The study investigated whether there is a male reproductive system coronavirus disease‐2019 (COVID‐19) phenomenon. Thirty participants who met the inclusion criteria were enrolled in the study between April and May 2020. The participants were assigned in one of the three groups including COVID‐19 patients before and after treatment, and controls. Presence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) within the semen samples was investigated. Additionally, participant's demographics, semen parameters and serum sex hormone levels were compared between the groups. SARS‐CoV‐2 was not detected within the semen samples. Sperm morphology and serum sex hormone levels were significantly different between the groups. In the post hoc analysis, sperm morphology was significantly lower in the COVID‐19 patients. Patients before treatment had significantly lower serum FSH, LH and T levels than controls. However, patients after treatment had similar serum FSH, LH and T levels with controls and patients before treatment. In our opinion, COVID‐19 and its treatment had no specific deteriorative effect on male sexual health at a short‐time period. In the patients before treatment, decreased serum of T, FSH and LH levels was consistent with acute patient stress due to COVID‐19. Similarly, it seems that decreased sperm morphology was associated with the acute fever.

On August 17, 1999, a destructive earthquake occurred in the western part of the North Anatolian Fault Zone, Turkey. The earthquake source region has been designated as a seismic gap and an M7-class earthquake has been supposed to occur someday in the future so as to fill this seismic gap. So far we have undertaken various kinds of observations in this area and we could obtain some valuable data before, during and after the mainshock. Here we report some of the preliminary results of our recent studies, which include field work started in late July this year and continued during and after the earthquake occurrence just in the earthquake source region and its vicinity, in addition to seismic observations carried out for several years before the mainshock. Much emphasis is put on magnetotelluric field data acquired during the mainshock; in fact, large variations caused by seismic waves were recorded. Such variations could be interpreted in terms of electromagnetic induction in the conducting crust caused by the velocity field interacting with the static magnetic field of the Earth. In particular, the first motion of seismic wave could be identified in the records and used for precise determination of the hypocenter of the mainshock.

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[1] Geomagnetic field data with high time resolution (typically 1 s) have recently become more commonly acquired by ground stations. Such high time resolution data enable identifying Pi2 pulsations which have periods of 40-150 s and irregular (damped) waveforms. It is well-known that pulsations of this type are clearly observed at mid-and low-latitude ground stations on the nightside at substorm onset. Therefore, with 1-s data from multiple stations distributed in longitude around the Earth's circumference, substorm onset can be regularly monitored. In the present study we propose a new substorm index, the Wp index (Wave and planetary), which reflects Pi2 wave power at low-latitude, using geomagnetic field data from 11 ground stations. We compare the Wp index with the AE and ASY indices as well as the electron flux and magnetic field data at geosynchronous altitudes for 11 March 2010. We find that significant enhancements of the Wp index mostly coincide with those of the other data. Thus the Wp index can be considered a good indicator of substorm onset. The Wp index, other geomagnetic indices, and geosynchronous satellite data are plotted in a stack for quick and easy search of substorm onset. The stack plots and digital data of the Wp index are available at the Web site (http://s-cubed.info) for public use. These products would be useful to investigate and understand space weather events, because substorms cause injection of intense fluxes of energetic electrons into the inner magnetosphere and potentially have deleterious impacts on satellites by inducing surface charging.

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The purpose of this study was to investigate whether a grafting technique using either periosteum or bone marrow as an adjunct, would reconstitute more favorable tendon anchorage morphology with improved tensile strength in a bone tunnel model. We hypothesized that autogenous bone marrow aspirate can enhance the tendon-bone attachment as well as a freshly harvested periosteum, because both tissues contain pluripotent cells. Thirty-six skeletally mature New Zealand white rabbits were utilized. For the tendon graft healing in a bone tunnel model, the extensor digitorum longus tendon was detached from its femoral insertion and transplanted through a bone tunnel into the proximal tibia. Three groups were compared. For the group P (periosteum), a periosteum-wrapped tendon was fixed into the tunnel through the proximal tibial metaphysis. For the group BM (bone marrow), instead of periosteum augmentation, fresh bone marrow was injected into the tendon graft that would sit inside the tunnel. For the group C (control), the limb underwent a similar operation with neither the periosteum enveloping nor bone marrow injecting the tendon. At 6 and 12 weeks after surgery, two rabbits were used for light and electron microscopic examinations, and ten rabbits were used for biomechanical tests in each group. The interface tissue between bone and tendon was thicker and less organized in group C compared to groups P and BM at 6 weeks. Ultra-structurally, the interface tissue was loosely organized in group C, compared to others. Bone ingrowth into tendon was more obvious in groups P and BM, compared to group C. The proliferation of cartilage islands was observed within bone tunnels of both groups P and BM; but a well-defined fibrocartilage zone was noted only in group BM at the interface at week 12. Biomechanical findings: (1) at 6 weeks, the average failure load of group P was significantly higher than the others (P < 0.01). At same time point, in terms of stiffness, while group P was significantly higher than the other groups (P < 0.01), group BM was also significantly higher than that of group C (P < 0.05); (2) at 12 weeks, in terms of failure loads, there was a statistical significant difference only between groups BM and C (P < 0.05). At the same time point, stiffness values were not statistically different among the three groups. Based on the histological and biomechanical findings, the present study demonstrated that periosteum had a positive effect when compared to bone marrow and control groups on the tendon-to-bone healing at an early time point (6 weeks), and bone marrow was also effective at 12 weeks time point compared to the control group in an extra-articular bone tunnel in rabbits. The presence of pluripotent cells in both the bone marrow and the periosteum may be the possible mechanism for enhanced healing. Periosteum had a positive effect at an early time point (6 weeks). Bone marrow was more effective at 12 weeks. Therefore, it is possible that a combination of wrapping periosteum and injecting bone marrow to the te...

[1] Volatile releases, in terms of CO 2 efflux and noble gas of mantle origin, are investigated in the Marmara region of the seismically active North Anatolian Fault (NAF) zone. A total of 180 CO 2 efflux measurements (1 to 309 g m À2 d À1 ) were carried out along four transects across the NAF. Spatial variability of surface CO 2 effluxes was higher at faulted sites, relative to comparable background areas. The d 13 C values of soil CO 2 are À24.0 to À15.6% without correlation with CO 2 efflux values, which suggest that CO 2 efflux anomaly is caused by fault-related biogenic gas flow. Furthermore, 36 gas and water samples from spring sites were investigated for 3 He/ 4 He ratios which resulted in a range from 0.26 R/R A to 4.22 R/ R A . Large mantle helium contributions were observed from several sources along the NAF. The high CO 2 efflux sector on the Gaziköy-Saros fault along the NAF coincides with the area of high mantle helium flux. This shows that fault zones play an important role both in transferring mantle helium to the surface and in causing fault-related biogenic gas flow.

Magnetotelluric (MT) surveys were carried out along some profiles crossing the fault rupture zone associated with theİzmit earthquake which took place on 17 August 1999 in the western part of the North Anatolian Fault Zone (NAFZ). In this paper, we focus on the western part of the fault rupture zone where two different groups of seismicity followed theİzmit earthquake. One group was seen along a narrow belt and corresponds to aftershocks occurring along the fault rupture zone. The other was seen in a circular region and represents a swarm activity, presumably triggered by the occurrence of theİzmit earthquake. Two-dimensional inversion was performed for the MT data acquired along two profiles; one crosses the western end of the fault rupture zone and the other is located in the west of the swarm activity area. In the former case, aftershocks tended to occur in a resistive zone underlain by a moderately conductive zone, as was the case for the hypocenter area. In the latter case, the swarm activity tends to be confined in a conductive zone below a highly resistive zone. This activity is likely to be triggered through pore-pressure changes associated with theİzmit earthquake.