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Knowing the factors affecting fear of large carnivores is important for wildlife management and conservation. In this regard, the effect of worldviews of human-wildlife and human-nature relationships on the fear of large carnivores needs to be investigated in different cultures. In this study, the influence of wildlife value orientations (WVOs), connectedness with nature, religiosity, fear of dogs, and gender on the fear of wolves and wild boars were examined. Quantitative research was conducted via a questionnaire on a convenience sample of 656 university students from state universities in various regions of Turkey. Domination orientation did not influence the fear of either animal. Mutualism negatively influenced the fear of wolves but did not significantly influence the fear of wild boar. Connectedness to nature is related negatively to the fear of both animals. More religious students feared wild boars more. Female students had a greater fear of both animals than male students. In addition, students with a fear of dogs had a greater fear of both animals. The relationship between worldviews and fear of large carnivores can vary across different species and needs to be investigated in different cultures

The protection of wildlife is an important issue for Turkey. This research examines factors affecting the behavioral commitment of young people, living in the Sanliurfa province of Turkey, to the protection of the local gazelle species, within the framework of the Value-Belief-Norm Theory. The research was conducted with the participation of high school students (N=472), and it was found that personal norms and the ascription of responsibility are the strongest predictors of behavioral commitment to the protection of the gazelle species. Self-transcendence and conservation value clusters also had a positive impact on behavioral commitment to the protection of the gazelles. The research concludes by making recommendations concerning education programs on the protection of the gazelle species.

The Mediterranean region experiences the annual destruction of thousands of hectares due to climatic conditions. This study examines forest fires in Türkiye's Antalya region, a Mediterranean high-risk area, from 2000 to 2023, analyzing 26 fires that each damaged over 50 hectares. Fire danger maps created from fire weather indexes (FWI) indicated that 85.7% of the analyzed fire areas were categorized within the high to very extreme danger categories. The study evaluated fire danger maps from EFFIS FWI and ERA5 FWI, both derived from meteorological satellite data, for 14 forest fires between 2019 and 2023. With its better spatial resolution, it was found that EFFIS FWI had a higher correlation (0.98) with in situ FWIs. Since FWIs are calculated from temperature and fire moisture subcomponents, the correlations of satellite-based temperature (MODIS Land Surface Temperature—LST) and soil moisture (SMAP) data with FWIs were investigated. The in situ FWI demonstrated a positive correlation of 0.96 with MODIS LST, 0.92 with EFFIS FWI, and 0.93 with ERA5 FWI. The negative correlation between all FWIs and SMAP soil moisture highlighted a strong relationship, with the highest observed in in situ FWI (−0.93) and −0.90 and −0.87 for EFFIS FWI and ERA5 FWI, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forest fires in Türkiye, like in other regions, have detrimental effects on wildlife habitats, water quality, air pollution, climate change, and the economy. These fires become particularly concerning during the dry summer months. In 2021, forest fires affected over 150 thousand hectares of land across the country, with the Manavgat district in Antalya province alone witnessing the burning of approximately 60 thousand hectares of forest area. This study aims to assess the applicability and suitability of Fire Weather Index (FWI) data derived from meteorological station data in the Antalya region, as well as EFFIS FWI data generated using satellite-based meteorological information, for fire danger mapping during the Manavgat forest fire that occurred between 28 July and 6 August 2021. Additionally, correlation analyses were performed between the two FWI datasets and other relevant variables, including the difference in Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR), the difference in Land Surface Temperature (dLST), and Fire Radiative Power (FRP) data detected from MODIS and VIIRS satellites. The results of the correlation analysis indicated that the FWI values obtained using in-situ meteorology station data showed much higher correlations than FWI values obtained from EFFIS, with the highest correlation (73%) observed with dLST data. Consequently, the fire danger map was created using the in-situ meteorological data, given its stronger correlation. The results prominently revealed a widespread high-risk level across the entire Antalya province, with the Manavgat district classified into the "Extreme" and "Very Extreme" FWI classes, emphasizing the critical importance of utilizing in-situ meteorological data for precise fire danger assessments and proactive fire management strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the repetition of mucilage event, which is triggered by many different anthropogenic, climatic and microbiological factors, in the Marmara Sea in 2021, the importance of water quality in the seas has come to the fore again. To present the spatial distribution of the mucilage, a feasibility study has been carried out with point-based water quality measurements and remote sensing data. In-situ measurements are collected routinely within the scope of the Integrated Marine Pollution Monitoring Program (DEN-IZ) which was conducted in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change and the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey - Marmara Research Center (TUBITAK-MAM). In this preliminary study, 16 in-situ measurements, 5 of which were taken from water containing mucilage, on 29 April 2021 in the Gulf of Gemlik were used. Then, univariate regression analyzes were performed in two different scenarios (i.e. 5 mucilage points and all in-situ points) with Sentinel-2 satellite imagery and in-situ water quality measurements for 2 different parameters (i.e. chlorophyll-a – Chl-a) and turbidity). According to R2 and accuracy assessment measures (f- and t- statistics etc.), the most suitable models were determined for two scenarios and two parameters. Finally, the performances of the selected models were tested with 2 different in-situ measurements and satellite images (dated 22 and 27 April) taken from dates close to the data set used; and it was concluded that the models created with 16 points were successful for both Chl-a and turbidity estimation for this preliminary study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Even though some individual studies on natural lakes spread around Turkey over time have been conducted to analyze their preceding characteristics and to monitor their temporal changes, a nation-wide study was lacking. With this study, country-based classification of natural lakes >2000 ha was realized via the use of remote sensing technology and Google Earth Engine platform coupled with different intrinsic properties of the lakes like geographical location, altitude, water-type, intended use, depth. Following a general evaluation of the overall 27 selected lakes in the long- and short-term covering 35 years and 5 years, respectively, some individual lakes were screened representing different water types and more focus on their areal changes in the long- and short-term were analyzed. Landsat images were utilized for the long-term investigation on the areal changes and Sentinel-2 was used in the short-term analysis. The aim of individual inspection of some of the lakes was to put forth a guideline on investigating the cause-and-effect relationship of the areal variations over time/season and thus, to enlighten the decision-makers. Moreover, the long-term meteorological values of the nearest stations to two of the lakes that have been suffering from continuous loss in their surface areas over time were further inspected. As expected, 2ºC temperature increase over 35 years has shown its alerting signs over the long-term inspection on both of the lakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bee bread is a bee product obtained as a result of fermentation of pollen stored by honey bees in the cells of the honeycomb. Palynological analysis, chemical composition, antioxidant activity of bee bread and its cytotoxic effect against human lung carcinoma (A549), human prostate cancer (DU 145) and human neuroblastoma (SH-SY5Y) cell lines were investigated in this study. 25 plant taxa were identified with palynological analysis. Fatty acids, cyclic, aromatic, phenolic, terpenoid, diterpen and metallic complex structures were seen in GC-MS results. FTIR consequence were compatible with GC-MS results and the structure types of FTIR results were seen in the dominant compounds of GCMS results. Radical scavenging activity (RSA) of bee bread showed inhibition variability between 20.15 ± 0.68% and 93.18 ± 0.44% depending on the concentration. In addition, the EC50 value was measured as 80.08 ± 0.10 mg/mL. Bee bread exhibited moderately cytotoxic effect at all concentrations (15.625 - 2000 µg/mL) against A549, DU 145, and SH-SY5Y cell lines. Bee bread can be used in medical fields because of it's antioxidant and anticancer properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey has favorable agricultural conditions (i.e. fertile soils, climate and rainfall) and can grow almost any type of crop in many regions, making it one of the leading sectors of the economy. For sustainable agriculture management, all factors affecting the agricultural products should be analyzed on a spatial-temporal basis. Therefore, nowadays space technologies such as remote sensing are important tools in providing an accurate mapping of the agricultural fields with timely monitoring and higher repetition frequency and accuracy. In this study, object based classification method was applied to 2017 Sentinel 2 Level 2A satellite image in order to map crop types in the Adana, Çukurova region in Turkey. Support Vector Machine (SVM) was used as a classifier. Texture information were incorporated to spectral wavebands of Sentinel-2 image, to increase the classification accuracy. In this context, all of the textural features of Gray-Level Co-occurrence Matrix (GLCM) were tested and Entropy, Standard deviation, and Mean textural features were found to be the most suitable among them. Multi-spectral and textural features were used as an input separately and/or in combination to evaluate the potential of texture in differentiating crop types and the accuracy of output thematic maps. As a result, with the addition of textural features, it was observed that the Overall Accuracy and Kappa coefficient increased by 7% and 8%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in remote sensing technology enable monitoring and detection of these vulnerable water bodies that bear numerous functions and ecological services beyond their intended use. As such, valuable data and information may be provided for long and short‐term analyses and stored in a database for future projections. This paper initially grouped 18 natural lakes of the Konya Closed Basin of Turkey according to their salinity level. Freshwater, saline and brackish lakes have then undergone temporal analysis for every 5‐year intervals via Landsat satellite images. Freshwater lake surfaces have not changed noticeably during the inspection period; however, saline waters have decreased in surface area by 32%. Beysehir Lake constituting 94% of the freshwater category and Tuz Lake representing 97% of the saline group were selected for the short‐term analysis that was monthly conducted for years 2017 and 2018 with optical and SAR images to better verify cause and effect relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To report the perioperative outcomes of 200 patients with gynecologic cancer who underwent surgery during the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the safety of surgical approach.Methods: Data of patients operated between March 10 and May 20, 2020, were collected retrospectively. Data were statistically analyzed using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics for Windows v. SP21.0.Results: Data of 200 patients were included. Their mean age was 56 years. Of the patients, 54% (n=108), 27.5% (n=55), 12.5% (n=25), and 2% (n=4) were diagnosed as having endometrial, ovarian, cervical, and vulvar cancer, respectively. Of them, 98% underwent non-emergent surgery. A minimally invasive surgical approach was used in 18%. Stage 1 cancer was found in 68% of patients. Surgeons reported COVID-related changes in 10% of the cases. The rate of postoperative complications was 12%. Only two patients had cough and suspected pneumonic lesions on thoracic computed tomography postoperatively, but neither was positive for COVID-19 on polymerase chain reaction testing.Conclusion: Based on the present findings, it is thought that gynecologic cancer surgery should continue during the COVID-19 pandemic while adhering to the measures. Postponement or non-surgical management should only be considered in patients with documented infection. Gynecologic cancer surgery should continue during the COVID-19 pandemic while adhering to measures. Only 1% of patients developed COVID-19-related symptoms during the postoperative follow-up period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, 88 randomly selected samples of butter produced in the Black Sea region of Turkey were purchased from different retail markets during different periods and investigated for toxic and essential elements content. Quantitative analyses of elements in the samples were performed using an inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Mean concentrations of As, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se and Zn in the butter samples were 18.93, 100.32, 384.66, 4199.1, 887.47, 168.64, 56.13, 16.34 and 384.66 µg kg−1, respectively. Cd and Co were detected in 19 (mean content 0.29 µg kg−1) and 81 (mean content 3.81 µg kg−1) samples of 88 butter samples, respectively. However, the dietary intake of these elements by the population of the Black Sea region is currently well below the dietary reference intake (DRI) and provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI) levels of essential and toxic elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, aflatoxin M1(AFM1) levels of vacuum packed Kashar cheese marketed in the Black Sea Region of Turkey were determined during October 2008 and June 2009. The occurrence of AFM1contamination in vacuum packed cheese samples was investigated using immunoaffinity column extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography. AFM1was detected in 144 (97.96%) of cheese samples ranging from 0.015 to 3.774 μg/kg cheese, and mean value of AFM1was found to be 0.273 μg/kg cheese. AFM1level in 16 (11.11%) of positive samples was higher than the maximum tolerance limit (0.5 μg/kg) accepted by Turkish Food Codex. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the levels of 9 organochlorine compounds (aldrin, hexachlorobenzene, 2,4-DDE, 4,4-DDE, 2,4-DDT, 4,4-DDT, and α-, β-, and γ-HCH) in butter samples collected in the Eastern, Middle and Western Black Sea Regions of Turkey between October 2009 and June 2010. The liquid-liquid extraction method was used to extract the organochlorine compounds from the samples and the measurements were performed by using a gas chromatograph-electron capture detector system. DDT metabolites, aldrin, hexachlorobenzene (HCB), and α-, and γ-HCH were not detected in the samples but β-HCH was detected in 3 of a total of 88 samples. In the first period, only one sample from the West Black Sea Region was β-HCH positive (0.014 mg kg). The other β-HCH positive samples collected in Middle and West Black Sea Regions in the second period had a concentration of 0.066 and 0.019 mg kg, respectively. All concentrations of the detected compounds exceeded the legal limits of 0.003 mg kg for β-HCH, as prescribed by the Turkish Food Codex, and therefore pose a potential health risk for consumers. The contamination detected is most likely due to the past usage of β-HCH in agriculture and its long term persistence in the environment. These results strongly suggest that further research should be focused on the detection of pesticide residues in agricultural areas across the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deltas and lagoons, which contain many flora and fauna, have rich coastal ecological and biological environments, and are wetlands of vital importance for humans. In this study, the current problems in all coastal Ramsar sites in Turkey are summarized, and changes in water surface areas are investigated using Landsat and Sentinel 1/2 satellite images on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud computing platform. Landsat TM and OLI images were used in the long-term analysis, and time series were created by taking annual and July to September averages between 1985 and 2020. In the short-term analysis, monthly averages were determined using Sentinel 2 images between 2016 and 2020. Sentinel-1 Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images were used in the months when optical data were not suitable for use in monthly analysis. The Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) was used to extract water surface areas from the optical images. Afterwards, a thresholding process was used for both optical and radar images to determine the changes. The changes were analyzed together with the meteorological data and the information obtained from the management plans and related studies in the literature. Changes in the water surface areas of all coastal Ramsar sites in Turkey were determined from 1985 to 2020 at different rates. There was a decreasing trend in the Goksu and Kızılırmak Deltas, which also have inland wetlands. The decreasing rates from 1985 to 2020 were −24.52% and −2.86%, for annual average water surfaces for the Goksu and Kızılırmak Deltas, respectively, and −21.64% and −6.34% for the dry season averages, respectively. However, Akyatan Lagoon, which also has inland wetlands, showed an increasing trend. Observing the annual average surface area from 1985 to 2020, an increase of 438 ha was seen, corresponding to 7.65%. Every year, there was an increasing trend in the Gediz Delta and Yumurtalık Lagoons, that do not have inland wetlands. The increasing rates from 1985 to 2020 were 46.01% and 17.31% for the annual average surface area, for the Gediz Delta and Yumurtalık Lagoons, respectively, and 38.34% and 21.04% for the dry season average, respectively. The obtained results reveal the importance of using remote sensing methods in formulating strategies for the sustainable management of wetlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ramsar Convention (RC) is the first of modern intergovernmental agreement on the conscious use and conservation of natural resources. It provides a platform for contracting parties working together to develop the best available data, advice, and policy recommendations to increase awareness of the benefits of wetlands in nature and society. Turkey became a party of the RC in 1994, and in the years 1994 to 2013, 14 wetlands that reached the Ramsar criteria were recognized as Ramsar sites (RS). With this study, all inland RS in Turkey from 1985 to 2020 were examined, and changes in the water surface areas were evaluated on the GEE cloud computing platform using Landsat satellite images and the NDWI index. The closest meteorological station data to each RS were evaluated and associated with the surface area changes. The reasons for the changes in these areas, besides the meteorological effects, have been scrutinized using management plans and publications. As a result, inland wetlands decreased at different rates from 1985 to 2020, with a total loss of 31.38% and 21,571.0 ha for the spring months. Since the designation dates of RS, the total amount of water surface area reduction was 27.35%, constituting 17,758.90 ha. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Surveillance of surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most effective methods for decreasing the incidence. We determined the risk factors for SSI and the effect of a one-year surveillance program on the rate at a tertiary-care center., Methods: The annual SSI rate before the study period was determined in a preliminary study. Risk factors related to SSI, the bacteria cultured from infected sites, and the effect of surveillance were then analyzed prospectively. Risk factors were determined by logistic regression analysis, and 95% confidence intervals were calculated., Results: The incidence of SSI decreased from 12.8% before the study to 8.8% at the end of the surveillance period. There were 90 SSIs (8.8%) in 1,017 procedures during the study period, most of which (77; 69%) were detected during the hospital stay. The distribution of superficial incisional, deep incisional, and organ/space SSI was 61.1%, 33.4%, and 5.5%, respectively. Prolonged preoperative hospital stay (>8 days), abdominal incision, early preoperative hair removal, inappropriate antimicrobial prophylaxis, whole blood transfusion, famotidine treatment, repair with mesh, age >75 years, wound contamination, high American Society of Anesthesiologists score, malnutrition, diabetes mellitus, emergency surgery, obesity, and coexistent infection proved to be independent risk factors for SSI, whereas the skin closure technique, patient sex, presence of malignancy, smoking history, and duration of operation were not. Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were the bacteria isolated most frequently. Six infected patients (5.4%) died, four because of SSI. Development of SSI increased hospital expenses by around 600 US dollars per patient., Conclusion: Surveillance even for one year decreases the incidence of SSI.