FEASIBILITY OF NEARLY-ZERO ENERGY BUILDING RETROFITS BY USING RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES IN AN EDUCATIONAL BUILDING

Dissemination of education is vital especially in developing countries like Turkey. Besides, proper use of energy resources is required while dissemination of education is ensured. Considering the regions where energy is limited, renewable energy sources should be used to achieve the goal of a zero-energy building. Moreover, an increase of smart technologies has potantial in order to decrease energy consumption in educational buildings. This paper aims to investigate renewable energy sources to decrease energy consumption to achieve nearly-zero energy building goal by implementing different energy efficient retrofitting scenarios. The retroffitting scenarios are based on renewable energy sources and are presented for an educational building located in Ankara-Turkey, through a Building Energy Simulation Tool, Design Builder Software. In order to develop an accurate model, educational building is monitored and the model is calibrated. Then, various energy efficient retrofitting scenarios are defined such as implementing PV panels, solar collectors and adding wind turbines for electricity generation

The role of serum podocalyxin levels in recurrent pregnancy loss

Objective: To measure serum levels of podocalyxin (PODXL) in recurrent miscarriages as a marker of vascular endothelial dysfunction. Study design: In this case-control study, women who were hospitalized for singleton first-trimester pregnancy terminations due to missed abortion, anembryonic pregnancy, and inevitable abortion were included. There were 24 patients who were admitted for the first pregnancy termination, 39 patients who were admitted for recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), and 25 fetal cardiac activity positive patients as the control group. Demographic features, medical and obstetric histories were recorded. The measurements of serum PODXL were done by a human enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Results: Serum PODXL levels were found to be significantly higher in the RPL group than the control group and the first time miscarriage group (13.82 [10.09 113.54] vs. 11.78 [9.25 48.80], p = 0.016 and 13.82 [10.09–113.54] vs. 11.99 [8.20–20.47], p = 0.003; respectively). Serum PODXL levels were not statistically significantly different between the first miscarriage and the control group (p = 0.62). There were positive correlation between serum PODXL levels and the number of gravida and the number of miscarriages (r = 0.217, p = 0.042, and r = 0.291, p = 0.006; respectively). Conclusion: Recurrent miscarriage patients had higher serum levels of PODXL than both normal pregnancies and first-time miscarriages. Our results suggest that maternal endothelial dysfunction might have a role in recurrent pregnancy losses

Daily antibiotic cost of nosocomial infections in a Turkish university hospital

BACKGROUND: Many studies associated nosocomial infections with increased hospital costs due to extra days in hospital, staff time, extra investigations and drug treatment. The cost of antibiotic treatment for these infections represents a significant part of hospital expenditure. This prospective observational study was designed to determine the daily antibiotic cost of nosocomial infections per infected adult patient in Akdeniz University Hospital. METHODS: All adult patients admitted to the ICUs between January 1, 2000, and June 30, 2003 who had only one nosocomial infection during their stay were included in the study. Infection sites and pathogens, antimicrobial treatment of patient and it's cost were recorded. Daily antibiotic costs were calculated per infected patient. RESULTS: Among the 8460 study patients, 817 (16.6%) developed 1407 episodes of nosocomial infection. Two hundred thirty three (2.7%) presented with only one nosocomial infection. Mean daily antibiotic cost was $89.64. Daily antibiotic cost was$99.02 for pneumonia, $94.32 for bloodstream infection,$94.31 for surgical site infection, $52.37 for urinary tract infection, and$162.35 for the other infections per patient. The treatment of Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections was the most expensive infection treated. Piperacillin-tazobactam and amikacin were the most prescribed antibiotics, and meropenem was the most expensive drug for treatment of the nosocomial infections in the ICU. CONCLUSIONS: Daily antibiotic cost of nosocomial infections is an important part of extra costs that should be reduced providing rational antibiotic usage in hospitals

Investigations on the Determination of Fusarium-Oxysporum F Sp Niveum Races In the Aegean Region of Turkey

WOS: A1992HL41600006Wilt on watermelon caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum has been studied. During to a survey carried out in Izmir, Manisa and Aydin provinces for 2 years, a total of 103 Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. niveum isolates were obtained from 123 fields. Isolates showed a variation in pathogenicity between 4-96 % in the tests carried out on the susceptible watermelon cultivar 'Sugar Baby'. To determine the races in a first step, 37 isolates showing over 40 % pathogenicity on 'Sugar Baby', were tested with cvs. 'Sugar Baby', 'Charleston Gray' and 'Calhoun Gray'. It was observed that two of them had the characteristics of No. "0" race and eight of them had the characteristics of number "1" race. At the next stage, the reactions of eight cultivars, known as resistant to both the races of number "0" and "1", to the above two isolates were investigated. At the end of the experiments, they were assumed to be number "2" race due to the fact that they caused diseases at high levels

Psikolojik faktörlerin tükürük üzerine olan etkilerinin incelenmesi

Amaç: Bu çalışmanın amacı uyarılmamış tükürük akış hızı ve subjektif ağız kuruluğunun anksiyete, depresyon ve stres ile ilişkilerinin değerlendirilmesidir. Yöntemler: Dört grup oluşturulmuştur. Birinci grup uyarılmamış tükürük akış hızı ≤0,1 ml/dak. olan ve subjektif ağız kuruluğu olan hastaları, ikinci grup uyarılmamış tükürük akış hızı ≥0,1 ml/dak. olan ve subjektif ağız kuruluğu olan hastaları, üçüncü grup uyarılmamış tükürük akış hızı ≤0,1 ml/dak. olan ve subjektif ağız kuruluğu olmayan hastaları içermektedir. Bu üç grup, uyarılmamış tükürük akış hızı ≥0,1 ml/dak. ve subjektif ağız kuruluğu olmayan hastaları içeren kontrol grubu (dördüncü grup) ile bağımsız olarak karşılaştırılmıştır. Çalışmaya dâhil edilen hastaların tümünün teşhis edilmiş hastalıkları ve kullanmakta oldukları ilaçlar kaydedilmiştir. Tükürük örneğinin alınmasından sonra, depresyon, anksiyete ve genel stres durumu değerlendirilmiştir. Uyarılmamış tükürük akış hızı 0,1 ml/dak.’dan az olduğunda hiposalivasyon olarak değerlendirilmiştir. “Ağzınızda genelde kuruluk hisseder misiniz?” sorusu subjektif ağız kuruluğunun göstergesi olarak sorulmuştur. Bulgular: Çalışmada kullanılan tüm testlerin iç tutarlılık indekslerinin 0,70 in üzerinde olduğu görülmüştür. Depresyon (F:10,27 p=0,0001), anksiyete (F:3,79 p=0,013, F:3,90 p=0,011) ve stres testlerinin (F:3.88 p=0,012) gruplardaki dağılımında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı fark bulunmuştur. 1. Grup’un depresyon puanları 4. Grup’unkinden istatistiksel olarak anlamlı derecede yüksek bulunmuştur (p=0,0001). 2. Grup’un depresyon puanları 4. Grup’unkinden istatistiksel olarak anlamlı derecede yüksek bulunmuştur (p=0,001). Sonuç: Psikolojik faktörlerin tükürük akış hızının azalmasında ve subjektif ağız kuruluğunun artmasında önemli rol oynadığı görülmüştür