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Alcohol consumption triggers toxic effect to organs and tissues in the human body. The risks are essentially thought to be related to ethanol content in alcoholic beverages. The identification of ethanol in blood samples requires rapid, minimal sample handling, and non-destructive analysis, such as Raman Spectroscopy. This study aims to apply Raman Spectroscopy for identification of ethanol in blood samples. Silver nanoparticles were synthesized to obtain Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) spectra of blood samples. The SERS spectra were used for Partial Least Square (PLS) for determining ethanol quantitatively. To apply PLS method, 920~820 cm -1 band interval was chosen and the spectral changes of the observed concentrations statistically associated with each other. The blood samples were examined according to this model and the quantity of ethanol was determined as that: first a calibration method was established. A strong relationship was observed between known concentration values and the values obtained by PLS method (R 2 = 1). Second instead of then, quantities of ethanol in 40 blood samples were predicted according to the calibration method. Quantitative analysis of the ethanol in the blood was done by analyzing the data obtained by Raman spectroscopy and the PLS method.

Intestinal parasites are important health problem especially in undeveloped or underdeveloped countries with low socio-economic status,. In this study, stool and cellophane tape samples were analyzed for intestinal parasites in 192 foreign students who were came from 28 different countries and attending a high school with the age of 15 to 21 (age mean: 17.92 ± 1.30) in Kayseri. At least one or more intestinal parasite species were found in 73 (38 %) of them. The distribution of parasites which were detected in stool samples as follow; Blastocystis hominis; 63 (32.8%); Giardia intestinalis, 13 (6.7 %); Endolimax nana, 8 (4.1%); Entamoeba coli, 7 (3.6%); Iodamoeba butschlii, 1 (0.52%). There was no any parasite in cellophane tape samples.

Apicomplexan protozoa are a phylum of parazites that includes medically and agriculturally important pathogens. They are named for their cell apex which contains a number of organelles (rhoptri, micronemes, conoid, apical polar ring, dense granules and apicoplast), important for their invasion and development within host cells. Among important apicomplexan parasites that affect human health directly or indirectly are Plasmodium spp., Toxoplasma gondii, Cryptosporodium, Eimeria, Babesia, and Theileria. Apicomplexan parasites move and actively enter host cells by substrate-dependent gliding motility. In these parasites, gliding motility and host cell invasion are driven by an actomyosin-based system (Glydeosome). A gliding motor machinery is embeded between the plasma membrane and inner membrane complex (IMC), a unique double membrane layer. A unique actomyosin motor powers both host cell invasion and locomotion of apicomplexan invasive stage. The cytoplasmic motor, a transmembrane bridge, and surface ligants essential for cell invasion are conserved among the main apicomplexan pathogens. In this review, erythrocytet invasion of Plasmodial merozit, which is a model organism of apicomplexan parasites, has been reviewed in detail.

Human Toxocara canis infections are seen all over the world, especially in temperate and tropical climate regions. Dogs are known to be reservoir hosts in transmission of the disease. Because puppies are infected both transplacentally and by breast milk, they add huge amounts of eggs daily to the environment with their stools for months. It is known that the human is not a natural host of T. canis and larvae do not mature in the human body. However, after getting into the human they migrate through visceral tissues and act like a foreign body in the places where they come to rest. In this study, anti-T. canis IgG antibodies were investigated by ELISA in 61 (54.6%) males and 51 (45.5%) females making a total of 112 patients aged between 1 and 68 years (average:18.54+/-24.5) presenting at our laboratory from different services of our hospital. Anti T. canis IgG antibodies were found to be positive in 24 (21.4%) patients.