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WOS: 000371745700019, PubMed ID: 26325175, Successful vaccination policies for protection from invasive pneumococcal diseases (IPD) dependent on determination of the exact serotype distribution in each country. We aimed to identify serotypes of pneumococcal strains causing IPD in children in Turkey and emphasize the change in the serotypes before and after vaccination with 7-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV-7) was included and PCV-13 was newly changed in Turkish National Immunization Program. Streptococcus pneumoniae strains were isolated at 22 different hospitals of Turkey, which provide healthcare services to approximately 65% of the Turkish population. Of the 335 diagnosed cases with S. pneumoniae over the whole period of 2008-2014, the most common vaccine serotypes were 19F (15.8%), 6B (5.9%), 14 (5.9%), and 3 (5.9%). During the first 5y of age, which is the target population for vaccination, the potential serotype coverage ranged from 57.5 % to 36.8%, from 65.0% to 44.7%, and from 77.4% to 60.5% for PCV-7, PCV-10, and PCV-13 in 2008-2014, respectively. The ratio of non-vaccine serotypes was 27.2% in 2008-2010 whereas was 37.6% in 2011-2014 (p=0.045). S. penumoniae serotypes was less non-susceptible to penicillin as compared to our previous results (33.7vs 16.5 %, p=0.001). The reduction of those serotype coverage in years may be attributed to increasing vaccinated children in Turkey and the increasing non-vaccine serotype may be explained by serotype replacement. Our ongoing IPD surveillance is a significant source of information for the decision-making processes on pneumococcal vaccination., PfizerPfizer, This study was supported by Pfizer.

WOS: 000348316800043, PubMed: 25483487, Successful vaccination policies for protection from bacterial meningitis are dependent on determination of the etiology of bacterial meningitis. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were obtained prospectively from children from 1 month to, Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics; GlaxoSmithKlineGlaxoSmithKline, The study was supported by Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics (for 5 years) and by GlaxoSmithKline (for 2 years). The authors declare that they have no other conflicts of interest.

WOS: 000320857300004, PubMed ID: 23637041, Streptococcus pneumoniae is the most common etiological cause of complicated pneumonia, including empyema. In this study, we investigated the serotypes of S. pneumoniae that cause empyema in children. One hundred fifty-six children who were diagnosed with pneumonia complicated with empyema in 13 hospitals in seven geographic regions of Turkey between 2010 and 2012 were included in this study. Pleural fluid samples were collected by thoracentesis and tested for 14 serotypes/serogroups using a Bio-Plex multiplex antigen detection assay. The serotypes of S. pneumoniae were specified in 33 of 156 samples. The mean age +/- the standard deviation of the 33 patients was 6.17 +/- 3.54 years (range, 0.6 to 15 years). All of the children were unvaccinated according to the vaccination reports. Eighteen of the children were male, and 15 were female. The serotypes of the non-7-valent pneumococcal conjugated vaccine (non-PCV-7), serotype 1, serotype 5, and serotype 3, were detected in eight (14.5%), seven (12.7%), and five (9.1%) of the samples, respectively. Serotypes 1 and 5 were codetected in two samples. The remaining non-PCV- 7 serotypes were 8 (n = 3), 18 (n = 1), 19A (n = 1), and 7F/A (n = 1). PCV-7 serotypes 6B, 9V, 14, 19F, and 23F were detected in nine (16.3%) of the samples. The potential serotype coverages of PCV-7, PCV-10, and PCV-13 were 16.3%, 45.4%, and 60%, respectively. Pediatric parapneumonic empyema continues to be an important health problem despite the introduction of conjugated pneumococcal vaccines. Active surveillance studies are needed to monitor the change in S. pneumoniae serotypes that cause empyema in order to have a better selection of pneumococcal vaccines., GlaxoSmithKlineGlaxoSmithKline, The study was supported by GlaxoSmithKline.

WOS: 000291147300019, PubMed ID: 21508171, Before use of the pneumococcal conjugate vaccine PCV7 became widespread in Turkey, 202 invasive pneumococcus isolates were analyzed. The most common serotypes were 19F and 6B. In children, Wyeth-Turkey [0887X1-4439], This study was supported by an unrestricted research grant, 0887X1-4439, from Wyeth-Turkey.

The enormous costs and safety issues associated with corrosion of steel in concrete have resulted in the development of a wide range of new technologies and materials to increase the durability of reinforced concrete structures and their repairs. One of these methods is the use of certain types of stainless steel, which are resistant to corrosion in concrete environment even when the concrete is highly contaminated with chlorides, as substitution of part or all reinforcement in concrete. The use of stainless steel as a replacement for carbon steel reinforcement has been limited to vital structures exposed to aggressive environments by concerns over the increase in initial construction costs. Recent results indicate that some alloy steels under certain conditions behave significantly better than ordinarily used black steel reinforcement. Since the price of alloy steel reinforcement is comparable to the price of normal black steel reinforcement, the idea of using alloy steel as reinforcement is economically justified. In this paper the experimental program that will be used to evaluate corrosion behaviour of different types of alloy steel when used as reinforcement in concrete is presented. Results of so far performed corrosion testing of different types of alloy steel in alkaline media are presented as well. The aim of the research is to evaluate the influence of chloride ions and carbonation on passivity of alloy steel in alkaline media such as concrete. Corrosion performance and material cost of alloy steel will be compared to black and stainless steel.

Development of novel building materials based on a cement binder, and improvement of the properties of existing materials made considerable progress at the end of last century and at the beginning of this century. One of innovative types of concrete that occurred in this period is a high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete (HPFRC). To the present day a small number of structures made of this kind of concrete were constructed. Tunnelling is one of rare fields of civil engineering in which application of HPFRC has not been closely investigated so far. In this paper is shown an experimental research work carried out on different concrete types: conventional concrete and high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete. Experimentally obtained values of mechanical properties of the said concrete types were used in modelling the behaviour of secondary tunnel lining. In numerical analyses, the parameters that were varied were the following: the type and cross-section of concrete in secondary tunnel lining and the type of durability loading. The analyses carried out showed that HPFRC used for fabrication of secondary tunnel lining has higher durability and safety than other concrete types.

Today engineers have to consider durability of structures in the design process which is realized through the choice of materials and material's performance. Chloride diffusion coefficient is main parameter of durability properties of concrete, like compressive strength is of mechanical properties. In this paper chloride diffusion coefficient was determined for the structure of Krk bridge, which is located in aggressive marine environment, exposed to direct influence of chlorides for the period of more than 25 years. Chloride diffusion coefficient was calculated from chloride profiles measured on specimens taken from different testing places on bridge within inspection and maintenance works on the bridge. In this research results from 1989, 1994, 2000 and 2003 are taken into account and analysed. In order to evaluate change of chloride diffusion in time, results of on site testing were compared with chloride penetration testing in laboratory. Specimens for these testing were prepared from the same concrete mixture that was used during construction of this bridge. All results obtained during the research were compared with calculated chloride coefficient from existing durability models (DuraCrete, Life-365 and Chlodif) for given mixture and exposure time.