Archeological Research Center in Gözlükule, Tarsus, Turkey

The goal of my Thesis Project is to design an Archeological Research Center located in the Historic City of Tarsus which is located in southern Turkey. This design exercise will try to combine and layer the archeological research activity above the actual existing excavation site of Gözlükule (An archeological mound located in Tarsus). The logic being that the research spaces above will become a "protective shell" for what is being unearthed and displayed below. I have chosen The City of Tarsus as the site for the Archeological Research Center for the following reasons: - Modern City of Tarsus literally sits on top of the ancient Roman and Biblical City of St.Paul which needs to be excavated and preserved as a world historic site. - Thesis site is the Gözlükule Mound that is situated above the city of Tarsus. The Mound is an archeological site with ongoing excavation. - Recently Tarsus has gained international importance as a pilgrimage location for Christian tourists. 1 - Tarsus American College "TAC" is located adjacent to the site and is an important educational center in Turkey that will support and benefit from archeological research conducted adjacent to its campus. - My thesis project will be to develop a model and guidelines for protecting, preserving and displaying the archeological remains excavated at the site. - By keeping and preserving archeological findings at the site of their excavation, I will be making a counter argument for displacing and displaying them at other locations. - My goal for designing a center for archeological research in Tarsus will be to utilize its building form to focus and organize the existing urban pattern adjacent to the site by creating visual and physical connections between fields

Mikroarray veritabanlarının doku spesifik genlerin belirlenmesindeki potansiyeli]

Tissue specific genes play important roles in development and metabolism. Currently, GenBank has 3363628 GEO Profiles and 397988 microarray data related to various tissues. To evaluate the huge amounts of data and identify tissue specific genes, it is necessary to develop and use new strategies. To that end, this study discusses if microarray and microarray related GEO Profiles are a useful tool to identify new tissue specific genes. In the current study, adipose tissue sellected as a target tissue in order to find new tissue specific genes. Therefore, the human and mouse microarray data were analyzed comparatively. To support the microarray data, adipose tissue related GEO Profiles were selected from PubMed. Subsequently, adipose tissue related microarray and GEO Profiles were analysed simultaneously. According to analysis of microarray and GEO Profiles, Chrdl1 (Chordin-like 1) gene was hypothesized as a novel adipose specific gene. In order to test the hypothesis, RT-PCR analysis were performed for the bovine tissue distribution. As a result, the hypothesis was successfully tested and Chrdl1 gene was found highly specific in bovine adipose tissue than in various other tissues. Thus, it is concluded that microarray and microarray related GEO Profiles are a useful tool to identify new tissue specific genes

The effects of Juglone-Selenium combination on invasion and metastasis in pancreatic cancer cell lines

Background: Pancreatic cancer does not show any symptoms in the early period and metastatic process is already passed when the diagnosis is done. Therefore, in the battle with pancreatic cancer, novel treatment strategies, particularly antiinvasive and antimetastatic strategies, are needed. The cytotoxic and anticancer effects of juglone and sodium selenite (NaSe) have been showed in various cancer cells. Objectives: In this study, it is aimed to investigate the synergistic effects of juglone and selenium on PANC-1 and BxPC-3 pancreatic cancer cells. Methods: Antimetastatic effects of juglone-NaSe were carried out by adhesion and invasion assays and the genes and protein expressions. Expression analysis of the CDH1, ITGB3 and COL4A3 genes and their proteins E-cadherin, β3 integrin and tumstatin which play role in metastasis and angiogenesis processes, were done by qPCR and immunohistochemical analysis, respectively. Results: Study findings have provided evidences that the juglone-selenium has a cytotoxic and dose dependent suppressive effect on invasion and metastasis in PANC-1 and BxPC-3 cells. Conclusion: The juglone-NaSe has the potential to be a promising agent especially to inhibit invasion and metastasis in pancreatic cancer treatment. However, more in depth studies are needed to more clearly demonstrate the effects of juglone-selenium. Keywords: Pancreatic cancer cell lines; juglone-selenium; invasion; metastasis

„und dann bin ich kriminell geworden“: Biografische Fallrekonstruktion von straffälligen jungen Frauen mit einem Migrationshintergrund

Für die Wissenschaft, Praxis und Politik sollte das Thema der straffällig gewordenen jungen Frauen mit einem Migrationshintergrund von besonderer Bedeutung sein, weil die Lebenslagen dieser Gruppe in der Fachdiskussion im Gegensatz zum männlichen Part unterrepräsentiert sind. Dies mag darin begründet sein, dass ein dominierender Männeranteil bereits in der PKS feststellbar ist. Ziel der vorliegenden Untersuchung war, aus subjektiver Sicht der zur Bewährung verurteilten jungen Frauen im Alter von 18 bis 21 Jahren Einblicke in deren biographische Entwicklungen sowie deren spezifische Formen der Lebensbewältigung zu gewinnen. Die jungen Frauen durchleben mit dem Erwachsenwerden die Konfrontation mit den gesellschaftlichen und familiären Erwartungen. Da sie keine adäquate Unterstützung in der Bewältigung des Erlebten erfahren, wenden sie ihre kognitiven Erfahrungen unreflektiert an, um entsprechende Lösungsansätze zu entwickeln, sie zeigen straffälliges Verhalten auf, um die ihnen erforderliche Anerkennung zu erhalten. Auffällig hierbei ist, dass der Migrationshintergrund aus ihrer Sicht keinen kausalen Grund für das straffällige Verhalten darstellt. Eine gezielte sozialpädagogische Intervention kann durch die institutionelle Netzwerkarbeit zu einem straffreien Verhalten beitragen

Status of the differential transformation method

Further to a recent controversy on whether the differential transformation method (DTM) for solving a differential equation is purely and solely the traditional Taylor series method, it is emphasized that the DTM is currently used, often only, as a technique for (analytically) calculating the power series of the solution (in terms of the initial value parameters). Sometimes, a piecewise analytic continuation process is implemented either in a numerical routine (e.g., within a shooting method) or in a semi-analytical procedure (e.g., to solve a boundary value problem). Emphasized also is the fact that, at the time of its invention, the currently-used basic ingredients of the DTM (that transform a differential equation into a difference equation of same order that is iteratively solvable) were already known for a long time by the "traditional"-Taylor-method users (notably in the elaboration of software packages --numerical routines-- for automatically solving ordinary differential equations). At now, the defenders of the DTM still ignore the, though much better developed, studies of the "traditional"-Taylor-method users who, in turn, seem to ignore similarly the existence of the DTM. The DTM has been given an apparent strong formalization (set on the same footing as the Fourier, Laplace or Mellin transformations). Though often used trivially, it is easily attainable and easily adaptable to different kinds of differentiation procedures. That has made it very attractive. Hence applications to various problems of the Taylor method, and more generally of the power series method (including noninteger powers) has been sketched. It seems that its potential has not been exploited as it could be. After a discussion on the reasons of the "misunderstandings" which have caused the controversy, the preceding topics are concretely illustrated.Comment: To appear in Applied Mathematics and Computation, 29 pages, references and further considerations adde

PPARG genindeki Pro12Ala polimorfizmi, Türk populasyonunda insülin direnci ve tip 2 diyabet ile ilişkili değildir: Bir vaka-kontrol çalışması

Amaç: Tip 2 diyabet (T2D), diyabetin en sık görülen türüdür ve tüm dünyada olduğu gibi ülkemizde de ciddi bir halk sağlığı sorunu haline gelmiştir. İnsülin sekresyonunun azalması ve/veya insülin direnci (İR) gelişimi, T2D patogenezinde yer alan iki ana bozukluktur. Kromozom 3p25'te yer alan peroksizom proliferatör aktive reseptör gama (PPARG) geni tarafından kodlanan ve esas olarak adipositlerde eksprese edilen PPARG2, glikoz ve lipid metabolizmasının düzenlenmesinde yer alan çok sayıda anahtar geni düzenler. Fonksiyonel önemi dolayısıyla, T2D gelişimi ile ilişkisi ilk rapor edilen aday gen PPARG2 (Pro12Ala varyantı)’dir. Çalışmamızda, PPARG genindeki Pro12Ala'nın IR gelişimi ve T2D riski üzerine etkilerini Konya bölgesinde yaşayan 387 (181 non-obez/ 206 obez) T2D ve 264 (137 non-obez/127 obez) sağlıklı birey olmak üzere toplam 650 kişide değerlendirmeyi amaçladık. Yöntem: Bireylerden alınan kan örneklerinden, T2D ilişkili biyokimyasal parametreler analiz edildi ve sonrasında HOMA-IR (HOMA indeksi) hesaplandı. HOMAIR indeksi 2.5'ten yüksek olan kişiler insüline dirençli olarak kabul edildi. İzole edilen DNA örneklerinde, Pro12Ala genotiplendirmesi RT-PCR tekniği ile yapıldı. İstatistiksel analiz için SPSS18.0 programı kullanıldı. P<0.05 istatistiksel olarak anlamlı kabul edildi. Bulgular: Obez hasta grubu dışında diğer hasta ve ve kontrol grupları Hardy-Weinberg dengesinde değildi (p<0.05). Dominant, resesif ve aditif modeller kurularak yapılan ilişkilendirme analizine göre Pro12Ala polimorfizminin T2D riski ve ilişkili biyokimyasal parametreler üzerine bir etkisi bulunmadı (p>0.05). Sonuç: Hastalığın poligenik doğası ve çevresel faktörlerin karmaşıklığı, genlerin T2D patogenezindeki etkisinin anlaşılmasını zorlaştırmaktadır. Bu nedenle, PPARG'nin hastalığın genetik zeminindeki olası rolünü ortaya çıkarmak için daha büyük popülasyonlarda daha fazla çalışmaya ihtiyaç vardır. Çalışma Türk toplumunda PPARG ve T2D ilişkisi bakımından sunulan ilk rapordur