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In this paper, we used the Picard successive iteration method and the new modified Krasnoselskii iteration method in order to solve different types of ordinary linear differential equations having initial conditions. By applying the new modified Krasnoselskii iteration method, not only do we obtain the approximate solutions for the problem, but also establish the corresponding iterative schemes. Finally, it is shown that the accuracy of the new iteration method (called the new modified Krasnoselskii iteration method) is substantially improved by employing variable steps which adjust themselves to the solution of the differential equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Previous studies have investigated the effect of single or combined caffeine (CAF) and L-theanine (THE) intake on attention performance. However, its effect on shooting performance and cognitive performance in a sport is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the hypothesis "Does single or combined CAF and THE supplementation have an effect on shooting and cognitive performance in elite curling athletes?." It is predicted that over the next decade, studies based on nutritional ergogenic supplements in the developing sport of curling will continue to increase, leading to a significant increase in studies examining the effects of CAF and THE supplementation, alone or in combination, on throwing and cognitive performance in elite curling athletes., Methods: In this double-blind, randomized controlled crossover study, twenty-two elite national curling athletes (age 20.20 ± 1.61 and sports age 6.20 ± 0.51 years, height 174.10 ± 7.21 cm, BMI 21.80 ± 3.47 kg/m 2 ) were randomly assigned to CAF (6 mg/kg single dose CAF), THE (6 mg/kg single dose THE), CAF*THE (6 mg/kg CAF and 6 mg/kg THE combined) and PLA (400 mg maltodextrin) groups at each of four sessions. 60 minutes after taking the supplement, the athletes were first given the Stroop test and then asked to shoot., Results: Our main findings have shown that the performance of athletes in guard (F= 3.452 , P  < .001, η p 2  = .842), draw (F= 1.647 , P  < .001, η p 2  = .485), and take-out (F= 3.121 , P  < .001, η p 2  = .743) shot styles significantly improved when comparing the combined intake of CAF and THE to the PLA. Regarding cognitive performance evaluation through the Stroop test, during the NR task (F= 4.743 , P  = .001, η p 2  = .653), the combined intake of CAF and THE significantly improved reaction times compared to the intake of single CAF, THE, or PLA. The best reaction times during the CR and ICR (respectively; F= 2.742 , P  = .004, η p 2  = .328; F = 1.632, P  < .001, η p 2  = .625) tasks were achieved with the combined CAF and THE intake, showing a significant improvement compared to PLA. During the NER (F= 2.961 , P  < .001, η p 2  = .741), task, the combined intake of CAF and THE significantly improved error rates compared to the intake of CAF, THE, or PLA single. The best accuracy rates during the CER and ICER (respectively; F= 4.127 , P  < .001, η p 2  = .396; F= 3.899 , P  < .001, η p 2  = .710) tasks were achieved with the combined CAF and THE intake, leading to a significant reduction in error rates compared to PLA. Based on these findings, it has been demonstrated in this study that the best shooting scores and cognitive performance were achieved, particularly with the combined intake of CAF and THE., Conclusions: Based on these findings, it has been demonstrated in this study that the best shooting scores and cognitive performance were achieved, particularly with the combined intake of CAF and THE. The combined use of these supplements has been found to be more effective on shooting and cognitive performance than their single use.

Crocus istanbulensis (B.Mathew) Rukšāns is one of the most endangered Crocus species in the world and has an extremely limited distribution range in Istanbul. Our recent field work indicates that no more than one hundred individuals remain in the wild. In the present study, we used genome skimming to determine the complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequences of six C. istanbulensis individuals collected from the locus classicus. The cp genome of C. istanbulensis has 151,199 base pairs (bp), with a large single-copy (LSC) (81,197 bp), small single copy (SSC) (17,524 bp) and two inverted repeat (IR) regions of 26,236 bp each. The cp genome contains 132 genes, of which 86 are protein-coding (PCGs), 8 are rRNA and 38 are tRNA genes. Most of the repeats are found in intergenic spacers of Crocus species. Mononucleotide repeats were most abundant, accounting for over 80% of total repeats. The cp genome contained four palindrome repeats and one forward repeat. Comparative analyses among other Iridaceae species identified one inversion in the terminal positions of LSC region and three different gene (psbA, rps3 and rpl22) arrangements in C. istanbulensis that were not reported previously. To measure selective pressure in the exons of chloroplast coding sequences, we performed a sequence analysis of plastome-encoded genes. A total of seven genes (accD, rpoC2, psbK, rps12, ccsA, clpP and ycf2) were detected under positive selection in the cp genome. Alignment-free sequence comparison showed an extremely low sequence diversity across naturally occurring C. istanbulensis specimens. All six sequenced individuals shared the same cp haplotype. In summary, this study will aid further research on the molecular evolution and development of ex situ conservation strategies of C. istanbulensis., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Hyperhydricity is a morphophysiological disorder of plants in tissue culture characterized morphologically by the presence of translucent, thick, curled, and fragile leaves as a result of excessive water intake. Since clonal propagation is a major in vitro technique for multiplying plants vegetatively, the emergence of hyperhydricity-related symptoms causes significant economic losses to agriculture and horticulture. Although numerous efforts have been hitherto devoted to the morphological and anatomical responses of plants to hyperhydricity, the underlying molecular mechanism remains largely unknown. Here, a genome-wide transcriptome analysis was performed to identify differentially expressed genes in hyperhydric and nonhyperhydric leaves of peach [ (L.) Batsch]. The RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) analysis showed that the expression of >300 transcripts was altered between control and hyperhydric leaf cells. The top 30 differentially expressed transcripts (DETs) were related to the posttranscriptional regulators of organelle gene expression and photosynthesis, cellular elimination, plant cuticle development, and abiotic stress response processes. The expression of 10 DETs was also conformed by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) in hyperhydric and nonhyperhydric leaves. As a complex biological process, hyperhydricity alters the expression of various transcripts including transcription factor (), RNA binding protein (pentatricopeptide, ), transporter protein (), and . Thus, this genome-wide transcriptome profiling study may help elucidate the molecular mechanism of hyperhydricity., (Copyright © 2016 Crop Science Society of America.)

The study aims to evaluate patient satisfaction with respect to primary health-care services in Kuwait.A total of 245 patients completed the General Practice Assessment Questionnaire postconsultation version 2.0. Two statistically significant differences of patients' satisfaction with sex and level of education were found. Overall satisfaction was higher among men than women (P = 0.002), and it was also higher among those with university degree of education than the other levels of education (P = 0.049). We also found statistically significant differences of patients' responses over sex for three themes, namely: satisfaction with receptionists, satisfaction with access and satisfaction with communication; and over the age for one theme: satisfaction with access. There was no statistically significant differences of patients' responses over nationality for all themes. Satisfaction is a multifactorial and no one factor alone could provide satisfaction with primary health services in Kuwait., (© 2014 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.)

European anchovy has considerable economic and ecological importance due to its high reproduction capacity and growth rate. As one of the largest source of wild marine protein, an increasing muscle mass strength has a major contribution to this growth rate during transition from subadult to adult stage. In the present study, using Illumina sequencing technology (HiSeq2000) accompanied with appropriate bioinformatics softwares; we have sequenced, assembled and annotated the transcriptome of wild subadult and adult anchovy muscles. A total of 131,081,776 high-quality reads were assembled into 125,506 contigs with an average length of 709.35 bp and N50 length of 1159 bp. Functional annotations of assembled contigs have been summarized according to 3325 GO terms, 3370 PFAM domains and 378 predicted KEGG metabolic pathways. About 11% of all contigs had at least one type of SSR motif in their sequences. According to the sequence homology analysis by BlasTN it was concluded that the assembled contigs include 16 skeletal muscle-expressed miRNAs, 14 ncRNAs and most of sarcomeric/myofibrillar genes. We hope that the sequence information regarding the muscle transcriptome of anchovy can provide some insight into the understanding of genome-wide transcriptome profile of teleost muscle tissue and give useful information in fish muscle development., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The vascular flora alongside the railway track between Haydarpasa and Gebze in Turkey was investigated and the floristic features of the study area are presented here. The investigation was undertaken during 2003-2009. In total 194 plant taxa were determined. Out of these 174 were naturally growing and 20 were exotics and cultivated. Native taxa within the flora belonged to 135 genera and 50 families, exotic and cultivated taxa belonged to 20 genera and 15 families. The members of Dicotyledonae constituted of 82.76% and Monocotyledonae 16.09% of the native taxa. The highest number of these taxa belonged to Asteraceae family (25 species), while the exotics were from Rosaceae (5 species). The plant distributional features, phytogeographical elements, life forms, archaeophytes and neophytes and status of invasive plants have also been included.

Background: The study of weight gain after transplantation and its associated factors is necessary to propose strategies to prevent and treat this problem., Objectives: This study aims to investigate factors affecting the development of obesity after liver transplantation (LTx)., Patients and Methods: Medical records of 343 liver transplantation cases, which were followed between January 2001 and January 2010 at Dokuz Eylul University, were retrospectively analyzed. Patient pre-liver transplantation height, body weight, body mass index (BMI) measurements, as well as changes in body weight at the beginning, 6 months, 12 months, and 5 years post-transplantation were observed. BMI measurements with records of immunosuppressive therapies were obtained., Results: The study was carried out with the records of 226 patients. 151 patients (66.8%) were male; 75 (33.2%) were female. The mean age was 46.19 ± 10.2 years. 123 of these liver transplants were performed from living donors, while 103 were from cadaveric donors. The causes of liver transplantation were hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection (28%), hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection (24%), hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection (24%), alcoholic liver disease (9%), cryptogenic liver disease (9%), autoimmune hepatitis (4%), and other (2%). In this study, the prevalence of obesity was 21% at the end of the second year, decreasing to 14% by the end of the fifth year. The mean BMI gradually increased during the follow-ups, reaching 25.1 kg/m² and 26 kg/m² six months after liver transplantation and at the end of the first year, respectively (P < 0.002). Obesity developed in 18.2% of post-transplant patients who were receiving a calcineurin inhibitor (CNI). Regarding the development of obesity after transplantation, no statistically significant difference was found between patients using cyclosporine (CsA) and tacrolimus (TAC) (P = 0.07). Six months after liver transplantation, the mean body weight gain in the groups receiving steroids and not receiving steroids were 4.71 kg and 2.7 kg, respectively (P = 0.03). In the post-transplant period, there was no significant difference in patients who had received TAC and CsA for development of diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HT), or hyperlipidemia (HL) (P = 0.30)., Conclusions: Obesity prevalence before and after liver transplantation was comparable. Education of obese patients prior to surgery and recommendation of medical nutrition therapy should be appropriate. Similar medical care for the non-obese subjects could prevent increase in obesity prevalence. Non-corticosteroid immunosuppressive agents had no significant effect on the development of weight gain and obesity. Avoiding the use of long-term steroid therapy and obesity education are the key measures for preventing obesity after liver transplantation.