Browsing by Author "Karakus M."

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    Does vaginal douching affect the risk of vaginal infections in pregnant women?
    (2006) Sakru N.; Inceboz T.; Inceboz U.; Zeren I.; Karakus M.; Kirca U.
    Objective: To evaluate the relationship between vaginal douching and vaginal infections among women in early pregnancy. Methods: We conducted this study in the Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Family Planning Center, Dr. E. Hayri Ustundag Hospital, Izmir, Turkey, between March 2003 and December 2004. We examined the vaginal swabs of 129 women, asking for termination of pregnancy in a family-planning center as both wet-preparations and cultures for vaginal microorganisms, and recorded the informations on women's vaginal douching habit. Results: Among 129 women examined, 80 had at least one type of vaginal microorganisms. Of 67 vaginal douche users, 48 (71.6%) had at least one type of vaginal organisms, whereas of 62 nonusers, only 32 (51.6%) had microorganism, although age, educational status, coital frequency, age at the first intercourse were not statistically different between the vaginal douche-users and non-users. Especially, Group B Streptococcus (GBS), Enterococcus spp. and Candida spp. were found more frequent in vaginal douche-user women. Conclusion: We found that vaginal douching tends pregnant women to genital tract the incidence of vaginal infections, especially those caused by Enterococcus spp. and GBS. As such infections may render such women to high risk in terms of perinatal mortality and morbidity, it would be appropriate to discourage vaginal douching in pregnant women.
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    Synthesis, crystal structure and ab initio/DFT calculations of a derivative of dithiophosphonates
    (2014) Karakus M.; Solak S.; Hökelek T.; Dal H.; Bayrakdar A.; Özdemir Kart S.; Karabacak M.; Kart H.H.
    The compound 2 has been synthesized from the reaction of 2,4-Bis(4-methoxyphenyl)-1,3,2,4-dithiadiphosphetane-2,4-disulfide and (R)-1-[3,5-Bis(trifloromethyl)phenyl]ethanol in toluene. The obtained crude dithiophosphonic acid 1 has been treated with the excess of N(C 2H5)3 to give rise to 2, [(+HN( C2H5)3][(O-CH3CH-C6H 3(CF3)2)(CH3OC6H4)PS2-]. The compound 2 has been characterized by using the spectroscopic methods such as IR, 1H, 13C, 31P NMR and structural analysing method such as X-ray crystallography. It crystallizes in the orthorhombic system, whose space group is P212121. It consists of a dithiophosphonate bridged methoxyphenyl and bis(triflorophenylethyl) groups and a triethylammonium moiety linked by NHâ̄S and CHâ̄F hydrogen bonds. In the crystal structure, the C17H14F6O2PS2 molecule is elongated along the b-axis and stacked along the a-axis. The triethylammonium, N(CH2CH3)3, molecule fill in the cavities between the C17H14F6O 2PS2 molecule. Moreover, ab initio methods based on Hartree-Fock (HF) and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations with the basis set of 6-31G(d) are also carried out to determine the molecular structural properties and to calculate FT-IR and NMR spectrum of the compound 2. The experimental results and theoretical calculations have been compared, and they are found to be in good agreement. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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    Seasonal Dynamics of Phlebotomine Sand Fly Species Proven Vectors of Mediterranean Leishmaniasis Caused by Leishmania infantum
    (Public Library of Science, 2016) Alten B.; Maia C.; Afonso M.O.; Campino L.; Jiménez M.; González E.; Molina R.; Bañuls A.L.; Prudhomme J.; Vergnes B.; Toty C.; Cassan C.; Rahola N.; Thierry M.; Sereno D.; Bongiorno G.; Bianchi R.; Khoury C.; Tsirigotakis N.; Dokianakis E.; Antoniou M.; Christodoulou V.; Mazeris A.; Karakus M.; Ozbel Y.; Arserim S.K.; Erisoz Kasap O.; Gunay F.; Oguz G.; Kaynas S.; Tsertsvadze N.; Tskhvaradze L.; Giorgobiani E.; Gramiccia M.; Volf P.; Gradoni L.
    Background: The recent geographical expansion of phlebotomine vectors of Leishmania infantum in the Mediterranean subregion has been attributed to ongoing climate changes. At these latitudes, the activity of sand flies is typically seasonal; because seasonal phenomena are also sensitive to general variations in climate, current phenological data sets can provide a baseline for continuing investigations on sand fly population dynamics that may impact on future scenarios of leishmaniasis transmission. With this aim, in 2011–2013 a consortium of partners from eight Mediterranean countries carried out entomological investigations in sites where L. infantum transmission was recently reported. Methods/Principal Findings: A common protocol for sand fly collection included monthly captures by CDC light traps, complemented by sticky traps in most of the sites. Collections were replicated for more than one season in order to reduce the effects of local weather events. In each site, the trapping effort was left unchanged throughout the survey to legitimate inter-seasonal comparisons. Data from 99,000 collected specimens were analyzed, resulting in the description of seasonal dynamics of 56,000 sand flies belonging to L. infantum vector species throughout a wide geographical area, namely P. perniciosus (Portugal, Spain and Italy), P. ariasi (France), P. neglectus (Greece), P. tobbi (Cyprus and Turkey), P. balcanicus and P. kandelakii (Georgia). Time of sand fly appearance/disappearance in collections differed between sites, and seasonal densities showed variations in each site. Significant correlations were found between latitude/mean annual temperature of sites and i) the first month of sand fly appearance, that ranged from early April to the first half of June; ii) the type of density trend, varying from a single peak in July/August to multiple peaks increasing in magnitude from May through September. A 3-modal trend, recorded for P. tobbi in Cyprus, represents a novel finding for a L. infantum vector. Adults ended the activity starting from mid September through November, without significant correlation with latitude/mean annual temperature of sites. The period of potential exposure to L.infantum in the Mediterranean subregion, as inferred by adult densities calculated from 3 years, 37 sites and 6 competent vector species, was associated to a regular bell-shaped density curve having a wide peak center encompassing the July-September period, and falling between early May to late October for more than 99% of values. Apparently no risk for leishmaniasis transmission took place from December through March in the years considered. We found a common pattern of nocturnal females activity, whose density peaked between 11 pm and 2 am. Conclusions: Despite annual variations, multiple collections performed over consecutive years provided homogeneous patterns of the potential behavior of leishmaniasis vectors in selected sites, which we propose may represent sentinel areas for future monitoring. In the investigated years, higher potential risk for L. infantum transmission in the Mediterranean was identified in the June-October period (97% relative vector density), however such risk was not equally distributed throughout the region, since density waves of adults occurred earlier and were more frequent in southern territories. © 2016 Alten et al.