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This study shows an increase in intra-left atrial mechanical delay in PAF patients. This method can be used as an early marker to detect PAF.

OSAS is associated with a significant worsening in HRV, HRT, and QT dynamicity parameters. Our results may indicate that HRV and QT dynamicity parameters can be useful noninvasive methods that may detect autonomic nervous system activity and ventricular vulnerability in OSAS.

In this study a set of cyclone frequency statistics is developed and the prevailing tracks of cyclones are derived for a region of the world that has not been previously investigated in detail. Analysis reveals that Turkey experiences the effects of five dominant cyclone trajectories. Investigation of the seasonal variability of the cyclone frequencies shows that the highest number of cyclones occurs during winter. The variability of the subtropical jetstream latitude is analysed by multi-variable regression involving cyclone numbers, the numbers of occurrences of the Mediterranean Persistence High Pressure (MPHP), which is an extension of the Azore High Pressure and their periods. This analysis revealed that the most important factor among the three factors chosen is the number of observed blocking cases over Turkey. Although the northern parts of Turkey are accepted as having a transitional type climate between the Mediterranean and temperate regions, our results showed that they are more influenced by cyclones of Mediterranean origin.

Evaluation of ventricular function by using echocardiographic strain imaging appears to be useful to detect subclinical cardiac involvement in SSc patients with normal standard echocardiographic and tissue Doppler velocity findings.

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Aim: Paraoxonase-1 (PON1) is an antioxidant enzyme located in high density lipoprotein (HDL). PON1 was defined as a protective factor against atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible relationship between serum paraoxonase (PONase), homocysteine thiolactonase (HTase) activities and PON1 Q192R polymorphism, and the extent and severity of atherosclerosis. Methods: Blood specimens were collected from 142 individuals who had no coronary artery lesions angiographically (control group) and 128 individuals who had angiographically documented coronary artery disease of several degrees (patient group). The extent and severity of arterial lesions were evaluated by the Gensini scoring system. PONase and HTase activities were measured in serum using a spectrophotometric method. PON1 Q192R polymorphism was evaluated using PCR-RFLP after DNA isolation from blood. Results: Serum PONase and HTase activities were significantly lower in the patient group than in healthy controls (135.7 56.0 U/mL vs 153.8 62.0 U/mL, p 0.05; 36.0 6.1 U/mL vs 43.0 4.04 U/mL, p 0.01; respectively). In the patient group, there was a negative correlation between PONase, HTase activities and the Gensini score (r 0.168, p 0.039; r 0.164, p 0.006, respectively). In both groups, there was no significant difference in the distribution of PON1 Q192R polymorphism. In the patient group, the distribution of Gensini scores according to genotypes was not significant. Conclusion: It has been concluded that serum PONase and HTase activities might be a more relevant marker than PON1 genotype in evaluating the extent and severity of atherosclerosis.

Poly(vinylpyrolidone) (PVP) nanofibers incorporating gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) were produced in combination with laser ablation and electrospinning techniques. The Au-NPs were directly synthesized in PVP solution by laser ablation and then, the electrospinning of PVP/Au-NPs solution was carried out for obtaining nanofibrous composites. The presence of Au-NPs in the PVP nanofibers was confirmed by SEM, TEM and EDX analyses. The SEM imaging elucidated that the electrospun PVP/Au-NPs nanofibers were bead-free having average fiber diameter of 810 ± 480 nm. The TEM imaging indicated that the Au-NPs were in spherical shape having diameters in the range of 5 to 20 nm and the Au-NPs were more or less dispersed homogeneously in the PVP nanofiber matrix. The FTIR study suggested the presence of molecular interactions between PVP matrix and the Au-NPs in the nanofibrous composites. The UV-Vis measurement confirmed the enhancement of the optical properties of the PVP/Au-NPs nanofibers in the solid state due to the surface plasma resonance effect of Au-NPs. © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All Rights Reserved