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As an immune evasion and survival strategy, the Plasmodium falciparum malaria parasite has evolved a protein named VAR2CSA. This protein mediates sequestration of infected red blood cells in the placenta through the interaction with a unique carbohydrate abundantly and exclusively present in the placenta. Cancer cells were found to share the same expression of this distinct carbohydrate, termed oncofetal chondroitin sulfate on their surface. In this study we have used a protein conjugation system to produce a bispecific immune engager, V-aCD3, based on recombinant VAR2CSA as the cancer targeting moiety and an anti-CD3 single-chain variable fragment linked to a single-chain Fc as the immune engager. Conjugation of these two proteins resulted in a single functional moiety that induced immune mediated killing of a broad range of cancer cells in vitro and facilitated tumor arrest in an orthotopic bladder cancer xenograft model.

The rapid development of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is a global priority. Here, we developed two capsid-like particle (CLP)-based vaccines displaying the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. RBD antigens were displayed on AP205 CLPs through a novel split-protein Tag/Catcher ensuring unidirectional and high-density display of RBD. Both soluble recombinant RBD, and RBD displayed on CLPs bound the ACE2 receptor with nanomolar affinity. Mice were vaccinated with soluble RBD or CLP-displayed RBD, formulated in Squalene-Water-Emulsion. The RBD-CLP vaccines induced higher levels of serum anti-RBD antibodies, than the soluble RBD vaccines. Remarkably, one injection with our lead RBD-CLP vaccine in mice elicited virus neutralization antibody titers comparable to those found in patients which had recovered from Covid-19. Following booster vaccinations, the virus neutralization titers exceeded those measured after natural infection, at serum dilutions above 1:10.000. Thus, the RBD-CLP vaccine is highly promising candidates for preventing COVID-19 disease.

The safety is a fundamental component of quality of life. In addition personal safety satisfaction becomes the vital component of subjective well-being in Kyrgyzstan. The investigation of safety on personal level will measure personal perceptions and attitudes toward local living conditions in the countries and national security, respectively. The aim of this paper is to examine the connection and relationship between safety satisfaction and subjective well-being in Kyrgyzstan, support the hypothesis that safety is positively correlated with subjective well-being. Our study conducted on ‘Life in Kyrgyzstan’ survey for 2013 for Kyrgyzstan. In addition, obtained results will help to deeply understand this relationship and foster economic policy.

Nowadays corruption becomes a universal phenomenon, which reduces the productivity of public administration, and causes harm to countries’ economic and social development. Consequently, it influences economic performance of Kyrgyzstan. The aim of this study is to visualize the spatial distribution of subjective well-being levels of individuals and personal perceptions and attitude towards corruption in 2016 by using the data provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development on district (rayon) level in Kyrgyzstan. The findings of this paper show that there is positive spatial autocorrelation for unofficial payments or gifts to road police, public education, and receive medical treatments. Similarly, local government representatives, tax officials, police and judges have higher Moran’s I scores. In addition, obtained results from analysis will help to understand issues related to corruption in Kyrgyzstan.

Bu calismada, Borsa Istanbul’da (BIST) kote olmus 13 turizm sirketinin 2011-2015 donemine ait finansal performanslari TOPSIS yontemi ile incelenmistir. Calismada, sirketlerin finansal guclulugunu tespit etmek amaciyla oncelikle mali oranlar hesaplanmis, finansal oranlar kullanilarak TOPSIS metoduyla genel sirket performansi tespit edilmis ve sirketler bu skorlara gore siralanmistir. Her bir sirketin donemler itibariyle sahip oldugu performans siralamasi yapildiktan sonra, donemlik ortalamalar uzerinden sirketlerin performans siralamasi gerceklestirilmistir. Calismanin bulgulari, turizm sektorunde faaliyet gosteren sirketlerin finansal performans puanlarinin yillara gore degistigini gostermektedir. Analiz sonuclarina gore 2011 yilinda en iyi performansa sahip turizm sirketleri sirasiyla Net Turizm, Tekart Turizm ve Marmaris Altinyunus iken en kotu performansa sahip sirket ise Metemtur’dur. Ancak 2015 yilinda ise Metemtur, Kusadasi Turizm ve Marmaris Altinyunus en iyi performans sergilerken, Marti Otel en kotu performansa sahip bulunmustur. Incelenen donemde Net Turizm ve Marmaris Altinyunus surekli iyi performans gosterirken, Metemtur ise en fazla dalgalanma gosteren sirket olmustur.

According to traditional related literature homeownership is considered as indicator of economic welfare. While unemployment has raised as major economic issue of the last century. Is there a link between unemployment and homeownership? Regarding this question Oswald hypothesis has been tested for several economies in literature. The aim of this study is to investigate Oswald hypothesis using cross-sectional data set for 81 province of Turkey. To the best of our knowledge it is the first study that tests the Oswald Hypothesis for Turkey taking into account spatial dependency among regional unemployment rates. Empirical results show that home ownership has a negative and significant effect on unemployment. However, the results of this study is contradict with Oswald Hypothesis.

Although environmental deterioration is a main result of the process of economic growth, global warming and climate change has been threating the quality of human life. Though Central Asian countries (Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Armenia) signed to Kyoto protocol to decrease CO2 emission levels, these countries still have environmental pollution concerns. This paper examines relationships between CO2 emissions, economic and financial development and fossil fuel energy consumption for a panel of Central Asian countries over the period 1992-2013. The findings of this study show that an inverted U shape environmental Kuznets curve for Central Asia. Moreover, energy consumption and urbanization are found to have positive effects on CO2 emissions. However, analysis suggests that financial development and trade openness are essential factors for the reduction of CO2 emissions.

Genellikle finansal piyasalar, zamanın herhangi bir periyodunda tasar-rufları etkin bir şekilde, fonları yatırım için kullanacaklara dolaylı yada dolaysız finansman şeklinde, optimal biçimde tahsis etmektedir. Ancak finansal piyasaların rolü, finansal sistemin ekonomik yapı içindeki etkinliği ve yeri ile ilişkilidir. Bu yapı içerisinde finansal piyasalar risk dönüştürme, yatırımlar hakkında bilgi edinme ve yöneticileri denetleme fonksiyonlarına sahiptir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, finansal piyasalar ve büyüme etkileşiminin Türkiye'de varlığı ve anlamlılığının ampirik olarak incelenmesidir. Çalışmada Türkiye'ye ait 1989-2002 dönemi verileri ile regresyon analizi yapılmıştır. Piyasalar para ve sermaye piyasaları şeklinde alt grupları temsil edecek değişkenleri içermektedir ve bu piyasaların ekonomik büyümeye etkisi incelenmiştir. Hisse senedi piyasaları ekonomik büyümeyi destekleyebilir ancak bulgularımız Türkiye için bunu göstermemektedir., Financial markets are the channels through which funds flow from one market participant to another. These markets facilitate trade between buyers and sellers of financial assets or allow traders to exchange one set of financial characteristics for another one in the same way that the commodity markets permit the exchange of goods. On the other hand financial markets allow individuals and institutions to trade loanable funds. There are three types of participants in the financial markets thatborrowers, lenders and intermediaries. Nevertheless, the growing im-portance of stock markets around the world has recently opened a new area of research into the relationship between financial markets and economic growth. The aim of this study, utilizing time series methods and data from Turkey for 1989-2002 periods, we examine financial markets affect on economic growth. Our results support that, stock markets may be able to promote economic growth but in Turkey doesn't.

The rapid development of a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine is a global priority. Here, we develop two capsid-like particle (CLP)-based vaccines displaying the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. RBD antigens are displayed on AP205 CLPs through a split-protein Tag/Catcher, ensuring unidirectional and high-density display of RBD. Both soluble recombinant RBD and RBD displayed on CLPs bind the ACE2 receptor with nanomolar affinity. Mice are vaccinated with soluble RBD or CLP-displayed RBD, formulated in Squalene-Water-Emulsion. The RBD-CLP vaccines induce higher levels of serum anti-spike antibodies than the soluble RBD vaccines. Remarkably, one injection with our lead RBD-CLP vaccine in mice elicits virus neutralization antibody titers comparable to those found in patients that had recovered from COVID-19. Following booster vaccinations, the virus neutralization titers exceed those measured after natural infection, at serum dilutions above 1:10,000. Thus, the RBD-CLP vaccine is a highly promising candidate for preventing COVID-19., Here the authors generate a capsid-like particle based vaccine candidate displaying the receptor-binding domain of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein and show induction of neutralizing antibodies after intramuscular prime-boost immunization in mice.