Browsing by Author "Öztürk, N"

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    TRALLEIS COSMETIC AND MEDICAL INSTRUMENTS: PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATION
    Ünal, C; Öztürk, N
    In Late Antiquity, Tralleis was one of the important centres of Western Anatolia. The importance of Tralleis is supported by the richness of the finds unearthed during the excavations in the ancient city, as well as the information that has survived from the sources of the Late Antiquity to this day. Excavations in the Tralleis were carried out periodically by different teams. Gymnasium, North and West Shops located around the Gymnasium, Roman Villa Sectors, and Episcopal Church identified as the Byzantine Period church were unearthed. Excavation and restoration works were carried out in front of the Underground Tunnel System, previously referred to as the Arsenal, and inside the tunnel entrance. As a result of the excavations carried out in these areas until today, many small finds have been obtained. The small finds provide data on the daily life of the city, its trade and the transition from a polytheistic belief system to a monotheistic belief system.During the arrangements made in the Tralleis excavation warehouse between 2020-2022, it was determined that there were many metal finds belonging to the Late Antiquity and Early Byzantine Period. Cosmetic and medical instruments stand out among the metal finds. In our study, a preliminary evaluation will be made on the cosmetic and medical instruments found as a result of the works in the warehouse of the ancient city of Tralleis and the warehouse of the Aydin Archaeology Museum. In this study, twenty-eight metal cosmetic and medical instruments found in the ancient city of Tralleis will be introduced.
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    Early Byzantine pilgrim flasks (ampullae) and glass unguentaria from Tralles
    Çakmakçi, Z; Ünal, C; Öztürk, N
    In 2021, excavations were carried out in the Roman Villas Sector of the ancient city of Tralles around the remains of a building called the Hall with Apse. Two terracotta ampullae, one of which is broken, eight glass unguentaria, three of which are preserved compleely, and two bronze coins were found on the mosaic floor in a square space located behind the apse. The broken ampulla has a cross motif in a medallion on a partially preserved side. The other ampulla, which is preserved completely, has half-length holy figures with inscriptions on both sides. The inscriptions indicate that one of the figures is St. Andrew while the other is unknown. The glass unguentaria are characterised by their small size, long tubular necks and conical bodies. The function of the mosaic-floored room is not known, but it may b e surmised that it may have been used for the storage of objects brought after a holy pilgrimage. The ampullae possibly originated from Ephesus, the main pilgrimage centre and ampulla production site in the region. The small size of the glass unguentaria as well as the fact that they were found together with the ampullae suggest that they may have been used as a type of eulogia. Of the coins recovered with the finds, one is probably a half follis from the 6th century, the other belongs to the reign of Emperor Justinian I (52 7-56 -56 5). These coins are the most important dating source for the other site finds. In addition, a comparative evaluation of ampulla and unguentarium specimens unearthed during excavations in western Anatolia also supports this dating.
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    Comparison of interferon-gamma whole blood assay with tuberculin skin test for the diagnosis of tuberculosis infection in tuberculosis contacts
    Öztürk, N; Sürücüoglu, S; Özkütük, N; Gazi, H; Akçali, S; Köroglu, G; Çiçek, C
    Tuberculin skin test which is used for the detection of latent tuberculosis (TB), has many disadvantages such as false positivities due to cross reactions between environmental mycobacteria and BCG strain, false negativities due to immunosuppression and malpractice, and also difficulties in application and evaluation. Recently a new diagnostic test which measures the production of interferon (IFN)gamma in whole blood upon stimulation with specific ESAT-6 and CFP-10 antigens of Mycobacterium tuberculosis has been introduced. Since most of the mycobacteria other than tuberculosis and BCG strain do not contain these antigens, the detection of IFN-gamma levels indicates the specific T-cell response against M.tuberculosis. The aim of the study was to compare the tuberculin skin test and whole blood IFN-gamma assay (QuantiFERON (R)-TB Gold, Cellestis Ltd, Carnegie, Victoria, Australia) for the identification of latent TB infection in the contacts with active TB patients. The tests results were evaluated by using Kappa (K) analysis, and K coefficients of < 0.4, 0.4-0.75 and > 0.75 were accepted as poor, moderate and excellent agreements, respectively. A total of 233 subjects from three risk groups were included to the study. Group 1 included the household members (n=133) who had contact with smear positive index cases, Group 2 included the subjects from community (n=46) who had contact with smear positive index cases, and Group 3 included health care workers (n=74) who had contact with TB patients or their specimens. The positivity rates of tuberculin skin test and IFN-gamma assay in the cases were found as 37% and 42%, respectively. There were no significant differences among the three patient groups with regard to the results of the tuberculin skin test (p > 0.05). However, the positive result of the IFN-gamma assay in Group 1 was found statistically higher than the other groups (51.3%, p=0.013). A poor agreement between the two tests was detected in the results taken from 233 subjects (65.7%, K=0.28), while agreement was moderate in unvaccinated group (72.7%, K=0.44). Evaluation of agreement rates of the tests according to the risk groups yielded 64.6% (K=0.3) for Group 1, 71.7% (K=0.32) for Group 2, and 63.5% (K=0.21) for Group 3, which all coefficients showed poor agreement. Although IFN-gamma blood assay has many advantages such as objective and quantitative results, no interference with vaccination due to the use of specific antigens and being practical, the high cost and the need for well-equipped laboratory are its disadvantages. As a result it was concluded that, IFN-gamma blood assay has limited value for the detection of latent TB infection in our country, since the prevalence of TB infection and BCG vaccination rates are high in Turkey.