[Three step MIRU-VNTR for routine mycobacteriology laboratory practice].

Several methods are available for the molecular typing of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex isolates. The results of the recent research demonstrated that Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Unit (MIRU)-Variable Number Tandem Repeats (VNTR) method has high discriminatory power and reproducibility, is easy to perform, and available for multi-center studies and automation. However, there is insufficient data about the MIRU-VNTR profiles in Turkey.

Investigation on changes in complex vegetation coverage using multi-temporal landsat data of Western Black Sea region--a case study.

Previous studies have been able to successfully detect changes in gently-sloping forested areas with low-diversity and homogeneous vegetation cover using medium-resolution satellite data such as landsat. The aim of the present study is to examine the capacity of multi-temporal landsat data to identify changes in forested areas with mixed vegetation and generally located on steep slopes or non-uniform topography landsat thematic mapper (TM) and landsat enhanced thematic mapperplus (ETM+) data for the years 1987-2000 was used to detect changes within a 19,500 ha forested area in the Western Black sea region of Turkey. The data comply with the forest cover type maps previously created for forest management plans of the research area.

Impact of road network on the structure of a multifunctional forest landscape unit in southern Turkey.

Forest roads have many kinds of direct and indirect effects such as physical, ecological, and socio-economic effects in landscape scale. In this study the relationship between forest road network and the structure of a multifunctionally planned forest landscape, in the south of Turkey was examined. The aim of the study was to determine whether or not the correlation between road network and landscape structure across a gradient of road density categorical road/no road approach and landscape pattern data from the managed forest landscapes existed.

[Amputations in eastern Turkey (Van): a multicenter epidemiological study].

Objectives: The indications for amputations vary among countries and different regions depending on many factors. This study was designed to evaluate amputations performed in the province of Van and to determine specific causes of amputations associated with geographical and cultural characteristics of the region.

Methods: A total of 475 amputations were performed in 440 patients (345 males, 95 females; mean age 28.

Is it valuable to examine more than one sputum smear per patient for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis?

The simplest, cheapest, and fastest diagnostic method for tuberculosis (TB) is the detection of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) by microscopy. The algorithm advised for the diagnosis of TB recommends examination of three consecutive sputum specimens from TB suspects for the presence of AFB. In the present study, we evaluated the contribution of each specimen to the final detection of TB suspect patients with culture-proven disease.

Ultrastructural stages of biofilm development of Escherichia coli on urethral catheters and effects of antibiotics on biofilm formation.

Objectives: Biofilm formation on biomaterials by various kinds of bacteria renders the infection chronic, and the bacteria can become resistant to the immune system and antibiotics. Developmental biofilm stages of Escherichia coli on urethral catheters have not yet been thoroughly demonstrated. We aimed to show biofilm formation of E.