An overview of franchising in the hospitality industry of Turkey

Tourism is regarded as one of the fastest growing industries of our time. International hotel chains seem to contribute this development to a great amount. These hotels invest in Turkey since 1950s. Recently, these investments seem to be made majorly as franchises. Today, franchising seems to be one of the major strategies to enter global markets. And the system is popular because of its organisational and financial advantages. Although Franchising is adopted and frequently used in tourism industry, there are not (if any) any studies investigating facts and figures of the subject. In this regard, herein it is aimed to overview the current state of franchising in the Turkish tourism industry. Therefore, international hotel chains operating through Franchising in the hospitality industry of Turkey are reviewed in this study. Findings of the study suggest that international hotel chains aiming to expand in the market of Turkey prefer franchising as the major growth strategy to any other

Comparação da eficácia de tenoxicam administrado por via oral e intra‐articular a pacientes com osteoartrite de joelhos

ResumoJustificativa e objetivosTenoxicam é amplamente usado no tratamento da osteoartrite (OA) e o nosso objetivo foi comparar a eficácia de tenoxicam administrado por via oral (VO) e intra‐articular (IA) no tratamento da OA.MétodosEste estudo foi conduzido entre 2011 e 2012 por meio de análise retrospectiva e comparação dos resultados de 60 pacientes que foram clínica e radiologicamente diagnosticados com OA degenerativa de joelhos na Policlínica de Tratamento da Dor do Hospital Estadual de Bünyan. Os 60 pacientes incluídos no estudo foram alocados em dois grupos. O primeiro grupo (tenoxicam IA, n=30) incluiu resultados de pacientes submetidos à injeção nos joelhos por via IA de 20mg de tenoxicam uma vez por semana durante três semanas e o segundo grupo (tenoxicam VO, n=30) incluiu pacientes que receberam 20mg de tenoxicam por VO uma vez por dia durante três semanas. Todos os pacientes foram avaliados clinicamente na fase basal pré‐tratamento e em uma semana, um mês e três meses pós‐tratamento, de acordo com os critérios especificados.Resultados e conclusõesDos 60 pacientes, 22 eram do sexo masculino e 38 do sexo feminino. Em ambos os grupos, melhorias significativas foram detectadas em todos os parâmetros da escala visual analógica, do índice Western Ontario and MacMaster (Womac – dor, atividade física e rigidez dos joelhos) e do índice de Lequesne nas avaliações feitas em uma semana, um mês e três meses e comparadas aos valores basais. Além disso, uma melhor adesão ao tratamento e tolerabilidade ao sistema gastrointestinal no grupo tenoxicam IA também foram observadas. A administração de tenoxicam IA pode ser considerada como um método opcional de tratamento em pacientes com OA de joelhos que não podem usar tenoxicam por VO, especialmente por causa dos efeitos colaterais sobre o sistema gastrintestinal, e naqueles com dificuldades de adaptação ao tratamento.AbstractBackground and objectivesTenoxicam is widely used in osteoarthritis treatment and we aimed to compare the effectivity of oral and intra‐articular administration of tenoxicam in osteoarthritis treatment.MethodsThis study was performed between 2011 and 2012 by retrospectively analyzing and comparing the findings of 60 patients who were clinically and radiologically diagnosed with knee degenerative osteoarthritis in Bünyan state hospital pain policlinic. 60 patients included in the study were divided into two groups. The first group (tenoxicam IA, n=30) included patient findings of those subjected to intra‐articular injection of 20mg tenoxicam to the knee once a week for three weeks and the second group (oral tenoxicam, n=30) included patients who were administered 20mg oral tenoxicam once a day for three weeks. All patients were clinically evaluated pre‐treatment and in the 1st week, 1st month and 3rd month post‐treatment according to specified criteria.Results and conclusions22 of 60 patients included in the study were male and 38 were female. In both groups significant improvements were detected in all of the observed parameters: visual analog scale, Western Ontario McMaster Osteoarthritis Index (pain, physical activity, knee stiffness) and Lequesne index scores and in the evaluations performed in 1st week, 1st month and 3rd month with respect to pre‐treatment values. Besides, a better compliance to treatment and gastrointestinal system tolerability in tenoxicam IA group was also observed. Intra‐articular tenoxicam administration could be thought as an alternative treatment method in patients with knee osteoarthritis who cannot use oral tenoxicam especially due to systemic gastrointestinal system side effects and those who have difficulties in adapting to treatment

Evaluation of the relationship between the topographical anatomy in the axillary region of the brachial plexus and the body mass index

WOS: 000439345200023PubMed ID: 28871408To investigate the topographic anatomy of the median, musculocutaneous, radial and ulnar nerves with respect to the axillary artery and to seek whether these configurations are associated with baseline descriptive data including age, gender, and body-mass index. This cross-sectional trial was carried out on 199 patients (85 women, 114 men; average age: 46.78 +/- 15.45 years) in the department of anaesthesiology and reanimation of a tertiary care center. Topographic anatomy of the median, musculocutaneous, radial and ulnar nerves was assessed with ultrasonography. Localization of these nerves with respect to the axillary artery was marked on the map demonstrating 16 zones around the axillary artery. Frequencies of localizations of every nerve in these zones were recorded, and the correlation of these locations with descriptive data including age, gender and BMI was investigated. There was no difference between women and men for the distribution of the median (p = 0.74), ulnar (p = 0.35) and radial (p = 0.64) nerves. However, the musculocutaneous nerve was more commonly located in Zone A13 in men compared to women (p = 0.02). The localization of the median (p = 0.85), ulnar (p = 0.27) and radial (p = 0.88) nerves did not differ remarkably between patients with BMI < 25 kg/m(2) and patients with BMI 25 kg/m(2). Notably, the musculocutaneous nerve was more often determined in Zone A10 in cases with BMI 25 kg/m(2) (p = 0.001). Our results imply that the alignment of the musculocutaneous nerve may vary in men and overweight people. This fact must be considered by the anaesthetist before planning the axillary block of brachial plexus. All these informations may enlighten the planning stages of the brachial plexus blockade

The design of an embedded spinal cord stimulator

WOS: 000344740600005Spinal cord stimulation is a physical therapy methodology utilizing electrical impulses, pulses, or a combination of various standard electrical waveforms to block pain. However, standard forms are not functioning effectively for each illness due to the unique conditions of the patient. Therefore, patient-specific waveforms (or user-defined waveforms) integrated with nondestructive, complete, or partially noninvasive and effective medical instruments to help relieve pain are required. In the literature, 2 different designs have been discussed: the bedside/portable and the implantable/surgical types. This work is introducing a new hybrid type: a portable touch-screen multichannel embedded spinal cord stimulator. This work is made of 3 parts: the hardware and the software designs, and an embedded interface introducing the system to external medical systems or patients. The hardware and software designs are explained in detail. The S3C2440 microprocessor-based embedded spinal cord stimulator generates not only 6 standards types of signals, but also user defined waveform(s). This requires medical experts' close relation, consultation, and cooperation with biomedical engineers who are able to design and develop new instruments with new requirements. In this paper, a microprocessor-based spinal cord stimulator is developed in the Samsung S3C2440 environment and PIC18F452-based channel boards. The S3C2440 environment is the main controller unit and the therapy signal is produced by the channel boards as a signal generator. The software is prepared by MS Visual Studio 2008 and Hi-Tech C. The frequency, duty-cycle, and amplitudes of the pulses can be altered by software control. The architecture of the stimulators is designed to be modular; therefore, its different blocks can be reused as standard building blocks. The designed and developed embedded spinal cord stimulator enables both home and bedside health care. The system is battery-operated, portable, user-friendly, and cost-effective

Mathematical Modelling of Human Heart as a Hydroelectromechanical System

8th International Conference on Electrical and Electronics Engineering (ELECO) -- NOV 28-30, 2013 -- Bursa, TURKEYWOS: 000333752200076Different electrical models of human heart, partial or complete, with linear or nonlinear models have been developed. In the literature, there are some applications of mathematical and physical analog models of total artificial heart (TAH), a baroreceptor model, a state-space model, an electromechanical biventricular model of the heart, and a mathematical model for the artificial generation of electrocardiogram (ECG) signals. Physical models are suitable to simulate real physiological data based on proper experimental set up present. This paper introduces a new mathematical modelling of human heart as a hydroelectromechanical system (HEMS). This paper simulates the human heart based on three main functions: hydraulic, electrical and mechanical parameters. Hydro-mechanical model developed then has been transformed into electrical domain and simulation has been carried out according to the mathematical model or formulations obtained using Laplace transform. This electrical model / circuit is then tested by MATLAB based simulations and results found are comparable with the normal ECG waveforms so that these simulated results may be useful in clinical experiments. In this model basic electrical components have been used to simulate the physiological functions of the human heart. The result is a simple electrical circuit consisting of main electrical parameters that are transformed from hydraulic models and medical physiological values. Developed MATLAB based mathematical model will primarely help to understand the proper functioning of an artificial heart and its simulated ECG signals. A comprehensive model for generating a wide variety of such signals has been targeted for future in this paper. This research especially focuses on modelling human heart as a hydro-electro-mechanical system with three case studies.Chamber Elect Engineers Bursa Branch, Istanbul Techn Univ, Fac Elect & Elect Engn, Uludag Univ, Dept Elect & Elect Engn, IEEE, Reg 8, IEEE Turkey Sect, CAS Chapter, Sci & Technol Res Council Turke

Losartan may prevent the elevation of plasma glucose, corticosterone and catecholamine levels induced by chronic stress

Introduction Stress is a stimulus that activates the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis and sympathetic nervous system (SNS). Increased activity of the SNS causes to increment or impairment in blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature and plasma glucose and adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) levels. Angiotensin 11 (Ang 11), which is a product of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS), is an important factor affecting the activity of the SNS and responses to stress. We suggest that the blockade of Ang 11 may be worthwhile in the prevention and treatment of diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases affected by stress. Therefore, we investigated the effects of immobilisation stress on blood glucose, norepinephrine (NE), epinephrine (E) and corticosterone levels and the effects of an Ang 11 receptor antagonist, losartan, on these parameters

Cold storage of oil rose (Rosa damascena Mill.) flowers

a b s t r a c t Oil rose flowers were stored at 0 • C in four different packaging materials [plastic box + stretch film (PB + SF), Xtend ® , Smartbag ® and polyethylene (PE)] for 60 days. During storage, weight loss, O 2 and CO 2 concentrations in the packages, petal color and sensorial attributes were investigated besides essential oil content and composition. Storage duration and packages had significant (p &lt; 0.01) effects on weight loss. At the end of storage, the lowest weight loss was in PE package (1.696%) whereas the highest weight loss was in Xtend ® (10.081%). The essential oil content was significantly (p &lt; 0.01) affected by storage duration and packages. In addition, the essential oil contents obtained from all packages for a storage period of 10 days and the essential oil contents obtained from unstored (control) petals were included in the same group. At the end of storage, the essential oil contents decreased by 91.3, 57.7, 80.0 and 64.3% in PB + SF, Xtend ® , Smartbag ® and PE packages, respectively as compared to control. In addition, storage duration and package types significantly (p &lt; 0.01) affected petal color, O 2 and CO 2 concentrations in the packages and sensorial scores. The concentration of citronellol, a main component of rose oil, increased in all packages during storage of 10 days in comparison to the control group while it varied in other storage durations and package types. However, nerol and geraniol were lower than the control group during storage while concentrations of nonadecane, heneicosane and eicosane were higher. In conclusion, loss of oil yield and quality, due to various reasons and particularly due to fermentation in oil rose from the harvest of petals to their distillation, can be minimized with storage of petals in all package types for up to 10 days

Comparison of the effectivity of oral and intra-articular administration of tenoxicam in patients with knee osteoarthritis

ABSTRACTBACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:Tenoxicam is widely used in osteoarthritis treatment and we aimedto compare the effectivity of oral and intra-articular administration of tenoxicam in osteoarthri-tis treatment.METHODS: This study was performed between 2011 and 2012 by retrospectively analyzing andcomparing the findings of 60 patients who were clinically and radiologically diagnosed with kneedegenerative osteoarthritis in Bünyan state hospital pain policlinic. 60 patients included in thestudy were divided into two groups. The first group (tenoxicam IA, n = 30) included patientfindings of those subjected to intra-articular injection of 20 mg tenoxicam to the knee oncea week for three weeks and the second group (oral tenoxicam, n = 30) included patients whowere administered 20 mg oral tenoxicam once a day for three weeks. All patients were clini-cally evaluated pre-treatment and in the 1st week, 1st month and 3rd month post-treatmentaccording to specified criteria.RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: Twenty two of 60 patients included in the study were male and 38were female. In both groups significant improvements were detected in all of the observedparameters: visual analog scale, Western Ontario McMaster Osteoarthritis Index (pain, physicalactivity, knee stiffness) and Lequesne index scores and in the evaluations performed in 1st week,1st month and 3rd month with respect to pre-treatment values. Besides, a better complianceto treatment and gastrointestinal system tolerability in tenoxicam IA group was also observed.Intra-articular tenoxicam administration could be thought as an alternative treatment methodin patients with knee osteoarthritis who cannot use oral tenoxicam especially due to systemicgastrointestinal system side effects and those who have difficulties in adapting to treatment