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Located at the crossroads of two continents and at the southeastern edge of the Mediterranean Basin, Anatolia was one of the most important Pleistocene glacial refugia in the Western Palaearctic. As part of the Irano-Anatolian, Caucasus and Mediterranean Basin biodiversity hotspots, this region is also home to a rich avian community including nearly 400 breeding species. Nevertheless, research addressing the genetic structure and diversity of local bird populations is limited, and information on glacial refugia in this region is still scant, especially when compared to other large Mediterranean peninsulas, namely the Balkan, Italian and Iberian ones. In this study, we contribute to filling this gap by addressing the biogeographic pattern of four common resident songbirds—the Eurasian blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus), the great tit (Parus major), the Eurasian chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) and the Eurasian blackbird (Turdus merula)—and one endemic species—the Krüper's nuthatch (Sitta krueperi)—by amplifying two mitochondrial DNA genes in individuals from Anatolia (n = 329) and comparing their sequences to those of conspecifics from the rest of their distribution range across the western Palaearctic (n = 357) deposited in public databases. The overall genetic structure of these species is consistent with a scenario of isolation for multiple populations in different refugia across Anatolia and subsequent secondary contact in the wake of ice retreat, which makes this region a hotspot of genetic diversity for both widespread and endemic avian species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Groin hernia surgery is one of the most frequently performed surgical procedures today. Femoral hernias are rare and difficult to diagnose compared to inguinal hernias. In addition, incarceration and strangulation accompanies more frequently than inguinal hernias. Although emergency groin hernia treatment is rare, this frequency increases with advanced age. In this study, we evaluated the results of emergency and elective femoral hernia surgery. In our study, it was determined that 3252 groin hernia surgeries were performed in our center between January 2010 and December 2019. 100 (3.07%) of these patients were operated for femoral hernia and all were included in the study. Patients were primarily classified as emergency and elective. Patients who underwent emergency femoral hernia surgery were classified as under 65 years old, 65-80 years old and over 80 years old, and the data were analyzed. Of the 100 patients included in the study who underwent femoral hernia surgery, 41 (41%) underwent emergency surgery and 59 (59%) underwent elective surgery. Of the patients who underwent emergency femoral hernia surgery, 28 (68.3%) were female and the median age was 71 (54-79)/year. In the analysis of the data of patients who underwent emergency femoral hernia surgery and patients who underwent elective femoral surgery; it was statistically more significant that the patient group who underwent emergency surgery was older, taller, had lower body mass indexes and had higher comorbidities. Age in emergency femoral hernia surgery; in our series, it was determined as a parameter that increases the anesthesia risks, strangulation-incarceration rate and mortality of the patients. In our study, it was determined that the frequency of emergency femoral hernia surgery and mortality increased with age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In modern turbine blades, pressure-side cutbacks with film-cooling slots stiffened with lands and pin fins that are embedded in passages are used to cool trailing edges. There are many studies that have investigated these cooling configurations from a thermal perspective, while only a limited number have been concerned with the aerodynamic aspects. This study presents a thorough computational investigation of a film-cooling configuration to determine the optimum combination of shape and size of pin arrays. The analyses are performed to include both internal and external surfaces of the trailing-edge cutback region and the results are evaluated from both aerodynamics and thermal aspects. The internal structure of the configuration studied consists of staggered arrays of pins and airfoilshaped blockages in front of the slot exits that open into a pressure-side cutback region. The pins used are of circular, elliptical, or airfoil shapes that are rarely studied in such configurations, and of different sizes, resulting in five different models for comparisons. The flow features, pressure losses and heat transfer characteristics inside of the trailing-edge surfaces and in the vicinity of the slots and on the external cutback region are examined. The airfoil-shaped pins are found to decrease the pressure losses in internal flow compared to the other pin shapes of similar size. However, the pin arrays produce minor differences in the velocity contours in the breakout region, resulting in similar pressure loss trends here. The small-sized pins are found to demonstrate slightly higher film-cooling effectiveness on the breakout surface due to lower temperatures at the slot exit. It can be inferred from the results that, since the airfoil-shaped pin reduces the aerodynamic penalty across the internal pin array, performing an optimization on the size of these pins to achieve the desired cooling performance could be a reasonable approach in the design process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]