Erectile dysfunction (ED) is defined in relation to the metabolic syndrome (metS). Hydrogen sulphide (H S), a gasotransmitter, has been revealed to get involved in hypertension, insulin secretion and regulation of vascular tone especially in erectile physiology. This study aimed to investigate the effect of H S on metS-induced ED. Animals were divided into two groups as control and metS, which were fed with standard diet or 60% high-fructose diet for 10 weeks respectively. The metS model was evaluated with biochemical analyses, waist circumference/tibia length ratio and HOMA index. Penile hemodynamic parameters were evaluated by the measurement of intracavernous pressure/mean arterial pressure ratio during cavernous nerve stimulation in the presence and absence of intracavernous injection of NaHS (100 μg/50 μl) and its control 0.9%NaCl (50 μl) in both groups. H S levels were measured in penile tissues by methylene blue assay. H S levels were significantly decreased in the penile tissues of the metS group. Decreased intracavernous pressure/mean arterial pressure ratio improved after intracavernous administration of NaHS in the metS group. These results suggest the significant role of H S in the metS-induced erectile dysfunction that could be a new therapeutic target.

Background Resistin is known as a potential mediator of obesity‐associated insulin resistance. The high resistin level disrupts nitric oxide (NO)‐mediated relaxation which is also important in erectile function. An antioxidant alkaloid, Boldine, is known as anti‐diabetic and protects endothelial functions. Objectives We aimed to investigate resistin expression in penile tissue in the presence of insulin resistance (IR) and the effect of Boldine treatment on erectile functions in the metabolic syndrome (MetS) rat model. Materials and methods Wistar rats were randomly divided into three groups: Control, MetS, and boldine treated MetS group. MetS parameters were assessed by serum triglycerides (TG), uric acid (UA), glucose, insulin levels, HOMA index, and waist circumference (WC)/tibia length (TL) ratio. To evaluate erectile functions, intracavernous pressure (ICP)/mean arterial pressure (MAP) ratio was performed during cavernous nerve stimulation. Protein expressions of resistin, endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), p(S1177) eNOS, and insulin receptor‐β were evaluated by Western blotting. Results TG, glucose, insulin levels, weight, WC/TL ratio, HOMA index and resistin expression in penile tissue were significantly increased and ICP/MAP values, and p (S1177) eNOS expression in penile tissue were decreased in MetS group. Boldine treatment enhanced ICP/MAP values, insulin receptor‐β and p(S1177) eNOS expressions compared with the MetS group. Discussion and Conclusion MetS caused a deterioration in erectile function accompanied by an increase in resistin expression and a reduction in eNOS enzyme activation in the rat penile tissues. Boldine treatment resulted in an improvement in erectile function, independent of resistin expression.

Bu çalışmada 2005 ve 2020 dönemi kapsamında haftalık ve aylık gözlemlerde CDS, faiz oranı ve USDTRY arasındaki ilişki incelenmiştir. Test sonuçlarına göre tüm değişkenler arasında pozitif yönlü bir ilişki bulunmuştur. Granger Coherence test sonucuna göre değişkenler arasında orta ve kısa döneme yoğunlaşan çift taraflı nedensellik sonucuna ulaşılmıştır. 37 pencere uzunluğundaki Boostraplı zamanla değişen nedensellik test bulgularına göre, değişkenler arasında hem kriz hem kriz dışı dönemlerde geçerli, ancak heterojen özellikler gösteren nedensellik bulunmuştur. Ayrıca, COVID-19 periyodunu içeren zaman aralığında, sadece faiz oranı ve döviz kuru arasında geçerli tek yönlü nedensellik bulgusuna rastlanmıştır. Bulgular hem yatırımcılar hem de politika yapıcılar için önemli sonuçlar doğurmaktadır.

Heparin attachment to synthetic surfaces is one means of improving the biocompatibility of clinically used cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) circuits. To assess the effect of heparin-coated circuits on complement consumption during CPB, 40 patients undergoing elective myocardial revascularization were prospectively randomized either to a group in which a completely Duraflo II heparin-coated circuit was used for perfusion (heparin-coated Group, n = 20 patients) or to a control group (n = 20 patients) in which an uncoated, but otherwise standard circuit was used. Full systemic heparinization was induced (activated clotting time, 480 seconds) in all the patients included in the study, regardless of which perfusion circuit was used. The two groups did not differ significantly in terms of bodyweight, aortic crossclamp and extracorporeal circulation times. No patient had difficulty in weaning from bypass and the postoperative period was uneventful in all patients. Concentrations of C3 and C4 were found to be within the "normal' range in the prebypass period in both groups. There were no significant intergroup differences with regard to C3 and C4 consumption during CPB. We conclude that Duraflo II heparin-coated circuits have no effect in reducing complement consumption during CPB in fully heparinized patients.

In this paper, the impacts of the Covid-19 mortality rates on the agricultural spot prices were investigated by using both standard techniques and wavelet-based cohesion and Granger causality tests. Our dataset consisted of daily observations of the mortality rates as well as corn, oats, rapeseed, rice, soybeans, and wheat prices during the period January 22 to September 18, 2020. The findings of the paper revealed that the mortality rate was cointegrated with the prices of corn, oats, rapeseed, and soybeans. Further, the VECM results showed that the mortality rate unidirectionally Granger-caused the corn and rapeseed prices in the longrun, and the oat prices in the short-and long-run. On the other hand, the wavelet cohesion results revealed that the dynamics of the interdependence of the underlying variables were time-varying and heterogeneous over time horizons. The wavelet-based Granger-causality test, however, indicated that the mortality rates negatively caused most of the agricultural prices. These findings yield some important implications for policymakers.

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We examine the relationship among geopolitical risks (GPR), WTI oil, and gold prices utilizing the time-varying causality and quantile regression approaches. The sample period spans from January 1986 to January 2022, comprising 433 monthly observations and representing the longest common period of data availability. The results show that there is no causality between the pairs of GPR–WTI, and GPR–gold prices for the full sample period, while the causality between gold and WTI is unidirectional, running from gold to WTI. Using the rolling causality test, however, we find that the dynamic causal relations strengthen over time. The Granger causality from the gold prices to GPR and WTI is stronger than the other way around, suggesting that the gold market dominates the other two variables in terms of strength of the lead-lag structure of causality. Besides, we observe the strongest causation effects between GPR and WTI spot prices. Before 2009, the causal relationship between WTI and GPR is mostly unidirectional while also a bidirectional linkage emerges, coinciding with the crisis periods including the Dot-Com and 2007 US Subprime crises. During the causal periods, these variables respond negatively to changes in others. For the COVID19 period, the direction of causality considerably changes in favor of WTI for the GPR–WTI pair whereas it is unchanged for the WTI–gold pair. The results indicate that WTI has positive and negative predictive powers for GPR and gold while it receives negative and positive causation effects from GPR and gold during the pandemic, respectively.

The variation in rainfall amount is found to be more forceful in poorer or agriculture-dependent countries and seems to be less effective for industrial economies. As Turkey is a newly industrialised country with a growing service economy, it is categorized as an emerging economy in the world. However, agricultural industry still plays a significant role in the economy especially in terms of the level of employment. The aim of the study is to examine the impact of rainfall on economy through economic outcomes of drought on agricultural industry. There seems to be a positive correlation between rainfall and agricultural industry in over the investigated period. As the growth in agricultural industry is highly correlated, similarly rainfall and overall economic growth appear to be coinciding and moving together. When there is drought in the country, economic crises follow this pattern. Besides rainfall, another variable, temperature, is allowed to identify whether it has any effect on the growth. Contrary to rain, temperature has no influence on agricultural output. The descriptive figures note that while agricultural industry involves a small share of the whole economy, the results of the study imply rainfall amount in Turkey has more impacts on economic growth than thought.