Chickpea is an important food legume crop of Turkey and is largely grown for human consumption on low moisture or salt-affected soils. The objective of the study was to find the effects of NaCl stress at electrical conductivities of 4.5, 8.6, 12.7 and 16.3 dS/m and seed sizes (7, 8 and 9 mm) on germination and early seedling growth of three popular chickpea cultivars (AKN-97, Gokce and Uzunlu-99). Mean frequency of germination, germination time, germination index, root length, shoot length and seedling fresh weight showed seed size-dependent responses of cultivars to salt stress. In general, small seeds germinated and grew more rapidly compared to medium and large seeds of the same cultivars against all levels of salt stress, with the best results in cultivar Uzunlu-99. No effect of NaCl treatments was observed on frequency of germination; however, a drastic decrease in early seedling growth was recorded at increased NaCl concentrations. Regression analysis results showed a significantly positive relationship (P<0.01) between seed size and mean germination time, whereas a significantly negative relationship was recorded between seed size and germination index, root length, shoot length. Moreover, linear regression values apparently confirmed that increased seed size in each cultivar affected decreased germination index, root and shoot lengths with enhanced mean germination time. Thus, it was concluded that the use of small seeds could considerably reduce the production costs of chickpea in salt-affected soils.
Cicer ; growth & development ; Linear Models ; Seedlings ; growth & development ; Seeds ; anatomy & histology ; physiology ; Sodium Chloride ; pharmacology

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of 18F-FDG PET/CT texture analysis to predict the exact pathological outcome of thyroid incidentalomas. Methods: 18F-FDG PET/CT images between March 2010 and September 2018 were retrospectively reviewed in patients with focal 18F-FDG uptake in the thyroid gland and who underwent fine needle aspiration biopsy from this area. The focal uptake in the thyroid gland was drawn in 3D with 40% SUVmax threshold. Features were extracted from volume of interest (VOI) using the LIFEx package. The features obtained were compared in benign and malignant groups, and statistically significant variables were evaluated by receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis. The correlation between the variables with area under curve (AUC) value over 0.7 was examined; variables with correlation coefficient less than 0.6 were evaluated with machine learning algorithms. Results: Sixty patients (70% train set, 30% test set) were included in the study. In univariate analysis, a statistically significant difference was observed in 6 conventional parameters, 5 first-, and 16 second-order features between benign and malignant groups in train set (p < 0.05). The feature with the highest benign-malignant discriminating power was GLRLMRLNU (AUC:0.827). AUC value of SUVmax was calculated as 0.758. GLRLMRLNU and SUVmax were evaluated to build a model to predict the exact pathology outcome. Random forest algorithm showed the best accuracy and AUC (78.6% and 0.849, respectively). Conclusion In the differentiation of benign-malignant thyroid incidentalomas, GLRLMRLNU and SUVmax combination may be more useful than SUVmax to predict the outcome.

INTRODUCTIONWe compared the effects of various surgical positions, with and without the Valsalva manoeuvre, on the diameter of the right internal jugular vein (RIJV).

METHODSWe recruited 100 American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status class I patients aged 2-12 years. The patients' heart rate, blood pressure, peripheral oxygen saturation and end-tidal CO2 pressure were monitored. Induction of anaesthesia was done using 1% propofol 10 mg/mL and fentanyl 2 µg/kg, while maintenance was achieved with 2% sevoflurane in a mixture of 50/50 oxygen and air (administered via a laryngeal mask airway). The RIJV diameter was measured using ultrasonography when the patient was in the supine position. Thereafter, it was measured when the patient was in the supine position + Valsalva, followed by the Trendelenburg, Trendelenburg + Valsalva, reverse Trendelenburg, and reverse Trendelenburg + Valsalva positions. A 15° depression or elevation was applied for the Trendelenburg position, and an airway pressure of 20 cmH2O was applied in the Valsalva manoeuvre. During ultrasonography, the patient's head was tilted 20° to the left.

RESULTSWhen compared to the mean RIJV diameter in the supine position, the mean RIJV diameter was significantly greater in all positions (p < 0.001) except for the reverse Trendelenburg position. The greatest increase in diameter was observed in the Trendelenburg position with the Valsalva manoeuvre (p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONIn paediatric patients, the application of the Trendelenburg position with the Valsalva manoeuvre gave the greatest increase in RIJV diameter. The reverse Trendelenburg position had no significant effect on RIJV diameter.

Anesthesia ; methods ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Female ; Head-Down Tilt ; Humans ; Jugular Veins ; anatomy & histology ; diagnostic imaging ; Male ; Methyl Ethers ; therapeutic use ; Propofol ; therapeutic use ; Supine Position ; Ultrasonography ; Valsalva Maneuver