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We evaluated the patterns of genetic variation of 16 Colchicum species, including 37 different genotypes, using RAPD marker and trnL–trnF chloroplast DNA sequence. A total of 861 polymorphic alleles through RAPDs showed a mean of 33.88 ± 3.80 alleles per primer, while mean major allele frequency was 0.067 ± 0.05. The sequence length of trnL–trnF ranged from 1022 bp to 1081 bp. The phylogenetic tree was constructed to understand the relationship between Colchicum species and the discrimination power of the nuclear and chloroplast genome for species. The results showed that trnL–trnF gene region grouped Colchicum species well in comparison with RAPD analysis. This data was also supported by haplotype network analysis, structure analysis and PCA (Principle Component Analysis). This study showed that there is a need for a characterization that contains more molecular and morphological methods to correctly distinguish Colchicum species.

I. Background: Pistacia is kind of unisexual plant species that can take 4–5 years to initiate bearing stage of trees in terms of economic value. The fruits of species have an extreme importance in food, health and baking industry as a raw material. So, identify the individual in early juvenile period for pollination and position of trees is very crucial for growers. The objective of this study is developing markers for each Pistacia species which helps the screening the sex of plant seedling quickly before they reach reproduction stage without waiting morphological data. II. Methods and Results: Within the context, by using the power of KASP (Kompetitive Allele Specific PCR) assay technology as a marker screening system, we successfully discriminate 7 Pistacia species out of 8 which are P. atlantica, P. integerrima, P. khinjuk, P. mutica, P. terebinthus, P. vera and P. lentiscus. We have used a high-throughput DNA sequence read archive (SRA) to assemble a reference genome to use in our studies as de novo bioinformatics method. 4 genomic regions were sequenced with collected plant material from Antepfıstıgı Research Institute Collection Garden predominantly and 8 species were aligned intraspecifically for Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) mining. 12 SNP markers are converted to KASP markers and 5 of them (SNP-PIS-133396, SNP-PIS-167992, P-ATL-91951-565, P-INT-91951-256, P-KHI-91951-115) showed obvious allelic discrimination between male and female species. SNP-PIS-167992 and P-ATL-91951-565 were identified as best marker assays due to the allelic frequency differences in graphs which are apparent for all individuals and homozygosis/heterozygosis observed clearly. These markers could be most comprehensive for whole genus because the discriminability power of several species in once. III. Conclusions: As a conclusion, this study is reported first Pistacia gender discrimination by KASP, besides the precursor study for sex discrimination by KASP in plants.

Background: As years passes by, the usage of social media has become an important public health issue. It is known that problematic social media use is related with health problems. With this study, it is aimed to determine the social media use of hospital employees, the relation between social media addiction and burnout levels and to determine effective factors. Methods: Target population of the cross-sectional study consists of 2627 person between the ages of 18-60 who is working at a university hospital. Minimum sample size was calculated as 321 and reached up to 323 people. Question form, Burnout Scale and Social Media Addiction Adult Form were applied by interviewing the employees face-to-face between the months of March-April 2019. Results: 80.2% of the participants use social media every day, 63.1% of them use social media mostly at evenings. 94.8% of people mostly connect to social media with their phone. Average time spent daily on social media is 91, 33±87, 89 minutes. Daily social media use is significantly higher in women, university graduates, nurses. There is a significant difference between age groups and between married and never married in terms of average time spent daily on social media. Social media addiction scale score is significantly higher in women, never married persons and in the age group 20-29. Weak correlation was determined between scores of social media addiction scale and burnout levels, and age and time spent on social media. Conclusions: It is determined that social media usage in hospital employees is higher than Turkey’s average and there is a positive relation between scores of social media addiction scale and burnout levels. Providing education to employees in order to reduce social media usage, hanging posters related with how over-usage of social media may lead to burnout.

Cucurbita pepo L., a member of Cucurbitaceae family, is an annual plant with herbaceous stems, broad leaves and superficial scattered roots. Monoecious flower structure in the Cucurbitaceae family and the differences in the maturing time of male and female organs in flowers cause an increase in the foreign fertilization rate. Therefore, there may be positive or negative changes in the existing characteristics of the species. Micropropagation method can be performed in pumpkin species for clonal propagation, but their genetic stability in tissue culture is an important consideration. Chromosome number and morphology are primary cytogenetic parameters that must remain stable after in vitro propagation. We preformed cytogenetic analysis of different hybrid pumpkin genotypes cultivated in our country (Ardendo, Angelina, Torpido, Roni, Sena Hanım) in order to determinate their chromosome stability level. Cotyledon nodes, nodes, shoot apex, hypocotyl and internode explants were prepared from the 4-week old C. pepo seedlings by making a horizontal slice through the hypocotyl region. The highest shoot and callus regeneration was obtained in Torpido genotypes in cotyledonary node explants produced multiple shoots placed in tissue culture media MS+1 mg/l N6-benzylamino-purine BA. The chromosome number and karyotype analysis were determined in control and in vitro propagated Cucurbita pepo L. plants and ploidy levels were confirmed to be 2n = 40.

Background In the European LeukemiaNet (ELN) 2013 recommendations, chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients with warning response (WR) were suggested to be monitored closely continuing with the same tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI). Differently, the guidelines of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network considers switching to another TKI as an option. Patients and Methods We retrospectively evaluated 73 CML patients receiving first-line imatinib, who were followed and managed in accordance with ELN recommendations. We compared patients with molecular WR with patients with optimal response (OR) and failure regarding short- and long-term outcomes. Results The cumulative major molecular response (MMR) rates in patients with OR were significantly higher at any time point than those achieved by the WR group. Patients with WR at 3 months had significantly inferior failure-free survival (FFS) than optimal responders, but overall survival (OS) was similar. For 6 and 12 months, the WR and OR groups had similar FFS and OS. Twenty of 23 patients with WR at 12 months achieved MMR during imatinib treatment. Conclusion It takes longer to get to ELN time points with imatinib than second-generation TKIs (2GTKIs). Treatment might fail in a small proportion of the patients with WR during imatinib treatment, but close and careful monitoring and timely switching to 2GTKIs might translate into favorable outcomes. Avoiding early switch to 2GTKIs would prevent patients from experiencing potential toxicities. There is still a need for prospective comparative studies (ie, continuing imatinib treatment vs. switching to 2GTKIs) in patients with WR, to justify the validity of this response category and to explore the benefit of treatment change in these patients.

Among the many applications in the field of computer vision, face recognition systems; is a subject that has been studied extensively and has been working for a long time. In general, the success of facial recognition systems, which consist of feature extraction and classifier steps, depends not only on the classifier but also on the features used. In a face recognition system, the feature selection is to obtain distinctive features for recognition of different facial images of interest. For this purpose, SIFT, SURF and SIFT + SURF features, which are unchanging features to scaling and affine transformations, are used in this study. In addition, to be able to compare with these local features, the HOG feature which is a global feature, also has been added to the study. Classification was performed using support vector machine. Experimental results show that local features are more successful than the global feature HOG.

The study seeks to identify Colchicum species characterizing the morphological traits and to group the characters into species-specific clusters using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Fifty-two Colchicum L. species, 25 of which are endemic, were characterized with important 36 morphological traits (21 for flower, 11 for leaf, 2 for corm and 2 for capsule). As a result of the morphological measurements, Colchicum technical certificate based on UPOV (The International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants) was prepared and colour catalogue was created based on flowering time, perigon segments, perigon tube, anther, leaf, corm and capsule characters indicating the vast morphological differences among Colchicum species representing Turkish Flora. After the evaluation of measurements by PCA based on 36 morphological variables, it was observed that there is a clear separation between species according to their flowering time (spring, summer, autumn, late-autumn and winter) that can serve as a useful characterization feature to distinguish Colcicum species. Also, some characters, especially, perigon tube structure, perigon segments surface, perigon tube diameter, flower number, leaf number, leaf hairness, leaf surface, leaf shape were assigned as strong criterion to determine the Colchicum species.

Background/aim: A proliferation-inducing ligand (APRIL) has been investigated as a prognostic marker in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients. However, there is no cut-off level for serum APRIL (sAPRIL) levels that predict time to treatment in CLL patients. Materials and methods: Between May and December 2012, 94 consecutive CLL patients and 25 healthy controls were assessed. sAPRIL levels were measured by ELISA. Demographic data and prognostic markers were obtained from the patients' files. Treatment-naive patients were followed up for 6.5 years for any treatment need. Results: Patients were divided into 3 groups: Treatment-naive (n = 47), chemotherapy receiving (n = 25), and those who had received chemotherapy previously (n = 22). There was no difference in median sAPRIL levels of patients who were receiving chemotherapy at the sampling time and the healthy controls, which indicates that sAPRIL levels might be influenced by treatment. For treatment-naive patients, the best cut-off in predicting time to treatment was found at the sAPRIL level of 2.04 ng/mL, with 78% sensitivity and 63% specificity. Time to treatment was significantly earlier in the APRIL high group (n = 27) than in the APRIL low group (n = 20) (P = 0.010, log-rank test). Conclusion: sAPRIL, a simple, promising blood test which can be measured by ELISA, will likely obtain a place in the wide range of prognostic markers in CLL. Prospective large-scale studies are required to validate and confirm the feasibility of the proposed cut-off level of 2.04 ng/mL as a predictor of time to treatment in treatment-naive CLL patients. Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of stanbul University [19694] Acknowledgments/Disclaimers/Conflict of interest The study was supported by an unrestricted grant by Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit of stanbul University (Project No.: 19694) .

The present study investigated the efficacy and safety profile of daratumumab monotherapy in 42 patients with relapsed refractory multiple myeloma through a Turkish early access program. the current findings have confirmed the efficacy of daratumumab monotherapy in heavily pretreated patients with refractory multiple myeloma because of the deep and durable responses and favorable safety and tolerability profile. Background: in countries where frontline drug approval is limited to first-generation proteasome inhibitors or immunomodulatory drugs, relapses have been both more frequent and less durable. We investigated real world data on the efficacy and safety of daratumumab monotherapy among patients with relapsed refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) from Turkey using a prospective early access program. Patients and Methods: A total of 42 patients with RRMM after a minimum of 3 previous lines of proteasome inhibitor/immunomodulatory drug-based treatments were included from 25 centers across Turkey. Daratumumab monotherapy was administered intravenously at a dose of 16 mg/kg weekly (cycles 1-2), on alternate weeks (cycles 3-6), and monthly thereafter. Results: the median daratumumab monotherapy duration was 5.5 months (range, 0.2-28.7 months). the overall response rate was 45.2%, including 14 (33.3%) partial responses, 4 (9.5%) very good partial responses, and 1 (2.4%) complete response. the median duration of response was 4.9 months. the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 5.5 (95% confidence interval, 2.6-8.4 months) with 12- and 18-month PFS rates of 35.7% and 31.0%, respectively. the median overall survival was not reached; the 12- and 18-month overall survival rates were 64.3% and 59.5%, respectively. the depth of response had a significant effect on PFS (log-rank test, P = .026). Overall, of the 76 adverse events reported, 33 (43.4%) were grade >= 3; only 4 (9.52%) were grade 3 infusion-related reactions. No infusion-related reactions or adverse events led to treatment discontinuation. Conclusion: the present findings from our daratumumab early access program have confirmed the efficacy and safety profile of daratumumab monotherapy in heavily pretreated Turkish patients with RRMM., Janssen Pharmaceutica Turkey, The present daratumumab EAP was funded by Janssen Pharmaceutica Turkey. the authors would like to thank to Professor Sule Oktay, MD, PhD, and Cagla Ayhan, MD, from KAPPA Consultancy Training Research Ltd (Istanbul, Turkey), who contributed to the manuscript writing and statistical analyses.

Old films may be subject to various defects, such as blotches, scratches, noise, flicker, fading and color changes. Here, one of the most common defects is the blotches. They are characterized in containing approximately constant intensity and irregular shapes and also in a random spatial position in successive frames. In this paper, a spatiotemporal inpainting technique based on the feature extraction in the blotch regions is proposed to not consider dependence on the motion estimation. First, based on the presence of blotches in the current video frame, the scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) is used for the feature extraction in the proposed method. Then, the method implements a spatiotemporal algorithm for correction of blotch regions, considering the feature extraction points. The results are compared with the partial differential equations (PDEs)-based inpainting model, which is frequently used to fill small gaps in the image, and the video inpainting method.

Orobanche cumana Wallr. is a holoparasitic plant for only sunflower, hence it is called as sunflower broomrape. Yield loss created by O. cumana which is generally 50 % can reach to 100 %. In this study, it was planned to perform molecular characterization of O. cumana germplasm as nine locations of Thrace region obtained from Trakya Agricultural Research Institute by using Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) markers, widely used in plant breeding programs, in Competitive Allele Specific PCR (KASP) assay which is a fluorescent tagged allele specific PCR method based, economic, reliable and easily repeatable genotyping technology. Databases and literature were scanned to spot variations on O. cumana genome which is not known clearly. So far, four SSR (Simple Sequence Repeat) marker (Ocum-197, Ocum-006, Ocum-023 and Ocum-151) regions showing polymorphic pattern were used for searching possible SNPs. Primer pairs were designed for amplification of the regions possibly having SNPs and PCR amplifications with these primer pairs were performed and 1 candidate deletion was detected on the amplicon which was amplified by Ocum-197 SSR marker. Following, the deletion was converted to KASP primers and KASP assay was performed. The deletion marker, Del-197, has grouped the samples from nine locations in the resulting allelic discrimination plot and infestation was performed according to this grouping, As a conclusion, Del-197 is considered as a selective marker for the ability to rapidly assay allelic variation at DNA markers for O. cumana populations that have effects on infestation results were evaluated as races, F, G, H and I in Thrace region.

In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the clinical outcome, treatment responses, infectious complications, and survival rates of 71 hairy cell leukemia (HCL) cases.Sixty-seven patients received a first-line treatment and 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (cladribine-2-CdA) was administered in 31 cases, 19 patients received interferon-alpha (INF-α), splenectomy was performed in 16 cases, and rituximab was used in one.Although the highest overall response rate (ORR) was observed in patients receiving 2-CdA upfront, ORRs were comparable in the 2-CdA, INF-α, and splenectomy subgroups. Relapse rates were significantly lower in patients who received first-line 2-CdA. The progression-free survival (PFS) rate with 2-CdA was significantly higher than in patients with INF-α and splenectomy, but we found similar overall survival rates with all three upfront treatment modalities. Infections including tuberculosis were a major problem.Although purine analogues have improved the ORRs and PFS, there is still much progress to make with regard to overall survival and relapsed/refractory disease in patients with HCL.Amaç: Bu çalışmada, geriye dönük olarak 71 tüylü hücreli lösemi (SHL) olgusunu klinik sonuçlar, tedavi yanıtları, enfeksiyon komplikasyonları ve sağkalım oranları açısından analiz ettik. Gereç ve Yöntemler: Altmış yedi hasta birinci basamak tedavi almıştı ve 2-klorodeoksiadenozin (kladribin-2-CdA) 31 olguya uygulanmış, 19 hasta interferon-alfa (INF-α) almış, splenektomi 16 olguda uygulanmış ve rituksimab ise bir hastada kullanılmıştı. Bulgular: En yüksek toplam yanıt oranı (TYO) birinci basamak 2-CdA alan hastalarda görülmüş olsa da, TYO’lar 2-CdA, INF-α ve splenektomi alt gruplarında benzerdi. Nüks oranları birinci basamak 2-CdA alan hastalarda anlamlı olarak daha azdı. Progresyonsuz sağkalım (PS) oranı 2-CdA alanlarda INF-α ve splenektomi hastalarına göre anlamlı olarak daha yüksek olmakla birlikte, her üç birinci basamak tedavi yaklaşımı ile toplam sağkalım (TS) oranları benzer olarak bulundu. Tüberkülozun da dahil olduğu enfeksiyonlar önemli bir problemdi. Sonuç: Her ne kadar pürin analogları TYO ve PS’yi iyileştirmiş olsa da, SHL hastalarında TS ve nüks/dirençli hastalık açısından daha yapılması gereken çok şey vardır. Anahtar Sözcükler: Kladribin, Tüylü hücreli lösemi, İnterferon, Splenektomi.

Background Familial multiple myeloma(MM) cases have been associated with some rare, germline variants, mostly among epigenetic modification genes and needs to be validated in other populations. The aim of this study is to investigate formerly reported rare variants in our population and to search for additional ones. Methods Following the ethical committee approval, hematology centers in Turkey were informed for collaboration in this familial MM genetic association study. Inclusion criteria was defined as having one or more first, second or third degree relatives who have plasma cell diseases. After obtaining informed consents, patients’ peripheral blood samples or DNAs from pathological samples were collected. NGS analysis have been performed on 33 samples from 23 families, targeting 14 variants in 6 genes, previously reported to be associated with familial presentation (EP300, CDKN2A, USP45, ARID1A, KDM1A, DIS314)(Pertesi et al., Leukemia, 2020). To widen the range of analysis, whole exome sequencing (WES) within 3 families (6 patients) of first degree relatives were carried out. The detected variants were checked against NCBI’s dbSNP. Mutation Taster was utilized for probable disease associations. Results 30 MM families(63 patients) were included. Of the patients 69% were first, 4% were second and 27% were third degree relatives. Neither of the previously reported rare variants were detected among the subjects in the targeted sequencing. However, an heterozygote variant (rs3731249) close to the targeted region in CDKN2A was detected in 3 patients. WES detected new variants which were not observed earlier. Family 1:Missense variants in BRIP1 (function: DNA double strand break repair)(rs886053214, rs886053215) and ACD (function: maintain telomere length)(rs1306270247). All of which were predicted as polymorphism, in silico. Family 2:Missense variant in RAG2 (function:V(D)J recombination of Ig and T cell receptor) (rs765298019) predicted as disease causing. Family 3:Missense variant in RET (function: receptor tyrosine kinase)(rs1366681125) predicted as polymorphism. Missense variants in CBL (function: protein ubiquitination)(rs754194646), APC (function: cell adhesion)(rs760591046) and PTCH1 (function: sonic hedgehog) (rs772574714) were predicted as disease causing. All of the variants from the patients were detected as one-copy-alleles. The variant in RAG2 was reported to cause severe combined immunodeficiency and histiocytic medullary reticulosis in homozygous state. The PTCH1 variant is known to give rise to nevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome. Germline mutations of CBL and APC are related to the juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia, familial AML and familial adenomatous polyposis respectively. Conclusion MM development is a multistep process. As of actual literature, MM susceptibility in familial cases involve various gene variants. Here we suggest the consideration of RAG2, CBL, APC, PTCH1 as additional loci for the progression to familial MM.

Purpose: Punctal stenosis can result in symptoms such as epiphora and can significantly reduce the quality of life of patients. Perforated punctal plug insertion is an easy procedure that is commonly used as the first step of treatment for punctal stenosis. Methods: Clinical, demographic, and outcome data were retrospectively collected for 54 eyes of 21 males and 11 females who consecutively presented to our Oculoplastic Clinic and underwent silicone Micro Flow perforated punctal plug insertion. All patients had epiphora with punctal stenosis. Results: Of the 54 plugs, 26 plugs (48.1%) were lost and 28 (51.8%) stayed in place. Of the latter, eight were explanted because of the occlusion of the plug with secretions and recurrent conjunctivitis; moreover, two plugs migrated deep into the vertical canaliculus. Of the 54 plugs, only 18 (33.3%) were well-tolerated with significant symptomatic improvement. Conclusion: Plug loss is a prominent problem in patients implanted with perforated punctal plugs. Silicone punctal plugs failed in 66.7% of our patients over a mean follow-up of 14.2 months. RESUMO Objetivo: A estenose punctal pode resultar em sintomas como a epífora e diminuir significativamente a qualidade de vida dos pacientes. A inserção de um tampão perfurado é um procedimento fácil que é comumente usado como o primeiro passo do tratamento para a estenose punctal. Métodos: Dados clínicos, demográficos e de resultado foram coletados retrospectivamente de 54 olhos de 21 homens e 11 mulheres que consecutivamente se apresentaram em nossa Clínica de Oculoplástica e foram submetidos a inserção de um tampão de silicone perfurado Micro Flow. Todos os pacientes tinham epífora com estenose punctal. Resultados: Dos 54 tampões, 26 (48,1%) foram perdidos e 28 (51,8%) permaneceram no local. Destes últimos, 8 foram removidos devido a oclusão do tampão com secreção e conjuntivite recorrente, além disso, 2 migraram profundamente no canalículo vertical. Dos 54 tampões, apenas 18 (33,3%) foram bem tolerados com significativa melhora dos sintomas. Conclusão: A perda de tampões é um problema de destaque em pacientes implantados com tampões perfurados. Tampões de silicone falharam em 66,7% dos pacientes durante um seguimento médio de 14,2 meses.

In this study, the patterns of genetic variation and phylogenetic relationships of mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus L.) genotypes including 12 males and 12 females were evaluated using SSR, RAPD, ISSR, and ITS markers yielding 40, 703, 929 alleles, and 260-292 base pairs for ITS1 region, respectively. The average number of alleles produced from SSR, RAPD, and ISSR primers were 5.7, 14, and 18, respectively. The grouping pattern obtained from Bayesian clustering method based on each marker dataset was produced. Principal component analyses (PCA) of molecular data was investigated and neighbor joining dendrograms were subsequently created. Overall, the results indicated that ISSR and RAPD markers were the most powerful to differentiate the genotypes in comparison with other types of molecular markers used in this study. The ISSR results indicated that male and female genotypes were distinctly separated from each other. In this frame, M9 (Alaçatı) and M10 (Mesta Sakız Adası-Chios) were the closest genotypes and while F11 (Seferihisar) and F12 (Bornova/Gökdere) genotypes fall into same cluster and showing closer genetic relation. The RAPD pattern indicated that M8 (Urla) and M10 (Mesta Sakız Adası-Chios), and F10 (Mesta Sakız Adası-Chios) and F11 (Seferihisar) genotypes were the closest male and female genotypes, respectively.

Aluminum (Al) toxicity is one of the major abiotic stress factors that decreases crop yield in acidic soils. Al inhibits the root growth and development due to cellular toxicity including nucleus, chromosome and DNA alterations. Although some Al-induced programmed cell death (PCD) features were identified, there are limited comparative and time-dependent studies. The aim of this study is to compare the Al-induced time-dependent DNA fragmentation, the most widely evaluated criterion for PCD in six agronomic plant (maize, wheat, triticale, rye, barley and oat) roots concerning their Al tolerance. Roots were exposed to 100 mu M AlCl3 solution (pH 4.5) for different times (1/2, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 h). All genomic DNA was isolated from control and AlCl3 treated roots. Isolated DNA samples were analyzed by electrophoretically and DNA fragmentation was observed in triticale, rye, barley and oat roots, but not in maize and wheat. The obtained DNA fragmentation shows that wheat and maize are more tolerant than triticale, rye, barley and oat in which the PCD is active as early as 1/2 h after Al induction. The results obtained can provide a better understanding into the Al induced PCD and Al tolerance in plants.

Relations between a subgroup having F-supplement and a minimal non-elementary group are investigated and as a conclusion some conditions are given for a minimal non-elementary group to be an F-group. Then proper NF-groups which are also F-groups are studied.

We say that a module M is a closed conitely weak supplemented module or briey ccws-module if, for every closed conite submodule N of M, N has a weak supplement in M. In this article, the various properties of ccws-modules are given as a generalization of conitely weak supplemented modules. In particular, we prove that a left V-ring R is ccws if and only if R is an extending ring. Finally, we show that the notion of conitely weak supplemented modules and the notion of ccws-modules are equivalent under some special conditions.

Background Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is a potentially life-threatening condition. Although the introduction of therapeutic plasma exchange has reduced mortality rates from over 90% to 10%-20%, approximately 40% of patients relapse, and outcomes may be fatal in refractory patients. There is clearly a need for additional therapeutic approaches. Aims To describe the outcomes of relapsed/refractory thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura patients treated with vincristine as an adjunct to therapeutic plasma exchange. Study design Cross-sectional study. Methods The medical records of all relapsed/refractory patients with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura treated with vincristine adjunct to therapeutic plasma exchange between October 2000 and December 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Diagnosis of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura was based on clinical history, physical examination, and laboratory examinations. Patient demographics, laboratory findings, initial date and duration of therapeutic plasma exchange, dosage and time of administration of vincristine, and outcomes were recorded. Results The study included 15 patients [median age: 37 years (range: 26-65); 7 women and 8 men] with either relapsed or refractory thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura who were treated with vincristine as an adjunct to therapeutic plasma exchange for a total of 22 episodes. Eighty-seven percent of patients achieved remissions in 20 of 22 episodes, with a median duration of remission of 29.5 months (range: 3-105). After a median follow-up of 55 months, 11 patients were alive. Vincristine was well tolerated with no safety concerns. Conclusion Vincristine offers a reasonable option for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura. Further studies evaluating vincristine in the front-line setting and in the relapsed/refractory setting are needed to validate the role of vincristine in thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura patients.

Image inpainting is a reconfigurable reconstruction of detected (marked) areas. This study focuses on damaged images and key point-based attributes such as speeded-up robust features (SURF), scale invariant feature transformation (SIFT), Harris algorithm and features of maximally stable extremal regions (MSER) are used for this purpose. It is assumed that there are images, one of them is to be inpainted and another of them is relevant to be taken from different viewpoints or from different geometric transformation, and the Affine transformation differences between the image to be inpainted and the relevant image are determined. In line with the information obtained, these two images are restructured to be at the same scale and in the same position. Experimental results show that the damaged image is successfully inpainted depending on the images of different scales and angles.

© 2018 The Authors., [Background]: The present prospective, multinational, noninterventional study aimed to document and describe real-world treatment regimens and disease progression in multiple myeloma (MM) patients. [Patients and Methods]: Adult patients initiating any new MM therapy from October 2010 to October 2012 were eligible. A multistage patient/site recruitment model was applied to minimize the selection bias; enrollment was stratified by country, region, and practice type. The patient medical and disease features, treatment history, and remission status were recorded at baseline, and prospective data on treatment, efficacy, and safety were collected electronically every 3 months., [Results]: A total of 2358 patients were enrolled. Of these patients, 775 and 1583 did and did not undergo stem cell transplantation (SCT) at any time during treatment, respectively. Of the patients in the SCT and non-SCT groups, 49%, 21%, 14%, and 15% and 57%, 20%, 12% and 10% were enrolled at treatment line 1, 2, 3, and ≥ 4, respectively. In the SCT and non-SCT groups, 45% and 54% of the patients had received bortezomib-based therapy without thalidomide/lenalidomide, 12% and 18% had received thalidomide/lenalidomide-based therapy without bortezomib, and 30% and 4% had received bortezomib plus thalidomide/lenalidomide-based therapy as frontline treatment, respectively. The corresponding proportions of SCT and non-SCT patients in lines 2, 3, and ≥ 4 were 45% and 37%, 30% and 37%, and 12% and 3%, 33% and 27%, 35% and 32%, and 8% and 2%, and 27% and 27%, 27% and 23%, and 6% and 4%, respectively. In the SCT and non-SCT patients, the overall response rate was 86% to 97% and 64% to 85% in line 1, 74% to 78% and 59% to 68% in line 2, 55% to 83% and 48% to 60% in line 3, and 49% to 65% and 36% and 45% in line 4, respectively, for regimens that included bortezomib and/or thalidomide/lenalidomide., [Conclusion]: The results of our prospective study have revealed great diversity in the treatment regimens used to manage MM in real-life practice. This diversity was linked to factors such as novel agent accessibility and evolving treatment recommendations. Our results provide insight into associated clinical benefits., Writing support during the development of our report was provided by Laura Mulcahy and Catherine Crookes of FireKite, an Ashfield company, a part of UDG Healthcare plc, which was funded by Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc, and Janssen Global Services, LLC. The EMMOS study was supported by research funding from Janssen Pharmaceutical NV and Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

WOS: 000446696800011 Let R be an associative ring with identity. We introduce the notion of semi-tau-supplemented modules, which is adapted from srs-modules, for a preradical tau on R-Mod. We provide basic properties of these modules. In particular, we study the objects of R-Mod for tau = Rad. We show that the class of semi-tau-supplemented modules is closed under finite sums and factor modules. We prove that, for an idempotent preradical tau on R-Mod, a module M is semi-tau-supplemented if and only if it is tau-supplemented. For tau = Rad, over a local ring every left module is semi-Rad-supplemented. We also prove that a commutative semilocal ring whose semi-Rad-supplemented modules are a direct sum of w-local left modules is an artinian principal ideal ring. Amasya UniversityAmasya University [FMB-BAP 15-107] The authors sincerely thank Engin Buyukasik for his interest and helpful suggestions. Supported by Scientific Research Project in Amasya University FMB-BAP 15-107.

The effectiveness of Pl genes is known to be resistant to downy mildew (DM) disease affected by fungus Plasmopara halstedii in sunflower. In this study phenotypic analysis was performed using inoculation tests and genotypic analysis were carried out with three DM resistance genes Plarg, Pl13 and Pl8. A total of 69 simple sequence repeat markers and 241 F2 individuals derived from a cross of RHA-419 (R) x P6LC (S), RHA-419 (R) x CL (S), RHA-419 (R) x OL (S), RHA419 (R) x 9758R (S), HA-R5 (R) x P6LC (S) and HA89 (R) x P6LC (S) parental lines were used to identify resistant hybrids in sunflower. Results of SSR analysis using markers linked with downy mildew resistance genes (Plarg, Pl8 and Pl13) and downy mildew inoculation tests were evaluated together and ORS716 (for Plarg and Pl13), HA4011 (for Pl8) markers showed positive correlation with their phenotypic results. These results suggest that these markers are associated with DM resistance and they can be used successfully in marker-assisted selection for sunflower breeding programs specific for downy mildew resistance.

Glaucoma is a chronic and progressive optic neuropathy in which increased intraocular pressure is the most important risk factor in the etiopathogenesis. The basic pathology is the progressive loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) especially the death of the axons of ganglion cells initially (apoptosis), followed by peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) defects. Since optical coherence tomography (OCT)’s first demonstration in 1991 by Huang et al. and introduction commercially in 1996, it began gaining popularity in 2000s for retinal evaluation and the detection, diagnosis, and follow-up of glaucoma. Previously available OCT instruments used a technique referred to as time-domain (TD-) OCT, followed by spectral-domain (SD-) OCT, which has an increased scan acquisition rate, allowing for a more detailed sampling of the area of interest. Recently, swept-source OCT (SS-OCT), a newer generation of OCT, has been introduced. Clinical assessment using multiple parameters, including peripapillary RNFL, ganglion cells, optic nerve head, and macular parameters, has proven useful for managing and diagnosing glaucoma as well as for evaluating risk in glaucoma suspects. In this chapter, we aim to evaluate the use of OCT and its modalities in diagnosis, screening, and progression of glaucoma.

This study aimed to investigate the impact of the different therapy regimens used in multiple myeloma (MM) on bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BALP) levels.One hundred and thirteen patients with MM were included in the study. Patients were grouped according to the regimens they received, as follows: group 1, melphalan and prednisolone (MP); group 2, vincristine, adriablastin, and dexamethasone (VAD); group 3, thalidomide plus dexamethasone; and group 4, bortezomib plus dexamethasone. BALP levels were measured before treatment and at the third and sixth months of treatment. A fifth group consisted of patients in the post-treatment remission period at study entry (no-treatment group).The BALP levels at the third and sixth months of the treatment were significantly higher than the pre-treatment levels in the bortezomib and the no-treatment groups, whereas no significant difference was observed in the MP, VAD, and thalidomide groups.Considering that BALP is a surrogate marker of bone formation, our study suggests that bortezomib more efficiently leads to the improvement of bone disease in myeloma than other treatment options.Amaç: Bu çalışmanın amacı; multipl myelomda (MM) kullanılan farklı tedavi rejimlerinin kemik-spesifik alkalen fosfataz (BALP) düzeyleri üzerine etkisini incelemektir. Gereç ve Yöntemler: Çalışmaya 113 MM hastası dahil edildi. Hastalar aldıkları tedavi rejimlerine göre; 1. grup, melfalan ve prednizolon (MP); 2. grup, vinkristin, adriablastin ve deksametazon (VAD); 3. grup talidomid artı deksametazon; 4. grup, bortezomib artı deksametazon olarak gruplara ayrıldı. BALP düzeyleri tedaviden önce, tedavinin üçüncü ve altıncı aylarında ölçüldü. Çalışmanın başında, tedavi sonrası remisyon dönemindeki hastalardan beşinci bir grup oluşturuldu (tedavi almayan grup). Bulgular: Bortezomib grubu ve tedavi almayan grupta tedavinin üçüncü ve altıncı aylarında bakılan BALP düzeyleri, tedavi öncesine göre anlamlı olarak yüksek bulunurken; MP, VAD, ve talidomid gruplarında anlamlı fark saptanmadı. Sonuç: BALP’nin kemik formasyonunun bir belirteci olduğu göz önünde tutulduğunda, bu çalışma ile diğer tedavi seçeneklerine göre bortezomib tedavisinin miyelomda kemik hastalığının iyileşmesine daha etkin bir şekilde yol açtığı gösterilmiştir.