Analitik Hiyerarsik Süreç (AHS), sistematik ve kolay uygulanabilir yapısıyla bu problem için etkin bir çözüm yöntemi önermektedir. Bu çalısmada, ulusal bir perakende zincirinin tedarikçi performans değerlendirme ve seçim sistemi AHS yöntemiyle tasarlanmıstır. Älk olarak firma yöneticileriyle, perakende sektörüne özgü performans kriterleri ve bu kriterlerin önem dereceleri belirlenmistir. Belirlenen kriterlere, AHS yöntemi uygulanarak tedarikçi değerlendirme ve puanlaması yapılmıstır. Yapılan puanlamalar sonucunda tedarikçi değerlendirmede kullanılabilecek optimum kriterler ve ele alınan tedarikçilere iliskin değerlendirme tablosu ortaya konmustur. In increasing competitive conditions, supplier evaluation and selection methodologies which constitute most important part of the supply chain of the corporations gained big importance. While solving supplier selection problem which is multi objective by its nature, methodologies which allow "multi-criteria" evaluation are powerful. Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) which is developed by Saaty (1980), proposes an efficient, systematic and simply applicable solution methodology. In this study, the performance evaluation and selection methodology of a nation-wide retail company are designed with AHP. First of all, retail specific performance criteria and the importance of these criteria are determined. AHP methodology applied with these criteria and supplier evalutaion and rating are made. After rating, optimum criteria which are suitable for supplier evaluation and assesment table for suppliers discussed are provided given

Application of Statistical and Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Medium-Term Electrical Energy Forecasting: A Case Study for a Regional Hospital

Electrical energy forecasting is crucial for efficient, reliable, and economic operations of hospitals due to serving 365 days a year, 24/7, and they require round-the-clock energy. An accurate prediction of energy consumption is particularly required for energy management, maintenance scheduling, and future renewable investment planning of large facilities. The main objective of this study is to forecast electrical energy demand by performing and comparing well-known techniques, which are frequently applied to short-term electrical energy forecasting problem in the literature, such as multiple linear regression as a statistical technique and artificial intelligence techniques including artificial neural networks containing multilayer perceptron neural networks and radial basis function networks, and support vector machines through a case study of a regional hospital in the medium-term horizon. In this study, a state-of-the-art literature review of medium-term electrical energy forecasting, data set information, fundamentals of statistical and artificial intelligence techniques, analyses for aforementioned methodologies, and the obtained results are described meticulously. Consequently, support vector machines model with a Gaussian kernel has the best validation performance, and the study revealed that seasonality has a dominant influence on forecasting performance. Hence heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems cover the major part of electrical energy consumption of the regional hospital. Besides historical electrical energy consumption, outdoor mean temperature and calendar variables play a significant role in achieving accurate results. Furthermore, the study also unveiled that the number of patients is steady over the years with only small deviations and have no significant influence on medium-term electrical energy forecasting

Folate, B12 and Iron Levels in COVID 19 Patients Observational Case-Control Study

Background: Folic acid, B12 and Iron play an important role in the pathogenesis of viral infections. Aim: The aim of the study is to determine the blood levels of Folate, B12 and Iron and to examine their relationship with prognosis in cases followed up by the COVID 19 pandemic service. Materials and Methods: The study was planned as a retrospective observational case-control study. In a period of approximately 3 months, 140 patients were screened retrospectively, 70 of whom were COVID 19 and 70 control cases. Case

Single-cell in situ RNA profiling by sequential hybridization

In our previous paper, Lubeck and Cai, we used super-resolution microscopy to resolve a large number of mRNAs in single cells. In this Correspondence, we present a sequential barcoding scheme to multiplex different mRNAs

Investigation of antibacterial activities of ethanol and methanol extracts of some marine algae species on yersinia ruckeri

Bu çalışmada Liagora ceranoides (Rhodophyta), Halopteris scoparia (Ocrophyta), Padina pavonica (Ocrophyta) ve Sargassum vulgare (Ocrophyta) alglerinin etanol ve metanol ekstraktlarının hasta gökkuşağı alabalığı (Oncorhynhus mykiss)’ndan izole edilen Yersinia ruckeri suşları üzerine antibakteriyel aktiviteleri değerlendirilmiştir. Ayrıca, suşların çeşitli antibiyotiklere duyarlılıkları da çalışılmıştır. Balıklardan izole edilen suşlar fenotipik testler, API 20E hızlı tanı kiti ve PZR sonuçlarına göre Yersinia ruckeri olarak tanımlanmıştır. Çalışmada L. ceranoides, H. scoparia, P. pavonica ve S. vulgare makroalglerinin metanol ekstraktlarının Y. ruckeri’ye karşı antibakteriyel etki göstermediği bulunmuştur. P. pavonica’nın etanol ekstraktı Y. ruckeri’ye karşı düşük antibakteriyel aktivite göstermiştir. L. ceranoides, H. scoparia ve S. vulgare makroalglerinin etanol ekstraktlarının bakteriye karşı antibakteriyel aktivite göstermediği tespit edilmiştir. Antibiyogram test sonuçlarına göre suşların ampisilin, flumekuin, oksitetrasiklin ve trimetoprime duyarlı oldukları bulunmuştur. Suşlar eritromisine karşı orta derecede direnç göstermiştir. Sonuç olarak, alglerin antibakteriyel aktiviteye sahip olduklarının bildirilmesine karşın her alg türünün antibakteriyel aktivite gösteremeyeceği anlaşılmıştır.In this study, antibacterial activities of extracts of Liagora ceranoides (Rhodophyta), Halopteris scoparia (Ocrophyta), Padina pavonica (Ocrophyta) and Sargassum vulgare (Ocrophyta) on Yersinia ruckeri strains isolated from sick rainbow trout (Oncorhynhus mykiss) were evaluated. Also, susceptibilities of the strains against various antibiotics were studied. The strains isolated from the sick fish were identified as Yersinia ruckeri according to the results of the phenotypic tests, the API 20E rapid diagnostic kit and PCR. In the study, it was found that the methanol extracts of L. ceranoides, H. scoparia, P. pavonica and S. vulgare did not show antibacterial activity against Y. ruckeri. The ethanol extract of P. pavonica showed low antibacterial activity against Y. ruckeri. The ethanol extracts of L. ceranoides, H. scoparia and S. vulgare macroalgae did not show antibacterial activity against the bacterium. According to the results of the antibiogram test, it was found that the strains were sensitive against ampicillin, flumequine, oxytetracycline and trimethoprime. The strains showed intermediate resistance against erythromycine. In conclusion, although it was reported that algae had antibacterial activities, it was understood that every algae species could not exhibit antibacterial activity

Post-discharge heart failure monitoring program in Turkey: Hit-PoinT

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and feasibility of an enhanced heart failure (HF) education with a 6-month telephone follow- up program in post-discharge ambulatory HF patients. Methods: The Hit-Point trial was a multicenter, randomized, controlled trial of enhanced HF education with a 6-month telephone follow-up program (EHFP) vs routine care (RC) in patients with HF and reduced ejection fraction. A total of 248 patients from 10 centers in various geographical areas were randomized: 125 to EHFP and 123 to RC. Education included information on adherence to treatment, symptom recognition, diet and fluid intake, weight monitoring, activity and exercise training. Patients were contacted by telephone after 1, 3, and 6 months. The primary study endpoint was cardiovascular death. Results: Although all-cause mortality didn't differ between the EHFP and RC groups (p=NS), the percentage of cardiovascular deaths in the EHFP group was significantly lower than in the RC group at the 6-month follow up (5.6% vs. 8.9%, p=0.04). The median number of emergency room visits was one and the median number of all cause hospitalizations and heart failure hospitalizations were zero. Twenty-tree percent of the EHFP group and 35% of the RC group had more than a median number of emergency room visits (p=0.05). There was no significant difference regarding the median number of all-cause or heart failure hospitalizations. At baseline, 60% of patients in EHFP and 61% in RC were in NYHA Class III or IV, while at the 6-month follow up only 12% in EHFP and 32% in RC were in NYHA Class III or IV (p=0.001). Conclusion: These results demonstrate the potential clinical benefits of an enhanced HF education and follow up program led by a cardiologist in reducing cardiovascular deaths and number of emergency room visits with an improvement in functional capacity at 6 months in post-discharge ambulatory HF patients.Türk Kardiyoloji Derneği Kalp Yetmezliği Çalışma Grub

Molecular basis of microhomology-mediated end-joining by purified full-length Polθ

DNA polymerase θ (Polθ) is a unique polymerase-helicase fusion protein that promotes microhomology-mediated end-joining (MMEJ) of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs). How full-length human Polθ performs MMEJ at the molecular level remains unknown. Using a biochemical approach, we find that the helicase is essential for Polθ MMEJ of long ssDNA overhangs which model resected DSBs. Remarkably, Polθ MMEJ of ssDNA overhangs requires polymerase-helicase attachment, but not the disordered central domain, and occurs independently of helicase ATPase activity. Using single-particle microscopy and biophysical methods, we find that polymerase-helicase attachment promotes multimeric gel-like Polθ complexes that facilitate DNA accumulation, DNA synapsis, and MMEJ. We further find that the central domain regulates Polθ multimerization and governs its DNA substrate requirements for MMEJ. These studies identify unexpected functions for the helicase and central domain and demonstrate the importance of polymerase-helicase tethering in MMEJ and the structural organization of Polθ

The genetic history of the Southern Arc: a bridge between West Asia and Europe

By sequencing 727 ancient individuals from the Southern Arc (Anatolia and its neighbors in Southeastern Europe and West Asia) over 10,000 years, we contextualize its Chalcolithic period and Bronze Age (about 5000 to 1000 BCE), when extensive gene flow entangled it with the Eurasian steppe. Two streams of migration transmitted Caucasus and Anatolian/Levantine ancestry northward, and the Yamnaya pastoralists, formed on the steppe, then spread southward into the Balkans and across the Caucasus into Armenia, where they left numerous patrilineal descendants. Anatolia was transformed by intra–West Asian gene flow, with negligible impact of the later Yamnaya migrations. This contrasts with all other regions where Indo-European languages were spoken, suggesting that the homeland of the Indo-Anatolian language family was in West Asia, with only secondary dispersals of non-Anatolian Indo-Europeans from the steppe