We observed that changing the concentrations of ingredients of commercially available fibrin glue, the source of the cartilage, or the cultured chondrocyte concentration did not have significant effect on neocartilage formation.

ABSTRACT. Two local (Vezir-1 and Vezir-2) and two standard (M9 and MM106) clonal apple rootstocks were compared using both morphological and molecular markers. International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants criteria were used for morphological evaluation, which did not clearly separate these rootstocks. We tested 47 random decamer primers for random amplified polymorphic DNA analysis; 15 of them gave reproducible polymorphic patterns, yielding 109 bands, which showed 78% polymorphism. Based on a dendrogram obtained by unweighted pair group method using arithmetic average analysis, three clusters were obtained. The highest genetic similarities were found between M9 and Vezir-2 (0.670). The random amplified polymorphic DNA markers proved to be more efficient than the standard morphological markers for the identification of rootstocks.

Objective:Hemochromatosis is an autosomal recessive disease that is one of the most important reasons for iron overload. Sickle cell disease is a hemoglobinopathy that occurs as a result of a homozygous mutation in the hemoglobin gene. Erythrocyte transfusion is frequently used in the treatment of this disease. Iron overload as a result of transfusion is important in the mortality and morbidity of sickle cell anemia patients as well as in other hemoglobinopathies. In this study, the effect of hemochromatosis gene (HFE) p.H63D and p.C282Y mutations on transfusion-related cardiac and liver iron overload in sickle cell disease patients who carry homozygous hemoglobin S mutation has been investigated.Materials and Methods:This is a prospective single-center cross-sectional study in patients with homozygous hemoglobin S mutation between the years 2008 and 2013. The patients were divided into two groups. The first group (group A, n=31) was receiving chelation therapy and the second group (group B, n=13) was not. Direct and indirect iron loads were analyzed by magnetic resonance imaging and biochemically, respectively. HFE gene mutations were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Statistical analyses were performed by independent samples t-test.Results:p.H63D mutation was detected in 10 (32.3%) patients in group A and in only 1 patient (7.7%) in group B. When the 2 groups were compared for iron overload, iron deposition in the liver was significantly higher in group B (p=0.046). In addition, in group A, iron deposition was significantly higher in HFE mutation carriers compared to patients without the mutation (p=0.05).Conclusion:Results of this study showed that HFE gene mutations are important in iron deposition in the liver in patients with sickle cell disease.

A 39-year-old woman who became pregnant with twins after an intracytoplasmic sperm injection was referred at the ninth gestational week to determine chorionicity. Ultrasonographic examination showed a monochorionic diamniotic twin pregnancy. First trimester nuchal translucency measurements of the fetuses were 1.6 and 2.7 mm. A non-invasive prenatal test was performed and revealed low risk. One fetus appeared to be female and the other male at the 14th gestational week. Second trimester anatomic scanning results were otherwise normal for both fetuses. The newborns delivered at term appeared to be normal female and male babies phenotypically. At the fourth month, buccal cell analysis showed chimeric karyotypes, 46,XX[98]/46,XY[2] and 46,XY[98]/46,XX[2] in the female and male infant, respectively. The recognition of sex discordance despite monochorionicity may be a clue for the diagnosis of such rare cases of chimerism in dizygotic twins, most of which occur in pregnancies obtained by assisted reproductive technology.

Objective: First trimester nuchal translucency (NT) measurement is considered to be an important tool in antenatal follow-up. This study aimed to evaluate the outcomes of pregnancies with increased NT at Başkent University Ankara Hospital between 2004 and 2016. Materials and Methods: Patients with NT measurements ≥1.5 multiples of median (MoM) were divided into two groups; group I included increased NT cases without fetal anomalies (either abnormal fetal karyotype or congenital structural anomalies) or loss (intrauterine fetal death), and group II included increased NT cases with fetal anomalies or loss. The groups were compared with each other with respect to maternal demographic features and NT measurements. Results: Karyotype analyses were normal in 73.1% of cases with increased NT (57/78). Among those, 21.1% (12/57) had structural anomalies, and to specify, 9.6% (5/52 over 18 weeks) had cardiac anomalies. Although maternal demographic features did not differ significantly, NT measurements, both as millimeters and MoM, were significantly higher in group II (p<0.05). According to the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, the optimal cut-off values for NT measurements for predicting fetal anomalies or loss were 3.05 mm and 2.02 MoM. NT measurement >7 millimeters or NT MoM >4.27 resulted in poor fetal outcomes without exception. Conclusion: Higher NT measurements indicate poorer pregnancy outcomes. Our study indicates that fetal echocardiography must be considered for all cases with increased NT.