Sphingomonas Paucimobilis : A Rare Infectious Agent Found in Cerebrospinal Fluid

Goker, Tuncer,Asik, Rahile Zulal,Yilmaz, Muhammet Bahadir,Celik, Ilhami,Tekiner, Ayhan The Korean Neurosurgical Society 2017 Journal of Korean neurosurgical society Vol.60 No.4

Sphingomonas paucimobilis (S. paucimobilis) is a gram negative bacillus. It has existed in soil, drinking water and plants. It has been isolated from distilled water tanks, respirators, and hemodialysis devices at the hospital setting. Patients with chronic disorders or immune suppression may be susceptible to infections with it. This microorganism has also been reported to infect healthy persons. Both nosocomial and community-acquired infections have been reported. So far, a variety of infections have been reported, including sepsis, septic pulmonary embolism, septic arthritis, peritonitis, and endophthalmitis. Only 2 cases of meningitis have been reported so far in the literature. So far, no previous reports of culture proliferation have been reported in patients with external ventricular drains, as was the case in our patient. Therefore, our case is the first to have S. paucimobilis proliferation in cerebrospinal fluid culture during intensive care unit stay for an external ventricular drain.

Human Papilloma Virus Frequency and Genotype Distribution in a Turkish Population

Akcali, Sinem,Goker, Asli,Ecemis, Talat,Kandiloglu, Ali Riza,Sanlidag, Tamer Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention 2013 Asian Pacific journal of cancer prevention Vol.14 No.1

Objectives: To determine human papillomavirus (HPV) frequency, genotypes and the relation between cervical smear results, risk factors and types in women living in Manisa, Turkey. Materials and Methods: A total of 410 women were included in the study. Cervical specimens were obtained for linear array HPV genotyping and pathological testing. Conventional Pap test and Bethesda system were used for evaluation of cytology specimens. Results: A total of 410 women with a mean age of 34.9 years were tested. A positive result of any HPV was found in 35 patients (8.5%). Among them, 26 different serotypes of HPV were identified and the most frequent type was HPV 16 (28.5%) followed by type 45 and 53 (11.4%). Patients were infected by 65.7% high risk, 11.4% probable high risk and 22.9% low risk HPV types. Multiple HPV positive results were found in 13 patients (37.1%). Patients with single partner, history of abnormal smear or condyloma had positive HPV results and this was statistically significant (p<0.05). Correlation analysis showed a statistically weak relation between positive HPV and abnormal smear results (r=0.120). Conclusions: Determining HPV types of genital HPV infections is important for epidemiological studies. We have found the rate of positive HPV as 8.5% which implies the need for extended screening programs in order to diagnose oncogenic HPV at an early stage.

Synthesis and cytotoxic evaluation of novel N-substituted amidino-1-hydroxybenzimidazole derivatives

Alp, Mehmet,Goker, Hakan,Ozkan, Tulin,Sunguroglu, Asuman 대한약학회 2014 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.37 No.5

A new class of N-substituted amidino-1-hydroxybenzimidazole derivatives (15-24) were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxic activities against human leukemia cell lines, HL-60 and K562. The preliminary results showed that compounds 16, 20, 21 and 23 had moderate antitumor activity against HL-60 cell line. Further investigation on the mechanism of the observed cytotoxic effects demonstrated that compound 21 increased the expression of autophagic and apoptotic genes and induced apoptosis of HL-60 cells.

Whither feminist alliance? Secular feminists and Islamist women in Turkey

Hulya Simga,Gulru Z. Goker 이화여자대학교 아시아여성학센터 2017 Asian Journal of Women's Studies(AJWS) Vol.23 No.3

The women’s movement has become increasingly entangled with the “secularism versus Islamism” debate in today’s Turkey. While secular feminists believe that escalating authoritarianism and Islamic revivalism threaten gender equality and the gains of the women’s rights movement, Islamist women contest the “western/secular” ideal of gender equality on account of its being antithetical to the Islamic canon. The mutual marginalization by feminists and Islamists, mainly fueled by partisan politics, harms the much needed solidarity among women’s groups to solve the problems women face in Turkey, such as violence and unequal political participation. Moreover, this polarization has the harmful effect of reinforcing patriarchy: men, therefore face no challenges and simply continue to remain the sole producers and controllers of socio-political policies and epistemic resources. Hence, there seems to be a pressing need for secular feminists and Islamists to start a dialogue and focus on problems and issues they share in common, so as to seek urgent solutions to them. This article inquires into the viability of such an alliance through the proliferation of deliberative platforms where civil society organizations can meet at a safe distance from partisan politics and enter productive dialogue and generate policies to resolve the crucial problems women are facing in Turkey.

Differential gene expression analysis of human cumulus cells

Demiray, Sirin Bakti,Goker, Ege Nazan Tavmergen,Tavmergen, Erol,Yilmaz, Ozlem,Calimlioglu, Nilufer,Soykam, Huseyin Okan,Oktem, Gulperi,Sezerman, Ugur The Korean Society for Reproductive Medicine 2019 Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine Vol.46 No.2

Objective: This study was performed to explore the possibility that each oocyte and its surrounding cumulus cells might have different genetic expression patterns that could affect human reproduction. Methods: Differential gene expression analysis was performed for 10 clusters of cumulus cells obtained from 10 cumulus-oocyte complexes from 10 patients. Same procedures related to oocyte maturation, microinjection, and microarray analyses were performed for each group of cumulus cells. Two differential gene expression analyses were performed: one for the outcome of clinical pregnancy and one for the outcome of live birth. Results: Significant genes resulting from these analyses were selected and the top 20 affected pathways in each group were analyzed. Circadian entrainment is determined to be the most affected pathway for clinical pregnancy, and proteoglycans in cancer pathway is the most affected pathway for live birth. Circadian entrainment is also amongst the 12 pathways that are found to be in top 20 affected pathways for both outcomes, and has both lowest p-value and highest number of times found count. Conclusion: Although further confirmatory studies are necessary, findings of this study suggest that these pathways, especially circadian entrainment in cumulus cells, may be essential for embryo development and pregnancy.

Difficulties experienced by endodontics researchers in conducting studies and writing papers

Alim-Uysal Betul Aycan,Goker-Kamali Selin,Machado Ricardo 대한치과보존학회 2022 Restorative Dentistry & Endodontics Vol.47 No.2

Objectives The study investigated the difficulties experienced by endodontics researchers around the world in conducting studies and writing papers. Materials and Methods A survey consisting of 18 questions on the difficulties experienced by endodontics researchers in performing studies and writing papers was e-mailed to academics in the field of endodontics working at 202 universities. The independent risk factors were analyzed using binary logistic regression at a significance level of 0.05. Results A total of 581 individuals (10.7%) agreed to participate in the study. Almost half the participants (48.2%) reported that they had received some type of training in conducting studies and writing papers. In response to the question, “Do you get help from a statistician to perform the statistical analyses of your studies?,” 77.1% answered “yes.” Around 40% of the participants stated that the need to obtain ethical approval negatively affected their desire to conduct studies. The participants’ regions had no effect on the reported difficulties associated with writing papers in English or conducting statistical analyses (p > 0.05). Most participants (81.8%) reported difficulties in writing the Discussion section, regardless of their region, academic degrees, or years of experience. Conclusions The participants stated they experienced difficulties in many areas, such as conducting statistical analyses, finding new ideas, and writing in English. Engaging in a detailed examination of ethics committee rules, expanding biostatistics education, increasing the number of institutions providing research funding, and increasing the number of endodontics journals can increase the enthusiasm of endodontics researchers to publish papers.

Which Dosing Scheme is Suitable for the Taxanes\ulcorner An in Vitro Model

Sanli, Ulus-Ali,Uslu, Ruchan,Karabulut, Bulent,Sezgin, Canfeza,Saydam, Guray,Omay, Serdar-Bedii,Goker, Erdem The Pharmaceutical Society of Korea 2002 Archives of Pharmacal Research Vol.25 No.4

The discovery and development of the taxane class of antitumor compounds represent significant advances in the treatment of patients with a variety of malignancies. These drugs are effectively used in the treatment of breast cancer. In this study we evaluated the efficacy of fractionated usage of both paclitaxel and docetaxel as a single agent in the breast cancer cell line MCF-7. It has been shown that the cytotoxic effect of paclitaxel was increased when the divided $IC_{50}$ concentrations were used sequentially and in contrast to paclitaxel, cytotoxic effect of docetaxel was decreased with the same schema and the single dose of $IC_{50}$ concentration was optimal. The cause of the difference between the cytotoxic effects of two agents with this schedule is obscure. Demonstrating mechanisms, which are responsible for these differences, will be important for more rational use of taxoids and to provide basis for the following clinical trials.