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.

Development of ASAS quality standards to improve the quality of health and care services for patients with axial spondyloarthritis

Abstract: Objectives The Assessment of SpondyloArthritis International Society (ASAS) aimed to develop a set of quality standards (QS) to help improve the quality of healthcare provided to adult patients affected by axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) worldwide. Methods An ASAS task force developed a set of QS using a stepwise approach. First, key areas for quality improvement were identified, discussed, rated and agreed on. Thereafter, areas were prioritised and statements for the most important key areas were phrased on consensus. Appropriate quality measures were defined to allow quantification of the QS at the community level. Results The ASAS task force, consisting of 20 rheumatologists, two physiotherapists and two patients, selected and proposed 34 potential key areas for quality improvement which were then commented by 140 ASAS members and patients. Within that process three new key areas came up, which led to a re-evaluation of all 37 key areas by 120 ASAS members and patients. Five key areas were identified as most important to determine quality of care: referral including rapid access, rheumatology assessment, treatment, education/self-management and comorbidities. Finally, nine QS were agreed on and endorsed by the whole ASAS membership. Conclusions ASAS successfully developed the first set of QS to help improving healthcare for adult patients with axSpA. Even though it may currently not be realistic to achieve the QS in all healthcare systems, they provide high-quality of care framework for patients with axSpA that should be aimed for.

Toll-like receptors and skin

Abstract: Toll-like receptors are important pattern recognition receptors which have key roles in both innate and adaptive immune responses. They are strongly associated with the pathogenesis of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, Toll-like receptors have also been implicated in the pathogenesis of several skin diseases such as skin infections, psoriasis, acne vulgaris, lichen planus, Behcet's disease, leprosy, syphilis, Lyme disease, atopic dermatitis and allergic contact dermatitis, mycosis fungoides, non-melanoma skin cancers and melanoma. In this manuscript, the structure and functions of Toll-like receptors in immune responses, their impact on skin diseases and recent advances on therapeutic usage have been reviewed.

Precision luminosity measurements at LHCb

Abstract: Measuring cross-sections at the LHC requires the luminosity to be determined accurately at each centre-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s}$. In this paper results are reported from the luminosity calibrations carried out at the LHC interaction point 8 with the LHCb detector for $\sqrt{s}$ = 2.76, 7 and 8 TeV (proton-proton collisions) and for $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5 TeV (proton-lead collisions). Both the "van der Meer scan" and "beam-gas imaging" luminosity calibration methods were employed. It is observed that the beam density profile cannot always be described by a function that is factorizable in the two transverse coordinates. The introduction of a two-dimensional description of the beams improves significantly the consistency of the results. For proton-proton interactions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV a relative precision of the luminosity calibration of 1.47% is obtained using van der Meer scans and 1.43% using beam-gas imaging, resulting in a combined precision of 1.12%. Applying the calibration to the full data set determines the luminosity with a precision of 1.16%. This represents the most precise luminosity measurement achieved so far at a bunched-beam hadron collider.