Tensile and Flexural Behaviors of Basalt Textile Reinforced Sprayed Glass Fiber Mortar Composites.

The proposed study combines sprayed glass fiber-reinforced mortar and basalt textile-reinforcement to harness the favorable properties of each component to obtain a composite material that can be used for strengthening of existing structures. This includes crack resistance and a bridging effect of glass fiber-reinforced mortar and the strength provided by the basalt mesh. In terms of weight, mortars containing two different glass fiber ratios (3.5% and 5%) were designed, and tensile and flexural tests were conducted on these mortar configurations. Moreover, the tensile and flexural tests were performed on the composite configurations containing one, two, and three layers of basalt fiber textile reinforcement in addition to 3.5% glass fiber. Maximum stress, cracked and uncracked modulus of elasticity, failure mode, and average tensile stress curve results were compared to determine each system's mechanical parameters. When the glass fiber content increased from 3.5% to 5%, the composite system without basalt textiles' tensile behavior slightly improved. The increase in tensile strength of composite configurations with one, two, and three layers of basalt textile reinforcement was 28%, 21%, and 49%, respectively. As the number of basalt textile reinforcements increased, the slope of the hardening part of the curve after cracking clearly increased. Parallel to the tensile tests, four-point bending tests showed that the composite's flexural strength and deformation capacities increase as the number of basalt textile reinforcement layers increase from one to two.

Mapping burn severity and monitoring CO content in Türkiye's 2021 Wildfires, using Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-5P satellite data on the GEE platform.

This study investigated forest fires in the Mediterranean of Türkiye between July 28, 2021, and August 11, 2021. Burn severity maps were produced with the difference normalised burned ratio index (dNBR) and difference normalised difference vegetation index (dNDVI) using Sentinel-2 images on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud platform. The burned areas were estimated based on the determined burning severity degrees. Vegetation density losses in burned areas were analysed using the normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) time series. At the same time, the post-fire Carbon Monoxide (CO) column number densities were determined using the Sentinel-5P satellite data. According to the burn severity maps obtained with dNBR, the sum of high and moderate severity areas constitutes 34.64%, 20.57%, 46.43%, 51.50% and 18.88% of the entire area in Manavgat, Gündogmus, Marmaris, Bodrum and Köycegiz districts, respectively. Likewise, according to the burn severity maps obtained with dNDVI, the sum of the areas of very high severity and high severity constitutes 41.17%, 30.16%, 30.50%, 42.35%, and 10.40% of the entire region, respectively. In post-fire NDVI time series analyses, sharp decreases were observed in NDVI values from 0.8 to 0.1 in all burned areas. While the Tropospheric CO column number density was 0.03 mol/m2 in all regions burned before the fire, it was observed that this value increased to 0.14 mol/m2 after the fire. Moreover, when the area was examined more broadly with Sentinel 5P data, it was observed that the amount of CO increased up to a maximum value of 0.333 mol/m2. The results of this study present significant information in terms of determining the severity of forest fires in the Mediterranean region in 2021 and the determination of the CO column number density after the fire. In addition, monitoring polluting gases with RS techniques after forest fires is essential in understanding the extent of the damage they can cause to the environment.

5-HT7 Receptor Antagonists with an Unprecedented Selectivity Profile.

Selective leads: In this study, we generated a new series of serotonin 5-HT7 receptor antagonists. Their synthesis, structure-activity relationships, and selectivity profiles are reported. This series includes 5-HT7 antagonists with unprecedented high selectivity for the 5-HT7 receptor, setting the stage for lead optimization of drugs acting on a range of neurological targets.

In Vitro and In Vivo Identification of Novel Positive Allosteric Modulators of the Human Dopamine D2 and D3 Receptor.

Agonists at dopamine D2 and D3 receptors are important therapeutic agents in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. Compared with the use of agonists, allosteric potentiators offer potential advantages such as temporal, regional, and phasic potentiation of natural signaling, and that of receptor subtype selectivity. We report the identification of a stereoselective interaction of a benzothiazol racemic compound that acts as a positive allosteric modulator (PAM) of the rat and human dopamine D2 and D3 receptors. The R isomer did not directly stimulate the dopamine D2 receptor but potentiated the effects of dopamine. In contrast the S isomer attenuated the effects of the PAM and the effects of dopamine. In radioligand binding studies, these compounds do not compete for binding of orthosteric ligands, but indeed the R isomer increased the number of high-affinity sites for [(3)H]-dopamine without affecting K(d). We went on to identify a more potent PAM for use in native receptor systems. This compound potentiated the effects of D2/D3 signaling in vitro in electrophysiologic studies on dissociated striatal neurons and in vivo on the effects of L-dopa in the 6OHDA (6-hydroxydopamine) contralateral turning model. These PAMs lacked activity at a wide variety of receptors, lacked PAM activity at related Gi-coupled G protein-coupled receptors, and lacked activity at D1 receptors. However, the PAMs did potentiate [(3)H]-dopamine binding at both D2 and D3 receptors. Together, these studies show that we have identified PAMs of the D2 and D3 receptors both in vitro and in vivo. Such compounds may have utility in the treatment of hypodopaminergic function.

Repair of Unstable Posterior Sternoclavicular Dislocation Using Nonabsorbable Tape Suture and Tension Band Technique: A Case Report with Good Results.

Posterior sternoclavicular joint dislocation (PSCJD) is quite a rare condition. Nearly half of the closed reduction attempts fail due to various reasons. In this paper, we present a 25-year-old male patient who was admitted to the emergency department in our hospital after having a motor-vehicle accident. It was decided to do PSCJD after physical and imaging studies. Following necessary preparations, closed reduction was attempted with abduction-traction maneuver under general anesthesia; however, adequate stabilization could not be achieved and redislocation was detected during control. Therefore, joint was stabilized with tension band technique using 6 mm polyamide nonabsorbable type suture during open reduction. Painless and complete range of motion in shoulder was achieved at the postoperative 10th week.

Bilateral periprosthetic distal femoral fractures following total knee arthroplasty.

Periprosthetic supracondylar femur fractures following total knee arthroplasty are infrequent, but challenging to clinicians. In this article, we present a 74-year-old female case of bilateral supracondylar femoral periprosthetic fractures which were treated with locking plates. The fractures were healed with osseous union, the range of motion was 0-110° for each knee, and there was a 6° residual varus deformity in the left knee. The functional results were excellent during two-year follow-up. Open reduction and locking plate fixation are effective treatment methods for periprosthetic supracondylar fractures following total knee arthroplasty in selected patients. If an anterior femoral notching accidentally develops during the intraoperative setting, using a femoral component with an attached intramedullary stem supports weakened distal part of the femur.

Easy retrieval of polyaxial tulip-head pedicle screws by "U" rod technique.

The number of fusion surgeries increase each year which also increase the need for implant removal. In some cases, it can be extremely hard to remove a pedicle screw especially when there is a mismatch of the screw and the screwdriver. Also the screwdrivers can be contaminated during the operation, and this will cause a delay till the instruments are re-sterilized. There is a need for the removal of screws without special instruments. We describe a method for removing tulip-head polyaxial pedicle screws without special instruments. The screws are removed using an Allen key, a rod bender and a "U" shaped rod. We successfully removed 76 screws in 11 recent cases without any complications. The "U" rod technique is a simple and useful technique for the removal of tulip-head polyaxial screws.