Determination of genotype distribution and Allele frequencies of XRCC1 (Arg399Gln) and XRCC3 (Thr241Met) polymorphisms in Turkish population

Amaç: XRCC1 geni, serbest oksijen radikallerinin, iyonize radyasyonun, ultraviyole ve alkilleyici mutajenlerin yaptığı baz değişimi sonucu oluşan baz kesip çıkarma (eksizyon) onarımı ve DNA tek zincir kırılmalarının onarılmasında rol alan proteinleri kodlar. XRCC3 geni kimyasal ajanlar ve iyonize radyasyona karşı kromozomal bütünlük ve hücre direncini sağlayan çift zincir kırıkları, çapraz bağları ve homolog rekombinasyonda önemli bir rol oynamakta ve bu nedenle genomun stabilitesi için kritik önem taşımaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı Türk popülasyonunda XRCC1 (Arg399Gln) ve XRCC3 (Thr241Met) polimorfizmlerinin genotip dağılımı ve allel frekanslarının belirlenmesidir. Gereç ve Yöntem: Bu çalışmada Türk popülasyonunda XRCC1 (Arg399Gln) ve XRCC3 (Thr241Met) polimorfizmleri, polimeraz zincir reaksiyonu - restriksiyon parça uzunluğu polimorfizmi (PCR-RFLP) yöntemi kullanılarak araştırılmıştır. Bunun için aralarında akrabalık ilişkisi bulunmayan sağlıklı 260 gönüllüden alınan kan örnekleri kullanılmıştır. Bulgular: Çalışmamızın sonuçlarına göre XRCC1 (Arg399Gln) polimorfizmi için 104 (%40) bireyin Arg/Arg, 128 (%49,2) bireyin Arg/Gln ve 28 (%10,8) bireyin Gln/Gln genotipine sahip olduğu, Türk popülasyonunda Arg alel frekansının %64,6, Gln alel frekansının ise %35,4 olduğu tespit edilmiştir. XRCC3 (Thr241Met) polimorfizmi için ise 89 (%34,2) bireyin Thr/Thr, 122 (%46,9) bireyin Thr/Met, 49 (%18,9) bireyin Met/Met genotipine sahip olduğu, Türk toplumunda Thr ve Met alel frekanslarının sırasıyla %57,7 ve %42,3 olduğu tespit edilmiştir. Sonuç: Çalışmamız XRCC1 (Arg399Gln) polimorfizmi, sağlıklı Türk popülasyonunda yapılan örneklem büyüklüğü açısından en kapsamlı çalışmadır, ayrıca bu çalışma XRCC3 (Thr241Met) polimorfizminin sağlıklı Türk popülasyonunda dağılımının değerlendirildiği ilk çalışmadır. Bu sonuçlar klinikte bireye özgü tedavi yaklaşımlarının geliştirilmesini, çeşitli maruziyetlerde ve hastalıklarda Türk popülasyonunun vereceği cevabın değerlendirilerek riskli bireylerin belirlenmesini sağlayacaktır.Objectives: XRCC1 gene encodes proteins which take part in base excision repair resulting from base exchanges made by free oxygen radicals, ionizing radiation, ultraviole and alkylating mutagens and in repair of DNA single-strand breaks. XRCC3 gene plays an important role in double strand breaks, crosslinks and homologous recombination which ensure chromosomal integrity and cell resistance against chemical agents and ionizing radiation, and is therefore critical for the stability of the genome. The purpose is to determine genotype type and allele frequencies of XRCC1 (Arg399Gln) and XRCC3 (Thr241Met) polymorphisms in Turkish population. Materials and Methods: In this study, the polymorphism of XRCC1 (Arg399Gln) and XRCC3 (Thr241Met) was investigated using the polymerase chain reaction - restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method in the Turkish population. For this, blood samples were used from 260 healthy volunteers with no consanguinity. Results: According to the results of our study, for the XRCC1 (Arg399Gln) polymorphism, 104 (40%) individuals had Arg/Arg, 128 (49.2%) individuals had Arg/Gln and 28 (10.8%) individuals had Gln/Gln genotype; in the Turkish population, the frequency of Arg allele was determined as 64.6% and the allele frequency was to be 35.4%. For the XRCC3 (Thr241Met) polymorphism, 89 (34.2%) individuals had Thr/Thr, 122 (46.9%) individuals had Thr/Met, 49 (18.9%) individuals had Met/Met genotype; and in Turkish population, Thr and Met allele frequencies were found to be 57.7% and 42.3%, respectively. Conclusion: Our study is the most comprehensive study about XRCC1 (Arg399Gln) polymorphism in terms of sample size of healthy Turkish population, and this is the first study to evaluate the distribution of XRCC3 (Thr241Met) polymorphism in the healthy Turkish population. These results will enable the development of individual-specific treatment approaches in the clinic, and the identification of risky individuals by evaluating the response of the Turkish population in various exposures and diseases

LANGUAGE TEACHER IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING ASSISTANTS

Language teacher identity has been studied in several contexts in English Language Teaching (ELT) field; however, looking at language teacher identity in a United States context in which teachers from other countries teach their native languages as a foreign language has been a rare topic so far. Therefore, this phenomenological qualitative study investigated the lived experiences of four foreign language teaching assistants who lived and taught in the United States through Fulbright Foreign Language Teaching Assistant (FLTA) Program. The findings indicated four main emerging themes: (a) pedagogical shift, (b) cross-cultural awareness, (c) challenges, and (d) goals and expectations. These dynamic components shaped language teachers’ identity in this context. The results are presented under the framework of language teacher identity.  Implications as a guide for future FLTA teachers and for teacher exchange programs are provided. &nbsp

Clinical characteristics of patients hospitalized for COVID-19 vaccinated with at least two doses in a tertiary care hospital in Turkey

Background. We aimed to examine the characteristics of Turkish patients hospitalized with COVID-19 despite being fully vaccinated. Method. A retrospective, single-center study was conducted in fully vaccinated patients with inactivated whole virion (CoronaVac) and/or BNT162b2 mRNA (Pfizer-BioNTech) vaccines and admitted to the hospital. We evaluated the hospitalized patients regarding the intensive care unit admission and death. A multivariate binary logistic regression analysis was used to determine the factors for mortality. Results. We conducted the study with 541 patients. The mean age was 70.2, and 52.1% of the patients were women. 73.6% of the patients were 65 years or older. The most common comorbidities were hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and COPD. The rate of the alpha variant was 54.3%, and the delta variant was 29.4%. The mortality rate was 45.8%, and the ICU admission rate was 55.3%. The delta (B.1.617.2) variant had higher ICU admission and mortality rate. Patients vaccinated with two-dose Sinovac-CoronaVac had a higher mortality rate. There was no difference between the time between the last vaccination dose to hospitalization, ICU admission, and mortality. LOS in the hospital was longer in ICU and mortality patients. In multivariate binary logistic analysis; age (odds ratio (OR), 1.06; 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) 1.04-1.08- year increase), male gender (OR, 1.57; 95% CI, 1.04-2.38), presence of comorbid diseases (OR, 4; 95% CI, 2-8) and delta variant (OR, 7.3; 95% CI, 4.4- 12.2) and vaccination with CoronaVac plus BioNTech (OR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.07-0.62) were associated with death. Conclusion. Our results suggest administering a third and fourth dose of mRNA vaccine to subjects vaccinated primarily with two doses of CoronaVac

Seroprevalence of SARS COV-2 anti-nucleocapsid antibodies in Turkish healthcare workers before vaccination schedule: January 2021

Objective: We aimed to assess the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection and associated factors among Turkish HCWs, before the Covid-19 vaccination program in January 2021. Material and methods: We performed antibody assessment against SARS-CoV-2 in blood samples from participants using the Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Samples with a cut-off index (COI; signal sample/cut-off) <1.0 were considered negative, samples with ≥1.0 were deemed positive. Results: 714 HCWs, 487 women (68.2%), were included in our study. The mean age of the participants was 35.9 ± 8.4 (min:18, max: 62). 370 (51.8%) HCWs's the antibody level was negative, and 344 (48.2%) was positive. While 47.1% (n=122) of the HCWs with positive RT-PCR were antibody positive, 48.8% (n=222) were negative. There was no statistically significant difference in mean age and age groups (p values ​​0.338 and 0.414, respectively). Also, there was no statistically significant difference in antibody levels by gender (p=0.236). There was no significant difference between antibody positivity according to the presence of comorbidity, and the risk area studied (p=0.556, p=0.335, respectively). There was a statistically significant difference between lung involvement and antibody positivity during Covid-19 infection (p= <0.001). Conclusion: In our study, the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in HCWs was higher than the average population and approximately fifty percent. Multicenter studies with more HCWs would be helpful to determine overall seroprevalence rates

Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma: A new approach in a multicenter study

Purpose: Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common subtype of adult lymphomas. The incidence of DLBCL increases with age and has a fairly rapid fatal course without treatment. Patients often have difficulty tolerating standard chemotherapy regimens due to their comorbidities. Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), which is calculated by considering 19 different comorbidities, was developed in 1987 and is widely used for mortality prediction in cancer patients. Literature data on CCI and hematological malignancies are limited. Main aim in this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of CCI and compare to the International Prognostic Index (IPI) scoring system in the DLBCL patient group. Methods: A total of 170 patients diagnosed with DLBCL between 1.1.2002- 1.12.2020 were included in the study. Statistical analyzes were performed among patients whose IPI and CCI scores were recorded by considering baseline data. Results: The median age of patients was 58 (range: 17–84). Thirty-five (20.6%) patients had stage III and 76 (44.7%) had stage IV disease. When the CCI, IPI and ECOG scores were compared with the mortality status of the patients as a reference, AUCs were resulted as 0.628 (95% CI: 0.506–0.749), 0.563 (95% CI: 0.484–0.639) and 0.672 (95% CI: 0.596–0.743), respectively. There was no significant difference between the ROC curves of CCI, IPI and ECOG scores. Patients with a CCI score of ≥ 4 had shorter OS comperad to those with a score of < 4. Conclusion: Rather than claiming that CCI is superior to IPI, ECOG or another scoring system in a single-center patient population, it should be stated that CCI is also an effective scoring system in patients diagnosed with DLBCL

CAN HOMEOPATHY BE A "REMEDY" FOR LOSS OF SMELL AND TASTE IN PATIENTS WITH COVID-19?

Background: Homeopathy is applied as a supportive in the treatment of viral infections and in relieving their symptoms. Objective: To create an awareness that effective remedial results can be obtained by homeopathy in patients with loss of smell and taste in Coronavirus Disease 2019. Methods: A prospective, cohort and randomized study was conducted. The main inclusion criterion was the loss of smell and taste for at least one week. Homeopathic remedies were also applied as supportive therapy. Visual Analog Scale (VAS) was used to evaluate the loss of smell and taste perception before and after treatment. Results: A total of 30 patients, 32.17±10.25 years, were included in the study. The mean pre-treatment VAS-smell perception of the patients was 0.67±1.24, while the mean VAS-taste perception was 2.57±3.01. After the treatment, the mean of VAS-smell perception was 8.67±1.92, while the mean of VAS-taste increased to 9.43±1.22. There was a strong positive correlation between ΔVAS-smell perception and ΔVAS-taste perception (r: 0.563, p: 0.001). There was also a strong negative correlation between ΔVAS-taste perception and the level of ferritin (r: -0.552, p: 0.002). Conclusion: The present study on the effective improvement via homeopathy treatment in patients with loss of smell and taste in COVID-19 that “has spoiled the taste of life and living” should be supported by further studies

Assessment of the requisites of microbiology based infectious disease training under the pressure of consultation needs

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Training of infectious disease (ID) specialists is structured on classical clinical microbiology training in Turkey and ID specialists work as clinical microbiologists at the same time. Hence, this study aimed to determine the clinical skills and knowledge required by clinical microbiologists.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional study was carried out between June 1, 2010 and September 15, 2010 in 32 ID departments in Turkey. Only patients hospitalized and followed up in the ID departments between January-June 2010 who required consultation with other disciplines were included.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 605 patients undergoing 1343 consultations were included, with pulmonology, neurology, cardiology, gastroenterology, nephrology, dermatology, haematology, and endocrinology being the most frequent consultation specialties. The consultation patterns were quite similar and were not affected by either the nature of infections or the critical clinical status of ID patients.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of our study show that certain internal medicine subdisciplines such as pulmonology, neurology and dermatology appear to be the principal clinical requisites in the training of ID specialists, rather than internal medicine as a whole.</p

Histological Changes on Liver Glycogen Storage in Mice () Caused by Unbalanced Diets

Weight-losing diets have appealed to people who want to lose weight in the short-term. They usually apply high-protein (HP) diets (like Atkin's, Stillman's, Scarsdale) which they practice for 2 weeks or so. Unfortunately, these people who have rapid weight loss return to their old habits and quickly regain the weight lost. We have shown in previous work that actually these weight losses have been associated with body fluids, protein and glycogen storage. In our study, we examined the effect of unbalanced diet–-related to an HP diet- on liver glycogen storage. For this study 40 Swiss albino mice consisting of two groups were used. The first group (HPSD) was fed with 25% HP for fifteen days and then were fed standard meals for the remaining 15 days; the other group was fed with standard meals throughout. The two groups were fed their respective diets for 30 days. At the end of 15th, 20th, 25th and 30th days 5 from each group were killed with cervical dislocation. The livers were removed perfused and then fixated. There were major differences in weight between the first and the fifteenth days. We detected remarkable increase in the weight gain of mice in the remaining 15 days. Glycogen storage was significantly reduced in HPSD (15) stained with PAS. In the others 20th, 25th and 30th days abnormally dense glycogen deposits were observed. Vacuoles in the hepatocyte cytoplasm, brownish deposits within hepatocytes, wide sinusoids, macrovesiculler steatosis structures and hydropic degeneration were observed in PAS and H&E stained HPSD group. As a result for the HPSD group a significant decrement in glycogen storage at the 15th day and also an accumulation of excessive amounts of glycogen deposits in mice liver was observed in the normal feeding phase