TURKISH STUDENTS' SPIRITUALITY TODAY

Spirituality is a universal phenomenon; however, its conceptualization can differ from one culture to another. The meaning of the concept has been changing since the last couple of decades. Even though it has been previously regarded as a religious concept in terms of institutional organized religion, its meaning has altered over time initially towards personal spirituality based on religion, and then, towards spirituality totally untethered from religion in which popular interest is growing. This shift in its meaning attracted the attention of researchers, and therefore, it has become a topic of concern in academia. Nevertheless, the majority of studies have mainly been conducted in western countries with largely Christian populations. On the other hand, the research in other parts of the world is relatively scarce. Turkey is a country that forms a bridge between the West and the East, and historically has a religious culture, with a Muslim majority population. It has begun embracing western values along with the process of secularisation since the beginning of the last century. This westernizing trend has become even more evident in the so-called global era. Therefore, the objective of this investigation is to explore the contemporary perceptions of spirituality in a Turkish context. Moreover, it aims to examine whether the popular perceptions of spirituality that emerged in the western world exist in Turkey. Accordingly, qualitative interviews have been conducted with undergraduate and postgraduate university students from the departments of Psychology and Theology in Turkey. Consequently, it is found that the understandings of the term among the participants are similar to contemporary definitions of spirituality in the West. Correspondingly, it is argued that the western European conceptualisations of the term might be applicable with some qualifications in the Turkish context since there is not a substantial difference between the perceptions of spirituality in the West and Turkey

Gizli Yara: Ahlaki Yaralanma

Ahlaki yaralanma (AY) belki insanlık tarihinin başlangıcından bu yana tecrübe edilen ancak bilimsel tarih bakımından çok yakın bir zamanda ortaya çıkan ve üzerinde yürütülen araştırmaların sayısının sınırlı olduğu ve ağırlıkla Batı kaynaklı çalışılan bir olgudur. Potansiyel ahlaki yaralayıcı olaylara, eylemlere ve tecrübelere (PAYO) maruz kalma sonucunda suçluluk, utanç, ihanet gibi semptomlarla ortaya çıkan davranışsal, duygusal, psikolojik, sosyal, ahlaki, varoluşsal, manevi ve dinî boyutları olan bir yapısı vardır. Travma sonrası stres bozukluğu (TSSB) ile ortak ve ayrıştıkları noktaları bulunmakla birlikte ondan farklı olan AY’nın henüz yerleşik bir tanısı yoktur. AY’nın yaygın olarak tecrübe edilebildiği alanlar ilk olarak tespit edildiği askerî kurumlardır. Askerî personelin yanı sıra doktorlar ve hemşireler gibi sağlık çalışanları, tıp öğrencileri, hâkimler, savcılar ve avukatlar gibi adli personel, itfaiye çalışanları gibi acil müdahale görevlileri, polisler, mülteciler, sığınmacılar, gazeteciler ve haberciler arasında da AY söz konusu olabilmektedir. Bu çalışmada nitel araştırma yöntemlerinden literatür taraması ile AY olgusu hakkında derinlemesine bilgi verilmesi amaçlanmakta ve bundan sonra konu üzerine yürütülecek araştırmalar için birtakım önerilerde bulunulmaktadır

Fibrin glue for pilonidal sinus disease

Background Pilonidal sinus disease is a common condition that mainly affects young adults. This condition can cause significant pain and impairment of normal activities. No consensus currently exists on the optimum treatment for pilonidal sinus and current therapies have various advantages and disadvantages. Fibrin glue has emerged as a potential treatment as both monotherapy and an adjunct to surgery. Objectives To assess the effects of fibrin glue alone or in combination with surgery compared with surgery alone in the treatment of pilonidal sinus disease. Search methods In December 2016 we searched: the Cochrane Wounds Specialised Register; CENTRAL; MEDLINE; Embase and CINAHL Plus. We also searched clinical trials registries and conference proceedings for ongoing and unpublished studies and scanned reference lists to identify additional studies. There were no restrictions with respect to language, date of publication or study setting. Selection criteria We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs) only. We included studies involving participants of all ages and studies conducted in any setting. We considered studies involving people with both new and recurrent pilonidal sinus. We included studies which evaluated fibrin glue monotherapy or as an adjunct to surgery. Data collection and analysis Two study authors independently extracted data and assessed risk of bias. We used standard methods expected by Cochrane. Main results We included four RCTs with 253 participants, all were at risk of bias. One unpublished study evaluated fibrin glue monotherapy compared with Bascom's procedure, two studies evaluated fibrin glue as an adjunct to Limberg flap and one study evaluated fibrin glue as an adjunct to Karydakis flap. For fibrin glue monotherapy compared with Bascom's procedure, there were no data available for the primary outcomes of time to healing and adverse events. There was low-quality evidence of less pain on day one after the procedure with fibrin glue monotherapy compared with Bascom's procedure (mean difference (MD) -2.50, 95% confidence interval (CI) -4.03 to -0.97) (evidence downgraded twice for risk of performance and detection bias). Fibrin glue may reduce the time taken to return to normal activities compared with Bascom's procedure (mean time 42 days with surgery and 7 days with glue, MD -34.80 days, 95% CI -66.82 days to -2.78 days) (very low-quality evidence, downgraded as above and for imprecision). Fibrin glue as an adjunct to the Limberg flap may reduce the healing time from 22 to 8 days compared with the Limberg flap alone (MD -13.95 days, 95% CI -16.76 days to -11.14 days) (very low-quality evidence, downgraded twice for risk of selection, performance and detection bias and imprecision). It is uncertain whether use of fibrin glue affects the incidence of postoperative seroma (an adverse event) (risk ratio (RR) 0.27, 95% CI 0.05 to 1.61; very low-quality evidence, downgraded twice for risk of selection, performance and detection bias and imprecision). There was low-quality evidence that fibrin glue, as an adjunct to Limberg flap, may reduce postoperative pain (median 2 versus 4; P < 0.001) and time to return to normal activities (median 8 days versus 17 days; P < 0.001). The addition of fibrin glue to the Limberg flap may reduce the length of hospital stay (MD -1.69 days, 95% CI -2.08 days to -1.29 days) (very low-quality evidence, downgraded twice for risk of selection, performance and detection bias and for unexplained heterogeneity). A single RCT evaluating fibrin glue as an adjunct to the Karydakis flap did not report data for the primary outcome of time to healing. It is uncertain whether fibrin glue with the Karydakis flap affects the incidence of postoperative seroma (adverse event) (RR 3.00, 95% CI 0.67 to 13.46) (very low-quality evidence, downgraded twice for risk of selection, performance and detection bias and for imprecision). Fibrin glue as an adjunct to Karydakis flap may reduce length of stay but this is highly uncertain (mean 2 days versus 3.7 days; P < 0.001, low-quality evidence downgraded twice for risk of selection, performance and detection bias). Authors' conclusions Current evidence is uncertain regarding any benefits associated with fibrin glue either as monotherapy or as an adjunct to surgery for people with pilonidal sinus disease. We identified only four RCTs and each was small and at risk of bias resulting in very low-quality evidence for the primary outcomes of time to healing and adverse events. Future studies should enrol many more participants, ensure adequate randomisation and blinding, whilst measuring clinically relevant outcomes

Antiviral RNAi response in Culex quinquefasciatus-derived HSU cells

Culex spp. mosquitoes are important vectors of viruses, such as West Nile virus, Eastern equine encephalitis virus and Rift valley fever virus. However, their interactions with innate antiviral immunity, especially RNA interference (RNAi), are not well known. Most research on RNAi pathways in mosquitoes is focused on the tropical vector mosquito Aedes aegypti. Here, we investigated the production of arbovirus-specific small RNAs in Cx. quinquefasciatus-derived HSU cells. Furthermore, by silencing RNAi-related proteins, we investigated the antiviral role of these proteins for two different arboviruses: Semliki Forest virus (SFV) and Bunyamwera orthobunyavirus (BUNV). Our results showed an expansion of Ago2 and Piwi6 in Cx. quinquefasciatus compared to Ae. aegypti. While silencing Ago2a and Ago2b increased BUNV replication, only Ago2b showed antiviral activity against SFV. Our results suggest differences in the function of Cx. quinquefasciatus and Ae. aegypti RNAi proteins and highlight the virus-specific function of these proteins in Cx. quinquefasciatus

Agua Salud alphavirus infection, dissemination and transmission in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are competent vectors for many important arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses). In addition to arboviruses, insect-specific viruses (ISV) have also been discovered in mosquitoes. ISVs are viruses that replicate in insect hosts but are unable to infect and replicate in vertebrates. They have been shown to interfere with arbovirus replication in some cases. Despite the increase in studies on ISV–arbovirus interactions, ISV interactions with their hosts and how they are maintained in nature are still not well understood. In the present study, we investigated the infection and dissemination of the Agua Salud alphavirus (ASALV) in the important mosquito vector Aedes aegypti through different infection routes (per oral infection, intrathoracic injection) and its transmission. We show here that ASALV infects the female Ae. aegypti and replicates when mosquitoes are infected intrathoracically or orally. ASALV disseminated to different tissues, including the midgut, salivary glands and ovaries. However, we observed a higher virus load in the brain than in the salivary glands and carcasses, suggesting a tropism towards brain tissues. Our results show that ASALV is transmitted horizontally during adult and larval stages, although we did not observe vertical transmission. Understanding ISV infection and dissemination dynamics in Ae. aegypti and their transmission routes could help the use of ISVs as an arbovirus control strategy in the future

The Aedes aegypti RNA interference response against Zika virus in the context of co-infection with dengue and chikungunya viruses

Since its detection in 2015 in Brazil, Zika virus (ZIKV) has remained in the spotlight of international public health and research as an emerging arboviral pathogen. In addition to single infection, ZIKV may occur in co-infection with dengue (DENV) and chikungunya (CHIKV) viruses, with whom ZIKV shares geographic distribution and the mosquito Aedes aegypti as a vector. The main mosquito immune response against arboviruses is RNA interference (RNAi). It is unknown whether or not the dynamics of the RNAi response differ between single arboviral infections and co-infections. In this study, we investigated the interaction of ZIKV and DENV, as well as ZIKV and CHIKV co-infections with the RNAi response in Ae. aegypti. Using small RNA sequencing, we found that the efficiency of small RNA production against ZIKV -a hallmark of antiviral RNAi—was mostly similar when comparing single and co-infections with either DENV or CHIKV. Silencing of key antiviral RNAi proteins, showed no change in effect on ZIKV replication when the cell is co-infected with ZIKV and DENV or CHIKV. Interestingly, we observed a negative effect on ZIKV replication during CHIKV co-infection in the context of Ago2-knockout cells, though his effect was absent during DENV co-infection. Overall, this study provides evidence that ZIKV single or co-infections with CHIKV or DENV are equally controlled by RNAi responses. Thus, Ae. aegypti mosquitoes and derived cells support co-infections of ZIKV with either CHIKV or DENV to a similar level than single infections, as long as the RNAi response is functional

META Score: An International Consensus Scoring System on Mesh-Tissue Adhesions

Background: Currently, the lack of consensus on postoperative mesh-tissue adhesion scoring leads to incomparable scientific results. The aim of this study was to develop an adhesion score recognized by experts in the field of hernia surgery. Methods: Authors of three or more previously published articles on both mesh-tissue adhesion scores and postoperative adhesions were marked as experts. They were queried on seven items using a modified Delphi method. The items concerned the utility of adhesion scoring models, the appropriateness of macroscopic and microscopic variables, the range and use of composite scores or subscores, adhesion-related complications and follow-up length. This study comprised two questionnaire-based rounds and one consensus meeting. Results: The first round was completed by 23 experts (82%), the second round by 18 experts (64%). Of those 18 experts, ten were able to participate in the final consensus meeting and all approved the final proposal. From a total of 158 items, consensus was reached on 90 items. The amount of mesh surface covered with adhesions, tenacity and thickness of adhesions and organ involvement was concluded to be a minimal set of variables to be communicated separately in each future study on mesh adhesions. Conclusion: The MEsh Tissue Adhesion scoring system is the first consensus-based scoring system with a wide backing of renowned experts and can be used to assess mesh-related adhesions. By including this minimal set of variables in future research interstudy comparability and objectivity can be increased and eventually linked to clinically relevant outcomes