Investigating the impacts of shaded outdoor spaces on thermal adaptation and cognitive performance of university students in classroom environments.

Shading strategies are effective means to reduce urban risk factors such as the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect. The influence of shaded outdoor spaces on university students' thermal adaptability and cognitive performance is limited researched. The study aims at evaluating the effect of shaded outdoor spaces upon thermal comfort; and, linking such results upon university students' cognitive performance in a classroom environment with natural ventilation. A case study was conducted with students the ages of 19-22 at Bilkent University in Ankara, during the mid-season in October.The quantitative microclimatic conditions of the university campus's unshaded/shaded areas and indoor studios were obtained through Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET) index. The qualitative evaluation was undertaken by the adaptive model and thermal comfort survey. D2 test of attention was conducted to measure cognitive performance of students.This study revealed that the shade may increase thermal adaptation with the lowest mean PET of 18.7°C, while the highest mean PET of 33.2°C was obtained in sun-exposed space. Also, experiencing shaded outdoor space contributed to an improvement in concentration performance (CP) of students resulting in the mean CP score of 182.8, while those with sun-exposed outdoor space experience had the mean CP score of 167.6 within studios.

Differentiation between hepatic alveolar echinococcosis and primary hepatic malignancy with diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

PURPOSE: To determine the value of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) in discriminating between hepatic alveolar echinococcosis (AE) and hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. METHODS: We included 49 patients (27 men, 22 women; mean age: 52.02±9.76 [SD] years; range: 25-72years) with 57 histopathologically confirmed hepatic AE lesions. Fifty patients (18 men, 32 women; mean age: 58.93±8.42 [SD] years; range: 42-71years) with 61 histopathologically confirmed hepatocellular carcinoma and 50 patients (24 men, 26 women; mean age: 50.11±7.70 [SD] years; range: 38-69years) with 54 histopathologically confirmed intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma lesions were used as control groups. All patients had MRI examination of the liver that included conventional MRI sequences and DW-MRI using b values of 50, 400 and 800s/mm2. Two radiologists evaluated conventional MRI and DW-MRI images and calculated ADC values of hepatic lesions. RESULTS: The mean ADC value of solid components of hepatic AE lesions was 1.34±0.41×10-3 mm2/s (range: 0.9-1.59×10-3 mm2/s) and was significantly higher than that of the solid components of hepatocellular carcinoma lesions (mean ADC value, 0.99±0.29×10-3 mm2/s; range: 0.7-1.15×10-3 mm2/s) and of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma lesions (mean ADC value, 1.05±0.22×10-3 mm2/s; range: 0.86-1.18×10-3 mm2/s) (P<0.001). CONCLUSION: In general ADC values can help discriminate between AE and hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma. However, the use of ADC values cannot help differentiating Type 4 AE from hepatocellular carcinoma or intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

Odontogenic and nonodontogenic cysts: An analysis of 526 cases in Turkey.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine the age, gender, and sites of different types of odontogenic cysts (OCs) and non-OCs (nOCs) (seen in eastern Anatolian population in Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The following data were collected from the clinical records and histopathology reports of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and the Department of Oral Pathology, Ataturk University, Turkey, during a period of 10 years. They were analyzed descriptively in terms of incidence, age, sex, cyst type, and site. RESULTS: A total of 526 cysts were diagnosed during a 10-year period. Of these, 330 (62.7%) were in males, and 196 (37.3%) were in females, the male:female ratio was 1.7:1. There were 509 (96.8%) OCs and 17 (3.2%) nOCs. There were 406 (77.2%) inflammatory OCs and 103 (19.6%) developmental OCs. Radicular cysts were the most frequent (66.4%), followed by dentigerous (19.2%) and residual (10.8%) cysts. Only nasopalatine duct cyst was found as nOC in this study (3.2%). CONCLUSION: The distribution of jaw cysts in the Turkish Eastern Anatolian population is relatively similar to that of other populations reported in previous studies in the literature, in which most OCs were of inflammatory origin. However, the relative rates of cysts were higher than those reported in other studies.

Benign tumors and tumor-like lesions of the oral cavity and jaws: An analysis of 709 cases.

PURPOSE: The purpose was to examine the prevalence, gender, age and site(s) of odontogenic and nonodontogenic benign tumors, and tumor-like lesions occurring in the oral cavity and jaws in a Turkish population, particularly, in the Eastern Turkey, and to compare findings of this study with other reports. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The data were collected from the files of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and the Department of Oral Pathology, Ataturk University, Turkey, during a 10-year period from January 2005 to January 2015. They were analyzed descriptively regarding prevalence, age, sex, lesion type, and site. RESULTS: A total of 709 benign tumor and tumor-like lesions of the oral cavity, and jaws were selected during a period of 10 years. One hundred and twenty-one of these lesions (17%) were odontogenic benign tumors while 588 (83%) were nonodontogenic benign tumor and tumor-like lesions. CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that the distribution and characteristics of benign tumors and tumor-like lesions of oral cavity and jaws in the Turkish population, particularly including the Eastern region of Turkey have some differences as well as similarities with the findings of studies in different populations.

Evaluation of serum HGF and CK18 levels in patients with esophageal cancer.

Cytokeratins are thought to play a role in apoptosis. Cytokeratin 18 (CK18) is involved in the formation of intracellular cytoskeleton, and has been considered a promising apoptosis marker in gastrointestinal carcinomas. Growth factors, including hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), may provide a microenvironment for malignant cells. In this study, we aimed to compare serum HGF and CK18 levels between esophageal squamous cell carcinoma patients and healthy controls. The study included 41 adult patients (20 male, 21 female) diagnosed with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, with a mean age of 63.54 ± 10.88 years (range, 41-82 years). We also recruited 39 age and gender-matched healthy control subjects. Venous blood samples were taken; serum HGF and CK18 concentrations were determined via ELISA. Results indicated that serum HGF levels were higher in patients (1.37 ± 0.63 ng/mL) as compared to the healthy subjects (0.41 ± 0.29 ng/mL). Similarly, serum CK18 levels were higher in the patient group (2.53 ± 1.33 ng/mL) than in the control group (0.34 ± 0.23 ng/mL) (P < 0.001). In addition, serum HGF and CK18 levels were positively correlated with metastasis stage, tumor stage, and disease stage of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate serum HGF and CK18 levels in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. The results suggest that serum CK18 and HGF levels may be used as prognostic and disease monitoring biomarkers of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.

Correlation of astrocyte elevated gene-1, basic-fibroblast growth factor, beta-catenin, Ki-67, tumor necrosis factor-alfa with prognostic parameters in ductal carcinomas and ductal intraepithelial neoplasms.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer is the second most frequent cancer in the world. Although it is widely accepted that the etiology of breast cancer includes both genetic and environmental factors, the molecular mechanism of its development and progression remains poorly understood, and thus far, no specific signature of breast cancer gene expression has been reported to allow for patient-tailored therapy strategies. Hence, it is of great clinical value to further understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the progression of breast cancer and to identify effective early markers for the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease as well as novel therapeutic targets. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was conducted on a total of 90 paraffin-embedded breast tumor samples. Immunohistochemical stains for astrocyte elevated gene-1 (AEG-1), basic-fibroblast growth factor (b-FGF), beta-catenin, Ki-67, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were performed on tissue microarray using standard procedures. Each patient age, grade, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) status, size, lymphovascular invasion, metastasis of lymph node (LNM), nipple and ductal hyperplasia areas were assessed. RESULTS: We observed significant relationship between the age and LNM or FGF (P = 0.018, 0.035, respectively). The relationship between histological and nuclear grade, LNM, ER, PR, HER-2 and prognostic parameters was evaluated in cases of ductal carcinomas (DC). There was a significant positive correlation between TNF-α, size, LNM (P ≤ 0.0001, 0.002, 0.005). We found that significant relationship between AEG-1 and TNF-α. There was a significant positive correlation between FGF and Ki-67 and negative correlation AEG-1. Although, FGF, TNF-α, AEG-1 staining in DC were observed higher than ductal intraepithelial neoplasms, this observation could not statistically (P ≥ 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The present work aims to investigate the relationship between the expression of AEG-1, b-FGF, beta-catenin, Ki-67, TNF-α other prognostic parameters in DC and ductal intraepithelial neoplasm. We found a relationship between these factors.

Mycophenolate mofetil and daclizumab targeting T lymphocytes in bleomycin-induced experimental scleroderma.

BACKGROUND: T lymphocytes induce the transformation of fibroblasts into myofibroblasts, the main mediators of fibrogenesis. The inosine 5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase inhibitor mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) and the anti-CD25 monoclonal antibody daclizumab (DCZ) have been reported to suppress the proliferation of T lymphocytes. AIM: To evaluate the preventive effects of MMF and DCZ in early stages of bleomycin (BLM)-induced scleroderma. METHODS: This study involved five groups of Balb/c mice (n = 10 per group). Mice in four of the groups were injected subcutaneously (SC) with BLM [100 µg/day in 100 µL phosphate-buffered saline (PBS)] for 4 weeks; the remaining (control) group received only 100 µL PBS. Three of the BLM-treated groups also received either intraperitoneal MMF 50 or 150 mg/kg/day, or SC DCZ 100 µg/week. At the end of the fourth week, all mice were killed, and blood and tissue samples were obtained for further analysis. RESULTS: In the BLM-treated group, increases were seen in inflammatory-cell infiltration, α-smooth muscle actin-positive (α-SMA+) fibroblastic cell count, tissue hydroxyproline content, and dermal thickness. Dermal fibrosis was histopathologically prominent. In BLM-treated mice also given MMF or DCZ, inflammatory-cell infiltration, tissue hydroxyproline content and dermal thickness were decreased. In the MMF groups, decreases were also noted in α-SMA+ fibroblastic cell count. CONCLUSION: In this BLM-induced dermal fibrosis model, MMF and DCZ treatments prevented the development of dermal fibrosis. Further studies are needed to evaluate whether targeting T lymphocytes is effective in resolving pre-existing fibrosis in human scleroderma.