Search

Raising the sustainable development awareness is of great importance for the continuation of the world's livability. Teachers have a great responsibility in order for individuals to make sustainable development a part of their lives. For this reason, teachers need to be individuals with sustainable development awareness. In this study, it was aimed to develop a scale for determining the sustainable development awareness of teacher candidates. The developed scale consists of three sub-dimensions including economy, society, and environment and a total of 36 items. 425 science teacher candidates from seven state universities in Turkey participated in the research. The Cronbach's alpha reliability coefficient for the overall scale was calculated as 0.91. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed for the validity of the scale. In light of the analyses, the scale was found to possess the qualifications to determine the sustainable development awareness of science teacher candidates.

Objective: Posterior lumbar fusion (PLF) is becoming increasingly common. One of the most critical aspects of these operations is the management of bleeding and blood products, which is of great importance for anesthetists and surgeons. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between blood transfusion and complications after PLF surgery. The secondary objective was to identify risk factors associated with transfusion. Materials and Methods: The data from the PLF surgeries that were performed over a four-year period at a training and research hospital were subjected to a comprehensive retrospective analysis. A comprehensive examination of the following variables was conducted: age, comorbidities, laboratory values, anti-coagulant use, surgical and anesthetic notes, blood and blood product use, post-operative complications, and length of stay. Results: The study included 497 patients. The mean age of the patients was 60.78 years, the mean body mass index was 28.89, and the mean operation time was 3.63 hours. A total of 30.6% of patients received blood transfusions. Complications occurred in 10.1% of patients, and a higher prevalence was noted among those who received blood transfusions. The most common complication was sepsis. The likelihood of receiving blood transfusions was higher in patients who were older and female, had lower pre-operative hemoglobin (Hb) levels, underwent more fusions, experienced longer operative times, and had surgeries involving the sacral region. Logistic regression analysis identified preoperative low Hb levels, a greater number of fusions, and an extended operation duration as significant risk factors for blood transfusion. Conclusion: A higher incidence of complications was observed among patients undergoing PLF surgery who received blood transfusions. The implementation of improved pre-operative management of haemoglobin levels, along with more effective intraoperative transfusion practices, and reducing post-operative complications will lead to more favorable outcomes.. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was conducted to determine the antioxidant and anticancer activity of Salvia aramiensis Rech.f., which is a member of Lamiaceae, and its phenolic compounds. For this purpose, the phenolic compounds from the S. aramiensis methanol extract (SAME) were identified by LC-MS-MS. Antioxidant activities of SAME were determined by in vitro DPPH scavenging and metal chelating assays. The antiproliferative effect of SAME on lung cancer cells (A549) was determined by using the MTT assay. In addition, the levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL6 and IL8, and apoptotic marker caspase-3 were determined using ELISA assays. As a result of LC-MS-MS screening, luteol was detected as the main compound of SAME. The DPPH scavenging and metal chelating activities of SAME were insignificant. In addition, it was observed that SAME reduces the viability of A549 cells. At doses of 25, 50, and 100 µg/mL, IL6 and IL8 levels increase, but at 200 µg/mL, a considerable decrease was observed. Caspase-3 levels also decreased at doses of 100 and 200 µg/mL. As a result, although SAME has weak antioxidant activities, it has significant antiproliferative and pro-inflammatory cytokine suppressing effects. Due to the decreased levels of caspase 3, the cytotoxic effect of SAME may be mediated by a caspase independent pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Boletín Latinoamericano y del Caribe de Plantas Medicinales y Aromáticas is the property of Universidad de Santiago de Chile and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Study results supported that immuno-inflammatory pathways in the brain and environment contribute to the etiopathogenesis of bipolar disorder (BD), a chronic affective disease. Our study aimed to assess the relationship between BD risk and interleukin 2 (IL2) and interleukin 2 receptor subunit alpha (IL2RA) variants in a Turkish population. Genomic DNA from 86 diagnosed BD patients and 100 healthy blood donors was extracted. IL2RA rs2104286, IL2 rs2069762, and IL2 rs2069763 variants were genotyped using the polymerase chain reaction-based restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. It was compared to the relationship between the genotype distributions of these variants and clinical characteristics. Results were evaluated statistically. A statistically significant difference in the genotype distribution of the IL2RA rs2104286 variant was found between patients and controls. There was no GG genotype in the patient group. The IL2RA rs2104286 AA genotype was more common in the patient group than the controls, and the AG genotype was higher in the controls compared to the patients (p = 0.001, p = 0.001, respectively). The IL2 rs2069762 and IL2 rs2069763 genotype distributions did not differ between the patient and control groups (p > 0.05). We found that the clinical global impression severity (CGI-S) score was higher in those with IL2 rs2069762 TG and GG genotypes. In this study, we showed for the first time that the genotype distribution of IL2RA rs2104286 and IL2 rs2069762 is associated with BD susceptibility and CGI-S score in a Turkish population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Leptin (LEP) and LEP receptor (LEPR) play roles in cancer progression. We evaluated LEP-2548G/A and LEPR 668 A/G variants in patients with multiple myeloma (MM). In addition, the methylation status of CpG sites at 31 and 51 nucleotides (nt) according to the transcription start region of the LEP gene was examined. Methods: DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood of study participants who were healthy controls and patients with MM. These variants were analyzed using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method. The methylation at -31 and -51 nt in the LEP was performed using the methylation-specific PCR method. The 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) and 2-year overall survival (OS) were evaluated according to prognostic factors. Results: There was no significant difference in the genotype distributions of LEPR 668A/G and LEP-2548G/A between the control and patient groups (p>0.05). We found that -31 and -51 nt regions of the LEP gene were unmethylated in the patient group compared with the control group (p=0.051 and p=0.001, respectively). The -31 nt methylation was unchanged in 15 patients (78.94%). PFS and OS were higher in these patients than in the others. In multivariate analysis, the methylated/unmethylated ratio at -31 nt methylation was associated with a poor prognosis (p=0.020). Conclusion: To our knowledge, our study is the first to examine these variants and their methylation status in Turkish patients with MM. Our results showed that LEP gene -31 nt unmethylation was associated with PFS and OS. These results need to be confirmed in different ethnic and larger sample groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Neurosciences is the property of Neurosciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)