Efficacy and safety of Sinovac vaccine administered in patients undergoing hemodialysis

Introduction: COVİD-19 disease is more serious and fatal in patients on dialysis treatment due to their immunosuppressive status. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the protection and safety of Sinovac vaccine, which is an inactivated vaccine, in patients undergoing hemodialysis. Methodology: A control group consisting of 220 hemodialysis patients (HD group) and 648 healthcare professionals who were healthy in our institution were included in the study. Quant II IgG anti-Spike antibody was measured 3 weeks after two doses of Sinovac vaccine were administered to both groups. Results: The antibody response after two doses of Sinovac vaccine was 85.2% in the HD group and 99.8% in the control group. The mean antibody level before vaccination in the HD group was 3.5 ± 7.2 AU/mL and increased significantly 3 weeks after two doses of vaccine (mean 751 ± 1196 AU/mL). The control group’s mean antibody level after vaccination was 1723 ± 1878 AU/mL. The mean antibody level after vaccination in the control group was significantly higher than the HD group (p < 0.0001). Despite higher levels of anti-Spike antibodies in the control group, post-vaccination antibody response was acceptable in both HD and control groups. The HD group was significantly older (mean 64 ± 12 years) than the control group (36 ± 10 years) (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Although dialysis patients are immunocompromised, and some may not develop antibodies to the virus as strongly as healthy people, this study revealed that dialysis patients developed significant amounts of antibodies. Being old or on dialysis is an independent predictor of low antibody response to the Sinovac vaccine

Hareketten yapı çıkarım algoritmaları için katmanlı kalibrasyon ve grup senkronize odak uzaklığı kestirimi.

The estimation of unknown calibration parameters of the cameras without using any calibration pattern is critical for the performance of the 3D computer vision applications such as structure from motion, pose estimation, visual odometry, and it is still an open problem for the researchers. In this thesis, our contribution is two folded. First of all, we propose a novel stratified approach for estimating both the focal length and the radial distortion of a camera from given 2D point correspondences without knowing any calibration information, such as the focal length of a camera. We as- sume that the images share the same intrinsic parameters and we further assume that the optical image centers are known. Our method progresses first by showing that the distortion on the point coordinates can be removed without the knowledge of the true focal length by enforcing the epipolar geometry constraint. Next, by using the distortion free correspondences, we estimate the true focal length of the camera by enforcing the trace constraint. Secondly, we utilize the idea of estimation of calibration parameters from two cameras, and propose method for estimation of focal lengths of all cameras, which can be all different, used in structure from motion pipeline. The relation of focal lengths between two adjacent cameras are defined from a trace constraint, and this is followed by using the group synchronization method for all cameras in a dataset to estimate unknown focal lengths. In this step a novel energy function is proposed together with global optimum solution. The optimal solution for this function gives the resultant focal lengths with an error which can be handled by bundle adjustment stage of structure from motion algorithms, even if very limited number of focal lengths are available. In both contributions, our methods are quite easy to implement compared to other methods in the literature and we demonstrate their accuracy and robustness against noise on synthetically generated data sets. Furthermore, we perform experiments for the accuracy of our first method on real image pairs by comparing our results against a method that uses a calibration pattern, and for the accuracy and complexity of the second method on real data sets used in structure from motion pipelinesM.S. - Master of Scienc

Effect of Music Therapy and Sound Isolation on the Comfort of Mechanically Ventilated Patients

Objective: This study was conducted experimentally to examine the effect of music therapy and sound isolation on the comfort of mechanically ventilated patients. Materials and Methods:The study was conducted in the anesthesiology and reanimation intensive care unit of a university hospital between November 2019 and January 2020. Three different interventions were applied to n=24 patients who constituted the research sample. Each patient listened to Western Classical Music and Nihavend magam Turkish Classical Music separately for 60 minutes (min) and received an intervention of sound isolation for 60 min through a special headset. Results: The mean age of the patients participating in the study was 64.88±14.05. Of the patients, 66.7% were male, 79.2% were married, and 45.8% were illiterate. Patients’ systolic and diastolic blood pressures, pulse rate, respiratory rate, Critical-Care Pain Observation Tool score, and scores on agitation and anxiety sub-dimensions of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses Sedation Assessment scale were influenced by Western Classical Music, Nihavend maqam Turkish Classical Music, and sound isolation. No difference was found among the three different implementation interventions. Conclusion: Music therapy and sound isolation interventions administered to mechanically ventilated patients positively affected the hemodynamic parameters of the patients and reduced the severity of pain perceived by the patients and the need for sedation. In this context, the most important finding of the study was that an intervention that eliminates noise in the intensive care environment for mechanically ventilated patients increases the comfort level of the patients. Another important and critical result of this research was that music therapy also acts as an intervention without noise stimuli

Hyperspectral Superpixel Extraction Using Boundary Updates Based on Optimal Spectral Similarity Metric

The high spectral resolution of hyperspectral images (HSI) requires a heavy processing load. Assigning each pixel to a group in the image, which is called superpixel, and processing the superpixels instead of the pixels is resorted as a means to overcome this challenge in the hyperspectral literature. In this paper, we propose an algorithm to segment a hyperspectral image into superpixels by means of iteratively updating the boundary pixels of superpixels. We first explore the optimal similarity metric for the boundary pixel updates with the contraint of keeping the superpixel boundaries aligned with the object boundaries in the image. We investigate two approaches for similarity detection between pixels during this update, first comparing the hyperspectral pixels individually, and second, comparing the pixels by using also their neigborhood. The spectral similarity metrics used for investigation are selected as spectral angle mapping (SAM)[1], spectral information divergence (SID)[2] and spatial coherence distance[3] due to their common usage. The proposed approach is compared with a pioneer state-of-the-art superpixel algorithm, SLIC[4], and its superiority is verified in terms of the superpixelization performance metrics, namely boundary recall and undersegmentation error [5]

SUPERPIXEL BASED HYPERSPECTRAL TARGET DETECTION

Using the spectral signature of a target by means of matching the signature with the pixels of an acquired hyperspectral image has been proven as an effective way of classifying hyperspectral pixels in most of the proposed methods in hyperspectral image analysis. A disadvantage of these methods is however to use only the spectral characteristics of pixels for detection while ignoring the spatial relations between the neighbouring pixels. In this paper, we propose a hyperspectral target detection method which uses also the spatial neigboorhood information as well as the spectral characteristics of hyperspectral pixels. To this end, we first utilize superpixelization method [1] to describe the neigborhood relation between the hyperspectral pixels, which has been previously developed and proved to be better compared to a pioneer state-of-the-art superpixel algorithm, SLIC [2]. Second, we investigate the best representatives for superpixels among different alternatives, such as centroids, medoid and mean, and modify the well-known hyperspectral target detection algorithm using orthogonal subspace projection, DTDCA [3], appropriately for superpixels. The improvements of the proposed approach over DTDCA in terms of the detection and false detection rates are verified on real hyperspectral images taken from wheat and corn fields with a VNIR camera

The Effect of Hands-On Cadaver and Live Surgery Practice on Surgeons' Performance in Urogynecologic Operations: One-Year Follow-Up

WOS: 000504068000001Objective: Surgical procedures need a combination of theoretical knowledge and practical experience to be performed properly. Postresidency education programs provide opportunities to practice new surgical techniques. This article evaluates 2 different educational strategies for learning new techniques in the field of urogynecology. One of the strategies is commonly practiced theoretical education plus observation of live surgeries, and the other strategy is a threefold approach of theoretical education, as well as cadaver training and performing live surgery. Materials and Methods: The study was designed as a prospective cohort study. The occupational experiences of 58 obstetricians and gynecologists were documented prior to the educational interventions. Two groups were created, based on the participants' preferences. Group 1 had theoretical education followed by observation of live surgery through broadcasting. Group 2 had theoretical education, plus a 1-day cadaver-based surgery course, as well as assisting tutors in hands-on operations. At a 1-year follow up, different types of surgeries performed throughout the year by each surgeon were recorded and analyzed using SPSS. Results: Prior to the course, both groups had similar experiences in urogynecologic operations (p > 0.05). In Group 2, significantly more surgeons began to perform tension-free vaginal tape (TVT) interventions regularly after the course (p < 0.001), a procedure considered more technically demanding. Surgeons utilizing any of the midurethral slings including TVT, transobturator tape, or mini-slings increased by 20% in Group 2, a statistically significant increase (p = 0.03). Conclusion: A threefold approach of theoretical education, cadaver practice, and live surgery significantly increases surgeon adaptation to utilization of midurethral slings, compared to exclusively theoretical education with observation of live surgery. (J GYNECOL SURG 20XX:000

Does melatonin alleviate ototoxic effect caused by administration of cisplatin?

Aim: In this study, it was aimed to experimentally investigate the protective effects of melatonin in the cisplatin-induced ototoxicity. Material and Methods: Ten Wistar-albino rats were included in the study. Two equal groups were generated randomly as cisplatin and melatonin groups. Rats’ underwent Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) and Distortion Product Otoacoustic Emission (DPOAE) testing before the drug administration and the results were recorded. Both tests were repeated 72 hours after the cisplatin administration in all rats. Results: Significant difference was found between the I-IV interval values before the treatment and after the treatment both in cisplatin and melatonin group. As well as the significant difference in hearing threshold value changes, statistically, significant differences in ABR-I and ABR-IV interval variations were also seen between the cisplatin and melatonin groups. A statistically significant decrease was found between the initial and final control SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) levels within the cisplatin group in the evaluations at 2000Hz, 3000Hz and 4000Hz. Statistically, significant differences were observed between SNR levels when the melatonin group was compared with the cisplatin group. Conclusion: Melatonin appears to reduce cisplatin-induced ototoxicity in rats. Although, the use of supplementary therapies targeting to reduce the toxic effects in clinical studies is still a controversial point

MUSTAFA KEMAL ÜNİVERSİTESİ TIP FAKÜLTESİ HASTANESİ ACİL SERVİSİNE BAŞVURAN ADLİ OLGULARIN DEĞERLENDİRİLMESİ

ÖZETÖzellikle acil birimlere travma nedeniyle gelen bireylerin eksiksiz muayene edilmesi, bulguların kayıt altına alınması ve bildirilmesi hekimlerin önemli sorumluluklarından biridir.Bu çalışmada acil servisinde çalışan hekimlerin travmalı hastalar hakkında düzenleyecekleri raporların önemine dikkat çekilmesi amaçlandı. Ocak 2008- Ekim 2011 tarihleri arasındaMustafa Kemal Üniversitesi Araştırma Hastanesi Acil servisine gelen adli nitelikteki olguların kayıtları geriye yönelik incelendi. Belirtilen süre içerisinde 843 adli olgu kaydı mevcut olduğu görüldü. Olguların 581 (%68.9)’i erkek, 262(%31.1)’i kadındı. Yaşları 1 ile 121 arasında idi.Geliş nedenlerine göre sıklıkla %40.1 i trafik kazası %16.7’i intoksikasyon olduğu saptandı. Mevsim olarak en sık yaz ve ağustos aylarında olduğu görüldü.Acil birimlerde çalışan hekimlerin iş yükünün bir kısmını da adli raporların düzenlenmesi oluşturmaktadır. Bir taraftan tedavi edici hekimlik mesleği yerine getirilirken, diğer taraftan yasal sorumluluklarını adli rapor düzenlemekle yerine getirmek zorundadırlar. Bu da eksiksiz ve tam bir rapor düzenlemekle olacaktır.Anahtar Kelimeler: adli olgu, acil servis, adli rapo

Evaluation of lower gastrointestinal endoscopic biopsy results in geriatric patients

ÖZET Amaç: Endoskopik işlemler, tüm yaş gruplarında gastrointestinal sistemin (GİS) değerlendirilmesi amacıyla kullanılmaktadır. Hem tanı hem tedavi amaçlı kullanabilen endoskopi daha az invazif olması nedeni ile de avantajlıdır. Dünyada her yıl 500binden fazla insan kolorektal kanser (KRK) nedeni ile ölmektedir. Dolayısı ile GİS tümörlerinin erken tanısında günümüzde tarama amaçlı endoskopik girişim önerilmektedir. Yaşlı popü- lasyonun da her geçen gün arttığı düşüncesi ile geriatrikhastalarda alt (GİS) endoskopikbiopsi sonuçlarının değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Materyal ve Metod: Ocak 2011-Kasım 2013 tarihleri arasında yapılmış 406 hastaya ait alt GİS endoskopi sonucu incelendi. Kesin tanı almış 65 adet yaşlı hastanın endoskopik biyopsi sonuçları hastaların demografik özellikleri ile birlikte retrospektif olarak değerlendirildi. Bulgular: Çalışmaya alınan hastaların 41’i (%63,08) erkek ve 24’ü (%36,92) kadın hasta idi.Olguların yaşları 65 ile 92 arasında ve yaş ortalaması 72,82±5,89 olarak saptandı. Erkeklerin yaşları 65 ile 83 arasında ve yaş ortalaması 71,02±5,19, kadınların yaşları 65 ile 92 arasında ve yaş ortalaması 72,95±6,86 idi. Endoskopik bi- yopsi sonuçlarına göre vakalarımızın 19’u (%29,23) kolit, 1(%1,54) tanesi hiperplastik polip, 16 ( %24,62)tanesi tubuler adenom, 21 (%32,30) tanesi tubulovillöz adenom, 8 (%12,31) tanesi de kanser tanısı aldı. Kanserlerin hepsi adenokarsinom histolojisinde olup, 1 tanesi villöz adenom zemininden gelişen adenokarsinom, 1 tanesi de tübülovillöz adenom zemininden gelişen adenokarsinom tanısı almıştır. Adenomlardan gelişen vakalar veri tekrarı olmaması amacıyla sadece kanser grubuna dahil edilmiştir. Sonuç: Sonuç olarak, üst ve alt GİS endoskopik işlemlerin yaşlı populasyonda düşük komplikasyon oranı ile güvenilir bir tetkik ve yüksek tanı oranı ile efektif bir yöntem olduğunu saptadık. Yaşlı popülasyonda klinik gereklilik halinde GİS endoskopisi planlanmasından kaçınılmamalıdır.ABSTRACT Aim: Endoscopic procedures are used in the evaluation of the gastrointestinal lystem (GIS) at all ages. It can be used both for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes and it’s advantage is to be less invasive. We know that nearly 500,000 patients die due to colorectal cancer (CRC) every year worldwide. So endoscopic procedures are recommended for screening in the early diagnosis of gastrointestinal malignancies. As the elderly population increasing everyday we aimed to evaluate lower GIS biopsy results in elderly patients. Material and Methods: Definitive diagnosis of lower GIS biopsy results of 65 elderly patients from totally 406 cases and demographic characteristics of the patients were evaluated retrospectively between January 2011-November 2013. Results: Total of 65 patients were enrolled in thes tudy, 41 of (63.08%) were men and 24 (36.92%) of them were women. Cases were between the ages of 65 and 92 with a mean age of 72.82 &plusmn; 5.89. According to the endoscopic biopsy results ; 19 of our cases (29.23%) were colitis, 1 (1.54%) of was hyperplastic polyp, 16 (24.62%) were tubular adenoma, 21 (32.30%) of them tubulovillous adenoma, 8 (12.31%) of them were diagnosed as carcinoma. All of the cancer cases were in adenocarcinoma histology, one of origined from villous adenoma , one from tubulovillous adenoma. Cases of adenomas were included to carcinoma group because there was no duplication of data. Conclusion: We think that the upper and LGE is an effective method in the elderly population with a low complication rate and high diagnosis rate and it is a reliable examination. When there is clinical necessity gastrointestinal endoscopy should not be avoided as planned in the elderly population