Effect of micronized zeolite addition to lamb concentrate feeds on growth performance and some blood chemistry and metabolites

This study was conducted to determine the effects of the addition of micronized zeolite (MZ) on the fattening performance, blood parameters, faecal ash and nitrogen levels of lambs fed concentrate feeds intensively. For two months 25 four-month-old Merino x Ile de France crossbred male lambs (21.1 ± 1.32 kg live weight) were fed 100 g alfalfa hay and a mixed concentrate diet containing 0%, 1%, 2% or 3% additional MZ. At the end of the study, bodyweight gain and feed consumption were not affected by the treatments. Similarly, the addition of up to 2% MZ to the diet did not affect slaughter weight, hot carcass or cold carcass weights, but they decreased at 3% MZ inclusion. No differences were observed between the groups in terms of blood urea nitrogen, plasma glucose, serum creatinine, triglyceride, sodium, potassium and chlorine concentration. However, serum total protein, calcium and phosphorus concentrations were affected by MZ supplementation. The addition of MZ to the ration did not affect the faecal dry matter content and total nitrogen level, yet it increased the ash content of the faeces. Consequently, it was demonstrated that the addition of up to 2% MZ to lamb grower feed does not have a negative impact on performance and carcass yield of the animals, but affects serum total protein, calcium and phosphorus concentrations

Chlorido[1-phenyl-3-(2,3,5,6-tetra­methyl­benz­yl)benzimidazol-2-yl­idene]silver(I)

In the title compound, [AgCl(C24H24N2)], the terminal phenyl and tetra­methyl­benzene rings [which form a dihedral angle of 87.92 (14)°] make dihedral angles of 59.59 (11) and 83.19 (12)° with respect to the central benzimidazole ring system. The Ag—C and Ag—Cl single-bond lengths are 2.087 (3) and 2.3267 (9) Å. The C—Ag—Cl bond angle is 172.84 (7)°. C—H⋯π inter­actions contribute to the stabilization of the crystal structure. A very weak π–π stacking inter­action between adjacent tetra­methyl­benzene rings [centroid–centroid distance = 4.0610 (18) Å] is also observed

Impact of Reducing Irritative Symptoms in Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer During BCG Instillation: A Pilot Study

INTRODUCTION: We evaluated use of anticholinergics, mirabegron, and combination of anticholinergics with mirabegron during Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) instillation for reducing irritative symptoms in patients with non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC). METHODS: Prospectively recorded data of NMIBC patients receiving BCG were retrospectively evaluated between August 2015 and April 2019. Patients with low-grade T1 solitary papillary lesions <4 cm were included in the study. Validated questionnaires (OAB-V8) for irritative symptoms adapted to Turkish language, and QoL index forms were filled out by the study participants. OAB-V8 scores of ≥8 were considered as an indication to start medical treatment for irritative symptoms. Groups were formed according to daily used anticholinergic drugs and combinations as follows: Group 1, tolterodine; Group 2, solifenacin 5mg; Group 3, mirabegron, and Group 4, mirabegron with solifenacin 5 mg. RESULTS: Mean follow- up period was 20.4+-6.8 months. There were 132 patients [110 men (83%) and 22 (17%) women] with irritative symptoms and NMIBC. Mean age of the study population was 59.7+-12.4 years. The OAB-V8 scores and QoL indexes significantly improved with all drugs. However, in subgroup analyses, Group 4 provided the most dramatic improvement in OAB-V8 and QoL index scores (P=0.02 for both). The longest in time to micturition was recorded in Group 4 (P=0.04). Tumour recurrence was similar for groups 12 months after BCG instillation (P=0.9), however the least recurrence was observed in Group 4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Combination of solifecacin and mirabegron can reduce irritative symptoms, improve QoL, and prolong time to micturition, during BCG instillation in selected NMIBC patients. This combination may also decrease recurrence rates in this patient population

MIMO communication systems using hierarchical modulation

This paper considers multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication systems using hierarchical modulation. The disadvantage of the maximum-likelihood (ML) receiver is that the computational complexity increases exponentially with the number of transmit antennas and the number of bits per modulation symbol. Using MIMO communication system with 16-ary hierarchical quadrature amplitude modulation (16-HQAM), we propose a receiver structure which can be an alternative to maximum-likelihood (ML) receiver. 16-HQAM involves a base layer and an enhancement layer. In the proposed receiver, the base layer is detected first with a minimum mean square error (MMSE) detector which is followed by ML detection of the enhancement layer. We examine the bit error rate (BER) performance of our low complexity receiver structure and compare it to the performance of other receiver structures. This work does not consider channel coding, which will be included along with the analysis of the proposed system in future studies

The relationship between university students' quality of life and nutrition

The aim of this study is to investigate whether there is a difference in nutrition habits of the students in different departments of a vocational school in a university, depending on the life quality of them, and to compare by various variables. A total of 205 students, as 92 female and 113 male in Atabey Vocational School in Isparta University of Applied Sciences in the 2018-2019 academic year, participated in this study. Students who took or did not take the lesson of healthy life and nutrition, participated in the study. As a data collection tool in the research; the turkish version of The World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale short form questionnaire and, Three-factor Eating Questionnaire (TFEQ) were applied. And The Personal information Form was used to obtain the demographic information. In this study, SPSS 22.00 Programme was used which is used in quantitative research methods. The data were summarized by giving the percentage and frequency tables. Statistically, there are both significant (p.05) differences in students between life quality and its subfactors by age, gender, being engaged in sports, taking the lesson of healthy life and nutrition and income status. Since age and gender variables have no effect on any of the nutrition scale snd its sub-factors, there is no significant difference between them (p>.05). There is a significant difference between the students' income level, the status of being actively involved in sports, the status of taking the lesson of healthy life and nutrition, and the nutrition scale and its sub-factors (p<.05). Statistically, there was found a significant relationship intensive and in a positive way between individuals' quality of life and their nutrition habits (p<.05). As the total score of the life quality scale or the total score of the nutrition scale increases, other one increases, as well. As a result, an increment in a significance level is observed in the quality of life and nutritional levels of the university students taking the lesson of healthy life and nutrition. When the lesson of healthy life and nutrition becomes a compulsory course and its length gets increased, we can say that there will be difference in the levels of the quality of life and nutrition. As a result of ensuring the participation in the class of healthy life and nutrition, we can say that it will be helpful for individuals in terms of protecting against disesases and gaining health life and nutrition behaviors by struggling against the factors that affect the life negatively. Since it will be useful to repeat this study in different fields as more inclusively, we can say that this study will shed light on future studies

Hazardous wastes and waste generation factors for plastic products manufacturing industries in Turkey

A project titled “Hazardous Waste Management in Compliance with European Union Environmental Regulations in Turkey” was carried out with the support of The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey on behalf of the Ministry of Environment and Urban Planning in Turkey. In this project, several industries were examined for improving an internet based system called “Hazardous Waste Declaration System” (HWDS) and meeting the requirements of Turkey. Hazardous waste lists and hazardous waste generation quantities per unit manufacturing (hazardous waste generation factors, HWGFs) for the plastic product manufacturing industry were determined based on the data obtained from these studies. At the same time, declarations of hazardous waste generation quantity made by the organizations in this industry in 2009 and 2010 to HWDS and the literature data were evaluated and the range of HWGFs was created by assessing possible minimum and maximum quantities for each waste. This paper presents the results of the studies conducted in plastic product manufacturing industry in Turkey. The waste lists determined along with the HWGF ranges are presented. HWGFs for manufacturing processes in the plastic industries were calculated in the range of 11.5–100 kg t−1 in this study and can be used to calculate the amount of hazardous waste for other similar process in the plastic industries. Therefore, it is believed that the results of the study will be useful for determining the types and quantities and the management of hazardous wastes generated by similar plastic product manufacturing industries in the developing world

The effects of proton pump inhibitors on the development of post-stenting major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with acute coronary syndrome

Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are recommended for the prevention of gastrointestinal bleeding in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients who receive dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) but have been associated with an increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in these patients. We aimed to investigate the relationship between serum asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and copeptin levels and MACE in those who started on imminent DAPT and PPI therapy after PCI. 90 patients with ACS were included in this prospective observational study and divided into three groups lansoprazole (n=30), rabeprazole (n=31), and pantoprazole (n=29). The serum ADMA and copeptin levels were examined at the time of diagnosis, at the end of 1st and 6th month. MACE was defined as mortality, recurrent AMI (acute myocardial infarction), and CST (coronary stent thrombosis) development after PCI. MACE developed in two patients in the first month and eight patients (8.9%) after six months of follow-up. At six months, CST was seen in only two patients (2.2%). At the first-month evaluation, while a significant increase was observed in serum ADMA levels at the time of admission (p [Med-Science 2023; 12(2.000): 522-6

Serum Human Epididymis Protein 4 (HE4) As a Diagnostic and Follow-Up Biomarker in Patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

Early detection of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases is crucial since nearly one third of them are unresectable during diagnosis and also the recurrence rates are high following treatment. Thus, in this study we aimed to evaluate both the diagnostic performance and the post-resection progress of serum Human epididymis protein 4 (HE4) in patients with NSCLC. Thirty-one patients who had benign lung disease (group 1) were matched to the same number of patients with resectable NSCLC (group 2). Serum HE4 levels were measured at the time of diagnosis and following surgery - at post-operative 1st month (only in group 2). The serum HE4 in NSCLC group was significantly higher than that of the benign group (89.70 (58.10-397.00) pmol/L and 42.60 (28.10-198.90) pmol/L, respectively; p < 0.001). HE4 levels in NSCLC group were significantly decreased from 89.70 (58.10-397.00) to 71.50 (41.70-232.30) pmol/L following pulmonary resection (p < 0.001). In advanced stages (III and IV) the decrease in serum HE4 levels (25.30 (10.50-164.70) was significantly higher than the decrease in early stages (I-II, 14.60 (-14.20-133.60); p=0.025). ROC analysis showed the area under the curve (AUC) of HE4 was 0.921 (95% CI, 0.843-0.998), (p < 0.001) and both the sensitivity and specificity of HE4 as a biomarker was 87.1%. Our data demonstrated that HE4 is a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of NSCLC with high sensitivity and specificity and could also be used to detect recurrences following resection.WoSScopu

MDP based real time restoration for earthquake damaged active distribution systems

After a disaster, presence of electricity becomes even more crucial compared to its role in daily life. In this paper, an online decision support method is developed to restore medium voltage active distribution systems after an earthquake. The proposed method employs Markov Decision Process (MDP) to determine the sequence of actions which minimizes the expected restoration time. The method firstly predicts the health condition of the system components based on the Probability of Failure (Pf). These Pf values were priorly computed and plotted against Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA) values. Then a sequence of restoration actions, i.e. the restoration strategy, for the system operator is determined by considering the prediction of health conditions and power flow analysis results. During the field operation, if an unexpected situation, i.e. unexpected state of a component or a significant variation in electrical quantities, is encountered by the system operator, the proposed method updates the restoration strategy by considering those variations from the initial prediction

Efficacy of Reciprocating and Rotary Systems for Removing Root Filling Material: A Micro-Computed Tomography Study

This study aimed to use micro-computed tomography (micro-CT) imaging to evaluate the efficacy of the reciprocating and rotary systems for the removal of root filling materials in comparison with hand files. Thirty maxillary incisor teeth were prepared with ProTaper Universal (PTU) system, filled using cold lateral condensation and randomly divided into three groups of ten teeth each. The root fillings were removed with WaveOne Reciprocating and ProTaper Universal Re-treatment (PTU-R) systems and hand files. Micro-CT was used to scan the specimens before and after each treatment step. Percentage of volume of residual root filling was measured. The operating time was recorded. PTU-R instruments yielded better results for removing filling material, even though there was no statistically significant difference between PTU-R and WaveOne groups. Reciprocating and rotary systems showed similar performances in terms of efficacy and operating time for root filling removal. SCANNING 36:576-581, 2014. (c) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc