Browsing by Author "Zeybek, V"

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    Determining Expression Profile of Leucine-Rich Repeating Transmembrane Protein4 (LRRTM4) in Suicide Cases
    Öztürk, HKA; Zeybek, V; Kesan, S; Acar, K
    Objective: Suicide is important in forensic medicine. Studies conducted to determine the etiology of suicide have shown that genetic factors have a critical role along with neuroendocrine changes occurring in the brain. It has been shown that dysregulation in the glutamatergic signaling pathway plays an essential role. One of the glutamatergic genes that causes suicide is the leucine-rich repeating transmembrane protein4 (LRRTM4). In our study, unlike previous studies, we planned to investigate LRRTM4 gene expression levels at mRNA and protein levels by taking samples from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of the brain from autopsy cases. It was aimed to determine whether there is a statistically significant difference in LRRTM4 gene expression levels between suicide and non-suicide cases. Methods: The study group consisted of 38 suicides. The control group consisted of 30 non-suicidal cases. Samples were taken from the DLPFC in the brain from these cases at autopsy. In the tissue samples obtained LRRTM4 gene expressions were analyzed at the mRNA and protein level using quantitative PCR and western blot methods. Results: LRRTM4 gene expression values of suicides and non-suicide cases were compared. It was found to be 1.6 times higher in the study group than in the control group. Conclusion: It has been determined that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between suicide and the LRRTM4. Our findings will contribute positively to the pre-detection of risk factors in suicidal individuals and the medicolegal evaluation. Furthermore, our study will guide further research on the role of genetic factors in the etiology of suicide.
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    Elderly suicides in Denizli, Turkey: a retrospective study from 2011 to 2020
    Zeybek, V; Yetis, H; Izci, A; Acar, K
    Background: Although suicide rates and methods used may vary according to society, gender, and age there are epidemiological studies reporting that suicide rates increase with advanced age in all societies, particularly accelerating after the age of 65 years. This study aimed to investigate the demographic data and suicide characteristics-such as the location and method, among others-of the elderly suicide deaths among forensic deaths between 2011 and 2020 in Denizli,Turkey. Results: It was determined that elderly suicides constituted 13.8% of all suicides and increased gradually over the years during the 10-year period. The vast majority of cases were male (82%). It has been observed that hanging is the most frequently used method. It is also noteworthy that although firearm suicide among men was the second most common method, women do not choose this method at all. The majority of elderly suicides (88.5%) in Denizli occurred in the home and its annexes. Conclusions: Suicide prevention programmes should promote the elderly to benefit widely from social and health services. Therefore, there is a need to include widespread home care services and firearms regulations in prevention programmes.
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    Sex estimation via the measurement of the seventh cervical vertebrae on Computerized Tomography images
    Karabag, G; Zeybek, V; Can, F; Yavuz, MS
    Background: Sex estimation from skeletal remains is crucial for estimating an individual's biological profile. Although the pelvis and skull are most commonly used for sex estimation, other skeletal elements, e.g., the vertebrae, have reportedly demonstrated acceptable accuracy rates. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of using seventh cervical vertebra measurements on computed tomography images for sex estimation. Material and methods: Cervical computed tomography images of 300 female and 300 male patients (>= 20 aged 60 <= years) were evaluated. Sex estimation modeling was performed with eight measurements of the seventh cervical vertebrae, and indices and corpus volume obtained from the measurements. Corpus length and width, foramen vertebra length and width, corpus height, spinous process angle, and spinous process height and length of each seventh cervical vertebra were measured. Foramen vertebral index, spinous process index, and corpus volume were used as indices. The Independent Sample T test was used to compare the means of two independent groups showing normal distribution, and the Mann-Whitney U test was used for data that were not normally distributed. Binary logistic regression analysis was performed using the Forward Wald approach in modeling the categorical dependent variable with independent variables. Results: According to multivariate logistic regression analysis, sex estimation from measurements was 87.7% accurate, whereas index and volume were up to 85.3% accurate. Conclusions: In conclusion, the seventh cervical vertebra is dimorphic with a high accuracy rate for the Turkish population and can be used for sex estimation.
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    Elderly suicides in Turkey
    Zeybek, V; Karabag, G; Yavuz, MS
    Due to the unique physical and psychosocial characteristics of this age group, it is expected that the characteristics of elderly suicides are different from other groups. Knowing the characteristics of elderly suicides guides prevention strategies. The objective of this study was to evaluate the demographic characteristics, methods and reasons for suicide in elderly suicide cases using the data of the Turkish Statistical Institute between 2002 and 2019. Of the completed suicides among older adults, 4,208 (74%) cases were men and 1,481 (26%) were women. Crude suicide rates of all elderly age groups were higher than the general population. Illness was the most common reason for suicide. The second leading cause of suicide was marital conflicts in women, while financial difficulties were observed in men. Hanging was the most common method in both genders. It is remarkable that the use of gunshot considerably increases as years progress and the ratio of men (n:962) to women (n:16) reach 60. Considering these findings together with epidemiologic data predicting that this increase in the elderly population will almost double within less than 30 years, it is apparent that suicide is a major issue among older adults.
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    The relationships between anthropometric measurements, organ weights and intracranial, carotid and coronary atherosclerosis
    Ozturk, HKA; Zeybek, V; Dereli, AK; Acar, K; Kilic, ID; Tekin, O; Akca, A
    BackgroundAtherosclerosis is the most common cause of cardiovascular-cerebrovascular diseases. Obesity and atherosclerosis are related, and obesity can lead to systemic diseases and an increase in organ weight. Anthropometric measurements such as body mass index, waist circumference and hip circumference are used to determine the risk of obesity. We conducted this study to evaluate the relationship between obesity and atherosclerosis in postmortem cases. We aimed to determine the relationships among anthropometric measurements; subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness; atherosclerosis in the intracranial, carotid, and coronary arteries and organ weights.MethodsProspective data analysis was performed from 230 forensic autopsies of 18-75-year-olds from 22/01/2020 to 22/01/2021. Age, sex, history of disease, cause of death, height, weight, body mass index, waist circumference, hip circumference, waist/hip ratio, subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness, and organ weights of the patients were recorded. Atheroma plaques and stenosis in the intracranial, carotid, and coronary arteries were examined. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM SPSS Statistics version 29. The Mann-Whitney U or Kruskal Wallis tests were employed to compare continuous variables. Categorical variables were compared using the Chi-square test.ResultsThis study included 187 (81.3%) males and 43 (18.7%) females, and the mean age of the patients was 49.3 +/- 17.5 years. Body mass index was significantly and positively correlated with waist circumference, hip circumference, subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness, and the waist/hip ratio. Body mass index, waist/hip ratio, and subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness were significantly positively correlated with heart, liver, kidney, and spleen weights. While body mass index, waist/hip ratio, and subcutaneous adipose tissue thickness were negatively correlated with brain weight in females, this correlation was not detected in males. There were significant associations between the waist/hip ratio and atheroma plaque in the intracranial arteries and >= 50% stenosis in the LAD-RCA arteries.ConclusionsThe methods used in the assessment of obesity are important. In study, obesity was approached from a broad perspective by evaluating anthropometric measurements used for obesity diagnosis and atherosclerosis together with organ weights in postmortem cases. We believe that our study will contribute to the assessment of cardiovascular disease risk factors.