Celal Bayar University

About: Celal Bayar University is a education organization based out in Magnesia ad Sipylum, Turkey. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Heat transfer. The organization has 2960 authors who have published 6024 publications receiving 100646 citations.

Is Toxoplasma gondii a potential risk for traffic accidents in turkey

Abstract: In Turkey, traffic accidents are the major causes of mortality and morbidity. According to the statistics made by Turkish Security Headquarters in the year 2000, 7500 people are killed in the traffic accidents every year. Drivers are mostly blamed for the traffic accidents. Tired, weary, sleepy and absentminded driving are common reasons for traffic accidents due to many reasons. Among these reasons mental and reflex conditions of drivers are significant. Toxoplasmosis is one of the most common zoonoses throughout the world. In immunocomponent adults, toxoplasmosis has no clinical signs or symptoms and infection in such people can only be detected by serological examinations. This kind of latent or dormant toxoplasmosis can be located in neural or muscular tissues and cause prolonged reaction times of the muscles. Extended reaction times also lead to deceleration of the reflexes which could be a major cause of the traffic accidents. By the light of this situation, the incidence of Toxoplasma gondii is investigated among the population who were involved in a traffic accident while driving. A total of 185 people (100 men and 85 women), aged between 21 and 40 years, living in Izmir and Manisa cities, were enrolled in the study group (SG) during a period of 6 months time. Their informed consents were taken initially and the laboratory tests of all these individuals related to blood alcohol levels after the accidents were found negative. The control group (CG) were also consisted 185 people (95 men and 90 women), residents of the same region, in same age group. The people in CG had no clinical signs or symptoms concerning toxoplasmosis. All collected sera were examined using a commercial IgG and IgM ELISA kit. According to the results of serological tests of the SG, 45 (24.32%) sera were IgG positive, six (3.24%) were IgM positive and 10 (5.40%) were both IgG and IgM positive. On the other hand in CG, 12 (6.48%) people found IgG positive, one (0.54%) found IgM positive and three (1.62%) found both IgG and IgM positive. This data was considered as statistically significant by Yates corrected Χ 2 -test. (p < 0.05). In conclusion, there is an increased risk for traffic accidents for drivers owing to these high seroprevalence of latent toxoplasmosis. Prospective studies are still necessary on this subject but latent toxoplasmosis of drivers should be taken into account while developing strategies to prevent traffic accidents in Turkey.

Is diet partly responsible for differences in COVID-19 death rates between and within countries?

Abstract: Reported COVID-19 deaths in Germany are relatively low as compared to many European countries. Among the several explanations proposed, an early and large testing of the population was put forward. Most current debates on COVID-19 focus on the differences among countries, but little attention has been given to regional differences and diet. The low-death rate European countries (e.g. Austria, Baltic States, Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Poland, Slovakia) have used different quarantine and/or confinement times and methods and none have performed as many early tests as Germany. Among other factors that may be significant are the dietary habits. It seems that some foods largely used in these countries may reduce angiotensin-converting enzyme activity or are anti-oxidants. Among the many possible areas of research, it might be important to understand diet and angiotensin-converting enzyme-2 (ACE2) levels in populations with different COVID-19 death rates since dietary interventions may be of great benefit.

Heart rate and blood lactate concentrations as predictors of physiological load on elite soccer players during various soccer training activities.

Abstract: The purpose of this investigation was to estimate the physiologic strain on players during various soccer training activities. Ten soccer players from the first division soccer league of Turkey were used as subjects. The heart rate responses were measured during 4 types of soccer training. First, the heart rates that corresponded to a blood lactate concentration of both 2 and 4 mM were measured, and then, during the 4 types of training, they were correlated with the proportion of time that the heart rate was below the 2-mM lactate line, between the 2- and 4-mM lactate lines, and above the 4-mM lactate line. Mean heart rates during friendly match, modified game, tactical training, and technical training activities were 157 +/- 19, 135 +/- 28, 126 +/- 21, and 118 +/- 21 b.min(-1), respectively. The differences between all of these soccer training activities were statistically significant (p < or = 0.01). The results demonstrate that (a) technical and tactical training consisted of very low exercise intensities (most of the heart rates were below the 4-mM lactate level) and (b) the percentages of time that the heart rate correlated to a point above the 4-mM lactate reference level during the friendly match and modified game were 49.6 +/- 27.1% and 23.9 +/- 24.5%, respectively. The practical implications of these findings are that, by using 2- to 4-mM reference lines, coaches can structure heart rate zones that can help determine the individualized exercise intensity for their players as well as estimate overall exercise intensity during soccer training.