Purpose
The aim of the study was to investigate the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D status within the last 6 months prior to COVID-19 infection and parameters of immune function and ...clinical outcomes.
Methods
Fifty-six patients, who were admitted to the emergency clinic and diagnosed with COVID–19 infection, were included in the study. Data on clinical characteristics, inflammatory parameters and vitamin D status were recorded for each patient. All the participants had data on 25-hydroxyvitamin D status within the last 6 months prior to COVID-19 infection.
Results
The patients were stratified as those with vitamin D status less than 20 ng/mL and higher than 20 ng/mL. A group with vitamin D status less than 20 ng/mL had lower lymphocyte counts and lower haemoglobin levels that was statistically significant (respectively;
p
= 0.021,
p
= 0.035). Higher C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were seen in the vitamin D–deficient group (
p
= 0.013). It was observed that vitamin D status of the patients who required oxygen therapy were lower than those who did not require oxygen therapy, not statistically significant (
p
= 0.05). Patients who did not use vitamin D supplementation within 6 months prior to COVID-19 infection had more likely to be diagnosed with pneumonia (
p
= 0.004).
Conclusion
Cases with lower vitamin D status had increased inflammatory markers and worse clinical outcomes than patients with higher vitamin D status. This study suggests that vitamin D status can be used as a prognostic factor in COVID-19 patients, and vitamin D supplementation can be recommended to improve the clinical outcomes in COVID-19 infection.
Flavonoids are a group of natural polyphenols that are typically present in many higher plants as secondary metabolites with low molecular weight. Diosmin ...(3′,5,7-trihydroxy-4′-methoxyflavone-7-ramnoglucoside) is a naturally occurring flavonoid found in relatively large quantities in citrus fruits. We examined the cytotoxic, antiangiogenic and antimicrobial activity of diosmin. The cytotoxic effect was assessed by the WST-1 test. Cellular DNA fragmentation was determined by measuring BrdU-labeled DNA fragments. The mRNA and protein levels were assessed by qRT-PCR and Western blot. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of diosmin for six Gram-positive and nine Gram-negative bacteria were determined by using a microdilution method. Diosmin significantly and selectively inhibited proliferation depending on concentration and exposure time. Following diosmin treatment of MDA-MB-231 cells, a concentration-dependent and time-dependent increase in the number of apoptotic BrdU-labeled DNA fragments was observed. Exposure of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells to diosmin for 24 h markedly increased the mRNA expression of Bax and caspase-3, whereas the expressions of Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL were decreased. Furthermore, Western blotting demonstrated that protein expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL was downregulated, while the expression of Bax and caspase-3 proteins was upregulated. Based on the MICs, significant activity was only seen against Gram-positive bacteria. We conclude that diosmin is a potential candidate for use in the treatment of breast cancer and for controlling infection.
The present study aimed to evaluate the degree of crack formation during canal preparation using reciprocating files. A total of 120 incisor teeth were divided into eight groups according to ...irrigation protocol (n = 15). The irrigation solution and chelating agents included distilled water, sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), citric acid, maleic acid, peracetic acid, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) gel, and EDTA liquid. The root canals were prepared using reciprocating instruments while one of the agents was present within the root canals. A control group was subjected to neither preparation nor irrigation. The roots were horizontally sectioned 3, 6, and 9 mm away from the apices. The numbers of cracks were recorded. Statistical analyses were performed using a chi-squared test. The chelating agents resulted in similar numbers of cracked sections. The use of one of the chelating agents during preparation using reciprocating instruments appears to be beneficial in reducing crack formation.
Production scheduling is an important function that determines the efficiency and productivity of a production system. Many optimization methods, techniques, tools, and heuristics have been used to ...solve production scheduling problems, accordingly priority rules are implemented for customers' orders in real-world applications. Simulations and heuristic methods are quite useful for making decisions, and they are used mostly to design and improve production systems by reducing their complexity. In this study, a Priority Rule-Based Genetic Algorithm Scheduling (PRGA-Sched) module was developed to provide shorter total completion time in production scheduling. The module was integrated with the Faborg-Sim simulation tool. As a case study, a heating boiler manufacturing system was analyzed and simulated with six products and customers' orders by using production data from the PRGA-Sched module in Faborg-Sim. The results showed that a shorter total completion time is obtained and saved than the initial situation by via PRGA-Sched module.
In an expanded cultural perspective, the process of transculturation from the past to the present is a cumulative and formalized order and sophisticated approach that has an impact on societies. ...Amidst multidimensional cultural differences, transculturation formulates cultural phenomena between self and other for societies' quest for sharing, and provides temporal responses to people's demands and needs. Soft power plays a prominent role in shaping the transculturation process. In the concept of transculturation, universal soft power instruments bring the distinctive qualities of human beings into question and the established traditions, practices, values and beliefs of society are transformed by the networks and tools surrounding the cultural space. Soft power instruments that constitute universal values challenge traditional social despotism and construct non-ethnocentric images and notions of social and intellectual unity that belong to universal humanity and help legitimize universal identity. In this context, the transculturation process and soft power, which carry out transformation processes, create a sense of being the majority in people, and the universal values that permeate the masses and the universal needs brought about by the environmental conditions create a representation in societies. Moreover, the acceptance of universal values creates a global synthesis in societies and the characteristics of representation are reflected in practical life. This article examines the role of soft power in the concept of transculturation, discusses transculturation processes and soft power instruments with examples from history, and finally analyzes issues related to identity and universal identity legitimization and non-ethnocentric image. Keywords: transculturation, soft power, identity, universal identity, non-ethnocentric, culture, global culture, representation
Starfish Asterias rubens was found as the first record from the Anatolian coast of the Black Sea (Sinop). This alien starfish was reported in 1996 in the Bosporus Strait (the Marmara Sea). In 2009, ...A. rubens was registered off Karasu and Sakarya coasts in the Western Black Sea. A. rubens (8 cm in diameter; wet weight 12.970 g) was sampled by a commercial demersal trawl on the sandy-mud bottom at 85.5-m depth on 12 February, 2022, on the Anatolian coast of the Black Sea, which indicates further expansion of its areal in the sea.
The periodic formation of vortex rings in the developing region of a round jet subjected to high-amplitude acoustic forcing is investigated with High-Speed Particle Image Velocimetry. Harmonic ...velocity oscillations ranging from 20 to 120% of the mean exit velocity of the jet was achieved at several forcing frequencies determined by the acoustic response of the system. The time-resolved history of the formation process and circulation of the vortex rings are evaluated as a function of the forcing conditions. Overall, high-amplitude forcing causes the shear layers of the jet to breakup into a train of large-scale vortex rings, which share many of the features of starting jets. Features of the jet breakup such as the roll-up location and vortex size were found to be both amplitude and frequency dependent. A limiting time-scale of
t
/
T
≈ 0.33 based on the normalized forcing period was found to restrict the growth of a vortex ring in terms of its circulation for any given arrangement of jet forcing conditions. In sinusoidally forced jets, this time-scale corresponds to a kinematic constraint where the translational velocity of the vortex ring exceeds the shear layer velocity that imposes pinch-off. This kinematic constraint results from the change in sign in the jet acceleration between
t
= 0 and
t
= 0.33
T
. However, some vortex rings were observed to pinch-off before
t
= 0.33
T
suggesting that they had acquired their maximum circulation. By invoking the slug model approximations and defining the slug parameters based on the experimentally obtained time- and length-scales, an analytical model based on the slug and ring energies revealed that the formation number for a sinusoidally forced jet is
L
/
D
≈ 4 in agreement with the results of Gharib et al. (J Fluid Mech 360:121–140,
1998
).
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