Ottoman Masonry Bridges in Anatolia and the Balkans

Remains of the historical masonry bridges in Anatolia and the Balkans are dated back to the Roman (first half of the I. Millenium AD), to the Seldjukide (early centuries of the II. Millenium AD; basically in Anatolia), and to the Ottoman periods (13th to 19th centuries). Besides serving to transportation, bridges crossing watercourses have to be considered as important hydraulic structures. Built for military as well as economic purposes, more than one hundred Ottoman bridges (roughly two thirds in Anatolia and one third in the Balkans) served for several centuries; some of them being still in operation. They are silent witnesses of the hydraulic knowledge and solid construction technology of their times. In this inventory study, only Ottoman's masonry bridges in Anatolia and Balkans have been presented. Some of the Ottoman's masonry bridges had sunken in the reservoir of modern dams, some of them demolished during the construction of the new highways, and some of them are still in service

Comparison of inhaled nitric oxide and aerosolized iloprost in pulmonary hypertension in children with congenital heart surgery

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension is of importance in congenital cardiac surgery as being a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Although therapy options are limited, inhaled nitric oxide (NO) is used as a standard therapy. The present study aimed to compare inhaled NO and aerosolized iloprost in children with secondary pulmonary hypertension who underwent congenital cardiac surgery. Methods: Sixteen children included in the study were randomized into either inhaled NO or aerosolized iloprost group. For both groups, the observation period terminated at 72 h after cardiopulmonary bypass. Results: There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of mean age, weight, cross clamp time, pump time, and extubation time. No significant change was observed in the arterial tension and central venous pressure of both groups before the operation, 30 min after the pump, 45 min after the pump, and after extubation, whereas an increase was observed in the heart rate and cardiac output, and a decrease was observed in the pulmonary artery pressure. The mean values at the above-mentioned time points showed no difference between the groups. No serious adverse event and mortality was detected. Conclusions: Both inhaled NO and aerosolized iloprost were found to be effective and comparable in the management of pulmonary hypertension

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) genetic resources, production and researches in Turkey☆

Sunflower is one of the leading oilseed crops and it is widely grown in the Thrace region of Turkey. In 2017, in Turkey as a whole, oilseed and confectionary sunflowers were grown on 779.622 ha with a total production of 1 964 385 t of seed, and average yields of 2.64 t ha−1 for oilseed and 1.67 t ha−1 for confectionary types. Turkey is one of the important countries for crop diversity and has been described as a microcenter for some crops, which originated in different parts of the world. Landraces of sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) show significant diversity in Turkey and have been collected in the framework of the “National Industrial Plant Genetic Resources Project” (NPGRP). Nine hundred and thirty two oilseed and confectionary sunflower accessions are in longterm conservation in the National Seed Gene Bank of Turkey. The mission of the National Sunflower Research Project is to develop improved germplasm and hybrid varieties by conventional and biotechnical breeding techniques in Turkey. New germplasm and breeding lines have been developed to improve oilseed and confectionary sunflower hybrids with desired characters including high yield and oil quality, resistance to diseases such as: Plasmopara halstedii (Farl.) Berl de Toni., Puccinia helianthi Schw., and Orobanche cumana Walr. Adverse conditions are also taken under consideration. These studies are integrated with agronomic and other related research

Učinci restriktivnih mjera kretanja za vrijeme pandemije bolesti COVID-19 na na rani odgoj i obrazovanje

COVID-19 has impacted many people around the world since it first appeared in Wuhan, China. In many countries, educational institutions, social spaces, workplaces, parks, and restaurants closed down, and lockdowns were imposed on people. The current study tried to determine how the preschool education process takes place with respect to children, parents, and teachers during the lockdown (COVID-19 pandemic) and the possible effects of the pandemic period on families, children, and teachers. The case study was used in the current study. Participants of this study consist of a total of 18 people: six (6) volunteer teachers working in Superbaba Schools, six (6) children in different age groups, and the parents of the children (6). The researchers developed three semi-structured interview forms – Teacher Interview Form, Parent Interview Form, and Child Interview Form – which were utilized during the data-gathering process. Data was gathered during the fall semester of 2020. The findings revealed the impact of preschool education during the COVID-19 lockdown on children, parents, and teachers. Key themes that emerged included personal development, distance education, job satisfaction, parental involvement, screen addiction, and school adjustment. The results also showed that children’s screen time was increased during the lockdown. The parents may need to involve early childhood education on how to handle their children’s learning and development at home.COVID-19 utjecao je na mnoge ljude širom svijeta otkako se prvi put pojavio u kineskoj provinciji Wuhan. Mnoge su zemlje zatvorile obrazovne ustanove, javne prostore, radna mjesta, parkove i restorane, a ljudima su nametnute restriktivne mjere kretanja (engl. lockdown). Ovo je istraživanje pokušalo utvrditi kako se proces ranoga odgoja i obrazovanja odvija u odnosu na djecu, roditelje i odgojitelje tijekom potpunog zatvaranja (pandemije bolesti COVID-19) i moguće učinke pandemije na obitelji, djecu i odgojitelje. U ovome je istraživanju korištena studija slučaja. Ukupno 18 osoba sudjelovalo je u ovome istraživanju: šest (6) odgojiteljica volonterki koje rade u Süperbaba školama, šestero (6) djece u različitim dobnim skupinama i šestero (6) roditelja. Istraživači su razvili tri polustrukturirana oblika intervjua (obrazac za intervju s odgojiteljem, obrazac za intervju s roditeljima i obrazac za intervju s djetetom) koji su korišteni tijekom prikupljanja podataka. Podatci su prikupljeni tijekom jesenskoga semestra 2020. Rezultati su pokazali utjecaj ranog odgoja i obrazovanja tijekom pandemije bolesti COVID-19 lockdowna na djecu, roditelje i odgojitelje. Ključne teme koje su se pojavile uključuju osobni razvoj, obrazovanje na daljinu, zadovoljstvo poslom, uključenost roditelja, ovisnost o ekranu i prilagodbu školi. Rezultati su također pokazali da je tijekom potpunog zatvaranja povećano vrijeme koje djeca provode ispred zaslona. Moguće je da će se roditelji trebati uključiti u rano i predškolsko obrazovanje kako bi se lakše nosili s učenjem i razvojem svoje djece kod kuće

Evaluation of the importance of immunological profile for pemphigus vulgaris in the light of necessity to modify compensation theory

According to the “desmoglein compensation theory,” anti-Dsg1 and anti-Dsg3 profiles are crucial for the clinical outcome of pemphigus vulgaris. However, recent studies have highlighted several cases with an incompatibility between the antibody profile and clinical manifestation. Data of 37 patients who had been diagnosed pemphigus vulgaris in our Department between January 2014-June 2016 were retrieved from our clinical database. Patients with ABSIS skin involvement scores, oral mucosa extent and severity scores, anti-Dsg1 and Dsg3 antibody profile were included in this retrospective study. Patients with discordance between clinical manifestations and immunological profile were considered as atypical clinical phenotype. Patients with missing data were excluded. In all 37 patients, Dsg1 and Dsg3 antibody titers at the baseline did not correlate with the concurrent ABSIS scores. At follow up, we detected statistically significant correlations between anti Dsg-1 profile and ABSIS skin involvement scores (p=0.006; r=0.588) and between anti-Dsg3 and ABSIS mucosal extent and severity scores (p=0.058; r=0.431). After treatment, the reduction of Dsg-1 antibody titers was statistically significant in remittent patients (p=0.027). We did not detect statistically significant reduction of Dsg-3 antibodies. Four subjects had incompatible antibody profile and clinical activity. Discordance between phenotype-antibody profile and clinical activity-Dsg titers support the idea that non-Dsg antigens may also be the target for pemphigus autoimmunity. </p

Comparison of estimated continuous cardiac output with echocardiography in patients with systolic heart failure

Background: Cardiac output (CO) is an important hemodynamic parameter in the management of heart failure. The aim of this study was to compare CO measurements obtained from the bedside monitor specialized for CO measurement, which is known as estimated continuous CO (esCCO), and  transthorasic echocardiography (echoCO) in patients with ejection fraction (EF) <40%.Methods: A total of 49 patients (36 male) with EF <40% were studied in this study. CO was measured using esCCO and transthorasic echocardiography (TTE). Measurements of CO were compared using Bland-Altman statistical method.Results: Mean ejection fraction was 27.11 ± 7.31%. Measurements of CO using esCCO and echoCO were found to be different (5.44±1.10 L/min vs. 5.08±1.08 L/min, respectively, p=0.004). CO was higher in esCCO compared to TTE. Bland-Altman analysis showed that the bias between esCCO and echoCO was -0.36 L/min [95% CI: -0.60 – (-0.13)], 95% limits of agreement were ranged from -1.77 to 1.05 L/min, and percentage errors of measurements of CO was 13%. A significant positive correlation was found between esCCO and echoCO (r = 0.785, p< 0.001).Conclusions: esCCO was well correlated with echoCO in patients with low EF. The esCCO may be useful for non-cardiologist such as specialist for anaesthesiology and thorasic disease. Also, it may be used in the patients with HF having poor echocardiographic image quality due to co-morbidities including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Language-Agnostic Bias Detection in Language Models with Bias Probing

Pretrained language models (PLMs) are key components in NLP, but they contain strong social biases. Quantifying these biases is challenging because current methods focusing on fill-the-mask objectives are sensitive to slight changes in input. To address this, we propose a bias probing technique called LABDet, for evaluating social bias in PLMs with a robust and language-agnostic method. For nationality as a case study, we show that LABDet `surfaces' nationality bias by training a classifier on top of a frozen PLM on non-nationality sentiment detection. We find consistent patterns of nationality bias across monolingual PLMs in six languages that align with historical and political context. We also show for English BERT that bias surfaced by LABDet correlates well with bias in the pretraining data; thus, our work is one of the few studies that directly links pretraining data to PLM behavior. Finally, we verify LABDet's reliability and applicability to different templates and languages through an extensive set of robustness checks. We publicly share our code and dataset in https://github.com/akoksal/LABDet.Comment: EMNLP 2023 Finding