Religious Officials' knowledge, attitude, and behavior towards smoking and the new tobacco law in Kahramanmaras, Turkey

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tobacco control effort should be first started in people that are looked upon as role models for the general population. We aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude, and behavior of religious officials towards smoking and the new tobacco law.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>The study group was comprised of 492 Imams and 149 Quran course instructors working in Kahramanmaras city of Turkey, 641 religious officials in total, and our survey form was applied on 406 (63.3%) of those religious officials who agreed to participate in the study.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-eight (6.9%) participants were current smokers and 35 (8.6%) were ex-smokers. 99.8% of the religious officials believed that smoking was harmful and/or prohibited in terms of religion. While 43.6% respondents thought smoking was "<it>haram</it>" (forbidden by Islam), 56.2% believed it was "<it>makruh</it>" (something regarded as reprehensible, though not forbidden by God according to Islam). 85.2% of the participants were aware of the recent tobacco law. 55.5% of the respondents, who were aware of the recent tobacco law, evaluated their knowledge level on the law as adequate, whereas 44.5% evaluated it as inadequate 92.4% of the participants noted that religious officials should play active roles in tobacco control effort.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Smoking rate among religious officials is much lower than that of general public. In order to help religious officials to take a more active role on this issue, they should be trained on the subject and appropriate platforms should be established.</p

Traces of trauma – a multivariate pattern analysis of childhood trauma, brain structure and clinical phenotypes

Background: Childhood trauma (CT) is a major yet elusive psychiatric risk factor, whose multidimensional conceptualization and heterogeneous effects on brain morphology might demand advanced mathematical modeling. Therefore, we present an unsupervised machine learning approach to characterize the clinical and neuroanatomical complexity of CT in a larger, transdiagnostic context. Methods: We used a multicenter European cohort of 1076 female and male individuals (discovery: n = 649; replication: n = 427) comprising young, minimally medicated patients with clinical high-risk states for psychosis; patients with recent-onset depression or psychosis; and healthy volunteers. We employed multivariate sparse partial least squares analysis to detect parsimonious associations between combinations of items from the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire and gray matter volume and tested their generalizability via nested cross-validation as well as via external validation. We investigated the associations of these CT signatures with state (functioning, depressivity, quality of life), trait (personality), and sociodemographic levels. Results: We discovered signatures of age-dependent sexual abuse and sex-dependent physical and sexual abuse, as well as emotional trauma, which projected onto gray matter volume patterns in prefronto-cerebellar, limbic, and sensory networks. These signatures were associated with predominantly impaired clinical state- and trait-level phenotypes, while pointing toward an interaction between sexual abuse, age, urbanicity, and education. We validated the clinical profiles for all three CT signatures in the replication sample. Conclusions: Our results suggest distinct multilayered associations between partially age- and sex-dependent patterns of CT, distributed neuroanatomical networks, and clinical profiles. Hence, our study highlights how machine learning approaches can shape future, more fine-grained CT research

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Zaman Etkili Yansıma Yöntemi (TDR) ile Toprak Neminin Ölçülmesi

ÖZET&nbsp;Bu çalışmada hacimsel toprak nem içeriğinihızlı ve doğru bir şekilde ölçen TDR yöntemi tanıtılmaya çalışılmıştır ve bukonu ile ilgili son çalışmalar derlenerek sunulmuştur.&nbsp;Bitki gelişimi ve üretkenliğinde toprak nemiönemli bir kontrol edici etkendir. Toprak suyu bitki gelişimini, bitkinin supotansiyelini kontrol ederek doğrudan, havalanmasını, sıcaklığını, bitki besinelementlerinin taşınması, alınması ve iletilmesini kontrol ederek dolaylıyoldan etkilemektedir. Toprak su sistemi dinamikleri nedeniyle ve özelliklesulama yapılan&nbsp; şartlar altında, sistemiçerisindeki su hareketi, sulama gereksinimlerini belirlemede önemlidir. Topraksuyu genellikle ya su içeriği veya toprak su potansiyeli cinsinden ölçmektedir.Zaman Etkili Yansıma (TDR-Time Domain Reflectometry), hacimsel toprak nemiçeriğini dolaylı olarak ölçen bir yöntemdir. TDR, toprağın dielektrik sabitinebağlı olarak değişen bir elektrik sinyali yayılımını ölçmektedir. Toprak suiçeriği ve elektriksel iletkenliği, toprağın dielektrik sabitini doğrudanetkilemektedir. Dielektrik sabiti ve nem içeriği arasındaki ilişkidenyararlanılarak toprağın hacimsel nem içeriği bulunmaktadır. TDR ölçümleri,toprak bünyesi, sıcaklığı ve tuz içeriğinden bağımsızdır. Özellikle&nbsp; kalibrasyon işlemlerine gereksinim duymamasınedeniyle son yıllarda TDR yöntemi popüler hale gelmiştir. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; ABSTRACT&nbsp;In this study, The TDRmethod that measures volumetric soil water content rapidly and accuratly hasbeen introduced and recent studies on TDR has been analyzed.&nbsp;One of the&nbsp; main important controlling factor in plantgrowth and crop productivity is the soil water content. Soil water affectsplant growth directly through its controlling effect on plant water potentialand indirectly through its effects on aeration, temperature and nutrienttransport, uptake and transformation. Because of the dynamics of the soil watersystem and particularly under irrigated conditions, the rate of water movementwithin the system is also important in determining the need for irrigation.Soil water is usually measured as water content or as soil water potential.Time Domain Reflectometry (TDR) is a method that measures volumetric soil watercontent indirectly.&nbsp; TDR measures thepropagation of an electrical signal which is dependent on the dielectricconstant of soil. The soil water content and electrical conductivity directlyaffect the soil dielektric constant. The TDR measurement is independent of soiltexture, temperature and salt content. Time domain reflectometry has becomepopular in recent years, mainly because the method does not need calibrationprocedures.&nbsp;</p

Annual variation of the Orosanga japonica Melichar 1898 (Hemiptera: Ricaniidae) populations in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey and possible molecular separation with based on 28S rDNA sequences from other Ricaniidae groups

Orosanga japonica (Melichar, 1898) is one of the invasive species that are distributed in the eastern Black Sea coastal zone. The aim of the study was to determine the annual variation of the populations and solve the taxonomic problem in Turkey of the species with different tools. For this purpose, the specimens were collected from 14 different locations along the eastern Black Sea coastal zone of Artvin, Rize, Trabzon for investigating annual variation and from 15 different locations for achieving molecular separation. Population counts were performed from May to September during two years (2014-2015). Populations were found generally in nymphal stage in May and adult densities were very low in 2014. On the contrary, adult individuals could not be counted in May 2015. Adult population peak was seen in July and August in 2014 and August and September in 2015. Based on 28S region DNA sequences, 6 haplotypes were found. Two main branches were determined in the dendrogram generated by using 28S rDNA sequence. Molecular data showed that our samples belonged to the main branch together with some Ricaniidae and Flatidae GenBank samples but in one different line. Ricania simulans GenBank sample situated second branch. The samples collected in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey were found to be O. japonica according to the detailed morphological examinations and molecular results showed that can be separated from other Ricaniidae samples

Change in major fatty acid composition of vegetable oil depending on phenolic incorporation and storage period

In the present study, response surface methodology was conducted for the determination of effects of some phenolics (gallic acid, ellagic acid and quercetin) on the major fatty acid composition of vegetable oil prepared by mixing of sunflower and hazelnut oil (50:50, v/v) during storage at a constant temperature (50 degrees C). In this respect, major fatty acid composition (palmitic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acid) of vegetable oil was determined. Predictive regression equations were constructed for the estimation of each studied parameter (R-2>0.735). Storage period caused a significant increase in palmitic acid, stearic acid and oleic acid content of oil while it caused a decrease in the linoleic acid content of the oil (P<0.01) because of the reactions that occurred in the structure of the oil during storage. In general, gallic acid and quercetin were found to be effective on the preservation of oil against oxidation and addition of gallic acid that retarded the change of major fatty acids composition due to oxidation. Multiple response optimisation was performed by considering the change in all major fatty acids simultaneously. According to the results, addition of ellagic acid, gallic acid and quercetin at the concentrations of 20, 46.7 and 33.3%, respectively, in a phenolic mixture (0.1 g) to the oil sample is convenient for decreasing oxidation

Structure Stability of Cultivated Soils from Semi-Arid Region: Comparing the Effects of Land Use and Anionic Polyacrylamide Application

The Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations call for applying soil management practices that contribute land degradation neutrality. Our objectives were to investigate the effect of (i) soil management&mdash;conventional tillage (CT under crop) and no-tillage (NT under grass)&mdash;and (ii) an amendment (polyacrylamide (PAM)) application on the structure stability indices of soils from a semi-arid region. Two sets of experiments were conducted using the high-energy moisture characteristic (HEMC) method for the assessment of (i) land-use type (CT vs. NT) in soils (30 samples) varying in texture, and (ii) the effect of six PAM concentrations (0, 10, 25, 50, 100, and 200 mg L&minus;1) on three typical soils (sandy clay loam, clay loam, and clay) under CT management; then, the contributions of PAM concentration (CT) and NT were compared. Water retention curves of samples were obtained at a matric potential from 0 to &minus;5.0 J kg&minus;1 and characterized by a modified van Genuchten model that yields (i) model parameters &alpha; and n, and (ii) a soil structure stability index (SI). The treatments affected the shape of the water retention curves. Change of land use from CT to NT and PAM application to CT soil increased the SI and ɑ, and decreased n compared to CT-managed soils. The magnitude of the NT and PAM effect was inversely related to soil clay content. CT-managed soils treated with a low PAM rate (10&ndash;25 mg L&minus;1) gave SI comparable to that obtained for the NT-managed soils, while CT-managed soils treated with a high PAM rate (50&ndash;200 mg L&minus;1) yielded 1.3&ndash;2.0 and 2&ndash;4 times higher SI than that for NT and CT-managed soils, respectively. Our findings suggest that both the change of land use to NT or the addition of small amounts of PAM are viable alternatives for stabilizing CT-managed weakly alkaline semi-arid soils, whose soil structure stability is a priori limited