Objectives: To assess the cohort of patients undergoing sialendoscopic intervention for improvement of symptoms and gland-related quality of life at long-term follow up. Design: retrospective review of medical records with a prospective follow-up by questionnaire. Methods: All patients undergoing sialendoscopy between March 2008 and June 2020 were analyzed in detail regarding indications, technical aspects and postoperative course. To maximize follow-up, patients also received a questionnaire by e-mail. Results: 272 sialendoscopies were performed in 221 patients. Median follow-up time was 37 months. The sialendoscopies were performed in 130 patients for lithiasis, in 66 for stenosis, in 14 for recurrent parotitis of childhood, in 8 for recurrent sialadenitis of unknown origin and in 3 for radio-iodine induced sialadenitis. Complications occurred in 11 of 272 sialendoscopies (4%). Those were iatrogenic perforations, temporary lingual nerve paresthesia and swelling of the floor of the mouth. 53% of patients returned the questionnaire, for a total of 146 evaluable sialendoscopies. The majority of the responders indicated that sialendoscopy had improved their symptoms (83.6%). Salivary glands could be preserved in 89% of the responder group. The highest percentage of patients reporting residual symptoms was found in the RPC group (81.3%) and the lowest in the lithiasis group (16.2%). Besides age, no statistical differences in demographic and pathological features between the responder and non-responder groups were found, supporting generalization of the responders’ results to the entire cohort. Conclusions: This study confirms the good long-term outcomes of sialendoscopic interventions in patients with chronic sialadenitis of different etiologies and a high rate of gland preservation.

Background: This systematic review has been undertaken in order to assess the effects of hypocaloric, high-protein diets on weight loss and cardiovascular risk factors such as serum lipid levels in metabolically healthy obese adults. The primary outcomes measured include changes in pre- and post- diet mean BMI, LDL-C, HDL-C, TAG, and TC levels. Method: Four databases including: Embase, MEDLINE (via PubMed), Cochrane and Web of Science were searched with no restrictions on language or publication period. Clinicaltrials.gov was also searched in order to identify unpublished or on-going studies. Results: Three of four studies included in this systematic review noted a significantly greater loss in pre- and post- diet mean BMI levels in the hypocaloric, high-protein diet group as compared to hypocaloric, non-high protein diets (control). Whilst pre- and post-diet mean LDL-C, HDL-C, TAG, and TC levels did not differ significantly among hypocaloric, high-protein and control diet groups. Conclusion: Hypocaloric, high-protein diets had an unclear effect on blood-lipid levels as compared to control. Weight loss however was significantly greater in the hypocaloric, high-protein group as compared to other hypocaloric, non-high-protein diet groups.

Protein-peptide and protein-protein interactions play an essential role in different functional and structural cellular organizational aspects. While X-ray crystallography generates the most complete structural characterization, most biological interactions exist in biomolecular complexes that are neither compliant nor responsive to direct experimental analysis. The development of computational docking approaches is therefore necessary. This starts from component protein structures to the prediction of their complexes, preferentially with precision close to complex structures generated by X-ray crystallography. To guarantee faithful chromosomal segregation, there must be a proper assembling of the kinetochore (a protein complex with multiple subunits) at the centromere during the process of cell division. As an important member of the inner kinetochore, defects in any of the subunits making up the CENP-HIKM complex leads to kinetochore dysfunction and an eventual chromosomal mis-segregation and cell death. Previous studies in an attempt to understand the assembly and mechanism devised by the CENP-HIKM in promoting functionality of the kinetochore, have reconstituted the protein complex from different organisms including fungi and yeast. Here, we present a detailed computational model of the physical interactions that exist between each component of the human CENP-HIKM, while validating each modeled structure using orthologs with existing crystal structures from the protein data bank. Results from this study substantiates the existing hypothesis that the human CENP-HIK complex share a similar architecture with its fungal and yeast orthologs, and likewise validates the binding mode of CENP-M to the C-terminus of the human CENP-I based on existing experimental reports.

Thromboembolic events have been reported in hospitalized patient since beginning of the covid 19 pandemic. This study reports an ICU admitted patient with lower extremity arterial thrombosis diagnosed with covid 19.

Aim: The objective of this study was to survey the species composition, relative abundance and to determine major threats of medium and large-sized mammals in Amoro Forest. Method: Linetransects surveying and indirect surveys method (including fresh tracks, scats, hair, spines and burrows) were used to survey mammalian diversity. A survey was conducted in the early morning from 6:00 to 10:00 and late afternoon from 16:00 to 19:00. Key interview and direct site observationswere carried out to assess the major threat of mammals in the study area. Results: A total of 12 species of medium and large sized mammals belonging to sex orders and eight families were recorded. Porcupine (Hystrix cristata), Vervet monkey (Chlorocebus aethiops) and Olive baboon (Papio anubis) were among the medium-sized mammals while, Spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta),Leopard (Panthera pardus) and Common duiker (Sylvicapra grimmia) were among the large sized mammals observed in the study area. Shannon–Wiener Index values were low (H′ = 1.666) whereas, the Simpson’s index (1-D) of diversity showed the highest species diversity (0.761) in the study area. Illegal logging of trees; overgrazing, agricultural activities and human-wildlife conflicts were the foremost threats in the area. Conclusion: Species richness and evenness were varied from habitat to habitat in Amoro forest. Land degradation anddifferent anthropogenicactivities were common threats for the mammals in the study area. Community participation and awareness creation is very important to limit the impact of anthropogenic activities threatening wildlife. Key words: Anthropogenic activity, Conservation, Diversity, Mammalssurvey

Background: The administration of L-glutamine (Gln) suppresses allergic airway inflammation via the rapid upregulation of MAPK phosphatase (MKP)-1, which functions as a negative regulator of inflammation by deactivating p38 and JNK mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). However, the role of endogenous Gln remains to be elucidated. Therefore, we investigated the mechanism by which endogenous Gln regulates MKP-1 induction and allergic airway inflammation in an ovalbumin-based murine asthma model. Methods: We depleted endogenous Gln levels using l-γ-glutamyl- p-nitroanilide (GPNA), an inhibitor of the Gln transporter ASCT2, and glutamine synthetase small interfering (si)RNA. Lentivirus expressing MKP-1 was injected to achieve overexpression of MKP-1. Asthmatic phenotypes were assessed using our previously developed ovalbumin-based murine model, which is suitable for examining sequential asthmatic events, including neutrophil infiltration. Gln levels were analyzed using a Gln assay kit. Results: GPNA or glutamine synthetase siRNA successfully depleted endogenous Gln levels. Importantly, homeostatic MKP-1 induction did not occur at all, which resulted in prolonged p38 MAPK and cytosolic phospholipase A 2 (cPLA 2) phosphorylation in Gln-deficient mice. Gln deficiency augmented all examined asthmatic reactions, but it exhibited a strong bias toward increasing the neutrophil count, which was not observed in MKP-1-overexpressing lungs. This neutrophilia was inhibited by a cPLA 2 inhibitor and a leukotriene B4 inhibitor, but not by dexamethasone. Conclusion: Gln deficiency leads to the impairment of MKP-1 induction and activation of p38 MAPK and cPLA 2, resulting in the augmentation of neutrophilic, more so than eosinophilic, airway inflammation.

Objective: To evaluate which risk factors for RhD immunization remain, despite adequate routine antenatal and postnatal RhIg prophylaxis (1000 IU RhIg) and additional administration of RhIg. Assessment of the prevalence of RhD immunizations. Design: Prospective cohort Setting: The Netherlands. Population: Two-year nationwide cohort. Methods: RhD-negative women in their first RhD immunized pregnancy and their foregoing non-immunized pregnancy. Risk factors for RhD immunization were compared with population data. Main outcomes measures: Risk factors for FMH and subsequently RhD immunization, prevalence of RhD immunizations. Results: The prevalence of newly detected RhD immunizations was 0.31% (79/25,170) of all RhD-negative pregnant women in the Netherlands. After exclusion, 193 women remained. Significant risk factors found in the group of 113 parous women (previous pregnancy >16 weeks, RhD positive child) were; caesarean section (CS) (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.1-2.6), perinatal death (OR 3.5, 95% CI 1.1-10.9), gestational age over 42 weeks (OR 6.1, 95% CI 2.2-16.6), postnatal bleeding (>1000mL) (OR 2.0 95% CI 1.1-3.6), surgical removal of the placenta (SRP) (OR 4.3, 95% CI 2.0-9.3). The miscarriage rate in the group of women without a previous RhD positive child was significantly higher than in the Dutch population (35% vs 12.5% p<0.001). Conclusion: Complicated deliveries, including cases of major bleeding and surgical interventions (CS, SRP) need to be recognized as risk factor, requiring determination of FMH volume and adjustment of RhIg dosing. Miscarriage may be an additional risk factor for RhD immunization, requiring further studies. Funding: This research was partly funded by a grant from Sanquin Amsterdam.

An integrated metal-organic framework (MOF) and pressure/vacuum swing adsorption (P/VSA) process design framework is presented for gas separation. It consists of two steps: descriptor optimization and MOF matching. In the first step, MOFs are represented as a large set of chemical and geometric descriptors from which the most influential ones are selected and treated as design variables. The valid design space is confined using a tailored classifier model and logic constraints. Based on collected adsorption isotherms of 471 different MOFs, data-driven isotherm models are developed. Combining the design space, isotherms, and process models, an integrated MOF and P/VSA process design problem is formulated. MOF descriptors and process operating conditions are optimized to maximize the process performance. The obtained optimal descriptors and isotherms can be used to guide the discovery of high-performance MOFs in a subsequent MOF matching step. This article addresses the first descriptor optimization step exemplified by propene/propane separation.

The generalized pooling problem (GPP) is a NP-hard problem for which the solution time for securing a global optimal solution heavily depends on the strength of the problem formulation. The existing GPP formulations use either quality variables (P-formulation and the variants) or split-fraction variables (SF-formulation and the variants) to model the material balance at the pools. This paper is the first attempt to develop theoretical results for comparing the strength of P-formulation and SF-formulation. It is found that, an enhanced version of P-formulation, called P+-formulation, is at least as strong as SF-formulation under mild conditions. Furthermore, P+-formulation becomes identical to P-formulation when the pooling network comprises only mixers and splitters. With additional conditions that are often satisfied at the root node, P-formulation is proved to be as least as strong as SF-formulation. The theoretical results are verified by the computational study of 23 problem instances.

IntroductionThe Covid-19 global pandemic has made the world become increasingly conscious of infectious microorganisms, and their effect on public health.  Suddenly, everyone is conscious of the surfaces they touch or encounter, the crowds they get into, and much more. Numerous products, including protective coatings, offer different types of protection, and the standard scientific terms used in those products often look interchangeably similar. For instance, many people may feel that the terms antibacterial and antimicrobial represent the same thing. It is in this context that the use of terms such as antibacterial and antimicrobial, besides others, need to be clarified and placed in context. The use of these terms has typically been in reference to antibiotics and medicines; it has been less so with respect to products that prevent infections, using protective surfaces; with the exception being disinfectants and cleaning products. Even therein, the protection offered is often transient and requires regular use of these products. There have been some pioneering approaches in this regard wherein the development of anti-fouling chemistries for uses elsewhere was envisioned to be applicable on public surfaces\cite{2018}. It is only of late, especially with the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, that thoughts and approaches are being focused on developing smart antimicrobial coatings\cite{coatingsa}. Keeping this in mind the following write-up revisits the basics of Microbiology and places them in context with products being marketed. Some bit of background information is also worth looking into the nature and classification of products offering protection against infectious microorganisms. What does antibacterial mean?In simple terms anything that acts against bacteria is antibacterial. Bacteria are a subset of the world of microorganisms (microbes, in short) that surround us. These include viruses, algae, fungi, protists, among others. Among these pathogenic bacteria cause infections and diseases when they enter the host, which could be a plant or animal. These bacteria, then multiply and manifest themselves as infections in the hosts they have entered into. Antibacterial agents are typically designed and used for protection against pathogenic and infectious bacteria (not the rest of the microbes). Antibacterial agents are designed to counter the growth of these bacteria. The mechanisms of the actions of these agents may differ BUT they act to counter the growth and spread of bacteria in a body or any surface\cite{Neu1996}.Classification Nature of actionAntibacterials can be either Bacteriostatic OR Bactericidal. The term bacteriostatic refers to medications whose mechanism of action stalls bacterial cellular activity without directly causing bacterial death\cite{Loree2021}. In other words, the former class of agents prevents the growth of bacteria or slows their growth substantially without actually killing them directly. In reality, the demarcation between the two categories is not so sharp and distinct i.e. one that exclusively kills bacteria and another that only inhibits growth\cite{Pankey2004}.  The in vitro microbiological determination is more detailed and elaborate. This classification can be broadly applied to other agents that antifungals, antiparasitic, etc. It is a different matter, though, if there are agents that are exclusive to any of the categories of microorganisms. SourceNaturally occurring - These are naturally occurring compounds found in either plants or animals. Penicillin is a popular antibiotic that was first found and isolated from the fungus Penicillium. After this Prize-winning discovery by the scientist Alexander Fleming\cite{Fleming2001} in 1929, the world of antibiotic therapy paved way for the discovery of more such naturally occurring compounds. Plant-based alkaloids are another vast reservoir of such compounds\cite{Kaefer2011}. The history and the evolution of Tetracyclines follow another such pattern\cite{Nelson2011}.Semi-Synthetic - These are derivatives of naturally occurring compounds. Again, Penicillin is a classic example that has spawned numerous derivatives and generations of its original nature, ever since its discovery\cite{derivatives}. Another example of such antibiotics are the Macrolide class of antibiotics that are bacteriostatic antibiotics with a broad spectrum of activity against many gram-positive bacteria\cite{2002}. Development of resistance to them led to the search for the design of new semi-synthetic macrolide antibiotics\cite{Fernandes2017}.Synthetic - These are purely synthesized using in the labs and are often inspired by naturally occurring compounds that possess similar properties; the difference being knowledge of the pathways unique to microbes are taken into cognizance to make them unique in their mode of action. This approach is believed to offer a new path for the exploitation and improvement of natural products to address the growing crisis in antibiotic resistance\cite{Thaker2015}.Range of activityWhen it comes to action against bacterial growth, there are different layers of classification. Gram staining - the activity is gauged whether they are against Gram-positive AND/OR Gram-negative bacteria ( based on their Gram staining nature - a type of staining procedure to determine the nature of their cell walls). Spore-forming vs non-spore-forming - This is an important classification since certain pathogens form spores. As a result, their metabolism is different and requires different methods of arresting their growth. Aerobic vs anaerobic - Based on the nature of the bacteria to grow in an oxygen-rich and deprived environment.These are just some of the ways of classifying the range of action. Based on such layers of the classification, there are either Broad-spectrum OR Narrow-spectrum antibacterial agentsEach spectrum class has its strengths and weaknesses. Though the activity spectrum of such agents has always referred to antibiotics or medicinal compounds, protective coatings have not been often looked at from such an angle. Only a few coatings like INVESIL have been investigated as such \cite{ganesan2018}.

The immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 are herein detailed to clarify the innate immunity protective effects in a large fraction of individuals exposed to the infection, and the drawbacks of the interference of the acquired immunity cytotoxic T cells and antibody-dependent natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity arms. Very precisely, the available vaccines based on full-length spike glycoprotein in a mRNA or DNA-based construct, or whole virus potently lead to generation of these immunologically damaging effectors, especially following exposure to the pathogen. Conversely, a vaccine exclusively based on spike glycoprotein subunit 1 in a protein form can protect against the life-threatening virus infection and never lead to adverse side effects.

Background. Fever in neutropenia (FN) remains an unavoidable, potentially lethal complication of chemotherapy. Timely administration of empirical broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics has become standard of care. But the impact of time to antibiotics (TTA), the lag period between recognition of fever or arrival at the hospital to start of antibiotics, remains unclear. Here we aimed to analyze the association between TTA and safety relevant events (SRE) in data from a prospective multicenter study. Procedure. We analyzed the association between time from recognition of fever to start of antibiotics (F-TTA) and SRE (death, admission to intensive care unit (ICU), severe sepsis and bacteremia) with three-level mixed logistic regression. We adjusted for possible triage bias using a propensity score and stratified the analysis by severity of disease at presentation. Results. We analyzed 266 FN episodes, including 53 (20%) with SRE, reported in 140 of 269 patients recruited from April 2016 to August 2018. F-TTA (median, 120min; interquartile range, 49 to 180min) was not associated with SRE, with a trend for less SREs in episodes with longer F-TTA. Analyses applying the propensity score suggested a relevant triage bias. Only in patients with severe disease at presentation there was a trend for an association of longer TTA with more SRE. Conclusion. We found little evidence that longer TTA leads to a higher risk of poor clinical outcome in pediatric patients with FN, except for those with severe disease at presentation. We saw strong evidence for triage bias which could only be partially adjusted.

Conflicts arising from the consumption of anthropogenic foods by wildlife are increasing worldwide. Conventional tools for evaluating the spatial distribution pattern of large terrestrial mammals that consume anthropogenic foods have various limitations, despite their importance in management to mitigate conflicts. In this study, we examined the spatial distribution pattern of crop-foraging sika deer by performing nitrogen stable isotope analyses of bone collagen. We evaluated whether crop-foraging deer lived closer to agricultural crop fields during the winter and spring, when crop production decreases. We found that female deer in proximity to agricultural crop fields during the winter and spring were more likely to be crop-foraging individuals. Furthermore, the likelihood of crop consumption by females decreased by half as the distance to agricultural crop fields increased to 10 km and fell to essentially zero at a distance of approximately 40 km. We did not detect a significant trend in the spatial distribution of crop-foraging male deer. The findings of spatial distribution patterns of crop-foraging female deer will be useful for the establishment of management areas, such as zonation, for efficient removal of them.

Changes in land use and agricultural intensification threaten biodiversity and ecosystem functioning of small water bodies. We studied 67 kettle holes (KH) in an agricultural landscape in northeastern Germany using landscape-scale metatranscriptomics, to understand the responses of active communities across the three domains of life, Bacteria, Archaea, and eukaryotes, to land use. These KH are proxies of the millions of small standing water bodies of glacial origin spread across the northern hemisphere. Like other landscapes in Europe, the study area has been used for intensive agriculture since the 1950s. In contrast to a parallel eDNA study which revealed the homogenization of biodiversity across KH conceivably resulting from long-lasting intensive agriculture, land-use type affected the structure of the active KH communities during spring crop fertilization, but not a month later. This effect was more pronounced in eukaryotes than in bacteria. In contrast, gene expression patterns did not differ between months or across land-use type, suggesting a high degree of functional redundancy across the KH communities. Variability in gene expression was best explained by active community structure, suggesting that these changes in functioning are primarily driven by interactions between organisms. Our results show that influences of the surrounding landscape result in temporary changes in the activity of different community members. Thus, even in KH where biodiversity has been homogenized, communities continue to respond to land management. This needs to be considered when developing sustainable management options for restoration purposes and for successful mitigation of further biodiversity loss in agricultural landscapes.

Software defect prediction is a process of constructing machine learning classifiers to predict defective code snippets, using historical information in software repositories such as code complexity and change records to design software defect metrics , In this research article we have tried to understand the relationships between various variables which are important for IT SME's ,The study is carried out with the help of a well structured questionnaire using IBM SPSS tool for data analysis and interpretation .

As many as 6% of reported cinnamon poisonings cause significant clinical effects, however descriptions of pulmonary toxicity have not yet been reported. Here, we present a pediatric patient’s hospital course following powdered cinnamon aspiration. The early presentation with hypercapnia and lower airways obstructions evolved to hypoxemic respiratory failure and severe pediatric acute respiratory distress syndrome requiring a 7-day course of veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, 16 ventilator-days, and 3 diagnostic and therapeutic bronchoscopies with 2 applications of surfactant therapy. The sum of these modalities contributed to this patient’s survival and subsequent return to respiratory baseline 6 months post-hospitalization.

Automatic video understanding is becoming more important for applications where real-time performance is crucial and compute is limited. Yet, accurate solutions so far have been computationally intensive. We propose efficient models for videos - Tiny Video Networks - which are video architectures, automatically designed to comply with fast runtimes and, at the same time are effective at video recognition tasks. The Tiny Video Networks run at faster-than-real-time speeds and demonstrate strong performance across several video benchmarks. These models not only provide new tools for real-time video applications, but also enable fast research and development in video understanding. Code and models are available.

Many of the species in decline around the world are subject to different environmental stressors across their range, so replicated large-scale monitoring programmes, are necessary to disentangle the relative impacts of these threats. At the same time as funding for long-term monitoring is being cut, studies are increasingly being criticised for lacking statistical power. For those taxa or environments where a single vantage point can observe individuals or ecological processes, time-lapse cameras can provide a cost-effective way of collecting time series data replicated at large spatial scales that would otherwise be impossible. However, networks of time-lapse cameras needed to cover the range of species or processes create a problem in that the scale of data collection easily exceeds our ability to process the raw imagery manually. Citizen science and machine learning provide solutions to scaling up data extraction (such as locating all animals in an image). Crucially, citizen science, machine learning-derived classifiers, and the intersection between them, are key to understanding how to establish monitoring systems that are sensitive to – and sufficiently powerful to detect –changes in the study system. Citizen science works relatively ‘out of the box’, and we regard it as a first step for many systems until machine learning algorithms are sufficiently trained to automate the process. Using Penguin Watch (www.penguinwatch.org) data as a case study, we discuss a complete workflow from images to parameter estimation and interpretation: the use of citizen science and computer vision for image processing, and parameter estimation and individual recognition for investigating biological questions. We discuss which techniques are easily generalizable to a range of questions, and where more work is needed to supplement ‘out of the box’ tools. We conclude with a horizon scan of the advances in camera technology, such as on-board computer vision and decision making.

Background: Nonimmediate (delayed) allergic reactions to penicillins are common and some of them can be life-threatening. The genetic factors influencing these reactions are unknown/poorly known/poorly understood. We assessed the genetic predictors of a delayed penicillin allergy that cover the HLA loci. Methods: Using next-generation sequencing (NGS), we genotyped the MHC region in 24 patients with delayed hypersensitivity compared with 20 patients with documented immediate hypersensitivity to penicillins recruited in Italy. Subsequently, we analyzed in silico Illumina Immunochip genotyping data that covered the HLA loci in 98 Spanish patients with delayed hypersensitivity and 315 with immediate hypersensitivity compared to 1,308 controls. Results: The two alleles DRB3*02:02:01:02 and DRB3*02:02:01:01 were reported in twenty cases with delayed reactions (83%) and ten cases with immediate reactions (50%), but not in the Allele Frequency Net Database. Bearing at least one of the two alleles increased the risk of delayed reactions compared to immediate reactions, with an OR of 8.88 (95% CI, 3.37–23.32; P <0.0001). The haplotype (ACAA) from rs9268835, rs6923504, rs6903608, and rs9268838 genetic variants of the HLA-DRB3 genomic region was significantly associated with an increased risk of delayed hypersensitivity to penicillins (OR, 1.7; 95% CI: 1.06–1.92; P=0.001), but not immediate hypersensitivity. Conclusion: We showed that the HLA-DRB3 locus is strongly associated with an increased risk of delayed penicillin hypersensitivity, at least in Southwestern Europe. The determination of HLA-DRB3*02:02 alleles in the risk management of severe delayed hypersensitivity to penicillins should be evaluated further in larger population samples of different origins.

Outlier detection in data mining is an important arena where detection models are developed to discover the objects that do not confirm the expected behavior. The generation of huge data in real time applications makes the outlier detection process into more crucial and challenging. Traditional detection techniques based on mean and covariance are not suitable to handle large amount of data and the results are affected by outliers. So it is essential to develop an efficient outlier detection model to detect outliers in the large dataset. The objective of this research work is to develop an efficient outlier detection model for multivariate data employing the enhanced Hidden Semi-Markov Model (HSMM). It is an extension of conventional Hidden Markov Model (HMM) where the proposed model allows arbitrary time distribution in its states to detect outliers. Experimental results demonstrate the better performance of proposed model in terms of detection accuracy, detection rate. Compared to conventional Hidden Markov Model based outlier detection the detection accuracy of proposed model is obtained as 98.62% which is significantly better for large multivariate datasets.

This paper presents the results of the safety assessment of the β coefficient that correlates the residual flexural tensile strength parameters fRi (i = 1, 2, 3, and 4) in steel fiber reinforced concrete (SFRC), collected through experimental notched beam flexural tests in three points, according to the fib Model Code 2010 (fib, 2013), with the bond strength (fu,f) of the hook-end type steel fiber in the concrete mix. The SFRC beams were chosen, which presents the load-opening ratio curve of the crack, F-CMOD (Crack Mouth Opening Displacement) in softening behavior, the compressive strength of the concrete, 25 MPa < fc < 80 MPa, the fiber volume content, 0.25 % < Vf < 0.80 % and the fiber aspect ratio, 60 < lf/df < 95. The results in 46 prisms notched of the database formed by 13 studies, showed a considerable influence of the fRi x fu,f ratio with lower variability of around 10%. Thus, through statistical resources, empirical proposals were established to estimate the residual flexural tensile strengths, as a viable and economical alternative to the design project.

Objective: Lithium is a cornerstone treatment option in bipolar disorder. Currently, only clinical findings are used to predict the response of lithium treatment but reliable biological marker has not yet been identified. With this background, it was aimed to compare tryptophan metabolite levels between bipolar patients and healthy control group and to investigate the relationship between lithium treatment response and tryptophan metabolite levels of euthymic bipolar patients(BP). Materials and Methods: 52 euthymic BP patients on lithium were included in the study. Sociodemographic and clinical information were recorded and lithium treatment response status was determined according to the Alda scale. Age and gender matched Healthy controls(HC) were selected from the people who admitted to Selcuk University Medical Faculty Hospital Health Board. Plasma tryptophan metabolite levels were compared between BP and HC. The correlation and association between the lithium response levels of the patients and the plasma tryptophan metabolites were evaluated. Results: Plasma tryptophan(TRP), kynurenine(KYN), kynurenine/tryptophan ratio(KYN/TRP), 3-hydroxy-kynurenine(3-HK) and kynurenic acid(KYNA) levels were significantly lower in BP than HC. In the regression analysis, only plasma KYNA concentrations were found to be significantly lower in the responding well to lithium treatment and TRP levels. None of the tryptophan metabolites were found to be associated well response to lithium treatment after the logistic regression analysis. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that KYNA levels might be used as a screening test for discriminating bipolar patients from the HC. TRP levels might be used to predict lithium treatment response in spite of low specifity and low sensitivity levels. Key words: Tryptophan metabolites, lithium treatment response, bipolar disorder

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated again the global threat posed by emerging zoonotic coronaviruses. During the past two decades alone, humans have experienced the emergence of several coronaviruses, such as SARS-CoV in 2003, MERS-CoV in 2012, and SARS-CoV-2 in 2019. To date, MERS-CoV has been detected in 27 countries, with a case fatality ratio of approximately 34.5 %. Similar to other coronaviruses, MERS-CoV presumably originated from bats; however, the main reservoir and primary source of human infections are dromedary camels. Other species within the Camelidae family, such as Bactrian camels, alpacas, and llamas, seem to be susceptible to the infection as well, although to a lesser extent. In contrast, susceptibility studies on sheep, goats, cattle, pigs, chickens, and horses obtained divergent results. In the present study, we tested nasal swabs and/or sera from 55 sheep, 45 goats, and 52 cattle, collected at the largest livestock market in the United Arab Emirates, where dromedaries are also traded, for the presence of MERS-CoV nucleic acid by RT-qPCR, and for specific antibodies by immunofluorescence assay (IFA). All sera were negative for MERS-CoV-reactive antibodies, but the nasal swab of one sheep (1.8 %) was positive for MERS-CoV nucleic acid. Next generation sequencing (NGS) of the complete N gene of the sheep-derived MERS-CoV revealed >99 % nucleotide identity to MERS-CoV sequences of five dromedaries in nearby pens and to three reference sequences. The NGS sequence of the sheep-derived MERS-CoV was confirmed by conventional RT-PCR of a part of the N gene and subsequent Sanger sequencing. All MERS-CoV sequences clustered within clade B, lineage 5. In conclusion, our study shows that non-camelid livestock, such as sheep, goats, and cattle do not play a major role in MERS-CoV epidemiology. The one sheep that tested positive most likely reflects an accidental viral spillover event from infected dromedaries in nearby pens.

Aims: In this study, we aimed to investigate the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of intravenous ibuprofen by using the C-reactive protein level and thiol/disulfide homeostasis as the oxidative stress marker. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on 70 patients aged between 30and65 who were scheduled for elective laparoscopic hysterectomy. The patients were divided into two groups to receive either preemptive 800mg of intravenous ibuprofen plus 1000 mg of intravenous paracetamol (Group IP) or only 1000 mg of intravenous paracetamol as a control group (Group P).The blood samples for thiol/disulfide homeostasis were collected as follows; before induction of anesthesia (T0),before pneumoperitoneum (T1),following post-deflation and discontinuation of anesthesia (T2) and postoperative 24th hour (T3).Simultaneous blood samples for C-reactive protein were also collected. The pre and postoperative urea, creatinine, alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels were measured. Results: A total of 69 patients were included in the study. The patient’s characteristics and intraoperative variables were comparable between groups (p>0.05). The number of patients requiring rescue analgesia, the total amount of analgesic used, VAS scores, and postoperative side effects were significantly lower in Group IP (p<0.001).There decrease in native and total thiol levels at T1, T2, T3 measurement points was significant in Group IP (p<0.001). In both groups, the comparison to baseline values demonstrated no significant changes in terms of disulfide level (p>0.05).The simultaneous CRP levels indicated a significant increase at the postoperative 24.hour in both groups (p<0.001). The difference between groups was insignificant (p>0.05). There was a significant increase in urea and creatinine levels in patients of Group IP (p<0.05). Conclusion: The pre-emptive administration of ibuprofen provided an effective pain control after gynecologic laparoscopy. However, ibuprofen changed the thiol/disulfide homeostasis in favor of oxidation and had no beneficial effect in surgically induced oxidative stress.