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The proposal of this paper is clear to reveal and understand the unsteady flow characteristics over the surface of chambered airfoil operating especially at low Reynolds numbers by detecting boundary layer separation and laminar separation bubble (LSB). Experiments including smoke-wire technique for flow visualization, velocity measurement via hot-wire sensor and quasi-wall shear stress measurement by means of the hot-film sensor have been performed over the suction surface of NACA 4412 airfoil at Reynolds number of 5x104 and angle of attack of 14°. Experiments indicate that the airfoil at a stall angle exhibits the bistable characteristics over the suction surface because of the unsteady bubble bursting at low Reynolds numbers. That is, either laminar flow separates from the leading-edge of the airfoil owing to a dominant adverse pressure gradient (APG) or it does not separate along downstream. It is also noted that unsteady boundary layer formation may affect the flow characteristics by changing airfoil’s stability appreciably, causing the periodic fluctuations with the occurring bubble bursting and the leading edge and trailing edge vortex merging. This may conclude undesirable problems such as noise, vibration and flutter for the flight vehicles and wind turbines.

Humpback whales have very special fins, which reduce the friction force by the projections on the fins and enhance the lift force with increasing angle of attack. Thus, it has opportunity to move with less energy. In this study, the tubular structure was formed and adapted to the NACA0012 airfoil profile. Numerical modelling of tubercle wing was performed in ANSYS FLUENT. In numerical modelling, k-ω SST and Transition SST turbulence models were used to investigate tubercle wing performance. The tubercle structure on the wing provided to canalize the flow in the tubercle cavities, thus flow separation decreased. Consequently, it was observed that the aerodynamic performance of the wing increased when the sinusoidal protrusions known as tubercle structure were applied to the leading edge of the wing.

Effects of flexible membrane mounted over suction surface of NACA 4412 airfoil were experimentally investigated at Reynolds number of 5x104 and low aspect ratio (AR=1) in this paper. The smoke-wire visualization method has been performed for flow visualization to demonstrate flow phenomena as laminar separation bubble (LSB), leading edge separation at z/c=0.4 and tip vortices at z/c=0.1. Values of velocity, Reynolds stress and turbulence statistics were measured by means of a constant temperature anemometer (CTA) system. Results of smoke-wire experiment revealed that size and height of LSB formed along z/c=0.4 at lower angles of attack such as α=8° was mitigated. Moreover, stall phenomenon as a result of boundary layer separation was apparently postponed at higher angles of attack. Velocity value was increased, whereas values of Reynold stress and turbulent kinetic energy was decreased with reduction of amount of fluctuations in flow. Consequently, using flexible membrane over suction surface of airfoil allowed the LSB to be mitigated or extinguished, resulting in exhibition of more stable flow characteristics.

In this experimental study, flow over NACA 4412 airfoil with flexible membrane mounted both on suction surface and pressure surface was investigated at Reynolds number of 5x104 and different angles of attack. The smoke-wire visualization method was used for flow visualization to demonstrate flow phenomena as laminar separation bubble (LSB), leading edge separation and tip vortices. A constant temperature anemometer (CTA) was used for measuring flow over the partially flexible airfoil. Concerning the flow visualization, smoke-wire experiment was been conducted at z/c=0.1 and z/c=0.4. Besides, hot-wire experiment by means of CTA was employed to measure flow properties including values of velocity, turbulence statistics and Reynold stress over both uncontrolled and controlled airfoil. The results showed that partially flexible airfoil had several benefits compared with the uncontrolled airfoil. The results for this partially flexible airfoil were mainly lower size of LSB, higher stall angle of attack, ensuring more stable flow characteristics and more aerodynamic performance.

Ketamine is a rapid-acting antidepressant associated with various cognitive side effects. To mitigate these side effects while enhancing efficacy, it can be co-administered with other antidepressants. In our study, we adopted a similar strategy by combining ketamine with environmental enrichment, a potent sensory-motor paradigm, in adult male Wistar rats. We divided the animals into four groups based on a combination of housing conditions and ketamine versus vehicle injections. The groups included those housed in standard cages or an enriched environment for 50 days, which encompassed a 13-day-long behavioral testing period. Each group received either two doses of ketamine (20 mg/kg, IP) or saline as a vehicle. We tested the animals in the novel object recognition test (NORT), forced swim test (FST), open field test (OFT), elevated plus maze (EPM), and Morris water maze (MWM), which was followed by ex vivo c-Fos immunohistochemistry. We observed that combining environmental enrichment with ketamine led to a synergistic antidepressant effect. Environmental enrichment also ameliorated the spatial memory deficits caused by ketamine in the MWM. There was enhanced neuronal activity in the habenula of the enrichment only group following the probe trial of the MWM. In contrast, no differential activity was observed in enriched animals that received ketamine injections. The present study showed how environmental enrichment can enhance the antidepressant properties of ketamine while reducing some of its side effects, highlighting the potential of combining pharmacological and sensory-motor manipulations in the treatment of mood disorders., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction and Objectives: Radioactive iodine therapy (RAIT) is recommended to reduce the risk of recurrence and metastasis in patients with intermediate-high risk differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). In preparation for RAIT, stimulation of thyroid-stimulating hormone and reduction of body iodine pool are important for treatment success. For this purpose, patients are asked to reduce their iodine intake before RAIT, and the body iodine pool can be evaluated by measuring iodine excretion in urine before treatment. The aim of our study is to compare the methods used to measure the body iodine pool in the evaluation of the restricted iodine diet (RID) effectiveness applied in the RAIT preparation., Patients and Methods: Eighty DTC patients discontinued levothyroxine three weeks before RAIT and followed up with a RID two weeks before treatment. After two weeks of RID, all patients collected their 24-h urine the day before the RAIT date. Patients completed 24-h urine samples on the morning of the RAIT date and also provided a spot urine sample. The estimated 24-h creatinine excretion of the patients was calculated. Estimated 24-h urinary iodine excretion (UIE) was calculated using the spot urine iodine/creatinine (I/C) ratio of the patients. 24-h UIE, iodine concentration in spot urine, I/C ratios in spot urine and estimated 24-h UIE of the patients were analyzed by comparing with each other., Results: In 99% of the patients, RID efficiency was sufficient according to 24-h UIE before RAIT. The mean 24-h UIE was 48.81 micrograms/day (mcg/day) in 24-h urine samples taken from the patients to evaluate the body iodine pool. The patients' iodine concentrations in spot urine, I/C ratios in spot urine, and estimated 24-h UIE were all statistically significantly lower than actual 24-h UIE, which was the reference method (p: 0.026 vs <0.001 vs 0.041). Moderate positive correlation between 24-h UIE and iodine concentration in spot urine (r: 0.440), I/C ratio in spot urine (r: 0.493), and estimated 24-h UIE (r: 0.560) found. The strongest correlation was obtained with the estimated 24-h UIE., Conclusion: The estimated 24-h UIE obtained by using the I/C ratio in spot urine can be used practically and safely as an alternative to UIE in 24-h urine, which is the gold standard method for evaluating body iodine pool., (Copyright © 2024 Sociedad Española de Medicina Nuclear e Imagen Molecular. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Introduction and Objectives: 18F-FDG PET with the Deauville score (DS) is a unique semiquantitative method for lymphoma. However, type of standard uptake values (max, mean, and peak) reconstruction algorithms could affect DS. We compared the Bayesian Penalized Likelihood reconstruction algorithm (BPL) with Ordered Subsets Expectation Maximization (OSEM) on quantitative parameters and DS in lymphoma. We investigated the effect of the size of the lymph node on quantitative variation., Patients and Methods: Raw PET data of 255 lymphoma patients were reconstructed separately with Q.Clear (GE Healthcare), a BPL, and SharpIR (GE Healthcare), an OSEM algorithm. In both images, each patient's liver, mediastinal blood pool, and SUVs (SUVmax, SUVmean, and SUVpeak) of a total of 487 lesions selected from the patients were performed. DSmax, DSmean, and DSpeak were compared., Results: In our study, DS increased significantly with BPL (p < 0.001), and the DS increased to 4-5 in thirty patients evaluated as 1-2-3 with OSEM. It was found that the quantitative values of the lymph nodes increased statistically with BPL (p < 0.001), and the liver from the reference regions were significantly decreased (p < 0.001). In addition, difference in lymph node was independently associated with size of lesion and was significantly more pronounced in small lesions (p < 0.001). The effects of BPL algorithm were more pronounced in SUVmax than in SUVmean and SUVpeak. DS-mean and DS-peak scores were less changed by BPL than DS-max., Conclusion: Different reconstruction algorithms in FDG PET/CT affect the quantitative evaluation. That variation may affect the change in DS in lymphoma patients, thus affecting patient management., (Copyright © 2023 Sociedad Española de Medicina Nuclear e Imagen Molecular. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.)

Pethidine (PET) is an opioid pain-relief medicine with high addiction potential, especially among health professionals. Pethidine is commonly prescribed in Turkey as a pain-relieving medication for operative purposes. Due to its accessibility, low cost, user-friendliness, and effectiveness, PET is often misused by both healthcare professionals and patients. For this reason, analytical determination methods for PET abuse are essential in terms of forensic toxicology. In this study, a fast, reliable, and accurate gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method was developed for the first time in Turkey for the simultaneous detection of PET and its main urinary metabolite norpethidine (NPET). The method was validated in terms of selectivity, linearity, the limit of detection (LOD), the limit of quantification (LOQ), trueness, and precision according to the Scientific Working Group for Forensic Toxicology guidelines. The linear range was between 0.125-25.00 μg/mL for PET and 1.00-20.00 μg/mL for NPET. The LOD values for PET and NPET were 0.05 µg/mL and 0.49 µg/mL, while the LOQ values were 0.125 µg/mL and 1.00 µg/mL, respectively. Extraction efficiencies were calculated as 113% for PET and 104% for NPET. The intra-assay and inter-assay precision results were within acceptable limits. In the presented study, the validated method was applied to the urine of 18 patients collected at the 1st and 3rd hours after receiving PET. All samples in the study were collected under patients' consent and in line with ethical guidelines., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Forensic veterinary toxicology has become a popular branch of toxicology, dealing with animal cruelty (e.g., malicious poisoning), regulatory issues (e.g., contamination of the feed supply chain), insurance litigation or wildlife poisoning. The current study highlights the importance of the toxicological aspects of animal health-related disagreements in a pet custody case following a divorce. In this study, the custody case of three dogs and a cat was concluded with the aid of toxicological test results that were obtained from the pets' blood samples for the first time in Turkey. The results confirmed the presence of benzoylecgonine in one of the blood samples, as alleged by one of the owners. The study also aims to raise the veterinarians', as well as the judicial system members', awareness of drug abuse in pets., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Objective: A restricted-iodine diet (RID) increases the effectiveness of radioiodine therapy (RAIT) by decreasing the body's iodine pool, especially in iodine-rich regions. However, there is no consensus on the RID that should be applied in iodine-deficient areas. This study aims to assess the effect of strict and flexible RID before RAIT., Methods: For the study, 144 patients were randomized into the strict or flexible RID group. All patients stopped levothyroxine before RAIT and followed a RID. After 2 weeks of RID, 24-h urine samples were taken. The urinary iodine excretion was compared. In 52 of 144 patients, the spot urine samples were taken before and after RID. The reduction in urinary iodine excretion was compared according to the iodine/creatinine ratio., Results: Our study included 47 males and 97 females with a mean age of 45 years. After RID in the 24-h urine samples, the mean iodine level was 47.9 µg/day, and both protocols were sufficient to reduce the body iodine pool. There was no significant difference between the strict and the flexible group, 43.06 and 52.89 µg/day (P:0.147). The reduction in urinary iodine excretion was not statistically different in both groups according to spot urine samples (68.20 vs. 60.53%; P:0.377)., Conclusion: The flexible RID protocol that less disrupts the patient's quality of life can be preferred for RAIT preparation in iodine-deficient countries., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of radiotherapy and to determine possible prognostic factors in patients with painful vertebral hemangioma., Methods: In the last two decades, 80 patients with vertebral hemangioma who received radiotherapy in our institute were evaluated in terms of pain response, treatment-related side effects, and prognostic factors. All patients were questioned 3 months after radiotherapy for the evaluation of pain response and were divided into three groups (complete response, partial response, and no change). Moreover, the visual analog scale (VAS) was used for pain response assessment in 46 patients. Pain status was assessed to detect recurrence at each clinical examination during the follow-up period. Possible prognostic factors such as gender, size of the hemangioma, location, multilevel involvement and additional musculoskeletal disease on pain response were analyzed., Results: In this study, 45 individuals had lesions in the lumbar spine, 28 in the thoracic, and 7 in the cervical region. Furthermore, 51 patients had additional musculoskeletal conditions such as disc herniation, degenerative diseases, spondylolisthesis, and compression fracture. Radiotherapy was performed with a median daily dose of 2 Gy and a median total dose of 40 Gy. Complete pain response occurred in 58.8% of patients, 26.2% of patients had partial pain response, and 15% of patients had no pain response. The overall response rate was 85%, and 7 patients showed recurrent pain symptoms in the overall response group at routine follow-up. Additional musculoskeletal disorders were found to be the only prognostic factor associated with pain response. The median follow-up time was 60 months. Secondary malignancy was not found in any of the patients in this short follow-up time. No acute or late radiation-associated side effects greater than grade II were observed., Conclusion: To our best knowledge, this study is one of the largest single-institution radiotherapy series on vertebral hemangiomas reported to date. The obtained data support the efficacy and safety of radiotherapy in the treatment of painful vertebral hemangioma. Our study showed that additional musculoskeletal disease plays an important role in pain response. Other prognostic factors and treatment of vertebral hemangioma with stereotactic radiosurgery should be investigated in future studies., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany.)

A national wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) monitoring campaign has been initiated to determine the trends in drug consumption in Turkey since 2019. This study aimed to present the wastewater monitoring results for four periods in 2019 for six major cities with 17 wastewater treatment plants. The study investigated heroin (HER), amphetamine (AMP), methamphetamine (METH), cocaine (COC), 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco to understand the temporal and geographical drug consumption trends. The results indicated a trend of regular cannabis use in all the cities. Considering geographical variations, the drug usage trends were not homogeneous within the country for any of the investigated drugs, except cannabis. HER consumption was predominant in Denizli (1042.48 mg/1000 inh/day), while İzmir and Antalya (154.10 and 79.56 mg/1000 inh/day, respectively) topped for COC consumption. Aydın had the highest consumption levels of AMP (90.03 mg/1000 inh/day) and METH (358.13 mg/1000 inh/day), while MDMA consumption was the highest in Samsun (157.64 mg/1000 inh/day). Tobacco consumption was high in Aydın (8791.69 mg/1000 inh/day) and Antalya (5375.17 mg/1000 inh/day), whereas alcohol consumption was higher in Bursa than in the other cities (53434.61 mL/1000 inh/day). There were no statistically significant differences in the weekend consumption levels of the investigated drugs among these six cities. Although this study included the results of 1 year of consumption monitoring, the data confirms internationally published information on the drug trafficking routes of conventional drugs in this region, especially the Heroin-Balkan route. Results from further sampling will enable accurate evaluation of global drug consumption and trafficking, in addition to alcohol and tobacco use., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)