Browsing by Author "Ekmekci, S"

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    Culturable airborne fungi in outdoor environments in Manisa, Turkey
    Kalyoncu, F; Ekmekci, S
    Airborne fungi may be causative agents of adverse health effects. They may adversely affect human health through allergy, infection and toxicity. Moreover, they have a great influence on urban air quality in Manisa. In this study, a systematical survey on the culturable airborne fungi was carried out for one year in the urban area of Manisa. Fungal samples were collected each month with the Merck MAS 100 air sampler from eleven sampling sites. Fungal concentrations were reported as colony forming units (CFU) per cubic meter of air using the MAS100 conversion unit table. Results showed that the average concentration of culturable fungi is 382 CFU/m(3) in Manisa air. 14 genera, including 48 species of culturable fungi were identified in this study. The identification of the fungi was made both according to their microscopic and macromorphological properties and through the references. Penicillium is the most abundant species, which comprised more than 25% of the total isolated fungal species. Cladosporium was the most dominant fungal genus, followed by Penicillium, Aspergillus and Alternaria. Also three fungal species, Acremonium byssoides Gams & Lim, Arthrobotrys arthrobotryoides (Berl.) Lindau, and Oidiodendron truncatum Baron were new records for Turkey's mycoflora.
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    Programmed cell death ligand-1 expression in gastroentero-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors
    Oktay, E; Yalcin, GD; Ekmekci, S; Kahraman, DS; Yalcin, A; Degirmenci, M; Dirican, A; Altin, Z; Ozdemir, O; Surmeli, Z; Diniz, G; Ayhan, S; Bulut, G; Erdogan, A; Uslu, R
    Purpose: Gastroenteropancreatic tumors (GEPNETs) is a heterogeneous disease with variable clinical course. While promising therapeutic options exist for other adult cancers, there are no new molecular-based treatments developed for GEPNETs. One of the main targets of cancer immunotherapy is the Programmed Cell Death Ligand-1 (PD-L1) pathway. Our purpose was to investigate the profile of PD-L1 expression in different organs of GEPNETs and compare the conventional immunohistochemistry (IHC) with the RNA expression analysis via real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in order to determine which patients might be appropriate for immune check point-targeted therapy. Methods: A total of 59 surgically or endoscopically resected GEPNET tissues were retrospectively collected. The expression of PD-LI and mRNA was evaluated with IHC. Results: The expression of PD-L1 was significantly associated with the high-grade classification (p=0.012). PD-LI mRNA expression in tumor samples appeared to be higher compared to the corresponding normal tissues. In appendix, stomach and small intestine, the expression of PD-L1 mRNA was higher in the tumor tissues compared to the respective controls. In pancreas and colon, control tissues tend to have a higher PD-L1 mRNA expression compared to tumor tissues. PD-L1 mRNA expression was higher in GEP carcinomas (p=0.0031). Conclusion: RT-PCR was found to be more sensitive in detecting PD-L1 expression than conventional IHC. This study may provide an important starting point and useful background information for future research about immunotherapy for appendix, stomach and small intestine neuroendocrine carcinomas.