Synthesis, characterization and radical polymerization of novel furan substituted acrylamide

N-[(Furan-2-yl)methyl]acrylamide (FMA) was synthesized via the reaction of furfurylamine with acryloyl chloride and the chemical structure was elucidated by 1H NMR, 13C NMR and FTIR analyses. Free radical polymerization of N-[(furan-2-yl)methyl]acrylamide was performed employing benzoyl peroxide (BPO) initiator under inert atmosphere of nitrogen in toluene. The monomer concentration and initiator concentration ranges were 8.8 × 10-2 to 13.2 × 10-2 mol L-1 and 3.4 × 10-3 to 20.7 × 10-3 mol L-1, respectively. The rate of polymerization (Rp) was found to be Rp = k[BPO]0.51[FMA]1.69. The overall activation energy of 84 kJ mol-1 was obtained in the temperature range 70-90°C. The FTIR spectra of the prepared polymer indicate disappearance of the band at 1620 cm-1, which is basically due to the olefinic C=C stretching, confirming the polymerization of N-[(furan-2-yl)methyl]acrylamide. © 2017, Chemical Publishing Co. All rights reserved

Peripheral blood monocytes in multiple sclerosis exacerbations

Objectives: Monocytes (MO), macrophages, and microglia have a central role in the central nervous system inflammation of multiple sclerosis (MS). During clinical activity in MS, MO activation markers increase and some interleukins and tumor necrosis factor-alpha levels are elevated. Our aim was to determine levels of absolute MO count and percentage in peripheral blood of MS patients during the attacks. Methodology: We assessed the percentage of MO by examining the blood smears in 28 patients with definite MS, in 20 patients with acute cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and in 20 healthy control subjects. Results: The mean value of absolute MO count in MS patients, CVD and control groups were as 606.67± 170.52, 746.50±414.76 and 360.00±109.54 respectively. The mean values of MO percentage in MS patients, CVD and control group were 8.34±2.61%, 5.56±2.48% and 5.36±1.50% respectively. The mean percentage of MO was significantly elevated in MS patients compared with the both groups of CVD and control (P<0.001). Conclusion: Our results suggest a possible role of an increase in MO activation in the acute exacerbations of Multiple Sclerosis

Computational intelligence models for PIV based particle (cuttings) direction and velocity estimation in multi-phase flows

In multi-phase flow, the gas phase, the liquid phase and the particles (cuttings) within the liquid have different flow behaviors. Particle velocity and particle direction are two of the important aspects for determining the drilling particle behavior in multi-phase flows. There exists a lack of information about particle behavior inside a drilling annular wellbore. This paper presents an approach for particle velocity and direction estimation based on data obtained through Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) techniques fed into computational intelligence models, in particular Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and Support Vector Machines (SVM). In this work, feed forward neural networks, support vector machines, support vector regression, linear regression and nonlinear regression models are used for estimating both particle velocity and particle direction. The proposed system was trained and tested using the experimental data obtained from an eccentric pipe configuration. Experiments have been conducted at the Cuttings Transport and Multi-phase Flow Laboratory of the Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering at Middle East Technical University. A high speed digital camera was used for recording the flow at the laboratory. Collected experimental data set consisted of 1080 and 1235 data points for 15° inclined wellbores, 1087 and 1552 data points for 30° inclined wellbores and 885 and 1119 data points for horizontal (0°), wellbores respectively to use in estimation and classification problems. Results obtained from computational intelligence models are compared with each other through some performance metrics. The results showed that the SVM model was the best estimator for direction estimation, meanwhile the SVR model was the best estimator for velocity estimation. The direction and speed of the particles were estimated with a reasonable accuracy; hence the proposed model can be used in eccentric pipes in the field. © 2018 Elsevier B.V

Diagnostic efficiency of systemic immune-inflammation index in fusion prostate biopsy

Objective: To investigate the diagnostic efficiency of systemic immune response (SII) in prostate cancer (PCa) in patients with PSA < 10 ng/ml undergoing fusion prostate biopsy

Case Report - Report of five children with Guillain-Barré syndrome following a nationwide oral polio vaccine campaign in Turkey

Five children with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), following a national oral polio vaccination campaign to eradicate disease, are reported. Clinical examination, CSF and electromyographic findings conformed to the classical description of GBS. Four of them received therapeutic dose of intravenous IgG. Two children succumbed to the disease. It was observed that the number of cases of GBS in children increased during the period of the oral polio vaccination (OPV) campaign in Turkey, suggesting a causal relationship