In the first part of the present study, samples of 13 native Turkish sheep breeds (n=628) were examined, individually and comparatively, with respect to their 19 microsatellite loci to characterize them by employing various statistical analyses. Low FST values, high mean number of alleles and allelic richness as well as results of Factorial Correspondence Analysis and Structure analyses showed the degree of admixture between native sheep breeds of Turkey, IVE and SAK were observed as the most distincts of the breeds and possible introgressions were detected in other breeds. The 2- BAD, a software to examine the admixtures, was employed to estimate the time of the admixtures and the MSVAR software was employed to detect past demographic histories. In the second part, evaluations based on their genetic characteristics were made in relation to their prioritization in conservation studies. By employing four different approaches, it has been concluded that IVE, SAK, KRY, KIV, HEM and breed from Central Anatolia should be included in a conservation program for the preservation of optimum genetic diversity. In the last part of the thesis breeds were also characterized with respect to their relative risk of extinctions and their merits, which were used to estimate the utilities of the breeds. Non-genetic factors, collected based on the existing literature and surveys throughthe questionnaires filled by the field specialists, were incorporated into genetic factors to estimate the utilities of the breeds under different scenarios. In this approach, it is concluded that NOR, AKK, SAK, IVE and HEM should be included in the conserved set of breeds. By the present study, it is believed that specific genetic features of the native Turkish sheep breeds were documented, effects of sampling on the population genetic studies was discussed, the need for a reliable data (genetic and nongenetic, for characterizing the risks and merits of the breeds) for the prioritization of the breeds in the long term sustainable conservation ofthem was emphasized.

The aim of this paper is to analyze the fragility of the New Member States and accession countries in the Central Eastern and South Eastern European countries (henceforth Eastern Europe) to the turbulences in the global economy and the changes in the direction of the international capital flows. (author's abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

In the present study, for estimating the Central Asia contribution to the Anatolia, nine Alu insertion polymorphisms (ACE, PV92, FXIIIB, APO, A25, B65, TPA25, D1, HS4.32 ) in 100 individuals from Anatolia were examined. Alu insertion frequency for these loci were calculated as 0,410 / 0,220 / 0,579 / 0,963 / 0,067 / 0,667 / 0,390 / 0,427 / and 0,637 respectively and they were found to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p&lt / 0,05). Observed insertion frequencies of each loci were compared with those of the previous observations (Din&ccedil / , 2003 / Comas et al., 2004) and it was found that the present study results were not different than those obtained by Comas et al. (2004). Thus, these two data were pooled (N = 143) and used to examine genetic relationships between populations from Eurasia and Africa. Pairwise Fst statistics indicated that there is higher genetic similarity between Anatolia and all of the Balkans and some of the Caucasian populations. Neighbor Joining (NJ) tree based on Reynold&rsquo / s genetic distances and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) both grouped the Anatolian populations with Balkans and some of the Caucasian populations and show clear differentiation of Asian populations from the Anatolian population. The relative genetic contribution of Central Asian genes to the current Anatolian gene pool was quantified using Admix analysis, considering for comparison populations of Balkans (Greek, Romania, Albania and Hungarian) and Central Asia (Uighur, Uzbeks, Tajicks, Kazaks, Kyrgyzes, Dungans). Estimates suggest roughly 28 % contribution from Asia to Anatolia in concordance with the previous estimation (Benedetto et al., 2001).

[pt] A influência do noticiário jornalístico veiculado pelos principais meios de comunicação de massa, na agenda pública e na formação da opinião pública, leva a imprensa a ser considerada, por importantes seguimentos da sociedade, o quarto poder da República – e é a base do surgimento, nos anos 1970, de um importante estudo acadêmico, ao qual os pesquisadores americanos Maxwell McCombs e Donald Shaw, seus autores, chamaram de agenda-setting (renomeada teoria da agenda, por alguns autores brasileiros). Com conexão obrigatória às pesquisas sobre o tema, estão o exercício da liberdade de expressão pela imprensa - sob a ótica das teorias do jornalismo e da comunidade jornalística - e a maneira como a sociedade, de uma forma geral, e os operadores do direito, de uma forma específica, entendem a liberdade de imprensa e o crescente conflito dessa liberdade com os direitos constitucionais da personalidade, cada vez mais evidente em um mundo contemporâneo globalizado, no qual os interesses econômicos de grandes empresas de comunicação de massa originam informações instantâneas e muitas vezes politizadas. Tendo como premissa que os meios de comunicação de massa produzem representações sociais da realidade, são relevantes as relações de poder-saber nos discursos da mídia e a influência do noticiário no ritmo dos processos judiciais e nas decisões dos magistrados, como se pode observar na cobertura jornalística, em especial na do jornal O Globo, referente ao julgamento da Ação Penal 470, pelo Supremo Tribunal Federal, entre agosto de 2012 e março de 2014. / [en] The influence of local news aired by the main media of mass communica-tion, in the public agenda and in the public opinion, takes the press to be consid-ered for important segments of society, the Fourth Estate of the Republic - and is the basis for the appearance, in the 1970s, of an important academic study, which the Americans Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw, the authors, called the theory of agenda. With mandatory connection to the research on this subject are the exercise of freedom of expression by the press - from the perspective of theo-ries of journalism and journalistic community - and how society in general way and legal practitioners in a particular-way understand freedom of the press and the growing conflict of this freedom with the constitutional rights of personality, in-creasingly evident in a contemporary globalized world, in which economic inter-ests of large media companies of mass communication originate instantaneous and often politicized informations. With the premise that the media of mass communi-cation produce social representations of the reality, it is still relevant the relations of power-knowledge speeches of the media and the influence of the news on the pace of court proceedings and decisions of magistrates, as it can be seen on the journalistic coverage, especially in O Globo, regarding to the trial of Criminal Case 470, by the Supreme Court between August 2012 and March 2014.

No description available.

<p>Neuroblastoma is a childhood cancer that originates from neuroblasts in the peripheral nervous system. Neuroblastoma show considerable heterogeneity with respect to location, responsiveness to treatment and prognosis. Since current therapy involves drugs with risk of serious side effects in the growing child, there is a clinical need for more effective and less toxic treatment strategies.</p><p>Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, is critical for tumor progression. Specific inhibition of tumor-induced angiogenesis should restrict growth of most solid tumors and thereby provide a new treatment strategy. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of angiogenic inhibition in experimental neuroblastoma in mice.</p><p>We found that experimental neuroblastomas expressed the perhaps most potent angiogenic growth factor, VEGF-A, and that plasma VEGF-A levels correlated with tumor size. SU5416, a novel antagonist of VEGFR-1 and 2, reduced angiogenesis and tumor growth in our model. We also investigated the properties of SU11657, a new, orally available, synthetic small molecule multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor. SU11657, at a well-tolerated dose, was more potent than SU5416 in reducing tumor growth rate and angiogenesis, even in MYCN-amplified tumors. Chemotherapeutics can also inhibit angiogenesis, when administrated daily in a non-toxic dose. CHS 828, a new chemotherapeutic, given orally, alone induced complete neuroblastoma regression in 44 % of the animals. Furthermore, the bisphosphonate zoledronic acid, developed to reduce bone resorption, showed anti-tumor activity in our model. Zoledronic acid was more potent than the angiogenic inhibitor TNP-470. Thus bisphosphonates may have other beneficial properties in patients with cancer apart from preventing bone resorption.</p><p>In conclusion, SU5416, SU11657, CHS 828, and zoledronic acid represent new drugs with potent anti-tumor effects. Angiogenic inhibition as single therapy or in combination with chemotherapeutics may be beneficial in the treatment of rapidly growing and highly vascularized solid tumors of childhood such as neuroblastoma.</p>

Neuroblastoma is a childhood cancer that originates from neuroblasts in the peripheral nervous system. Neuroblastoma show considerable heterogeneity with respect to location, responsiveness to treatment and prognosis. Since current therapy involves drugs with risk of serious side effects in the growing child, there is a clinical need for more effective and less toxic treatment strategies. Angiogenesis, the formation of new blood vessels, is critical for tumor progression. Specific inhibition of tumor-induced angiogenesis should restrict growth of most solid tumors and thereby provide a new treatment strategy. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of angiogenic inhibition in experimental neuroblastoma in mice. We found that experimental neuroblastomas expressed the perhaps most potent angiogenic growth factor, VEGF-A, and that plasma VEGF-A levels correlated with tumor size. SU5416, a novel antagonist of VEGFR-1 and 2, reduced angiogenesis and tumor growth in our model. We also investigated the properties of SU11657, a new, orally available, synthetic small molecule multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor. SU11657, at a well-tolerated dose, was more potent than SU5416 in reducing tumor growth rate and angiogenesis, even in MYCN-amplified tumors. Chemotherapeutics can also inhibit angiogenesis, when administrated daily in a non-toxic dose. CHS 828, a new chemotherapeutic, given orally, alone induced complete neuroblastoma regression in 44 % of the animals. Furthermore, the bisphosphonate zoledronic acid, developed to reduce bone resorption, showed anti-tumor activity in our model. Zoledronic acid was more potent than the angiogenic inhibitor TNP-470. Thus bisphosphonates may have other beneficial properties in patients with cancer apart from preventing bone resorption. In conclusion, SU5416, SU11657, CHS 828, and zoledronic acid represent new drugs with potent anti-tumor effects. Angiogenic inhibition as single therapy or in combination with chemotherapeutics may be beneficial in the treatment of rapidly growing and highly vascularized solid tumors of childhood such as neuroblastoma.

It is important to understand the underlying plant defense mechanisms in order to establish best strategies to reduce losses due to diseases in cereals. The current available information is mostly on model organisms and their plant-pathogen interactions. However, this study is focused on the identification of genes involved in the resistance mechanism of one of the most devastating diseases of wheat, yellow rust. The strategy undertaken was to use differential display method (DD) together with microarray technology, on yellow rust differential lines of wheat (Avocet-Yr1 and Avocet-Yr10) infected with the virulent and avirulent Puccinia striiformis f. sp. tritici races (Pst: PST17, PST45, 169E136 and 232E137) together with appropriate control infections. DD primer combinations of ninety allowed the detection of fourteen differentially expressed genes which were also confirmed by real-time QRT-PCR analysis. All of but one were found to be novel sequences in wheat genome. Among those, two very important genes were identified as full ORF including 5&rsquo / and 3&rsquo / end untranslated regions (UTR) / namely cyclophilin like protein (putative antifungal activity) and ubiquitin conjugating enzyme (E2). The sequence homology analysis of the cloned gene fragments reveled that the genes detected have roles in ubiquitinylation, programmed cell death (apoptosis), putative antifungal activities, disease resistance, pathogen related responses, including a few with no known function. In addition to DD analysis, using wheat Affymetrix &ldquo / GeneChip&rdquo / , we identified 93 differentially expressed ESTs of wheat in response to avirulent pathogen attack. We also investigated the differential expression profiles of wheat leaves during the virulent infections and determined 75 differentially regulated ESTs. 1Selected ESTs were further analyzed using QRT-PCR analysis and 15 were confirmed to be differentially regulated. For the further characterization of the identified genes, such as determination of their putative roles in disease response, functional studies have to be performed. For this purpose, BSMV (Barley Stripe Mosaic Virus) mediated virus induced gene silencing (VIGS) method is optimized in this thesis for wheat. We have successfully managed to silence the endogenous PDS gene (Phytoene desaturase) of wheat which can be used as a positive control for the monitoring of silencing of the genes we have identified. Our results show that BSMV mediated VIGS can be used efficiently and effectively to silence wheat genes that we identified through differential display and microarray analysis and can be used to study the functions of those genes

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common type of cancer affecting children in the world and in our country. The exact molecular etiology of the disease still remains to be elucidated. This study hypothesized that four genes, namely CYP2E1*5B, *6, and *7B, NQO1*2 SNPs, GSTM1 null and GSTT1 null, alone or in combination, could contribute to the risk of development of childhood ALL. Also interactions of these polymorphisms with non-genetic risk factors were investigated. The genotyping of these polymorphisms were done on 209 healthy subjects, and 185 patients with childhood ALL, in Turkish population. Venous blood samples were collected and genomic DNA was isolated from these samples. Genotyping was done by PCR-RFLP techniques. In the case-control analyses for the risk of development of childhood ALL, only GSTT1 null was found to be associated with the development of disease (OR= 1.8, p=0.01). CYP2E1*5B and *6 combination showed an increased risk of 2.7 fold (p= 0.04). Also co-presence of CYP2E1*6-GSTT1 and CYP2E1*7B-GSTT1 polymorphisms increased the risk significantly above 4.0 fold. The risk increased more to 7.6 fold, when CYP2E1*5B,*6 and GSTT1 null were considered together, with borderline significance (p=0.04). When interaction of exposure to cigarette smoke and genetic polymorphisms were investigated, NQO1*2 and GSTM1 null were turned out to be significant risk factors for the development of disease when the parental or child&rsquo / s postnatal exposure to cigarette smoke was considered. This study presented several new findings to the literature in terms of genetic epidemiology of childhood ALL. The present work would also contribute to public health in determining the susceptibility of the Turkish population to childhood ALL.

Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei is a biotroph pathogen that causes powdery mildew disease in barley. In this study, Pallas01 and Pallas03 barley lines having Mla1, Ml (Al2) and Mla6, Mla14 R-genes were inoculated with Bgh103(64/01) race of the Blumeria graminis f. sp. hordei having avirulence and virulence to Pallas01 and Pallas03, respectively. The proteins were isolated from the three biological replicates of 12, 24, and 48 hpi samples following the method in Rampitsch et al., 2006. These there biological replicates of three time points together with the mock inoculated plant proteins were separated on 2D-PAGE using IPG strips of 4-7 pH values as three technical replicates, resulting 108 gels. The gels were analyzed using PdQuest (Bio Rad) in order to assess up- or down-regulated protein spots by comparing against controls and the samples having resistance or susceptible responses with each other. According to the analysis, 36 proteins were found to be differentiated and among them 18 proteins were found up-regulated and 8 proteins were found down-regulated. The spots were manually v excised and subjected to the nano-LC-ESI-MS/MS analysis (Proteome Factory, Germany). The MASCOT algorithm was used for identification of the possible proteins. The experimental pI and MW values were used for selecting the differentiated proteins from the mass results. The relative abundance of each of the 38 identified polypeptides was calculated in terms of spot intensity. The majority of the most abundant proteins were found to be carbohydrate metabolism related. The relative distribution of the proteins into four main functional categories was taken into consideration. Statistical tests (Students&amp / #8223 / T-test) were carried among the identified proteins in order to reveal statistically significant proteins throughout the study. By making a WoLF PSORT search, subcellular localization of the proteins was predicted. Accordingly, most of the proteins were found to be located in cytoplasm or chloroplast.