Sepsis, a great challenge to the physician, is characterized with massive oxidative stress of tissue, cytokine inflammation and increases in nitric oxide (NO) production. Meanwhile, free radical induced by oxidative stress also injures cell membrane or DNA. The way to terminate free radical chain reaction is to administer antioxidant. The commonly used anesthetic, propofol, was thought to be with antioxidant capacity. In the first part of this thesis, we investigated the different role of oxidative injury and NO via systemic injection of LPS in rats. We demonstrated oxidative injury is associated with both early and late stage whereas NO is engaged primarily in late stage cardiovascular depression. Propofol, a rapid onset and fast recovery anesthetic, is attributed to protect anainst cardiovascular depression via attenuating the late stage NO surge in aorta by inhibition of iNOS upregulation. We also examine the influence of propofol on temporal changes in power density of frequency components of systemic arterial pressure (SAP) variability in rat with sepsis and the role of inducible NO synthase (iNOS). We have the conclusions that iNOS-induced NO might be involved in the manifestation of high-frequency and low-frequency components of the SAP spectrum during endotoxemia when low-dose propofol is used and the effect of NO is blunted when high-dose propofol is administered. Due to further investigation was needed to the cellular protective mechanisms of propofol, we delineate the effect of propofol to free radical related enzymel involved in sepsis via both in vivo and vitro studies with rats subjected to LPS (15 mg/kg) and H9C2, L2, NR8383 (derived from rat cardiac myocyte, lung, macrophage, respectively), respectively. Our results demonstrated that propofol may play the major protective role on iNOS, superoxide dismutase and p47 phox oxidative enzymes on lung epithelial cells. Propofol also provided protective effects on cardiac myocyte and macrophage with suppression of iNOS only although free radical production were all significantly suppressed. Ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury may also produce a lot of free radical and cytokines to cause tissue damage and is common in clinical. We investigated the effect of propofol on free radical and cytokine production via this different model and compared with another rapid recovery anesthesitc, sevoflurane. Aortic decalmping surgery in porcine and their monocyte, aortic and coronary smooth muscle cells were applied for in vivo and in vitro model, respectively. We also demonstrated that propofol but not sevoflurane suppressed the production of free radical and cytokine in monocyte and smooth muscle cells but not in vivo model. In sepsis and IR model that produced a lot free radical and cytokines, propofol eliminated the free redical and cytokines via suppressed different kinds of oxidative enzymes in different cells of different organs to express its protective role. However, as an anesthetic, propofol must be used carefully to perform its maximal benefit.

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The electrochemical behavior of a poly(2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidin- 1-oxyl-4-yl methacrylate) (PTMA) cathode in organic radical batteries with lithium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide in N-butyl-N-methyl- pyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI/BMPTFSI) ionic liquid electrolytes is investigated. The ionic liquid electrolytes containing a high concentration of the LiTFSI salt have a high polarity, preventing the dissolution of the polyvinylidene fluoride (PVdF) binder and PTMA in the electrolytes. The results of cyclic voltammetry and AC impedance indicate that an increase in the LiTFSI concentration results in a decrease in the impedance of the lithium electrode, which affects the C-rate performance of batteries. The discharge capacity of the PTMA composite electrode in a 0.6 m LiTFSI/BMPTFSI electrolyte is 92.9 mAh g−1 at 1 C; its C-rate performance exhibits a capacity retention, 100 C/1 C, of 88.3%. Moreover, the battery with the 0.6-m LiTFSI/BMPTFSI electrolyte has very good cycle-life performance.

Polymerization reaction is carried out by the reaction of 2,4,6 trichlorophenol with sodium hydroxide, in the presence of small amount of water by microwave initiation. Synthesis of polymers were successfully performed under microwave enegy. The use of microwave energy was due to advantages of shorter processing time. The main focus of attention was the 90 to 600 watt microwave energy. Polymerizations were performed with different time intervals by keeping the microwave energy and water content constant / or with different energy levels by keeping the time interval and water content constant / or by varying the amount of water by keeping the time and energy level constant.Beside poly(dichlorophenylene oxide), conducting polymer, ion-radical polymer, crosslinked polymer were also be successfully synthesized and characterized. Characterizations of the products were performed by FTIR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, DSC, TGA and elemental analysis. Molecular weight distribution was measured by PL-GPC 220 Polymer Laboratories Instrument. Conductivity measurements were performed by four probe technique.

This study was designed to investigate the cytotoxic and antioxidative properties of Aesculus hippocastanum L. (A. hippocastanum) bark extracts. Dried and powdered barks were extracted in ethanol, methanol, water and ethylacetate at a ratio of 1:6 (w/v). Antioxidative capacity of each extract (ethanol, methanol, water and ethylacetate) were determined by their ability to scavenge 1, 1 -diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl radical (DPPH). Effective concentration (EC50) values were calculated as 0.010 mg/mL 0.011 mg/mL, 0.009 and 0.019 mg/mL, respectively for ethanol, methanol, ethylacetate and aqueous extracts. The highest DPPH radical scavenging activity was demonstrated by ethyl acetate among the four bark extracts of A. hippocastanum. Nevertheless, methanol extract was preferred for the separation, identification and further quantification of its phenolic compounds using HPLC method. Analytical and semi&ndash / preparative HPLC methods were applied to qualify and quantify the isolates. Human Myeloid Leukemia (HL - 60) cell line was used as a model system for the proliferation studies. HL - 60 cells were cultured in the presence of various concentrations (0 to 100 &micro / g/mL) of methanol bark extract and, also, with the various concentrations of standard esculetin. HL-60 cell viability was examined by tryphan blue and the metabolism of tetrazolium salt XTT (2,3-bis(2-methoxy-4-nitro-5-sulfophenyl)-5-[(phenylamino) -carbonyl]-2H-tetrazolium hydroxide). XTT effective dose (ED50) values for the proliferation studies of methanol extract and standard esculetin were calculated as 56.18 &micro / g/mL and 21.23 &micro / g/mL, respectively. These results suggested that A. hippocastanum methanol bark extract and esculetin could be considered as a potent antioxidant and cytotoxic agent.

The synthesis of black conducting polymer (CP) and/or crosslinked polymers (CLP) and/or radical ion polymer (RIP) and/or white polymers (WP) and/or orange polymer (OP) were achieved by using KOH with TCP, pyrrole and thiophene via microwave energy in a very short time interval. Polymerizations were carried out by constant microwave energy with different time intervals varying from 1 to 25 min / or at constant time intervals with variation of microwave energy from 90 to 900 watt / or varying the water content from 0, 0.5 to 5 ml at constant time intervals and microwave energy, or at constant time interval, water content, microwave energy with variation of amount of KOH 0.03 mol to 6x10-4 mol. The effects of heating time, microwave energy, water content and amount of KOH on the percent conversion and the polymer synthesis were also investigated.White, orange polymers and radical ion polymers were characterized by FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared), 1H-NMR (Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance), 13C-NMR (Carbon-13 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance), TGA/ FTIR (Thermal Gravimetric Analysis / Fourier Transform Infrared), DSC (Differential Scanning Calorimeter), SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope), ESR (Electron Spin Resonance), GPC (Gel Permeation Chromatography), UV-Vis (UV-Visible Spectroscopy) and Light Scattering. Conducting and crosslinked polymers were characterized by FTIR, TGA/ FTIR, DSC, SEM, ESR, XRD (Powder Diffraction X-Ray) and conductivity.

The purpose of this study is to discuss the appropriateness of a cognitive approach to Donald Davidson&#039 / s meaning theory. Davidson makes the bold proposal that a truth theory, modified for a natural language, may be treated as a meaning theory for that language. According to Davidson, a meaning theory is an empirical theory. Radical Interpretation is at the center of such an empirical inquiry which places restrictions on the truth theory to make it suitable as a meaning theory without appeal to semantic notions. Davidson&lsquo / s aim in presenting this bold proposal and radical interpretation is to shed light on the concept of meaning, not to define the actual semantic competence of language users. But what Davidson&lsquo / s project does not aim to define is the main thing that a cognitive approach must account for. Whether a truth theory can represent the semantic competence of language users is discussed in this work. It is concluded that, although there is no a priori reason for such a representation claim, the cognitive approach&mdash / with the right assumptions to make the claim testable&mdash / can lead to an empirical research programme.

The radical democratic conception of civil society strives for theoretically constructing and politically defending civil society as a social sphere autonomous from both the economy and state. As a position taken against Marxist and liberal theories, radical civil societarianism views the cultural and normative structures of modern societies as independent from and prior to systemically conceived economic and political relations. These structures is purported to give way to spontaneous social solidarity characterising civil society. With the mechanisms of domination and exploitation defined outside civil society, this approach ends up with excessive voluntarism characterising social relations thereof. Similarly, in the Turkish context, the dominant centre-periphery approach is predicated upon the external contradiction between the vertical state-society relations and horizontal relations between social actors. It is argued that the dominance of the former has caused the underdevelopment of civil society which is a particular expression of the latter. In any case, social conflicts are detached from structural political and economic mechanisms and conceived in voluntaristic terms. Consequently, the normative position radical civil societarianism takes vis-&agrave / -vis social movements fails to go beyond an imposition of the arbitrary notion of &ldquo / civility&rdquo / through the discourse of self-limitation.

The aim of the study is to synthesize poly(dibromophenyleneoxide) and polyaniline separately applying different microwave energies (90-900 watt), water amounts (1-5 ml) and time intervals (2-10 min) and investigate the effects of these parameters on the percent conversion of the polymers. The synthesis of poly(dibromophenyleneoxide) (P), radical ion polymer (RIP) and crosslinked polymer (CLP) were achieved by using tribromophenol (TBP) and Ca(OH)2 via microwave energy in a very short time interval. P and RIP were characterized by ATR-FTIR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, TGA-FTIR, ESR, GPC, UV-VIS, DLS and SEM. Crosslinked polymers were characterized by ATR-FTIR and TGA-FTIR and polyaniline was characterized by ATR-FTIR.

Staphylococcus aureus is one of the major causes of food-borne pathogenesis. Antibiotic consumption for these pathogens has been increasing year by year world-wide. In order to decrease the use of synthetic antibiotics, fresh fruits and dry herbs consumed as beverages in regular diets were examined as potential natural antibiotics for the treatment of food based infections against Staphylococcus aureus. Herbs consumed as tea infusions including Pimpinella anisum L. (anise), Anthemis arvensis L. (camomile), Rosa canina L. (rosehip), Salvia fruticosa Mill (sage) and fresh fruit juices including Vitis vinifera L. (grape), Citrus sinensis L. (orange), Prunus persica L. (peach) and Punica granatum L. (pomegranate) were selected as samples of hot or cold consumed beverages in our daily diets. Extracts of fresh fruit juices were prepared in methanol, on the other hand, tea infusions of herbs were filtered and lyophilized. Antioxidant capacities of the plant samples were investigated by radical scavenging methods, namely 2&rsquo / 2-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) as well as determination of total phenolic and flavonoid contents. Furthermore, antimicrobial activities of plant samples were determined by minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration methods along with disc diffusion method. Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacities (TEAC) of the herbal tea infusions obtained by ABTS radical scavenging method were ranged between 48.38 &plusmn / 1.242 and 715.73 &plusmn / 4.265 (&mu / mol Trolox equivalent (TE)/g of extract) while, TEAC values of fresh fruits juices were between 26.86 &plusmn / 0.217 and 73.55 &plusmn / 0.973 (&mu / mol Trolox equivalent (TE)/g of extract). Moreover, EC50 values of the tea infusions obtained by DPPH radical scavenging method were ranged between 0.05 &plusmn / 0.001 and 1.53 &plusmn / 0.004 (mg/mL) while, EC50 values of the fruit juices were 1.6 &plusmn / 0.014 and 2 &plusmn / 0.093 (mg/mL). Total phenolic content of the plant samples tested in this study were varied from 1.383 (&mu / g gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/mg of extract) to 159.167 (&mu / g gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/mg of extract) and total flavonoid content varied from 0.111 (&mu / g quercetin equivalent (QE)/mg of extract) to 201.15 (&mu / g quercetin equivalent (QE)/mg of extract). Sage, orange and grape displayed higher antimicrobial activities with values of 1.5, 6 and 6 mg/mL minimum inhibitory concentrations and 1.5, 24 and 24 mg/mL minimum bactericidal concentrations, respectively. Inhibition zone diameters of sage, orange and grape were found to be 9, 9 and 11 mm.