Acetohydroxyacid Synthase (AHAS) Inhibitor-Based Commercial Sulfonylurea Herbicides as Glutathione Reductase Inhibitors: in Vitro and in Silico Studies

In this study, in vitro inhibitory effect of AHAS inhibiting-based commercial sulfonylurea herbicides on human GR and S. cerevisiae GR was determined by electrochemical method. Our findings, the first report in literature, show that the four commercial herbicides were found to be the inhibitors in the range of 4.90–9.75 μM for ScGR, and in the range of 8.54–18.84 μM for hGR. Global reactivity descriptors (energy gaps, electronegativity, hardness and electrophilicity index) of the herbicides were calculated by DFT/B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) method in gas phase. The electrochemical behavior of the herbicides was studied by cyclic voltammetry. Single-electron half-wave reduction potentials and global reactivity descriptors were correlated with the IC50 values of the herbicides. Molecular docking analysis using Schrödinger Suite was applied to examine the interaction between the herbicides and human GR (PDB ID:1XAN and 2GH5), S. cerevisiae GR (PDB ID:2HQM), P. falciparum GR (PDB ID:1ONF), C. albicans AHAS (PDB ID:6DEL) and ScAHAS (PDB ID: 5FEM. Based on the docking results, it can be predicted that (a) herbicides have similar binding potential to two different binding sites of hGRs, (b) herbicides may have antimalarial potential against P. falciparum (c) herbicides may have antifungal potential against C. albicans. © 2022 Wiley-VCH GmbH

Demograpghic and Epidemiological Characteristics of Subacute Sclerosing Panencephalitis Patients in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit and Attitudes of Their Parents About Home Care

Introduction:Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) is a chronic, progressive, and degenerative infection of the central nervous system caused by measles virus. The first aim of this study was to assess the demographic and epidemiological characteristics of SSPE patients admitted to pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The second aim was to determine the thoughts of their parents about home care.Methods:Patients with SSPE, who were admitted to our PICU between January 1, 2015 and June 30, 2015, were evaluated retrospectively.Results:Fourteen patients were admitted to the PICU for a total of 16 episodes. Ten (71%) patients were male and 4 (29%) were female. Male-to-female ratio was 2.5. The mean age of the patients was 16.25±1.14 years. Thirteen patients had received their first measles vaccine at the age of 9 months. Ten (71.4%) patients had measles infection at a later time after the vaccination and one (7.1%) patient had measles before vaccination. The mean age at the time of measles infection was 23.81±15.67 months. The mean age at the time of first symptoms was 8.64±3.33 years and the mean duration of latent period was 5.72±2.96 years. Thirteen (81.3%) patients were admitted to the PICU with pneumonia and respiratory failure, 1 (6.2%) was admitted with sepsis, and 2 (12.5%) patients were admitted with neurological problems. None of the parents accepted home care in the study period. Frequent power cuts (80%), poor housing and home conditions (70%), poverty (60%), worries of the parents about home care (60%), and household crowding (50%) were their reasons for not accepting home care.Conclusion:Patients with SSPE may require PICU admission and long PICU stays for respiratory failure and neurologic problems. Palliative care units may be an option when home care is not possible for these patients

An unusual complication of a long-acting injectable antipsychotic: deep venous thrombosis caused by olanzapine pamoate

Antipsychotic drugs are widely used in psychiatry and are associated with an increased risk of adverse effects such as venous thromboembolism. Olanzapine pamoate is a long-acting injectable form of the second-generation antipsychotic agent. It is used especially in schizophrenia patients who are nonadherent to their prescription due to various reasons. Since the introduction of this newer depot form of olanzapine, it became more commonly prescribed and nearly replaced the conventional oral agent. Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is a severe, life-threatening condition which is somehow mostly underestimated or ignored by the psychiatrists. Although the risk of DVT due to antipsychotic drug therapy has been mentioned in various studies, the relationship with olanzapine pamoate was not referred to in the available literature. Here, a DVT after the use of olanzapine pamoate was introduced

Leg oedema due to low-dose risperidone during maintenance monotherapy of schizophrenia

Drug-related peripheral leg oedema is most commonly associated with steroids, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory, antihypertensives, and immunosuppressive agents. The second-generation antipsychotic risperidone is rarely associated with such oedematous complications. This adverse effect of risperidone occurs with a higher incidence in higher doses according to its dose-dependent nature. In this paper, a rare case of small maintenance dose risperidone-induced peripheral leg oedema in a schizophrenia patient was reported

Alice in Wonderland syndrome: a strange visual perceptual disturbance

- “Who are you?” said the Caterpillar. - Alice replied, rather shyly, “I – I hardly know, sir, just at present- at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.” - “What do you mean by that?” said the Caterpillar sternly. “Explain yourself!”, - “I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, sir,” said Alice, “because I’m not myself, you see.” - “I don’t see,” said the Caterpillar. - “I’m afraid I can’t put it more clearly,” Alice replied very politely, “for I can’t understand it myself to begin with; and being so many different sizes in a day is very confusing.” (Lewis Carroll L., Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. London: Macmillan & Co; 1865) The term Alice in Wonderland syndrome (AIWS) was initially coined by John Todd in 1955 to describe some weird somesthetic aura involving the shape or size of the objects and body parts. The name of this disorder was inspired by the novel of Lewis Carroll and his novel hero Alice. Alice appeared to experience many body size changes throughout the course of the story. Alice even feels her body shrink (microsomatognosia) or growing unexplainably taller (macrosomatognosia) than she actually is. Such visual perceptual distortions may occur in epileptic seizures, encephalitis, drug intoxication, and may be described in patients with schizophrenia or brain lesions. However, migraine and epilepsy are highly involved diseases that cause this type of aural symptoms. In this paper, a unique presentation of a young AIWS patient who has been depressed by experiencing an intermittent perceptual disturbance of seeing her cat as a huge tiger was reported

An extreme physical reaction in misophonia: stop smacking your mouth!

Misophonia is described as a condition in which negative emotions and negative physical reactions are triggered by particular sounds. The patients with misophonia demonstrate hatred and extreme intolerance against specific non-dominant and repetitive sounds. It is a severe psychiatric disorder rather than a mere obsession. Its symptoms may vary from mild to severe. Although some patients can dissemble and passed out, some may lose their control. In severe cases, involuntary physical violence may be observed. Although it is usually perceived as a spoil by the society, it may cause the patient’s life become unbearable. In this paper, the physical violence of a misophonia patient directed to a dinner guest who smacks his mouth during eating was reported. Unfortunately, the patient could not achieve to exclude himself from the source of disturbance before exhibiting the adverse physical reaction. Therefore, this case becomes important in demonstrating the extreme involuntarily reactive nature of misophonia

Synthesis and Characterization of Boron Doped Alumina Stabilized Zirconia Fibers

Boron doped PVA/Zr-Al acetate nanofibers were prepared by electrospinning using PVA as a precursor. The effect of calcination temperature on morphology and crystal structure was investigated at 250, 500, and 800 degrees C. The study also establishes the effect of boron doping on the morphology of PVA/Zr-Al acetate nanofibers at various calcination temperatures. The measurements showed that the conductivity, pH, viscosity and the surface tension of the hybrid polymer solutions have increased with boron doping. In addition, the fibers were characterized by FTIR, DSC, XPS, XRD and SEM techniques. The addition of boron did not only increase the thermal stability of the fibers, hut also increased the average fiber diameters, which gave stronger fibers. The DSC results indicated that the melting temperature (Tm) of the fibers was increased from 256 to 270 degrees C with the addition of boron. XRD peak patterns showed that after further heat treatment at 800 degrees C, zirconia exists in two phases of tetragonal and monoclinic modifications. Moreover, alumina does not transform into the gamma-Al2O3 and theta-Al2O3 phase at 800 degrees C. The SEM appearance of the fibers showed that the addition of boron resulted in the formation of crosslinked bright surfaced fibers

Serum ceruloplasmin-ferroxidase activity in bipolar disorder is elevated compared to major depressive disorder and schizophrenia: a controlled study

OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to study copper metabolism in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression compared with healthy control. METHODS: This is a single-centered cross-sectional study. The patients with schizophrenia (n = 36), bipolar disorder (n = 37), major depression (n = 40), and healthy control (n = 32) were included in the study. All participants were initially evaluated by a clinical psychiatrist to confirm the appropriate diagnosis using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manuel of Mental Disorders-IV (DSM-IV) Axis I Disorders (SCID-I). Serum copper level, ceruloplasmin mass, and ceruloplasmin-ferroxidase activity were measured. One-way ANOVA and Kruskal–Wallis Tests were performed for statistical analyses. RESULTS: Serum ceruloplasmin-ferroxidase activity (χ2  = 9.11, p = 0.028) demonstrated a significant statistical difference in all groups compared with the control group. Serum ceruloplasmin-ferroxidase activity of the bipolar disorder group was significantly higher than the healthy control group (p = 0.012), major depression group (p = 0.027), and the schizophrenia group (p = 0.019). Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (p = 0.028) and waist circumference (p = 0.005) in bipolar disorder group, and the C-reactive protein (CRP) (p < 0.001) and cholesterol (p = 0.043) in the schizophrenia group were found as the determinants of ceruloplasmin-ferroxidase activity. CONCLUSION: In this study, ceruloplasmin-ferroxidase activity is higher in all groups in comparison to the healthy control. The significantly higher ceruloplasmin-ferroxidase activity was shown in bipolar disorder followed by the major depression and schizophrenia. The ceruloplasmin-ferroxidase activity was correlated with erythrocyte sedimentation rate in the bipolar disorder group and with C-reactive protein in the schizophrenia group. Therefore, the ceruloplasmin-ferroxidase activity may be an encouraging candidate in the neuro-immune modulation and become a reliable clinical tool for demonstrating the strong association of inflammation in these disorders

Türk Üniversitelerinin Aday Öğrenci Web Sayfalarının Erişilebilirlik, Kullanılabilirlik ve Güvenlik Açısından Değerlendirilmesi

Üniversitelerin aday öğrenci web sayfaları sosyal ve akademik anlamda paydaşlarına bilgi sağlama konusunda önemli bir iletişim kaynağıdır, bu sebeple bu sayfaların kullanımının kolay, güvenli ve erişilebilirlik standartlarına uygun olması beklenir. Bu makale, Türkiye’deki üniversitelerin aday öğrenci web sayfalarının erişilebilirlik, kullanılabilirlik ve güvenlik değerlendirmesini sunmaktadır. Bu amaçla, üniversitelerin aday öğrencilerine yönelik 147 adet web sayfası tespit edilmiş ve çeşitli otomatik test araçları ile değerlendirilmiştir. Ayrıca, değerlendirme sonrası üniversitelerin benzer davranış kalıplarının belirlenmesi amacıyla kümeleme analizi yapılmıştır. Sonuçlar, devlet ya da vakıf fark etmeksizin üniversitelerin büyük çoğunluğunun erişilebilirlik ve kullanım kalitesine daha az dikkat ettiğini göstermiştir. Değerlendirilen web sayfalarının WCAG 2.0 yönergesine göre düşük uyumluluk seviyesine sahip olduğu görüldü. Güvenlik açısından kritik bir sorun tespit edilmemiştir ancak geliştirilmesi gereken belirli noktalar bulunmuştur. Ayrıca bu çalışma, web sayfalarının erişilebilirlik, kullanılabilirlik ve güvenlik ihlallerin çözülebilmesi için geliştiricilere ve yöneticilere bazı değerli öneriler sunmaktadır