This cross-sectional study was undertaken to assess the prevalence and risk factors for otitis media with effusion (OME) in Trabzon, a city in northeastern Turkey, and evaluate the need for screening for OME in the normal population. In kindergartens, daycare centers, public and private schools in the rural and central areas of Trabzon, 1,077 children aged between 5 and 12 years were examined. OME prevalence was 11.14% (120/1,077). Young age, attendance at kindergarten/daycare, low economical status, the mother's working status (housewife), history of snoring and acute otitis media, antibiotic use in the previous 3 months and active upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) were found to be the risk factors for OME. A history of hearing loss reported by the parents and teachers was found significant in the diagnosis of OME despite the low predictive value. When the parents suspected that their child had experienced hearing loss (in 36 cases), they did not refer them to a healthcare facility. To conclude, the approach to OME in developing countries should be more interventional as healthcare coverage is usually low and behavioral factors such as the demand for healthcare is poor.

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Reactive oxygen species have fundamental roles in reproductive functions. To comprehensively evaluate the relation between reactive oxygen species and infertility, physiological variations across the estrous cycle in healthy cows have to be known. For this purpose 25 healthy multiparous Holstein dairy cows having regular estrous cycles were used. The estrous cycles were synchronized by ovsynch protocol. Oxidant [lipid hydroperoxide (LOOH), total oxidant status (TOS), oxidative stress index (OSI)], antioxidant parameters [total antioxidant status (TAS), total free sulfhydryl groups (SH), ceruloplasmin (CP), paraoxonase-1 (PON1), arylesterase (ARE), uric acid (UA)], lipid profile and progesterone levels were assayed at estrus, metestrus, diestrus and proestrus stages of the estrous cycle in the plasma samples. The plasma levels of oxidant (LOOH, TOS and OSI) and antioxidant (TAS, SH and UA) parameters were significantly decreased during the luteal phase compared to the follicular phase (at proestrus and at estrus) of the estrous cycle. There was also a significant positive correlation between TAS and TOS. The activity of PON1 and ARE significantly increased only at diestrus. Levels of high density lipoprotein, low density lipoprotein and total cholesterol elevated during the follicular phase (estrus) and declined during the luteal phase. In conclusion, oxidant/antioxidant status and lipid profile were affected by cyclic changes. Moreover, antioxidant defense system showed adaptive response to increased oxidative activities by occurring parallel increases and it may indicate that there is a dynamic balance between oxidant and antioxidant status during the estrous cycle in healthy cows. Keywords: Cow, Estrous cycle, Lipid peroxide, Lipid profile, Total antioxidant status, Total oxidant status Sütçü İneklerde Östrus Siklusunun Oksidan ve Antioksidan Parametreler Üzerine Etkisi ÖzetReaktif oksijen türlerinin üreme fonksiyonları üzerinde önemli rolleri vardır. Sağlıklı süt sığırlarında reaktif oksijen türleri ve infertilite arasındaki ilişkiyi kapsamlı bir şekilde değerlendirmek için östrus siklusu boyunca reaktif oksijen türü seviyelerindeki değişimlerin bilinmesi gerekir. Bu çalışmada düzenli siklus gösteren 25 adet sağlıklı Holştayn ırkı sütçü inek kullanıldı. Östrus siklusları ovsynch protokolü ile senkronize edildi. Östrus siklusunun proöstrus, östrus, metaöstrus ve diöstrus dönemlerinde kan plazmasında oksidan parametreler [lipit hidroperoksit (LOOH), total oksidan seviye (TOS), oksidatif stres indeksi (OSI)], antioksidan parametreler [total antioksidan kapasite (TAS), total serbest sülfhidril gruplar (SH), seruloplazmin (CP), paraoksonaz-1 (PON1), arilesteraz (ARE), ürik asit (UA)], lipit profili ve progesteron seviyesi ölçüldü. Foliküler dönemle karşılaştırıldığında luteal dönemdeki plazma oksidan (LOOH, TOS, OSI) ve antioksidan (TAS, SH, UA) seviyelerinin önemli derecede düştüğü görüldü. Ayrıca TAS ve TOS değerleri arasında önemli bir pozitif korelasyon vardı. Paraoksonaz-1 ve ARE aktiviteleri sadece diöstrus ...

We report a case of sialolithiasis of an accessory parotid gland in the cheek demonstrated by computed tomography and sialography. The accessory parotid gland was located anterolateral to the masseter muscle and was isolated from the main parotid gland. The calculus developed from this accessory parotid gland, and the main parotid gland was free of sialolithiasis and inflammation. To our knowledge, this is the first report concerning sialolithiasis in an accessory parotid gland. The calculus was removed without facial nerve injury or salivary fistula via a peroral approach.

The objective of this study was to determine thiol/disulphide homeostasis (TDH) in infertile cows with subclinical endometritis (SCE). Endometrial cytological samples were collected using a cytobrush to diagnose SCE in 36 infertile cows. According to the results of the cytology examination, those with acute endometritis were classified as Group I (n = 20) and those with chronic endometritis were classified as Group II (n = 16). A control group was formed of heifers as Group III (n = 20). Blood samples were taken from each group on the day of diagnosis (day 0) to analyse TDH. In the cytology examination, both the Giemsa method and immunocytochemical staining were applied to determine chronic inflammation and activity status. In 55.55% (20/36) of the infertile cows with cytological endometritis, the inflammation was determined to be active, and in 44.44% (16/36) it had become chronic. The native thiol and total thiol levels were found to be statistically significantly lower in the acute (206.54 ± 8.30 μmol/L; 227.11 ± 9.30 μmol/L) and chronic SCE cases (225.15 ± 11.89 μmol/L; 247.96 ± 10.80 μmol/L) compared to the heathy control group (308.47 ± 13.59 μmol/L; 336.83 ± 15.5 μmol/L respectively) (P<0.001). Disulphide levels, disulphide/total thiol, native thiol/total thiol and disulphide/native thiol ratios were similar in all the groups (P>0.05). The diagnostic accuracy of native thiol, which can be used in the diagnosis of SCE, was 92.8%, that of total thiol was 89.3% and that of disulphide was 64.3% according to the ROC curve analysis. These results demonstrate that TDH is a reliable and sensitive indicator of oxidative stress in cow SCE, and that abnormal TDH might play a role in SCE pathogenic mechanisms. This is the first study to evaluate thiol/disulphide homeostasis in dairy cows with SCE as a new indicator of oxidative stress.

Quality of software is one of the most critical concerns in software system development, and many products fail to meet the quality objectives when constructed initially. Software quality is highly affected by the development process's actual dynamics. This article proposes the use of the Markov decision process (MDP) for the assessment of software quality because MDP is a useful technique to abstract the model of dynamics of the development process and to test its impact on quality. Additionally, the MDP modeling of the dynamics leads to early prediction of the quality, from the design phases all the way through the different stages of development. The proposed approach is based on the stochastic nature of the software development process, including project architecture, construction strategy of Software Quality Assurance system, its qualification actions, and team assignment strategy. It accepts these factors as inputs, generating a relative quality degree as an output. The proposed approach has been demonstrated for the design phase with a case study taken from the literature. The results prove its robustness and capability to identify appropriate policies in terms of quality, cost, and time. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.