Impact of Saving and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) on the Income of Smallholder Farmers in Rwanda: A Case Study of Busasamana Sector

( Berna¸ M. ),( J. Y. Lee ),( S. H. Lee ) 강원대학교 농업생명과학연구원(구 농업과학연구소) 2020 강원 농업생명환경연구 Vol.32 No.S

Income generation is a constraint of smallholder farming; the best way to increase income generation in Rwandan agriculture is farmers’ accessibility to financial institutions. Saving and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) are the main providers of microcredit to smallholder farmers, and this study assesses the impact of SACCOs on income smallholder farmers in Rwanda. To achieve the objective, primary data were employed, and both descriptive and econometric models were adopted to achieve the research objective. The findings revealed that members of SACCOs earn more income than non-members, and a bi-directional relationship between income and participation in SACCOs was discovered. However, 62% of smallholder farmers participated in SACCOs and a small percentage of members requested loans. The government and SACCOs initiate insurance schemes for the members to smallholder farmers to join SACCOs as more use of financial services/products.

Serum S100B Protein Levels in Patients with Panic Disorder: Effect of Treatment with Selective Serotonine Reuptake Inhibitors

Berna Cagatay Kaya,Hasan Karadag,Ozgur Oner,Aysegul Kart,Mehmet Hakan Turkcapar 대한신경정신의학회 2015 PSYCHIATRY INVESTIGATION Vol.12 No.2

ObjectiveaaAltered serum S100B protein levels have been shown in several psychiatric disorders. Our aim was to investigate whether plasma S100B is different in patients with panic disorder (PD) when compared with controls. Our second aim was to investigate whether treatment with SSRIs have an effect on S100B levels in patients with PD. MethodsaaThe sample included 32 patients diagnosed with PD (21 women, 11 men) per DSM-IV criteria and 21 healthy controls (11 women, 10 men). S100B levels were measured with BioVendor Human S100B ELISA (Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay) kit. Resultsaa14 patients were not on drug treatment (43.8%) while 18 patients were taking various SSRIs. Median S100B value was 151.7 pg/mL (minimum-maximum: 120.4–164.7 pg/mL) in the control group, 147.4 pg/mL (minimum-maximum: 138.8–154.1 pg/mL) in the drug free group and 153.0 pg/mL (minimum-maximum: 137.9–164.7 pg/mL) in the treatment group. Kruskal-Wallis analysis showed a significant diffrerence among the three groups (z=9.9, df=2, p=0.007). Follow up Mann-Whitney-U tests indicated that while the control and the patients with treatment were not significantly different (z=-0.05, p=0.96), there were significant differences between the control group and untreated patients (z=-2.6, p=0.009) and treated and untreated patients (z=-3.0, p=0.003). ConclusionaaOur results suggested that, serum S100B protein level might be decreased in untreated PD patients and that patients who were treated with SSRIs had similar S100B level to healthy controls.

Rapid differentiation of new isolates with MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry via discriminant function analysis based on principal components

Berna Sariyar-Akbulut 한국화학공학회 2009 Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering Vol.26 No.6

Discriminant function analysis based on principal components was applied to the spectral outputs of whole cell suspensions of nine isolates from matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry. First, based on the salt tolerance and whole cell proteins, the similarity of the isolates to moderate halophiles was established. Intact microorganisms were then inferentially clustered by MALDI-TOF mass spectroscopy taking four type strains as precursors. Two of these type strains were moderate halophilic bacteria (Halomonas salina and Halomonas halophila), one was a mesophilic bacteria (Escherichia coli), and one was a halophilic archaea (Haloarcula vallismortis). Results showed that the isolates were significantly similar to halophiles but were different from a mesophile. This investigation demonstrates the feasibility of using whole cell suspensions for rapid differentiation prior to extensive experimentation.

The Influence of Confifining Parameters on the Ground State Properties of Interacting Electrons in a Two-dimensional Quantum Dot with Gaussian Potential

Berna Gulveren 한국물리학회 2018 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.73 No.11

In this work, the ground-state properties of an interacting electron gas confined in a twodimensional quantum dot system with the Gaussian potential (r) = V0(1 exp(r2=p)), where V0 and p are confinement parameters, are determined numerically by using the Thomas-Fermi approximation. The shape of the potential is modified by changing the V0 and the p values, and the in uence of the confining potential on the system's properties, such as the chemical energy, the density profile, the kinetic energy, the confining energy, etc., is analyzed for both the non-interacting and the interacting cases. The results are compared with those calculated for a harmonic potential, and excellent agreement is obtained in the limit of high p values for both the non-interacting and the interacting cases.

Retrospective Analysis of 498 Primary Soft Tissue Sarcomas in a Single Turkish Centre

Duman, Berna Bozkurt,Gunaldi, Meral,Ercolak, Vehbi,Afsar, Cigdem Usul,Sahin, Berksoy,Erkisi, I. Melek Koksal,Kara, Oguz,Paydas, Semra,Gonlusen, Gulfiliz,Sertdemir, Yasar Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.8

Background: Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) must be managed with a team involving pathologists, radiologists, surgeons, radiation therapists and medical oncologists. Treatment modalities and demographic charasteristics of Turkish STS were analysed in the current study. Material-Methods: Primary adult STS followed between 1999-2010 in Cukurova University Medical Faculty Department of Medical Oncology were analzied retrospectively Results: Of the total of 498 patients, 238 were male and 260 female. The most seen adult sarcomas were leomyosarcoma (23%). Localization of disease was upper extremity (8.8%), lower extremity (24.7%), head-neck 8.2%, thoracic 8%, retroperitoneal 5.6%, uterine 12.4%, abdominal 10%, pelvic region 3.6 and other regions 10%. Some 13.1% were early stage, 10.2% locally advanced, 8.2% metastatic and 12.2% recurrent disease. Patients were treated with neoadjuvant/adjuvant (12%) or palliative chemotherapy (7.2%) and 11.4% patients did not receive chemotherapy. Surgery was performed as radical or conservative. The most preferred regimen was MAID combination chemotherapy in the rate of 17.6%. The most common metastatic site was lung (18.1%). The overall survival was 45 months (95%CI 30-59), 36 months in men and 55 months in women, with no statistically significant difference (p=0.5). The survival rates were not different between the group of adjuvant and palliative chemotherapy (respectively 28 versus 18 months) (p=0.06), but radical surgery at 37 months was better than 22 months for conservative surgery (p=0.0001). No differences were evident for localization (p=0.152). Locally advanced group had higher overall survival rates (72 months) than other stages (p=0.0001). Conclusion: STS can be treated successfully with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The survival rates of Turkish people were higher in locally advanced group; these results show the importance of multimodality treatment approach and radical surgery.

Retrospective Analysis of Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer in Turkish Patients

Duman, Berna Bozkurt,Afsar, Cigdem Usul,Gunaldi, Meral,Sahin, Berksoy,Kara, I. Oguz,Erkisi, Melek,Ercolak, Vehbi Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2012 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.13 No.8

Background: Neoadjuvant systemic chemotherapy is the accepted approach for women with locally advanced breast cancer. Anthracycline- and taxane-based regimens have been extensively studied in clinical trials and consequently are widely used. In this study aimed to research the complete response (pCR) rates in different regimens for neoadjuvant setting and determine associated clinical and biological factors. Methods: This study included 63 patients diagnosed with breast carcinoma among 95 patients that had been treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy between 2007 and 2010. TNM staging system was used for staging. The histologic response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy was characterized as a pCR when there was no evidence of residual invasive tumor in the breast or axillary lymph nodes. Biologic subclassification using estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), HER2 were performed. Luminal A was defined as ER+, PR+, HER2-; Luminal B tumor was defined as ER+, PR-, HER2-; ER+, PR-, HER2+; ER-, PR+, HER2-; ER+, PR+, HER2+; HER2 like tumor ER-, PR+, HER2+; and triple negative tumor ER, PR, HER2 negative. Results: Patients median age was 54.14 (min-max: 30-75). Thirty-two patients (50.8%) were premenapousal and 31 (49.2%) were postmenapousal. Staging was performed postoperatively based on the pathology report and appropriated imaging modalities The TNM (tumor, lymph node, metastasis) system was used for clinical and pathological staging. Fifty-seven (90.5%) were invasive ductal carcinomas, 6 (9.5%) were other subtypes. Thirty nine (61.9%) were grade II and 24 (38.1%) were grade III. Seven (11.1%) patients were stage II and 56 (88.9) patients were stage III. The patients were classified for ER, PR receptor and HER2 positivity. Seventeen patients had complete response to chemotherapy. Forty patients (63.5%) were treated with dose dense regimen (cyclophosphamide 600 mg/m2 and doxorubicine 60 mg/m every two weeks than paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 every two weeks with filgrastim support) 40 patients (48%) were treated anthracycline and taxane containing regimens. Thirteen patients (76%) from 17 patients with pCR were treated with the dose dense regimen but without statistical significance (p=0.06). pCR was higher in HER2(-), ER(-), grade III, premenopausal patients. Conclusion: pCR rate was higher in the group that treated with dose dense regimen, which should thus be the selected regimen in neoadjuvant setting. Some other factors can predict pCR in Turkish patients, like grade, menopausal status, triple negativity, percentage of ER positivity, and HER2 expression.

Atypical Fibroxanthoma in a 115-Year-Old Patient

Fethiye Berna Goktas,Hande Akdeniz,Kadri Ozer,Hatice Unverdi,Ugur Kocer 대한성형외과학회 2015 Archives of Plastic Surgery Vol.42 No.6

Nearly k-th Partial Ternary Quadratic *-Derivations

ARSLAN, BERNA,INCEBOZ, HULYA,GUVEN, ALI Department of Mathematics 2015 Kyungpook mathematical journal Vol.55 No.4

The Hyers-Ulam-Rassias stability of the k-th partial ternary quadratic derivations is investigated in non-Archimedean Banach ternary algebras and non-Archimedean $C^*$-ternary algebras by using the fixed point theorem.

A CRITIQUE OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE IN THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC

Gül Berna Özcan 국제개발협력학회 2016 국제개발협력연구 Vol.8 No.3

With empirical evidence gathered from four different donor programmes launched in the Kyrgyz Republic, this study offers a critical analysis of western aid interventions. The findings point out that local effects of extensive aid exposure have weakened reforms and captured agency interests. Aggressive market liberalisation and decentralisation policies ignored long-term state and industrial capacity building.

Is the diagnosis of calcified laryngeal cartilages on panoramic radiographs possible?

Leyla Berna Çağırankaya,Nursel Akkaya,Gökçen Akçiçek,Hatice Boyacıoğlu Doğru 대한영상치의학회 2018 Imaging Science in Dentistry Vol.48 No.2

Purpose: Detecting laryngeal cartilages (triticeous and thyroid cartilages) on panoramic radiographs is important because they may be confused with carotid artery calcifications in the bifurcation region, which are a risk factor for stroke. This study assessed the efficiency of panoramic radiography in the diagnosis of calcified laryngeal cartilages using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) as the reference standard. Materials and Methods: A total of 312 regions (142 bilateral, 10 left, 18 right) in 170 patients (140 males, 30 females) were examined. Panoramic radiographs were examined by an oral and maxillofacial radiologist with 11 years of experience. CBCT scans were reviewed by 2 other oral and maxillofacial radiologists. The kappa coefficient (κ) was calculated to determine the level of intra-observer agreement and to determine the level of agreement between the 2 methods. Diagnostic indicators (sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and false positive and false negative rates) were also calculated. P values <.05 were considered to indicate statistical significance. Results: Eighty-two images were re-examined to determine the intra-observer agreement level, and the kappa coefficient was calculated as 0.709 (P<.05). Statistically significant and acceptable agreement was found between the panoramic and CBCT images (κ=0.684 and P<.05). The sensitivity, specificity, diagnostic accuracy rate, the false positive rate, and the false negative rate of the panoramic radiographs were 85.4%, 83.5%, 84.6%, 16.5%, and 14.6%, respectively. Conclusion: In most cases, calcified laryngeal cartilages could be diagnosed on panoramic radiographs. However, due to variation in the calcifications, diagnosis may be difficult.