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In this paper, extensive research has been conducted over the past few years to determine heavy metal emissions, pollution, health risk assessments and mitigation strategies. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the bibliometric analysis of heavy metals in order to identify research trends, track research hot spots and determine future research directions. Therefore, an overview of heavy metal pollution studies in aquatic environments from 2015 to 2020 was obtained based on the following factors: chronological distribution, source journal analysis, country distribution and keyword co-occurrence analysis. Moreover, the existing policies and practices in the field of wastewater treatment were discussed and various prospective future research directions for scholars were proposed. The results indicate that most studies have been carried out in freshwater with a rate of 56%, with rivers being at the top of the list. China and the USA are the top two countries in terms of the number of articles published, and Environmental Science and Pollution Research (24, 15%) and Marine Pollution Bulletin (32, 18%) published the most articles based on freshwater and seawater, respectively. In addition, there has been an increasing emphasis on risk assessment strategies in recent years. The results indicate that bibliometric analysis is a useful method to qualitatively and quantitatively measure research hot spots and trends, and can be widely utilized to help new researchers in reviewing the available research in a particular research field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The significant increase in the turnip sector has brought a wastewater problem that needs to be managed. In this study, turnip juice wastewater treatment was studied using the electrocoagulation/electroflotation and electrooxidation processes. Independent process parameters such as electrode type (aluminum–aluminum, iron–iron, boron-doped diamond–platinum and graphite–platinum), current density (25–100 A/m2) and retention time (15–180 min) were investigated for the optimization of treatment conditions. Removal efficiencies of chemical oxygen demand and total phenol were studied. It was determined that the optimum removal efficiencies in both electrocoagulation/electroflotation and electrooxidation processes were the same under the conditions of 100 A/m2 current density, pH 5.4, and 45 min reaction time. Here, 100% removal efficiencies were achieved for both chemical oxygen demand and total phenol. The operating cost of the electrocoagulation/electroflotation process was calculated as 1.58 $/m3, while it was determined as 0.61 $/m3 for electrooxidation for the optimum removal parameters. It is seen in laboratory scale test results that electrocoagulation/electroflotation and electrooxidation processes are applicable/feasible for the treatment of turnip juice wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Covid-19 pandemic is spreading rapidly in Turkey. We aimed to examine the numbers and demographic data of patients who applied to the general surgery outpatient clinics and operated in this process. Our primary outcome is to reveal the response of general surgery patients to the Covid-19 pandemic. The first Covid-19 case in Turkey has appeared in March 11, 2020. Patients who were operated on due to a surgical emergency or trauma were evaluated separately. Patients in 3 periods were compared with each other. A total of 12728 patients were examined in general surgery outpatient clinics in 26 working days. It is seen that patients come to the outpatient clinic after the first time the Covid-19 patient is seen. All patients reduced hospitalization after the first death due to Covid-19. Women had reduced going to the hospital earlier than men. There was no change in the number of emergency surgeries. Rapid decrease was observed in the number of elective surgeries. It is not easy to control the entrance and exit of these busy hospitals. The remote diagnosis (mail, phone or video-call) and treatment methods that can be expected in the near future may be even closer with the Corona virus (Tab. 3, Fig. 4, Ref. 15). Text in PDF www.elis.sk [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Nectins are a family of integral protein and immunoglobulin-like cell adhesion molecules involved in the formation of functioning adherence and tight junctions. Aberrant expression is associated with cancer progression, apoptosis and cell proliferation but little is known how these effects change in cell behavior. The objective of this study was to evaluate the serum levels of nectin-2 with regard to diagnostic, predictive and prognostic value in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients. Materials and methods: One-hundred and forty CRC patients were enrolled in this study. Serum nectin-2 levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method. Age- and sex-matched 40 healthy controls were included in the analysis. Results: Median age of patients was 60 years old, range 24-84 years. The localization of tumor in majority of the patients was colon ( n = 81, 58 %). Non-metastatic (stage II and III) and metastatic patients' baseline serum nectin-2 levels were significantly higher than those in the healthy control group ( p < 0.001; for two group). However, known clinical variables including response to CTx (chemotherapy) were not found to be correlated with serum nectin-2 concentrations ( p > 0.05). While non-metastatic group patients with elevated serum nectin-2 levels showed significant adverse effect on PFS, metastatic group patients with elevated serum nectin-2 levels showed no significant adverse effect on PFS ( p = 0.05 and p = 0.29, respectively). On the other hand, our study results did not show statistically significant serum nectin-2 concentrations regarding overall survival rates. Conclusion: Serum levels of nectin-2 may have diagnostic roles for CRC patients. Moreover, our study results show the prognostic role of nectin-2 in non-metastatic group patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To evaluate the cerebral haemodynamics in patients with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma. Methods: A total of 19 consecutive patients with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma and 19 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were recruited in a prospective comparative study. The affected eye in patients with unilateral glaucoma and the eye with more advanced lesions in patients with bilateral glaucoma were included in the study, and the ipsilateral middle cerebral arteries (MCA) were evaluated. While in the controls, the study eye and the ipsilateral MCA were chosen randomly. Measurements included systemic arterial pressure, heart rate, intraocular pressure (IOP), and transcranial colour Doppler parameters, including peak systolic velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV), time-averaged maximum velocity (TAMAX), resistivity index (RI), and pulsatility index (PI). Results: The mean PSV, EDV, and TAMAX were significantly lower in the patients with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma than in healthy controls (P<0.001, <0.001 and <0.001, respectively). Additionally, patients with pseudoexfoliation glaucoma had significantly higher PI and RI than healthy controls (P=0.001 and 0.04, respectively). Systolic and diastolic blood pressures (P=0.19 and 0.91, respectively) and heart rate (P=0.06) were not different between the groups. The mean IOP were significantly higher in the glaucoma patients compared with the controls (P<0.001). Conclusion: This study suggests that pseudoexfoliation glaucoma is associated with a reduction in the blood flow velocity and elevation in the resistance of the MCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tan FU, Akarsu C, Güllü R. Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness is unaffected in migraine patients.Acta Neurol Scand 2005 DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0404.2005.00423.x© Blackwell Munksgaard 2005.To search for possible structural effects of migraine on the retina.The study group included 39 consecutive migraine patients, 15 with visual aura and 24 without aura, and 25 healthy subjects as the control group. Scanning laser polarimetry was used to measure and compare retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness between migraine and control groups.The mean age of the patients and the control group were 35.64 ± 8.3 and 35.96 ± 9.14 years, respectively (P = 0.92) and the mean duration of migraine in patients with aura and without aura as 4.4 ± 2.9 and 5.3 ± 4.3 years, respectively (P = 0.68). Parameters related to RNFL thickness were found to be similar (P > 0.001) in migraine and control subjects. After examining the whole patient group migraine patients with and without aura were compared to each other and the control group individually for RNFL thickness parameters. Briefly no statistical difference was found for any of the test parameters between migraine patients with aura, without aura and controls (P >0.001).Retinal nerve fiber layer thickness was found to be unaffected in migraine patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study the fertility and outcome of intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) using megalohead spermatozoa from the ejaculates and testicles was evaluated. Seventeen males with megalohead and pinhead sperm forms in their ejaculate were studied in 22 cycles. A high number of sperm heads without tails and abundant round spermatid forms were commonly observed. Round-headed spermatozoa were seldom accompanied by these severely abnormal spermatozoa. The majority of megalohead spermatozoa were observed to have multiple tails, were predominant in the sample, and were used for ICSI. Ejaculated megalohead spermatozoa were used for ICSI in 15 cycles, while testicular spermatozoa were used in seven cycles where there were no vital spermatozoa or spermatozoa of low vitality in the ejaculate. The same abnormal morphology was observed in the testicles as in the ejaculated spermatozoa in the same males. Mean (± SD) low motility 4.7 ± 5.6% and sperm count (3.8 ± 4.19 x 106) were common findings in these severely teratozoospermic patients. A low fertilization rate (43.2%) was achieved by using megalohead sperm forms (group I, n = 17) in comparison with the control group (60.2%) which had zero normal sperm morphology according to strict criteria (group II, n = 30) (P <0.01). Furthermore, a low pregnancy rate (9.1%) was obtained in the megalohead sperm group in comparison with the control group (40%) (P <0.05). Low fertilization and pregnancy rates may be due to a high incidence of chromosomal abnormalities from severely defective spermatozoa in the ejaculate. Couples should be counselled and warned about possible low fertilization and pregnancy rates with ICSI when only pinhead and megalohead forms with a high number of sperm heads without tails are present in the ejaculate. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The relationship between pulsatility index (PI) in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) and adverse perinatal outcome was studied in 162 normal and 75 high-risk pregnancies. The intrapartum cardiotocographic (CTG) findings, the mode of delivery, 1 and 5-minute Apgar scores, the pH level of the umbilical artery, admission to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) and the incidence of intrauterine fetal growth retardation were recorded. In the low risk group, the PI values in the MCA were only affected in growth retarded fetuses (P = 0.0084). In the high-risk group, there was an association between the MCA PI values and 5-minute Apgar scores (P = 0.0397), umbilical artery pH values (P = 0.0068) and development of IUGR (P = 0.0376). In both groups, an abnormal intrapartum CTG, the 1-minute Apgar score, cesarean section for fetal distress and admission to the NICU were not related to PI values in the MCA. Our present study suggests that Doppler flow measurement of MCA provides useful information about perinatal outcome, especially in the high-risk pregnancies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of sonohysterography in the detection of abnormalities of the uterine cavity in infertile patients, compared with other diagnostic methods. Transvaginal ultrasonography, sonohysterography, hysterosalpingography and finally hysteroscopy were performed in 37 patients with primary and 25 patients with secondary infertility. Suspected uterine anomalies were also confirmed by laparoscopy. Transvaginal ultrasonography and hysterosalpingography were able to detect 36.3 and 72.7% of uterine pathologies respectively. Sonohysterography was able to detect all the anomalies except for a single endometrial polyp (90.3%). However, there was no significant difference between the diagnostic capabilities of these methods. We recommend the use of sonohysterography as an easy, cheap and noninvasive method for the diagnosis of intrauterine pathologies in infertile patients. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]