The effect of COVID-19 epidemic on the sexual function of healthcare professionals

Studies have shown that healthcare professionals struggling with epidemics develop symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The aim of this study is to show how often and severely erectile dysfunction, one of the components of post-traumatic stress disorder, is seen among healthcare professionals during COVID-19 outbreak. The Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R) and the Index of Erectile Function-5 (IIEF-5) were applied to 159 male healthcare professionals working in COVID-19 units and a control group of 200 people. Healthcare professional group was divided into subgroups according to occupation (physician, nurse), age-group (18-25, 26-30, >30), marital status and unit of work (Suspected Patient Area, Diagnosed Patient Area). Both stress disorder and erectile dysfunction were seen at higher rates in healthcare professionals group (p < .001). The median IIEF-5 scores of nurses, married subjects and those working in the Diagnosed Patient Area, were found to be higher (p < .001, p = .014, p = .011 respectively). During the COVID-19 outbreak, healthcare professionals are exposed to psychological trauma and their sexual function may be negatively affected. The measures to be taken are important to estimate which groups are more affected

Factors associated with acetabular degeneration and protrusion in bipolar hip hemiarthroplasty

Purpose This study aims to investigate the effect of some factors such as the diameter of bipolar prosthetic heads, body mass index (BMI), age, gender, bone mineral density (BMD) and leg length discrepancy (LLD) on the acetabular protrusion in elderly patients who had hip bipolar hemiarthroplasty (BHA) after femoral neck fractures. Methods The study included a total of 209 patients with a mean age of 77.4 ± 6.0 years who underwent BHA. The difference between the femoral head diameter of the patients and the diameter of the bipolar prosthetic head was divided into two groups, ranging from 0 to -2 mm (same and 1,2 mm small size) . Acetabular enlargement and cartilage degeneration were followed by standard AP pelvis radiographs and clinical outcomes were evaluated by the Harris Hip Score (HHS) after surgery and during 5 years of follow-up. Results During the 5-year follow-up, while HHS values decreased, acetabular diameter increased. Acetabular protrusion developed in 21 (10%) patients, acetabular revision surgery was performed for 36 (17%) patients, the difference between native femoral head diameter and prosthetic head diameter was significantly higher in these groups, as was mean LLD (p = 0.0001). Mean T scores obtained with BMD were lower in these groups (p = 0.0001). Conclusion It is safer and more reliable to use a bipolar prosthetic head the same size as the patient’s native femoral head in BHA. When considering the acetabular protrusion and revision surgery rate in this study, small-size bipolar prosthetic head implantation is not recommended and may cause devastating complications

Identification of chronic urticaria subtypes using machine learning algorithms

Chronic urticaria (CU) comes as chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) and chronic inducible urticaria (CIndU). Across its types and subtypes, CU is a heterogeneous disease that has different phenotypes with distinct clinical characteristics and different endotypes with distinct underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. It may be possible that subtypes of CU patients exhibit distinct phenotypic disease signatures that can point to differences in what drives their condition and in their response to treatments. Cluster analysis is a popular unsupervised machine learning (ML) method for discovering previously undetected data patterns. ML-based cluster analysis has been used in several diseases for the identification and characterization of patient subgroups. As of now, no study has attempted to identify CU subtypes with this method. Here, we performed a proof-of-concept study to test whether cluster analysis using ML algorithms can identify subgroups of CU patients based on clinical and routine laboratory characteristics.This project benefitted from the support (non-financial) of the GA2LEN network of urticaria centers of reference and excellence (UCARE, www.ga2len-ucare.com)

The effect of microwave and hydrodestillation methods on the chemical composition of essential oil obtained from juniper cones

Uçucu yağlar günümüzde kozmetik, ilaç ve gıda sanayi başta olmak üzere geniş bir kullanım alanına sahiptir. Bu çalışmanın amacı mikrodalga ve hidrodestilasyon yöntemi ile kara ardıç (Juniperus sabina L.) kozalaklarından uçucu yağ elde edilerek uçucu yağ verimlerini karşılaştırmak ve GC-MS analizleri yapılarak yapısındaki bileşikler incelenmiştir. Bu çalışmada hammadde olarak kara ardıç kozalakları, uçucu yağ elde edilmesi işleminde ise mikrodalga ve hidrodestilasyon yöntemleri ile kurulan ekstraksiyon düzeneği kullanılmıştır. Mikrodalga yöntemi ile gerçekleştirilen uçucu yağ tayini deneylerinde maksimum verim %1.37 olarak, hidrodestilasyon yöntemi ile gerçekleştirilen uçucu yağ tayini deneylerinde maksimum verim % 1.61 olarak belirlenmiştir. Mikrodalga yöntemi ile gerçekleştirilen uçucu yağ tayini deneylerinden elde edilen uçucu yağın GC-MS analizi incelendiğinde 37 adet bileşiğe rastlandığı belirlenmiştir. Hidrodestilasyon yöntemi ile gerçekleştirilen uçucu yağ tayini deneyleri sonucunda elde edilen uçucu yağın GC-MS analizi incelendiğinde yapısında 34 adet bileşik olduğu saptanmıştır. Mikrodalga ve hidrodestilasyon yöntemi ile yapılan uçucu yağ tayini deneylerinden elde edilen uçucu yağların GC-MS analizleri incelendiğinde etken madde olarak α– pinen belirlenmiştir.Essential oils today have a wide range of uses, especially in the cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food industries. The aim of this study is to compare essential oil yields obtained from microwave and hydrodestillation methods from juniper cones (Juniperus sabina L.) with GC-MS analysis and to investigate its structure. In this study, juniper cones were used as raw material, and extraction technique established with microwave and hydrodestillation methods was used in the process of obtaining essential oil. The maximum yield of the essential oil determination conducted with the microwave method was determined to be 1.37% and the maximum yield of the essential oil determination conducted with the hydrodestillation method was determined to be 1.61%. When GCMS analysis of the essential oil obtained from the experiments of essential oil determination conducted by the microwave method was examined, it was determined that 37 compounds were found. As a result of the essential oil determination experiments carried out with hydrodestillation method, GC-MS analysis of essential oil obtained were investigated and it was found that there were 34 compounds in the structure. When GC-MS analysis of essential oils obtained from essential oil determination experiments with microwave and hydrodestillation method were investigated, α-pinene was determined as active substance

Differentiation of Benign and Malignant Kidney Masses via Inflammation Parameters

Objective:Despite the recent advances in imaging methods, the rate of 10-20% is still insufficient in predicting the pathology of renal masses. Therefore, we aimed to examine whether hematological inflammatory markers were useful in predicting pathology outcome.Method:One hundred sixteen patients who were operated for kidney mass between January 2010 and October 2020 were included in the study. Retrospectively, preoperative platelets, neutrophils, lymphocytes and their rates were compared with pathology results.Results:The mean age of 116 patients included in the study was 55.36±13.93 years. While pathology results of 26 (22.4%) patients were benign, results of 90 (77.6%) patients were malignant. The neutrophil and neutrophil lymphocyte ratio were significantly lower in the benign group. According to the Fuhrman grade of renal cell carcinoma, platelet and platelet lymphocyte ratio were higher in aggressive groups, whereas lymphocyte count was lower.Conclusion:Hematological inflammatory markers are useful in predicting the pathology outcome of kidney masses before surgery

Anti-neuronal antibodies associated with headache with neurological deficits and cerebrospinal fluid lymphocytosis

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In Chronic Spontaneous Urticaria, Complete Response to Antihistamine Treatment Is Linked to Low Disease Activity

Introduction: The use of predictors of response to a specific treatment in patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) can improve disease management, help prevent unnecessary healthcare costs, and save time. In this study, we aimed to identify predictors of complete response to standard-dosed and higher than standard-dosed antihistamine treatments in patients with CSU. Methods: Medical records of 475 CSU patients, 120 of them <18 years old, from 3 different centers were analyzed. We used 15 machine learning (ML) models as well as traditional statistical methods to predict complete response to standard-dosed and higher than standard-dosed antihistamine treatment based on 17 clinical parameters. Results: CSU disease activity, which was assessed by urticaria activity score (UAS), was the only clinical parameter that predicted complete response to standard-dosed and higher than standard-dosed antihistamine treatment, with ML models and traditional statistics, for all age groups. Based on ROC analyses, optimal cut-off values of disease activity to predict complete response were UAS <3 and UAS <4 for standard-dosed (area under the ROC curve [AUC] = 0.69; p = 0.001) and higher than standard-dosed (AUC = 0.79; p = 0.001) antihistamine treatments, respectively. Also, ML models identified lower total IgE (<150 IU/mL) as a predictor of complete response to a standard-dosed antihistamine and lower CRP (<3.4 mg/mL) as a predictor of complete response to higher than standard-dose antihistamine treatment. Discussion: In this study, we showed that patients with UAS <3 are highly likely to have complete response to standard-dosed AH and those with a UAS <4 are highly likely to have complete response to higher than standard-dosed AH treatment. Low CSU disease activity is the only universal predictor of complete response to AH treatment with both ML models and traditional statistics for all age groups

Epidemiology, anticoagulant treatment and risk of thromboembolism in patients with valvular atrial fibrillation: Results from Atrial Fibrillation in Turkey: Epidemiologic Registry (AFTER)

Background: The aim of this study was to perform a multicenter, prospective investigation regarding the epidemiology, the current effectiveness of therapeutic anticoagulation, and the risk of thromboembolism in patients with valvular atrial fibrillation (AF) based on the records of the Atrial Fibrillation in Turkey: Epidemiologic Registry (AFTER) study. Methods: Patients were selected from a total of 2,242 consecutive admissions that presented with AF diagnosed via electrocardiogram. Those diagnosed with non-valvular AF were excluded from the AFTER study population, which left 497 patients with valvular AF for analysis. Results: The etiology of valvular AF in patients was either attributed to rheumatic mitral valve stenosis (n = 217) or possessing a prosthetic heart valve (n = 280). Out of all the patients with valvular AF, 83.1% were taking warfarin for anticoagulation. Only 36.1% demonstrated a therapeutic international normalized ratio (INR), and among those patients it was found that 19.1% exhibited a labile INR. Multivariate analysis revealed that age was the only independent predictor of thromboembolic events in patients with valvular AF. Conclusions: Many valvular AF patients are not maintained at therapeutic INR levels, which poses a threat to patient health as they age and are at greater risk for thromboembolism

Kâğıt geri dönüşümünde enzim ve ultrasonik enerji kullanımı

Medeniyetin kurulmasında, bilgi depolama ve aktarımında tartısmasız bir yeri olan kâğıt, günümüzde artık çok çesitli amaçlar için hayatın her kademesinde yer almakta, giderek tüketimi inanılmaz boyutlara ulasmaktadır. Kâğıt sektöründe hammadde problemine çözüm için, sürdürülebilir ormancılık çalısmalarından daha ziyade, sürdürülebilir geri dönüsüm teknolojilerini gelistirmek gerekmektedir. Bu anlamda atık sınıfına giren kâğıtın, lifler dısında bulunan bütün bilesenlerini en ekonomik ve çevreci metotlarla ayırmak son derece önemlidir. Bu çalısmada, toner baskılı ofis kâğıtlarının mürekkep ve kirliliklerinden arındırılmasında enzim ve ultrasonik enerji kullanımı konusunda elde edilen bazı sonuçlar tartısılmıs ve geri dönüsüm açısından kâğıt sektörü çevresel açıdan irdelenmistir.Paper has undeniable key roles in establishing civilization, archiving and transferring knowledge. Paper is in all parts of daily life for different purposes today and its consumption is getting at unbelievable level. For solving the problems related to insufficient raw materials, the sustainable recycling technologies should be developed rather than concentrating on sustainable forestry practices. In this sense, extracting all materials from waste papers with economical and environmentally friendly methods are extremely important. In this study, some results obtained from an experimental study carried out on the deinking of toner printed office papers with the help of enzymes and ultrasonic energy were discussed and paper industry was examined in respect to recycling and environment