Relationship between Energy Consumption and Real Gross Domestic Production in Turkey: A Co-integration Analysis with Structural Breaks

Energy is one of the most fundamental requirements for a sustainable economy in many of the emerging countries. Being one of these emerging countries, Turkey has inadequate energy sources and this increases its foreign source dependency for energy. Likewise, experiencing negative energy shocks decreases the economic growth rate.  Analyzing the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth by taking into account the structural changes caused by internal shocks and external shocks experienced in the country is of great importance for the Turkish economy. In this study, the long term relationship between energy consumption and real gross domestic production in the period between 1960 and 2012 has been investigated by employing co-integration methods and the vector error correction model. Results of our study show that there is a long term relationship between the series and one-way causality from real gross domestic production to energy consumption. These findings clearly state that economic growth has an important role in energy consumption. Keywords: Energy Consumption; Economic Growth; Co-integration Test with Multiple Structural Breaks JEL Classification: C32; O4; Q4

The effect of femoral nerve block on fracture healing via expressions of growth factors and β-catenin

Introduction. Many patients of all ages are admitted to hospital due to bone fractures. The etiology of fracture has a very wide spectrum, ranging from motor accidents to pathological conditions such as tumors, osteoporosis, and others. Bone fracture healing is a well-programmed and well-organized process, but is also long and intractable. The outcome of this process is therefore affected by many factors, such as the patient’s age, ethnicity, nutritional status, and extent of the fracture. At present, regional analgesic techniques are frequently applied in order to avoid the complications of systemic opioid administration, central block applications. Femoral block is one of the regional analgesic techniques frequently applied by anesthesiologists when the lower extremities are involved. In this study, we evaluated the effect of femoral nerve block on the healing of an experimental non-stabilized femur fracture via expression of TGF-β, VEGF, and β-catenin and bone histomorphometry in rats. Material and methods. In the control group, only the femoral fracture was performed and the bone was not fixated, similarly as in other groups. In the One-Day Block group, a one-time femoral nerve block was applied after the femoral fracture. In the Three-Day Block group, a daily femoral nerve block was performed for three days after the femoral fracture. On Days 4, 7, and 13, femurs were excised. The bone sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin to evaluate bone tissue and Safranin O to assess callus tissue, cartilaginous tissue, and new bone areas. TGF-β, VEGF, and β-catenin were assessed by immunohistochemistry. Results. Histomorphometric analysis revealed that femoral block application had a positive impact on bone healing. TGF-β expression in the One-Day and Three-Day Block Groups was significantly higher than in the control group at all times, as was also the case with VEGF expression. On day 13, β-catenin expression was significantly higher in the Three-Day Block group than the others. Conclusions. The results of the study suggests that the applications of a femoral nerve block for perioperative analgesia, for either one day or three days, resulted in better and more rapid bone healing

Secondary prevention of coronary heart disease in elderly population of Turkey: A subgroup analysis of ELDERTURK study

Background: Secondary prevention plays an important role after acute coronary event due to high risk of adverse events in elderly. In present study we aimed to evaluate the lifestyle, management of risk factors and medical treatment for secondary protection in elderly patients with known coronary heart disease (CHD). Methods: ELDERTURK is a non-interventional, multi-centered, observational study, which included total of 5694 elderly patients ( > 65 years) from 50 centers in Turkey. In this study elderly patients from the ELDERTURK population with known CHD were evaluated for cardiovascular risk factors, comor- bidities and medication usage. Results: A total of 2976 (52.3% of study) out of 5694 patients included in the ELDERTURK study were evaluated. All had known CHD with a mean age of 73.4 ± 6.2 years and 60.3% were male. 13.0% of patients were smokers, 42.4% were overweight and 21.1% were obese. Only 23.6% of patients reported to do regular exercise, 73.4% had history of hypertension, 47.4% had dyslipidemia and 33.9% had diabetes mellitus. The rate of patients with systolic blood pressure > 140 mmHg were 31.1% and only 13.9% of patients had a recommended ≤ 70 mg/dL level of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Anti- platelet, statin, beta-blocker and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor/angiotensin receptor blocker usage was limited to 27.3%. Conclusions: The ELDERTURK study shows that many patients with CHD have a high prevalence of modifiable risk factors and unhealthy lifestyle. Apart from this, many patients are not receiving thera- peutic intervention and as a consequence most were not achieving the recommended goals.   

Could ratio of hemoglobin to red cell distribution width and ratio of absolute lymphocyte count to absolute monocyte count be a prognostic tool in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients?

IntroductionHemoglobin/red cell distribution width (RDW) ratio (HRR) and lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) are two novel bio-markers associated with overall survival (OS) and prognosis in several types of cancers. The aim of this study is to investigate the value of HRR and LMR in newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM) patients. MethodsA total of 180 patients were included in this study. Patients diagnosed with MM between May 2013 and May 2019 at a single center were evaluated. HRR was calculated by dividing hemoglobin to RDW, both measured from the same sample. LMR was calculated by dividing absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) to absolute monocyte count (AMC). ResultsThe cutoff value for HRR was taken as 0.61, and the cutoff value for LMR was taken as 3.28. Patients were divided into low HRR, high HRR, low LMR, and high LMR groups. OS of the patients with low HRR was found lower compared with high HRR (36.7 months for low HRR and 53.2 months for high HRR, < 0.001). Also, OS was found lower in the low LMR group (39.4 months for low LMR and 51.7 months for high LMR, = 0.016). On multivariate analysis, low HRR and low LMR were predictive factors of OS (hazard ratio (HR) 2.08, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 1.31–3.03, and = 0.002 for low HRR; HR 1.47, 95% CI 0.92–2.29, and = 0.010 for low LMR). ConclusionCombining both HRR and LMR could be a prognostic biomarker and it reflects the status of the immune system in newly diagnosed MM patients

Is Placing Prophylactic Dural Tenting Sutures a Dogma?

Objective In this study, we investigated if and when dural tenting sutures are necessary during craniotomy. Methods Results from 437 patients aged 18 to 91 years (average, 43.5 years) who underwent supratentorial craniotomy between 2014 and 2019 were evaluated. The patients were categorized into 1 of 3 groups, patients who had at least 3 prophylactic dural tenting sutures placed before opening of the dura (group 1), at least 3 dural tenting sutures placed after surgery was completed, during closure (group 2), or no dural tenting sutures (group 3 [control]). All such sutures in groups 1 and 2 were placed in the circumference of the craniotomy and dural junction. No central dural tenting sutures were placed in any of the patients. Results Among the 437 patients, 344 underwent surgery for the first time and 93 were undergoing a second surgery. Cranial computed tomography imaging was performed for each patient 1 hour, 3 days, and 1 month after surgery. In group 1, 3 patients had a cerebral cortex contusion and 2 patients had acute subdural hematoma after the sutures were placed. In groups 2 and 3, none of the patients had a cerebral cortex contusion or acute subdural hematoma. Fewer complications were observed when dural tenting sutures were placed during postsurgical closure. Conclusion Placing dural tenting sutures is an important technique for ensuring hemostasis. However, when not needed, they seem to cause inadvertent complications. As our results suggest, knowing when and where to use them is equally important

Characterization of greater middle eastern genetic variation for enhanced disease gene discovery

The Greater Middle East (GME) has been a central hub of human migration and population admixture. The tradition of consanguinity, variably practiced in the Persian Gulf region, North Africa, and Central Asia1-3, has resulted in an elevated burden of recessive disease4. Here we generated a whole-exome GME variome from 1,111 unrelated subjects. We detected substantial diversity and admixture in continental and subregional populations, corresponding to several ancient founder populations with little evidence of bottlenecks. Measured consanguinity rates were an order of magnitude above those in other sampled populations, and the GME population exhibited an increased burden of runs of homozygosity (ROHs) but showed no evidence for reduced burden of deleterious variation due to classically theorized ‘genetic purging’. Applying this database to unsolved recessive conditions in the GME population reduced the number of potential disease-causing variants by four- to sevenfold. These results show variegated genetic architecture in GME populations and support future human genetic discoveries in Mendelian and population genetics

Panic disorder subtypes: Further clinical differences

Panic disorder (PD) is a heterogeneous phenomenon with respect to symptom profile. Most studies agree that a group of patients with prominent respiratory symptoms emerged as a distinct PD subtype. In this study we compared a range of clinical features associated with PD and agoraphobia in patients with respiratory (RS) and nonrespiratory (NRS) subtypes of PD. The participants were 124 patients with PD (79 women and 45 men), with or without agoraphobia, diagnosed by DSM-IV criteria. Following the observer-rated Panic Disorder Severity Scale assessment, subjects completed self-report measures, including the Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), Panic-Agoraphobia Scale; the Beck Anxiety Inventory; and the Panic-Agoraphobic Spectrum Scale (PAS-SR). Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) showed significant group differences [Pillai's trace= 0.95, F(5, 118)(=)2.48, P=.036]. Patients in RS group had higher mean total scores on the ASI (F= 5.00, df= 1, P=.027) and PAS-SR (F = 11.23, df= 1, P =. 001) than patients in NRS group. Also, patients with RS attained higher scores than patients with NRS on four domains of PAS-SR (panic-like symptoms, agoraphobia, separation sensitivity, and reassurance seeking). A descriptive discriminant analysis of the data correctly identified 69.4% of the patient group in general and 86.1% of RS group (Wilks's lambda = 0.87, df = 8, P =. 048). The significant discriminating factors of the RS and NRS groups were domains of panic-like symptoms, agoraphobia, separation sensitivity, and reassurance seeking. Our findings suggest that anxiety sensitivity and panic-agoraphobic spectrum symptoms might be particularly relevant to understanding subtypes of PD

Mamografi Çekimlerinde Absorbe Doz Hesaplamaları için MCNPX Monte Carlo Kodunun Değerlendirilmesi

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate capabities of MCNPX monte carlo code for calculations of average absorbed dose in a breast phantom during mammography examination. Also, the effect of tube voltage and breast thickness on absorbed dose was determined by using Monte carlo method. Materials & Methods: In this study, the average absorbed dose values were investigated by using MCNPX (version 2.4.0) Monte Carlo code. Validation of modeled simulation setup has been obtained by calculating the HVL values of Al attenuator material for different tube voltage (26 to 32 kV ). Obtained HVL values were found to be comparable with experimental results and available Monte Carlo results. Thus, validated simulation setup has been used for investigation of average absorbed dose in a %50-%50 grandular-adipose breast phantom. Results: Our calculated results was consistent with the previous studies and our MC model was validated. The results showed that changing tube voltage from 26 to 32 kV leads to about 4 times increase in breast dose. While increasing breast thick ness from 2 to 5 cm results in 1.6 times higer dose to breast. Conclusion: It can concluded that the breast recieved dose depends strongly beam quality and breast thickness. Our modeling using MCNPX can be used future dosimteric studies concering breast dose investigations in mamograpgy examinations.Giriş: Bu çalışma; mamografi çekiminde, meme fantomunda absorbe edilen ortalama doz hesaplamaları için MCNPX Monte Carlo kodunun özelliklerini araştırmayı amaçlamıştır. Ayrıca, tüp voltajı ve meme kalınlığının absorbe olan doza etkisi, Monte Carlo yöntemi kullanılarak belirlenmiştir. Gereç ve Yöntem: Bu çalışmada; absorbe edilen ortalama doz değerleri MCNPX (versiyon 2.4.0) Monte Carlo kodu kullanılarak araştırıldı. Modellenmiş simülasyon düzeneğinin doğrulanması, Al zayıflatıcı maddesinin farklı tüp voltajı (26 ila 32 kV arası) için HVL değerlerinin hesaplanmasıyla elde edilmiştir. Elde edilen HVL değerleri, deneysel sonuçlar ve mevcut Monte Carlo sonuçları ile karşılaştırılmıştır ve literatürle uyumlu bulunmuştur. Bu nedenle, doğrulanmış simülasyon düzeneği, %50-%50 glandular-adipose meme fantomunda absorbe edilen ortalama araştırmak için kullanılmıştır.Bulgular: Elde edilen sonuçlar, literatürdeki çalışmalar ile uyumlu olarak bulunmuştur. Sonuçlar, tüp voltajının 26 dan 32 kV’a çıkarılmasının memedeki dozda 4 kat artış sağladığını göstermiştir. Meme kalınlığında 2 cm den 5 cm kadar olan artışta ise memeye 1.6 kat daha yüksek oranda doz verildiği görülmüştür. Absorbe edilen dozun şiddetinin demet kalitesi ve meme kalınlığına bağlı olduğu sonucuna varılabilir. Sonuç: MCNPX kullanarak yapılan bu modelleme, gelecekteki dozimetrik çalışmalarda, mamografik çekimlerde meme dozu araştırmalarına yardımcı olabilir

Osmotic pressure and vasculature of gingiva in experimental diabetes mellitus

Background: Alterations in tissue osmotic pressure (OP) and vasculature are considered to be the inevitable aspects of an inflammatory process that subsequently alter the fluid dynamics of the tissues involved. The aim of this study was to reveal a profile of OP and vascular changes in periodontally healthy gingival tissues and analyze the relationship between them in diabetes mellitus (DM) to evaluate the possible effects of DM on the fluid dynamics of the periodontium

Genistein Inhibits Cell Proliferation and Stimulates Apoptosis in Human Coronary Artery Endothelial Cells

Background/Aims: Isoflavone genistein is a plant-derived compound structurally similar to estradiol, which behaves weakly estrogenic or anti-estrogenic in a cell- and concentration-dependent manner. Genistein has been hypothesized to have beneficial effects on vascular diseases, although the mechanism has been unclear. Here, we investigated whether genistein may play a role in atherogenesis by regulating human coronary artery endothelial cell (HCAEC) survival. Methods: HCAECs obtained from 48- to 53-year-old women (n = 3) were used and immunocytochemistry, cell proliferation assay and apoptosis assay were carried on HCAECs treated by genistein. Results: Immunocytochemistry confirmed that HCAECs in culture express predominantly ESR2. Cell proliferation assay revealed that following 72 h of genistein treatment, HCAEC proliferation decreased in a concentration-dependent (10(-10) to 10(-6) m) manner compared to control (p < 0.01). The anti-proliferative effect of genistein is inhibited by estradiol. Genistein (10(-8) M) also induced a time-dependent increase in the number of apoptotic HCAECs after 24-, 48- and 72-hour treatments as detected by TUNEL and morphological analyses. Conclusion: These findings suggest that genistein acts as an anti-proliferative agent on HCAECs. The anti-proliferative and proapoptotic effects of genistein on vascular cells underlie the proposed anti-atherogenic and cardioprotective role of genistein. Copyright (C) 2013 S. Karger AG, Base