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Air pollution is affected by the atmospheric dynamics. This study aims to determine that air pollution concentration values in İstanbul increased significantly and reached peak values due to atmospheric blocking between the 30th of December 2022 and the 5th of January 2023. In this study, hourly pollutant data was obtained from 16 air quality monitoring stations (AQMS), the exact reanalysis data was extracted from ERA5 database, and inversion levels and meteorological and synoptic analyses were used to determine the effects of atmospheric blocking on air pollution. Also, cloud base heights and vertical visibility measurements were taken with a ceilometer. Statistical calculations and data visualizations were performed using the R and Grads program. Omega-type blocking, which started in İstanbul on December 30, 2022, had a significant impact on the 1st and 2nd of January 2023, and PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentration values reached their peak values at 572.8 and 254.20 µg/m 3 , respectively. In addition, it was found that the average concentration values in the examined period in almost all stations were higher than the averages for January and February. As a result, air quality in İstanbul was determined as "poor" between these calendar dates. It was found that the blocking did not affect the ozone (µg/m 3 ) concentration. It was also found that the concentrations of particulate matter (PM) 10 µm or less in diameter (PM 10 ) and PM 2.5 µm or less in diameter (PM 2.5 ) were increased by the blocking effect in the İstanbul area. Finally, according to the data obtained using the ceilometer, cloud base heights decreased to 30 m and vertical visibility to 10 m., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.) more...

Natural mineral dust episodes elevate particle concentrations and eventually decrease air quality. Air pollutant emissions from aircraft, airport ground operations, and long-range dust transport are producing problems for the aviation sector. Dust transport from the Sahara Desert, one of the primary dust sources globally, significantly affects the eastern Mediterranean basin, including Türkiye. This study investigates the effect of long-range dust transport on particulate matter (PM) concentrations at Turkish airports. Three different approaches were used to analyse dust episodes in the study area. Firstly, routine reports of meteorological conditions at the airports were investigated. For this purpose, airport routine meteorological reports (Metar) and aviation-selected special weather report (Speci) codes, recorded at 11 airports from 2012 to 2021, were used to determine the dust episode days. Secondly, the hourly PM measurement dataset was analyzed from the closest air quality monitoring stations to the airports. Finally, regional atmospheric model results and backward-trajectory analysis were used to validate the dust episodes and determine the dust origin. Results showed that 163 dust episodes occurred during the study period, 17% from North Africa and 12% from the Mediterranean region., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.) more...

Between April 7 and April 10, 2013, a cyclone with a value of 995 hPa that developed in the central Mediterranean transported dust from the Sahara Desert towards Turkey. At 13 airports in Turkey, dust haze and widespread dust were seen during different occasions in this period and caused the observation of so-called "Blowing dust events." This cyclone blew dust towards the Cappadocia airport, and the prevailing visibility decreased to 3800 m, making it the lowest value measured during the transition of this cyclone. In this study, Aviation Routine Weather Report (Metar) and Aviation Selected Special Weather Report (Speci) observations of airports in North Africa and Turkey were evaluated for the period between April 3 and April 11, 2013. With this cyclone the prevailing visibility at Benina Airport in Libya decreased to 50 m on April 6, 2013. This study aims to evaluate long-distance dust transport's effects on meteorological visibility at airports in Turkey and examine the episodic changes of PM 10 values measured by air quality monitoring stations. Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model outputs were used to determine the trajectories of long-distance dust particles. Powder red, green, and blue (RGB) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite images, Cloud-Aerosol LIDAR Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO) images, the Barcelona Supercomputing Center-Dust Regional Atmosphere Model (BSC-DREAM8b) outputs, and Global Forecast System (GFS) synoptic maps were used for analysis. In addition, PM 10 values obtained from air quality monitoring stations were examined. According to the data obtained from the CALIPSO images, the dust concentration on the Eastern Mediterranean reaches up to 5 km. The episodic values obtained from certain air quality measurement stations are Adana 701, Gaziantep 629, Karaman 900, Nevşehir 1343, and Yozgat 782 µg/m 3 on an hourly average., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.) more...

PM 10 , one of the air pollutants, occurs regularly in İstanbul during the winter months, namely in December, January, and February. PM 10 pollutant is affected by numerous factors. Among these factors are various meteorological variables and climatological factors. This article aims to determine the relationship between PM 10 and meteorological variables (wind speed, wind direction, temperature, and relative humidity) and to interpret these results. PM 10 and meteorological data were examined between 2011 and 2018. To determine the relationship, multiple linear regression, Pearson's correlation coefficient (PCC), Spearman's rank correlation, Kendall Tau correlation, autocorrelation function (ACF), cross-correlation function (CCF), and visuals were determined using the R program (open-air) packages. In the study, the relationship between wind, temperature, and relative humidity with PM 10 was determined, and it was observed that the PM 10 concentration was maximum between January and February. PM 10 concentrations have a positive relationship with relative humidity and wind direction, while a negative relationship with wind speed and temperature was observed. The correlation values for relative humidity and temperature were found to be 0.01 and - 0.15, respectively. Furthermore, the relationship between wind speed and PM 10 was calculated from multiple linear regression model, and the estimated value was - 0.12 while looking at the wind direction value, it was approximately 0.03., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.) more...

Background: Bee venom is a promising agent for cancer treatment due to its selective cytotoxic potential for cancer cells through apoptotic pathways. However, there is no evidence for changes in the epigenome and mitochondrial DNA copy numbers after bee venom application. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of bee venom on cytosine modifications and mitochondrial DNA copy number variation., Methods: A broad range of methods was applied to elucidate the impact of bee venom on neoplastic cells. These included MTT assay for detection of cytotoxicity, immunostaining of cytosine modifications and mitochondria, assessment of cellular morphology by flow cytometry, and quantification of mitochondrial DNA copy numbers using QPCR., Results: Bee venom-induced cell death was selective for cancer cells, where it triggered a response characterized by alteration of cytosine modification. In contrast, normal cells were more resistant to DNA modifications. Furthermore, application of the venom resulted in variation of mitochondrial membrane permeability and mitochondrial DNA copy numbers, together with alterations in cell morphology, manifesting as reduced affected cell size., Conclusion: The study findings suggest that bee venom can be used as a selective DNA (de)methylating agent in cancer. Various agents (such as decitabine and 5-azacytidine) have been synthesized and developed for cancer treatment, and a range of syntheses and preparation and application methods have been described for these patented drugs. However, to the best of our knowledge, no previous research has investigated the use of bee venom or any component thereof for epigenetic therapy in cancer cells., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.) more...

Key compound 2-(4-amino-5-oxo-3-(thiophene-2-ylmethyl)-4,5-dihydro-1,2,4-tiazole-1-yl) acetohydrazide (3) was synthesized by reacting hydrazine hydrate with ethyl-2-(4-amino-5-oxo-3-(thiophene-2-ylmethyl)-4,5-dihydro-1,2,4-tiazole-1yl)acetate (2), obtained in basic media from 4-amino-5-(thiophene-2-ylmethyl)-2H-1,2,4-triazole-3(4H)-one (1). Compound 3 was converted to thiosemicarbazide derivatives (4a-d) and Schiff base derivatives 6a-e and 7a-e. The treatment of compound 4 with NaOH gave 4-amino-2-((4-(4-aryl)-5-mercapto-4H-1,2,4-triazole-3-yl)methyl)-5-(thiophene-2-ylmethyl)-2H-1,2,4-triazole-3(4H)-ones (5a-d). All newly compounds, well characterized by elemental analyses, IR, (1)H NMR, (13)C NMR and mass spectral studies were tested for their antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Thiosemicarbazide derivatives (4a-d) were highly active in two antioxidant tests with 69.0-88.2% DPPH· scavenging and 503-1257 μM TEAC values, while the others showed lower or no activity. The results of the two antioxidant tests correlated well. Moreover, Thiosemicarbazide derivatives (4a-d) also showed antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Mycobacterium smegmatis. Thiosemicarbazide group deserves attention in the synthesis of bioactive compounds., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.) more...

The title mol-ecule, C(30)H(24)O(4), lies about an inversion center located at the mid-point of the central C=C bond. The diphenyl-methanone unit adopts an all-trans conformation. The dihedral angle between the adjacent rings is 53.57 (4)°. more...

In the title compound, C(23)H(21)N(3)O, the dihedral angles formed by the mean plane of the triazole ring [maximum deviation = 0.007 (1) Å] and the three phenyl rings are 51.13 (8), 52.84 (8) and 47.04 (8)°. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked by weak C-H⋯N inter-actions, forming infinite chains propagating along the b-axis direction. more...

Biocomposites of hydroxyapatite, HAp, in conjunction with various binders including poly(vinyl alcohol), PVA, and collagen have the potential of serving in various tissue engineering applications, such as in bone repair and reconstruction tasks, especially if the nanoparticles of hydroxyapatite are used. Here, hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (n-HAp) were synthesized at the ultimate size range of 10-50 nm and then incorporated into PVA or in situ synthesized in collagen/PVA. The biocomposites of HAp with PVA exhibited relatively high elasticity (as revealed by the linear viscoelastic material functions, characterized upon small-amplitude oscillatory shear) especially upon cryogenic treatment. The incorporation of the collagen into the PVA/HAp biocomposite provided internal porosity to the biocomposite with the pores in the 50-100 nm range for collagen/HAp and 50-500 nm for the collagen/HAp/PVA. more...