The negative prognostic impact of bone metastasis with a tumor mass

OBJECTIVE: Typically, bone metastasis causes osteolytic and osteoblastic lesions resulting from the interactions of tumor cells with osteoclasts and osteoblasts. In addition to these interactions, tumor tissues may grow inside bones and cause mass lesions. In the present study, we aimed to demonstrate the negative impact of a tumor mass in a large cohort of patients with bone metastatic cancer. METHODS: Data from 335 patients with bone metastases were retrospectively reviewed. For the analysis, all patients were divided into three subgroups with respect to the type of bone metastasis: osteolytic, osteoblastic, or mixed. The patients were subsequently categorized as having bone metastasis with or without a tumor mass, and statistically significant differences in median survival and 2-year overall survival were observed between these patients (the median survival and 2-year overall survival were respectively 3 months and 16% in patients with a tumor mass and 11 months and 26% in patients without a tumor mass; p<0.001). RESULTS: According to multivariate analysis, the presence of bone metastasis with a tumor mass was found to be an independent prognostic factor (p=0.011, hazard ratio: 1.62, 95% confidence interval: 1.11–1.76). Bone metastasis with a tumor mass was more strongly associated with osteolytic lesions, other primary diseases (except for primary breast and prostate cancers), and spinal cord compression. CONCLUSION: Bone metastasis with a tumor mass is a strong and independent negative prognostic factor for survival in cancer patients. .

Investigation on changes in complex vegetation coverage using multi-temporal landsat data of Western Black sea region - A case study.

Previous studies have been able to successfully detect changes in gently-sloping forested areas with low-diversity and homogeneous vegetation cover, using medium-resolution satellite data such as landsat. The aim of the present study is to examine the capacity of multi-temporal landsat data to identify changes in forested areas with mixed vegetation and generally located on steep slopes or non-uniform topography. landsat thematic mapper (TM)and landsat enhanced thematic mapper plus (ETM+) data for the years 1987-2000 was used to detect changes within a 19,500 ha forested area in the Western Black sea region of Turkey. The data comply with the forest cover type maps previously created for forest management plans of the research area. The methods used to detect changes were: postclassification comparison, image differencing, image rationing and NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index) differencing methods. Following the supervised classification process, error matrices were used to evaluate the accuracy of classified images obtained. The overall accuracy has been calculated as 87.59% for 1987 image and as 91.81% for 2000 image. General kappa statistics have been calculated as 0.8543 and 0.9038 for 1987 and 2000, respectively. The changes identified via the post-classification comparison method were compared with other change detetion methods. Maximum coherence was found to be 74.95% at 4/3 band rate. The NDVI difference and 3rd band difference methods achieved the same coherence with slight variations. The results suggest that landsat satellite data accurately conveys the temporal changes which occur on steeply-sloping forested areas with a mixed structure, providing a limited amount of detail but with a high level of accuracy. Moreover, it has been decided that the post-classification comparison method can meet the needs of forestry activities better than other methods as it provides information about the direction of these changes.

Impact of road network on the structure of a multifunctional forest landscape unit in southern Turkey.

Forest roads have many kinds of direct and indirect effects such as physical, ecological, and socio-economic effects in landscape scale. In this study the relationship between forest road network and the structure of a multifunctionally planned forest landscape, in the south of Turkey was examined. The aim of the study was to determine whether or not the correlation between road network and landscape structure across a gradient of road density, categorical road/no road approach and landscape pattern data from the managed forest landscapes existed. It was concerned with three type polygons that were forest functioning patches, compartments, and stand patches and were associated with higher road density or existing of road network. To quantify the case, it was analyzed whether the spatial structure of forest patches adjacent to roads differs from the spatial structure of forest patches away from roads. GIS was used to integrate quantitative indices of landscape structure. There was little negatively significant relationship between road density and patch area/size, patch perimeter, and shape index of patton index (PI) and no correlation with patch number and Fractal Dimension (FD). The forest road network modified spatial pattern of patch shape through PI values. The road network increased the number of patch and decreased mean patch size. The existence of road network was more effective than topography index appearing of PI and FD in the roaded areas. It was indicated to potential reverse impacts of road network on spatial structure of forest compartments in terms of shape index (FD). Highest proportions of harvestable forest areas fall into roaded areas. The results define that road networks are effective on the spatial structure of forest landscape. The forest road network of study area has all probable ecological impacts of forest roads mentioned in context.

Conflicts in benefits from sustainable natural resource management: Two diverse examples from Turkey.

Participatory approaches to natural resource management and development are widely accepted as effective instruments for achieving sustainable forest management (SFM) particularly in the developing countries. However, local people live within and adjacent to the forest resources and are dependent on the forest in terms of their livelihoods may prevent turning some decisions, intended as a component of sustainable forest management, into action. This situation arises from the lack of involvement by local stakeholders, a condition that is generally accepted as one of the most important instruments of sustainable forest management. Consequently, forest and other natural resources have not been effectively protected from negative behaviours of local populations. In this study, difficulties that have been faced in acquiring local participation and the importance of local participation for sustainable forest management are discussed using two case studies from Turkey. At acquiring of local participation is considered to important of local perceptions. If perceptions are negative, participation will not obtain. Thus, the study has focused on local perceptions. Field survey was carried out to collect necessary information for each case study. We conclude that decisions that will restrict the natural resource benefits for the local public, will lead to negative local perceptions of the project and lead to adverse behavior and negatively affect sustainable forest management efforts.