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Çevre sorunlarının çözümüne güncel olarak eğilebilmek için çevre eğitimini güncel bir bakış açısıyla geliştirmek önemli görünmektedir. Bu araştırmanın amacı, küresel çapta önemi açık olan Paris Anlaşması’nın sonuçlarını çevre eğitimi bağlamında ele almaktır. Bu çalışmada nitel araştırma desenlerinden bütüncül tek durum deseni kullanılmıştır. Paris Anlaşması tek bir durum olarak ele alınmış, bütüncül bir bakış açısıyla içerik analizine tabi tutulmuştur. Anlaşma maddeleri kodlanmış, ilgili kodlar 2018 yılı Yükseköğretim Kurulu Fen Bilgisi Öğretmenliği Lisans Programı Çevre Eğitimi dersi içeriği ile karşılaştırılarak açıklanmıştır. Yapılan analiz sonucunda Paris Anlaşması’nın sonuçları dokuz kod altında toplanmaktadır. Bu kodlar, temel ekolojik kavramlar, çevre sorunları ve özellikleri, küresel ısınma, iklim değişikliği, gıda ve tarım güvenliği, çevre eğitimi ve çevre dostu davranışlar, çevre sorunlarının çözümünde teknoloji, sürdürülebilir kalkınma, sosyal adalet ve iklim adaleti şeklindedir. Bu anlaşmanın metni incelendiğinde toplumları oluşturan bireylerin davranışlarında köklü değişikliklerin olmasının beklendiği bu araştırmanın sonuçlarından biridir. Çevre eğitimi ders içerikleri güncel çevre sorunlarına çözüm arama amacıyla yapılan uluslararası toplantıların sonuçları bağlamında güncellenmelidir. Bu sayede çevre sorunları konusunda insanlardan beklenen bilinç oluşacak, bu anlaşmalarda alınan kararlar daha hızlı bir şekilde davranış haline gelecektir.

Global warming is the most serious problem of our age. The most permanent measure to be taken against this problem is to ensure that individuals receive an effective and well-equipped education, free from misconceptions, which are obstacles to the efficiency of education. In this study, it is aimed to develop a four-stage diagnostic test that can reveal the misconceptions of pre-service science teachers about global warming. The sample of the study, in which the survey approach was used, consists of 401 pre-service teachers studying in the science teaching department at different universities in Turkey. The results show that the test is a valid and reliable measurement tool that can be used to determine the misconceptions, scientific knowledge, and lack of knowledge about global warming. In the study, the factor with the highest percentage of pre-service science teachers’ scientific knowledge and misconceptions was the consequences of global warming, while the factor with the highest percentage of lack of knowledge was calculated as the greenhouse effect factor. It is recommended to use the test to determine the current situation regarding the level and areas where the misconceptions of individuals are concentrated to improve the missing or faulty areas in the science curriculum. Keywords: conceptual learning, environmental misconceptions, four-tier diagnostic test, global warming

Şiddet insanoğlunun yaratılışından bu yana varlığını sürdüren bir olgudur. Günümüzün en büyük toplumsal problemlerinin başında gelen şiddet kavramının bireyler tarafından nasıl tanımlandığı son derece önemlidir. Özellikle, gelecek nesilleri yetiştirecek öğretmenlerin şiddet kavramına yönelik bilgi ve görüşlerinin ne düzeyde olduğu önem arz etmektedir. Bu nedenle üniversitelerin fen bilgisi öğretmenliği lisans programında Cinsel Sağlık Bilgileri Eğitimi dersi kapsamında şiddet konusu yer almaktadır. Bu çalışmanın amacı, fen bilgisi öğretmen adaylarının (üniversite öğrencilerinin) şiddet kavramına yönelik görüşlerini belirlemektir. Çalışma nitel araştırma desenlerinden olgu bilim çalışması şeklinde planlanmıştır. Araştırmanın çalışma grubunu İç Anadolu Bölgesindeki bir devlet üniversitesinin 48 öğrencisi oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmanın çalışma grubu kolay ulaşılabilir örnekleme metodu ile oluşturulmuştur. Araştırma sürecinde üniversite öğrencileri ile yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme yapılmıştır. Araştırma sonucuna göre, üniversite öğrencileri şiddeti “baskı kurmak veya üstünlük sağlamak için bir kimsenin başka bir kimseye verdiği fiziksel ve psikolojik zararlardır” şeklinde tanımlamıştır. Sınırlı sayıda öğrenci ile yapılan bu çalışma sonucunda, şiddet kavramına yönelik daha geniş katılımlı çalışmalara ağırlık verilmesi önerilmektedir.

The aim of this research is to reveal the similar and different aspects of environmental education attainments at the 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grades in the science teaching program of Turkey (2018), Canada (2007) and the United States of America (2011). The holistic multiple case design was used in the research and the data were obtained through document analysis. Content analysis was used while analyzing the data. First of all, each of the science teaching program was examined in depth and the achievements related to environmental education were determined. The determined achievements were classified according to their grade levels, and their similarities and differences were determined and analyzed in depth. In the results of the research, it has been seen that Canada has an important and sufficient program for raising environmentally conscious individuals, while Nebraska does not have an adequate program. The Turkish Science Teaching Program was not evaluated as adequate as the Canadian Science Teaching Program. Suggestions have been made to further develop the 2018 Turkish Science Teaching Program in terms of environmental education., Bu araştırmanın amacı, Türkiye (2018 yılı), Kanada (2007 yılı) ve Amerika Birleşik Devletleri Nebraska Eyaleti (2011 yılı)’nin fen öğretim programlarında 5, 6, 7 ve 8.sınıf düzeylerindeki çevre eğitimine yönelik kazanımların benzer ve farklı yönlerini ortaya koymaktır. Araştırmada bütüncül çoklu durum deseni kullanılmış ve veriler dokuman incelemesi yoluyla elde edilmiştir. İlgili dokümanlardan elde edilen veriler analiz edilirken içerik analizi kullanılmıştır. Öncelikle öğretim programlarının her biri derinlemesine incelenerek çevre eğitimi ile ilgili kazanımlar belirlenmiştir. Belirlenen kazanımlar sınıf düzeylerine göre sınıflandırılmış ve kendi aralarında benzer ve farklı yönleri saptanmış ve derinlemesine incelenmiştir. Araştırma sonuçlarında Kanada’nın çevre bilincine sahip bireyler yetiştirmek adına önemli ve yeterli bir programa sahip olduğu, Nebraska’nın ise yeterli bir programa sahip olmadığı görülmüştür. Türkiye Fen Bilimleri Dersi Öğretim Programı ise, ne Kanada Fen Dersi Öğretim Programı kadar yeterli, ne de Nebraska kadar yetersiz olarak değerlendirilmiştir. 2018 yılı Türkiye Fen Bilimleri Dersi Öğretim Programının çevre eğitimi bakımından daha da geliştirilmesi yönünde öneriler geliştirilmiştir.

Aim of the present study is to analyze science teacher candidates’ laboratory videos by using Many-facet Rasch model. Survey method was used in the study. The study was conducted in 2017-2018 academic year spring semester. Rasch model’s surfaces are respectively: 9 juries, 13 science activities and 19 criteria. FACETS program was used for data analysis. Findings reveal that laboratory video, which was coded as SA8, was found to be the most successful and SA1 coded video was found the most unsuccessful with respect to criteria. The simplest articles which science teacher candidates were subjected are “introducing yourself”, “using proper costume”, “appropriate time” and the articles for which the science teacher candidates are constrained mostly “sound-supporting effect”, “writing effect”, “warning for security precautions”. Jury numbered 3 or coded as J3 is “the most lenient” and scorer numbered 2 is “the severest” when juries are sequenced from the most lenient. Moreover, i t could be said that, some of the jury members were extremely severe or lenient against some science activities according to bias analysis.

Bu araştırmanın amacı, 2018 Fen Bilimleri Dersi Öğretim Programındaki kazanımları temel alan, 2020-2021 öğretim yılında okutulmakta olan 5, 6, 7 ve 8. sınıf ders kitaplarındaki etkinlikler “Sıfır Atık” projesinin amacı kapsamında incelemektir. Bu amaç kapsamında Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı Devlet Yayınlarına ait 4 kitap incelenen bu araştırma bir doküman analizi araştırmasıdır. 2018 yılı Fen Bilimleri Dersi Öğretim Programı’nda çevre eğitimine ait konu alanları, konular ve kazanımlar belirlenmiştir. Ardından bu kazanımlara karşılık gelen etkinlikler ders kitaplarının içeriklerinde saptanmıştır. Bu etkinliklerin “Sıfır Atık” projesinin amacına uygun olma durumu “Uygun, Kısmen Uygun ve Uygun Değil” kodları ile etiketlenmiştir. Araştırma bulgularında, çevre eğitimi kapsamında bulunan kazanımlara yönelik olan etkinliklerin büyük bir çoğunluğunda bu projenin amacına vurgu yapan açıklamalar ve hedefler bulunmamaktadır. İlgili projenin amacına en yakın bulunan etkinliklerde ise, atıkların tasarrufu ve kontrolünden ziyade geri dönüşüm konusunun vurgusunun daha fazla olduğu görülmüştür.

The aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge level of teachers regarding sexual health. The sample of the study consists of 462 teachers working at primary, middle and high schools in Turkey. As the study aims to determine the current status of teachers regarding sexual health knowledge, the relational screening model was used. The Cronbach’s Alpha correlation coefficient was calculated and determined to be 0.782. t test and ANOVA were used for data analysis. The “Sexual Health Knowledge Scale” used within the scope of the sexual health course is a 5-point Likert scale and the possible score from the scale varies from 1 to 5. It is possible to say that the teachers had a high knowledge level regarding sexual health. Analysis showed that female teachers had a significantly higher knowledge level compared to male teachers, married teachers had a significantly higher knowledge level compared to single teachers, teachers who took the Sexual Health course during their undergraduate studies had a significantly higher knowledge level compared to teachers who did not, and teachers who received education regarding sexual health had a significantly higher knowledge level compared to teachers who did not.

Aim: Carotid artery intima media thickness (CA-IMT) measurement has been shown to be a safe and reproducible method to assess severity of atherosclerosis. The association between nephrosclerosis and systemic atherosclerosis is not clear. In this study, we investigated the association between CA-IMT and nephrosclerosis in a group of kidney transplant donors. Methods: Forty seven potential kidney transplant donors were included. CA-IMT was measured by B-Mode ultrasonography. Kidney allograft biopsy samples were obtained during the transplantation operation and chronic glomerular, vascular and tubulointertitial changes were semiquantitatively scored according to the Banff classification. Results: Mean age was 52 ± 12 years and 55% of the cases were younger than 55 years. Mean CA-IMT was 0.74 ± 0.19 mm and 48% had IMT values > 0.75 mm. Chronicty index was ≥5 in 55% of the cases. Chronicity index was higher in cases older than 55 years. Age and CA-IMT were significantly correlated with chronic vascular changes and chronicity index. CA-IMT > 0.75 mm had a 46% sensitivity and 90% specificity to predict nephrosclerosis. Positive and negative predictive values were 85% and 57%, respectively. Conclusion: Aging leads to detrimental changes in every part of the vasculature of the human body. CA-IMT is correlated with the level of nephrosclerosis. Measurement of CA-IMT reflects nephrosclerosis especially in older patients.

Impedance ratio (Imp-R) obtained by multifrequency bioimpedance analysis (BIA) has been shown to be associated with volume and nutrition status. In this prospective study, the predictive role of Imp-R for mortality in hemodialysis (HD) patients was investigated. Multifrequency (5–50–100–200 kHz) BIA was applied to 493 prevalent HD patients in March–April 2006. Imp-R was defined as the ratio of 200–5 kHz impedance values. Demographical, clinical and laboratory data at the time of the analysis were recorded. All-cause and cardiovascular (CV) mortality were assessed during 3 years of follow-up. Mean age was 57.7 ± 13.9 years, HD duration 52.1 ± 42.6 months and prevalence of diabetes 21.7 %. Imp-R was negatively correlated with nutritional markers including albumin, creatinine and hemoglobin levels. In addition, there was a positive correlation between Imp-R and age, ratio of extracellular water to total body water and high-sensitive C-reactive protein. Over a mean follow-up period of 27.9 ± 11.1 months, 93 deaths (52 from CV reasons) were observed. In the multivariate analysis, Imp-R was significantly associated with all-cause and CV mortality after adjustments [HR 1.13, 95 % CI (1.04–1.23); p = 0.004 and HR 1.15, 95 % CI (1.03–1.27); p = 0.01, respectively]. The risk of all-cause mortality was 3.4 times higher in the fourth quartile of Imp-R (>83.5 %) compared to the first Imp-R quartile (

In this study, the effectiveness of Eco-Friendly Person Activity Package developed in order to raise environmental awareness in pre-service teachers and enable them to be an example of an eco-friendly teacher for their future students, and the responses about Eco-Friendly Person Activity Package were investigated. The study was conducted on 75 fourth year pre-service teachers from departments of Elemantary School Education who took Environmental Education Course in a state university during fall semester of the academic year 2014-2015 and 10 pre-service teachers who participated in the study were asked to provide their opinions. It was a qualitative study based on a phenomenological design. Data of this research were obtained using a semi-structured questionnaire and interviews and analyzed with an inductive approach using Nvivo 9 qualitative analysis program. The participants were asked about the environment, environmental problems, future environmental problems, characteristics of an eco-friendly person before and after the implementation and were asked to provide their opinions about Eco-Friendly Person Activity Package after the implementation. Before the implementation, it was identified that the participants had lack of knowledge about the environment, neglected the role of people in environmental problems, could not make realistic estimations about possible future problems and didn’t know the requirements of being an eco-friendly person. Following the environmental education provided using Eco-Friendly Person Activity Package, the participants made statements indicating that they have a good knowledge of the environment, can describe environmental problems and their causes based on such knowledge, are aware of the fact that the future of the environment will change based on human acts, show positive attitudes, including loving the environment and having concerns about its future, describe an eco-friendly person and show such behaviors. Based on the findings, it was concluded that Eco-Friendly Person Activity Package, which aims to raise examples of eco-friendly teachers, was effective in reaching its target. Keywords: Environmental education, eco-friendly person, pre-service teachers, eco-friendly person activity package

WOS: 000319784600020, PubMed ID: 23620396, The effects of high-flux dialysis and ultrapure dialysate on survival of hemodialysis patients are incompletely understood. We conducted a randomized controlled trial to investigate the effects of both membrane permeability and dialysate purity on cardiovascular outcomes. We randomly assigned 704 patients on three times per week hemodialysis to either high- or low-flux dialyzers and either ultrapure or standard dialysate using a two-by-two factorial design. The primary outcome was a composite of fatal and nonfatal cardiovascular events during a minimum 3 years follow-up. We did not detect statistically significant differences in the primary outcome between high- and low-flux (HR=0.73, 95% CI=0.49 to 1.08, P=0.12) and between ultrapure and standard dialysate (HR=0.90, 95% CI=0.61 to 1.32, P=0.60). Posthoc analyses suggested that cardiovascular event-free survival was significantly better in the high-flux group compared with the low-flux group for the subgroup with arteriovenous fistulas, which constituted 82% of the study population (adjusted HR=0.61, 95% CI=0.38 to 0.97, P=0.03). Furthermore, high-flux dialysis associated with a lower risk for cardiovascular events among diabetic subjects (adjusted HR=0.49, 95% CI=0.25 to 0.94, P=0.03), and ultrapure dialysate associated with a lower risk for cardiovascular events among subjects with more than 3 years of dialysis (adjusted H R=0.55, 95% CI=0.31 to 0.97, P=0.04). In conclusion, this trial did not detect a difference in cardiovascular event-free survival between flux and dialysate groups. Posthoc analyses suggest that high-flux hemodialysis may benefit patients with an arteriovenous fistula and patients with diabetes and that ultrapure dialysate may benefit patients with longer dialysis vintage., Fresenius Medical Care, Turkey, The study was supported by Fresenius Medical Care, Turkey, with an unrestricted grant.

Genome-wide linkage and association studies have demonstrated promise in identifying genetic factors that influence health and disease. An important challenge is to narrow down the set of candidate genes that are implicated by these analyses. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks are useful in extracting the functional relationships between known disease and candidate genes, based on the principle that products of genes implicated in similar diseases are likely to exhibit significant connectivity/proximity. Information flow?based methods are shown to be very effective in prioritizing candidate disease genes. In this article, we utilize the topology of PPI networks to infer functional information in the context of disease association. Our approach is based on the assumption that PPI networks are organized into recurrent schemes that underlie the mechanisms of cooperation among different proteins. We hypothesize that proteins associated with similar diseases would exhibit similar topological characteristics in PPI networks. Utilizing the location of a protein in the network with respect to other proteins (i.e., the "topological profile" of the proteins), we develop a novel measure to assess the topological similarity of proteins in a PPI network. We then use this measure to prioritize candidate disease genes based on the topological similarity of their products and the products of known disease genes. We test the resulting algorithm, Vavien, via systematic experimental studies using an integrated human PPI network and the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database. Vavien outperforms other network-based prioritization algorithms as shown in the results and is available at www.diseasegenes.org.

Many human diseases are based on a set of complex interactions among multiple genetic and environmental factors. Recent developments in biotechnology have enabled interrogation of the cell at various levels leading to many types of “omic” data that provide valuable information on these factors and their interactions. These data include (1) genomic data, which reveals possible genetic factors involved in disease, (2) transcriptomic data, which reveals changes in regulation of gene expression, and (3) proteomic data, which reveals irregularities in the amount of functional proteins in affected tissues. While these data are very useful in understanding differences between disease phenotypes, they provide information at the level of a single molecular type. To integrate these disparate data types, molecular network analysis is invaluable in uncovering the relations between disparate molecular targets and understanding disease development and progression at the systems level. This chapter provides an overview of current findings on the systems biology of human diseases in the context of molecular networks and outlines current computational approaches in network biology of human diseases.

Carotid artery intima media thickness (CA-IMT) measurement has been shown to be a safe and reproducible method to assess severity of atherosclerosis. The association between nephrosclerosis and systemic atherosclerosis is not clear. In this study, we investigated the association between CA-IMT and nephrosclerosis in a group of kidney transplant donors.Forty seven potential kidney transplant donors were included. CA-IMT was measured by B-Mode ultrasonography. Kidney allograft biopsy samples were obtained during the transplantation operation and chronic glomerular, vascular and tubulointertitial changes were semiquantitatively scored according to the Banff classification.Mean age was 52 ± 12 years and 55% of the cases were younger than 55 years. Mean CA-IMT was 0.74 ± 0.19 mm and 48% had IMT values0.75 mm. Chronicty index was ≥5 in 55% of the cases. Chronicity index was higher in cases older than 55 years. Age and CA-IMT were significantly correlated with chronic vascular changes and chronicity index. CA-IMT0.75 mm had a 46% sensitivity and 90% specificity to predict nephrosclerosis. Positive and negative predictive values were 85% and 57%, respectively.Aging leads to detrimental changes in every part of the vasculature of the human body. CA-IMT is correlated with the level of nephrosclerosis. Measurement of CA-IMT reflects nephrosclerosis especially in older patients.

Background High-throughput molecular interaction data have been used effectively to prioritize candidate genes that are linked to a disease, based on the observation that the products of genes associated with similar diseases are likely to interact with each other heavily in a network of protein-protein interactions (PPIs). An important challenge for these applications, however, is the incomplete and noisy nature of PPI data. Information flow based methods alleviate these problems to a certain extent, by considering indirect interactions and multiplicity of paths. Results We demonstrate that existing methods are likely to favor highly connected genes, making prioritization sensitive to the skewed degree distribution of PPI networks, as well as ascertainment bias in available interaction and disease association data. Motivated by this observation, we propose several statistical adjustment methods to account for the degree distribution of known disease and candidate genes, using a PPI network with associated confidence scores for interactions. We show that the proposed methods can detect loosely connected disease genes that are missed by existing approaches, however, this improvement might come at the price of more false negatives for highly connected genes. Consequently, we develop a suite called DADA, which includes different uniform prioritization methods that effectively integrate existing approaches with the proposed statistical adjustment strategies. Comprehensive experimental results on the Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database show that DADA outperforms existing methods in prioritizing candidate disease genes. Conclusions These results demonstrate the importance of employing accurate statistical models and associated adjustment methods in network-based disease gene prioritization, as well as other network-based functional inference applications. DADA is implemented in Matlab and is freely available at http://compbio.case.edu/dada/.

In biological systems, most processes are carried out through orchestration of multiple interacting molecules. These interactions are often abstracted using network models. A key feature of cellular networks is their modularity, which contributes significantly to the robustness, as well as adaptability of biological systems. Therefore, modularization of cellular networks is likely to be useful in obtaining insights into the working principles of cellular systems, as well as building tractable models of cellular organization and dynamics. A common, high-throughput source of data on molecular interactions is in the form of physical interactions between proteins, which are organized into protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks. This chapter provides an overview on identification and analysis of functional modules in PPI networks, which has been an active area of research in the last decade.

Background In systems biology, comparative analyses of molecular interactions across diverse species indicate that conservation and divergence of networks can be used to understand functional evolution from a systems perspective. A key characteristic of these networks is their modularity, which contributes significantly to their robustness, as well as adaptability. Consequently, analysis of modular network structures from a phylogenetic perspective may be useful in understanding the emergence, conservation, and diversification of functional modularity. Results In this paper, we propose a phylogenetic framework for analyzing network modules, with applications that extend well beyond network-based phylogeny reconstruction. Our approach is based on identification of modular network components from each network separately, followed by projection of these modules onto the networks of other species to compare different networks. Subsequently, we use the conservation of various modules in each network to assess the similarity between different networks. Compared to traditional methods that rely on topological comparisons, our approach has key advantages in (i) avoiding intractable graph comparison problems in comparative network analysis, (ii) accounting for noise and missing data through flexible treatment of network conservation, and (iii) providing insights on the evolution of biological systems through investigation of the evolutionary trajectories of network modules. We test our method, MOPHY, on synthetic data generated by simulation of network evolution, as well as existing protein-protein interaction data for seven diverse species. Comprehensive experimental results show that MOPHY is promising in reconstructing evolutionary histories of extant networks based on conservation of modularity, it is highly robust to noise, and outperforms existing methods that quantify network similarity in terms of conservation of network topology. Conclusion These results establish modularity and network proximity as useful features in comparative network analysis and motivate detailed studies of the evolutionary histories of network modules.

In systems biology, comparative analysis of molecular interactions across diverse species indicates that conservation and divergence of networks can be used to understand functional evolution from a systems perspective. A key characteristic of these networks is their modularity, which contributes significantly to their robustness, as well as adaptability. In this paper, we investigate the evolution of modularity in biological networks through phylogenetic analysis of network modules. Namely, we develop a computational framework, which identifies modules in networks of diverse species independently and projects these modules into the networks of other species, with aview to capturing the evolutionary trajectories of functional modules. These trajectories can then be used to reconstruct modular phylogenies and whole-network phylogenies, or to enhance identification of functional modules. In the context of phylogeny reconstruction, our experiments on a comprehensive collection of simulated and real networks show that comparison of networks based on module trajectories is more informative than other measures of network similarity. These results demonstrate the key role of modularity in the functional evolution of biological systems and motivate further investigation of the evolution of functional modules.

This study was done in a period when there are attempts to develop a framework for the sustainable development and sustainable education in order to emphasize the universal significance of biodiversity, sustainable development, and sustainable education. The research reported here is a case study carried out in the spring semester of 2012-2013 academic year. The participants of the study were student teachers enrolled in a general biology course in a preservice science teacher education program at a major research university in central Turkey. The study was designed as a qualitative study and the data of the study were collected through semi-structured interviews and observation forms. The aim of the study was to develop teaching materials about the sustainable education and the sustainability of biodiversity. In parallel to this aim, an experiment of frog breeding was designed and the experiment was carried out by the participants under the supervision of the author. More specifically, the participants were involved in feeding the frogs and cleaning the aquarium. They recorded their observations together with the author. The whole process was shared in the biology course. In short, the participants observed how larvas come out from frog spawn that were put in the aquarium and how larvas became adult frogs. Adult frogs were transferred to the nearest creek after the completion of the observations. At the end of the process the attitudes of the participants towards living beings changed positively as their reports indicated.

Background This study was undertaken to investigate the effect of long-term blood pressure (BP) reduction, achieved with salt restriction and strict volume control, on frequency and regression of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) in long-term peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients. Methods 56 patients who had been treated for more than 2 years under our care were enrolled. After echocardiographic (Echo) evaluation, 46 patients were included in the follow-up study. In our unit, we aim to keep patients’ BP below 130/85 mmHg and cardiothoracic index below 0.50. To reach these targets, moderate salt restriction is advised, and if necessary, hypertonic PD solutions are used. Echo was performed at the beginning of the study (after a mean period of 36 months on PD) and at the end of the prospective follow-up period (24 months later). Results At the time of the first Echo, LVH was detected in only 8 (21%) patients. Residual urine volume was significantly decreased compared to data taken when they first started PD (658 ± 795 vs 236 ± 307 mL/day). Mean left ventricular mass index (LVMI) was 107 ± 26.5 g/m2. LVMI was significantly decreased at the end of the follow-up in patients who had LVH at baseline. No LVH developed in patients who had normal LVMI at baseline. Conclusion Our results indicate that control of hypertension is possible when extracellular fluid volume is kept under control using hypertonic PD solutions in case of recruitment in addition to salt restriction in long-term PD patients. Sustained normovolemia is associated with low incidence and regression of LVH.

This study handled out the state university students’ degree of concerns about the protection of the environment, the sources of concerns and factors that affect their concerns such as the people, courses and specially instructors in the universities. The scale which measures the sources of concerns about environment was used in this study. The stimulated factors which has a role in construction of concerns about environment were indicated and the roles which affect the concerns were investigated in this study. The factors which were ordered in sequence the third were identified as “Inconvenience of students about the nature and environment pollution”, “deformation of the world in terms of environmental problems” and “responsibility of students about environment”. Concrete suggestions about increasing the concern level of students about environment protection and their transfer process to schools and courses were developed and presented in terms of findings.

Background In recent years, many algorithms have been developed for network-based analysis of differential gene expression in complex diseases. These algorithms use protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks as an integrative framework and identify subnetworks that are coordinately dysregulated in the phenotype of interest. Motivation While such dysregulated subnetworks have demonstrated significant improvement over individual gene markers for classifying phenotype, the current state-of-the-art in dysregulated subnetwork discovery is almost exclusively limited to binary phenotype classes. However, many clinical applications require identification of molecular markers for multiple classes. Approach We consider the problem of discovering groups of genes whose expression signatures can discriminate multiple phenotype classes. We consider two alternate formulations of this problem (i) an all-vs-all approach that aims to discover subnetworks distinguishing all classes, (ii) a one-vs-all approach that aims to discover subnetworks distinguishing each class from the rest of the classes. For the one-vs-all formulation, we develop a set-cover based algorithm, which aims to identify groups of genes such that at least one gene in the group exhibits differential expression in the target class. Results We test the proposed algorithms in the context of predicting stages of colorectal cancer. Our results show that the set-cover based algorithm identifying "stage-specific" subnetworks outperforms the all-vs-all approaches in classification. We also investigate the merits of utilizing PPI networks in the search for multiple markers, and show that, with correct parameter settings, network-guided search improves performance. Furthermore, we show that assessing statistical significance when selecting features greatly improves classification performance.