Tutorial services for students at Bilkent University an evaluation after five years

To realize our mission as academic coordinators for engineering students at Bilkent University, we facilitate in different ways tutorial services. These focus on the first year courses for physics, mathematics and computer science, which are courses that turn out to be difficult, as students' comments and grades often show. Most tutorial services are realized in cooperation with the Departments. Senior undergraduate students or graduate students are hired to work as laboratory assistants or as homework graders, or to offer recitation classes. During these classes questions are answered, difficult issues are explained, while many exercises are done to gain the necessary routine for applying the theory. Such classes can form together with theory classes and laboratory sessions a consistent unity of different working forms. Besides these services, which are scheduled regularly and for which participation often is included in the grading, we coordinate tutorials on demand, for students asking for them. Another idea behind the tutorial services is that they give the possibility for advanced students to practice their teaching and communication skills. We organize application procedures, hire the students accepted for the job, follow their work with duty reports to be submitted by them, try to coach them in different ways. By participating in workshops, where special attention is given to strategies for active learning, tutors can work for a teaching certificate. After they finished their job satisfactorily, tutors may ask for a 'thank you letter', as a useful academic reference. Everything considered, although the infrastructure for the tutorial services is quite challenging, they form a useful tool for our mission as student coordinators

Analysis of proliferative activity in oral gingival epithelium in immunosuppressive medication induced gingival overgrowth

BACKGROUND: Drug-induced gingival overgrowth is a frequent adverse effect associated principally with administration of the immunosuppressive drug cyclosporin A and also certain antiepileptic and antihypertensive drugs. It is characterized by a marked increase in the thickness of the epithelial layer and accumulation of excessive amounts of connective tissue. The mechanism by which the drugs cause gingival overgrowth is not yet understood. The purpose of this study was to compare proliferative activity of normal human gingiva and in cyclosporine A-induced gingival overgrowth. METHODS: Gingival samples were collected from 12 generally healthy individuals and 22 Cyclosporin A-medicated renal transplant recipients. Expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen was evaluated in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded gingival samples using an immunoperoxidase technique and a monoclonal antibody for this antigen. RESULTS: There were differences between the Cyclosporin A group and control group in regard to proliferating cell nuclear antigen and epithelial thickness. In addition, the degree of stromal inflammation was higher in the Cyclosporin A group when compared with the control group. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the increased epithelial thickness observed in Cyclosporin A-induced gingival overgrowth is associated with increased proliferative activity in keratinocytes

Expression of caspase-3, p53 and Bcl-2 in generalized aggressive periodontitis

BACKGROUND: Apoptosis, or programmed cell death is a form of physiological cell death. It is increased or decreased in the presence of infection, inflammation or tissue remodelling. Previous studies suggest that apoptosis is involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory periodontal disease. The aim of the present study was to investigate the clinical features and known indicators of apoptosis (p53, Bcl-2, Caspase-3) in patients with generalized aggressive periodontitis (GAP) METHODS: Eight patients with GAP, who had sites with probing depths (PD) > 5 mm, and 10 periodontally-healthy persons were included in the study. Clinical examinations and PD were performed, and the plaque index and gingival index were recorded. Gingival tissues biopsies were obtained from active site of each patient and from healthy individuals. The expression of caspase-3, Bcl-2, and p53 was evaluated by immunohistochemistry RESULTS: There were no significant differences between GAP and control group with respect to levels of caspase-3 and p53 expression (P > 0.05). Contrary, the frequency of grade 3 expression of Bcl-2 was higher in GAP group than the control group. CONCLUSION: The higher frequency of Bcl-2 expression in GAP group indicates and delayed apoptosis can lead to increasing resident inflammatory cells in periodontal tissues and resulting in progressive periodontal destruction

Prognostic factors in breast cancer patients treated with adjuvant chemotherapy [Adjuvant kemoterapi uygulanmiş meme kanserli hastalarda prognostik faktörler]

Breast cancer is an important health problem. Many prognostic and predictive factors are being intensively investigated to determine most appropriate treatment option for patients with breast cancer. The most important prognostic and predictive factors are axillary lymph node involvement, tumor size, hormone receptor status, c-erbB-2 and p53 expression. In this study, we have investigated impact of these prognostic factors on patient survival in patients with breast cancer who have received adjuvant AC (adriamycin, cyclophosphamide) chemotherapy. Median follow up time was 48 months. In this period, 5 patients had metastases. By Kaplan-Meier method, we have found that disease-free survival at two years was %97, at four years was %73.1. Median disease-free survival was 42.2 months. By log-rank method, we have found that p53 has negative impact on prognosis. This finding is compatible with current literature. Other factors were not found to be statistically important on prognosis

A national, multicenter, non-interventional, observational study on treatment patterns in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma in Turkey – NOTES study

Şuayib Yalçın,1 Ramazan Yildiz,2 Faysal Dane,3 Aziz Karaoğlu,4 Berna Öksüzoğlu,5 Özgür Özyılkan,6 Alper Sevinç,7 Feyyaz Özdemir,8 Hande Turna,9 Rüçhan Uslu,10 Esat Ulay11 1Hacettepe University, Department of Medical Oncology, Ankara, Turkey; 2Gazi University, Department of Medical Oncology, Ankara, Turkey; 3Marmara University, Department of Medical Oncology, İstanbul, Turkey; 4Dokuz Eylül University, Department of Medical Oncology, İzmir, Turkey; 5Ankara Oncology Hospital, Clinic of Medical Oncology, Ankara, Turkey; 6Başkent University, Department of Medical Oncology, Ankara, Turkey; 7Medical Park Gaziantep Hospital, Medical Oncology Unit, Gaziantep, Turkey; 8Karadeniz Technical University, Department of Medical Oncology, Trabzon, Turkey; 9İstanbul University, Department of Medical Oncology, İstanbul, Turkey; 10Ege University, Department of Medical Oncology, İzmir, Turkey; 11Novartis Oncology, İstanbul, Turkey Introduction: The introduction of targeted therapies in renal cell carcinoma has significantly improved its prognosis and treatment outcomes in recent years. Such treatment options are targeted therapies of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway and the mammalian target of the rapamycin pathway. With the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and mammalian target of the rapamycin inhibitors, overall survival has increased up to 2 years. In Turkey, due to applicable reimbursement conditions for patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC), interferon use is mandated as a first-line treatment, thus providing information on the use of everolimus only after initial interferon and second-line VEGF-targeted treatments such as VEGF-TKI. Patients and methods: To provide a first real-life data set in Turkey, we conducted a prospective, non-interventional, observational study and assessed the efficacy and safety of everolimus after two lines of treatment including interferon. A total of 100 patients with histologically confirmed mRCC were enrolled in the study from 11 centers between June 2012 and March 2014 (70 males and 30 females). Efficacy was assessed on the basis of progression-free survival and overall survival; safety of everolimus was assessed on the basis of adverse event occurrence. Results: The study results showed that the median progression-free survival with everolimus treatment was 8.1 months (95% CI: 5.1–11.1) and the median overall survival was 17.6 months (95% CI: 10.1–25.1), thus indicating a better overall response based on survival durations than those from the randomized Phase III REnal Cell cancer treatment with Oral RAD001 given Daily study results (4.9 and 14.8 months, respectively). Conclusion: The study showed that everolimus treatment is a safe and effective treatment option in the treatment of mRCC after VEGF-TKI, with an acceptable safety and tolerability profile in real-life settings. Keywords: metastatic renal cell carcinoma, mTOR inhibitors, everolimus, observational study, real-life setting, treatment pattern