Children's Foreign Language Anxiety Scale: Preliminary Tests of Reliability and Validity

Foreign language anxiety (FLA), which constitutes a serious problem in the foreign language learning process, has been mainly seen as a research issue regarding adult language learners, while it has been overlooked in children. This is because there is a lack of appropriate tools to measure FLA among children, whereas there are many studies on the scales that aim to measure anxiety levels among adult learners. Thus, the current study aims to conduct the preliminary tests of reliability and validity of the Children's Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (CFLAS) and to report on the pilot examination of reliability, validity and factor structure of the CFLAS. The findings of the pilot study show that CFLAS is a reliable and valid tool to measure FLA levels among children who learn English as a foreign language (EFL) within the age range of 7-12 in a Turkish EFL context

Comparison of the real-life clinical outcomes of warfarin with effective time in therapeutic range and NOACs: Insight from AFTER-2 Trial

BACKGROUND: We aimed to compare the long-term follow-up results of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) who use vitamin K antagonist (VKA) with effective time in therapeutic range (TTR) and non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs). METHODS: A total of 1140 patients were followed at 35 different centers for five years. During the follow-up period, the INR values were studied at least 4 times a year and the TTR values were calculated according to the Roosendaal method. The effective TTR level was accepted as >60% as recommended by the guidelines. There were 254 patients in the effective TTR group and 886 patients in the NOACs group. Ischemic cerebrovascular disease/ transient ischemic attack (CVD/TIA), hemorrhagic CVD, and mortality were considered primary endpoints based on one-year and five-year follow-ups. RESULTS: Ischemic CVD/TIA (3.9% vs. 6.2%; P = 0.17) and hemorrhagic CVD (0.4% vs. 0.5%, P = 0.69), the one-year mortality rate (7.1% vs. 8.1%; P = 0.59), five-year mortality rates (24% vs. 26.3%; P = 0.46) were not different between the effective TTR and NOACs groups during the follow-up respectively. The CHA2DS2-VASC score was similar between warfarin with the effective TTR group and NOACs group (3 [2–4] vs. 3 [2–4]; P = 0.17, respectively]. Additionally, survival free-time did not differ between the warfarin with effective TTR group and each NOAC in the Kaplan-Meier analysis (dabigatran, P = 0.59; rivaroxaban, P = 0.34; apixaban, P = 0.26; and edoxaban, P = 0.14). CONCLUSION: There was no significant difference in primary outcomes between the effective TTR and NOAC groups in AF patients

Evaluation of Right Ventricular Global Longitudinal Strain in COVID-19 Patients After Intensive Care Unit Discharge

Background and Aim:Using two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography (2D-STE), the ventricular functions of hospitalized coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) patients were assessed. However, there is limited information about cardiac functions in the first year after recovery from the intensive care unit (ICU). This research aims to assess the right ventricular functions of COVID-19 patients and their changes within the first year after ICU discharge using 2D-STE.Materials and Methods:The study was conducted prospectively. The study included 68 consecutive patients and 70 control patients. Echocardiography was performed in the ICU and the first year after discharge from the hospital. Right ventricular global longitudinal strain (RVGLS) was measured using the 2D-STE method.Results:The mean age of the study group was 48.67±8.10 and 37 (54.4%) patients were males. There were no substantial differences across the groups, including age, gender, body mass index, heart rate, diabetes, dyslipidemia, and smoking (P > 0.05). A substantially significant positive correlation was detected between right ventricular dimension (RAD) (r = 0.644, P < 0.001), right ventricular diastolic dimension (RVDD) (r = 0.573, P < 0.001), ferritin (r = 0.454, P < 0.001), D-dimer (r = 0.305, P = 0.011) values and RVGLS in the in-hospital and after-discharge first-year groups. The RVGLS values of the control, in-hospital, and after-discharge first-year groups were -20.36±3.06, -16.98±3.78, and -17.58±6.45, indicating a statistically significant difference across the groups (P < 0.001). Tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion was higher in the control group (P < 0.05).Conclusion:RVGLS was found to be depressed during the in-hospital period and showed no improvement in the 1 year post discharge

ORTA DOĞU GÜVENLİĞİNDE YENİ AÇILIMLAR VE İBRAHİM ANTLAŞMASI

Orta Doğu’da 1948 yılında İsrail’in kurulmasıyla başlayan Arap-İsrail gerginliği ve bölgesel anlaşmazlıklar, küresel aktörlerin ve ilgili kurumların sürekli takibinde olmuştur. İsrail ile bölgedeki diğer Arap devletleri arasında yaşanan 1967 ve 1973 savaşlarının sonuçları günümüzde dahi etkisini devam ettirmektedir. Enerji arzı gibi konularda küresel etkileri olan Orta Doğu’daki Arap-İsrail gerginliği ve çatışmalar, 1979 yılında Mısır ve 1994 yılında Ürdün ile İsrail arasında mutabakata varılan barış antlaşmaları ve diplomasi vasıtasıyla çözülmeye çalışılmıştır. Son olarak İsrail ile barış antlaşması yapan diğer bir Orta Doğu ülkesi Birleşik Arap Emirlikleri (BAE) olmuştur. Bu çalışmada, İbrahim Antlaşması ile Orta Doğu bölgesinde tesis edilmeye çalışılan barışın bölge güvenliğine etkileri; haber, belge, makale, kitap taranarak incelenen literatürden erişilen bilgiler derlenerek ve yorumsamacılık yöntemleri kullanılarak tespit edilmeye çalışılmıştır. Çalışma sonucunda İbrahim Antlaşmasının sadece bölgedeki barışı tesis etmeye değil, BAE’nin ABD’den F-35 alımına yardımcı olduğu ve İsrail’in BAE’ye uçakların yedek parça satışı açısından ekonomik avantaja sahip olacağı bulgusuna ulaşılmıştır

Medical Performance In Turkey: An Application On Secondary Health Service System

Türkiye’de sağlık hizmetlerinde yaşanan yenilenme; özellikle hekimlerin performans belirleme süreçleri, hasta memnuniyet düzeyini etkileyen önemli bir değişkendir. İkinci basamak sağlık hizmetleri performansa dayalı ücret sisteminin etkilerinin en yoğun olarak hissedildiği alandır. Bu kapsamda hekimler ancak yüksek verimlilikle yüksek ücret elde edebilmektedir. Ancak bazı branşlarda verimlilik düşük olmasına rağmen, diğer branşlardan elde edilen katkıyla verimlilik yüksek görünebilmektedir. Bu çalışmada ikinci basamak sağlık hizmetlerinde performansa dayalı ücret sistemi incelenmiş, gerçek veriler üzerinden hareketle bir sağlık tesisinde performans düzeyleri ve katkıları belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. Elde edilen sonuçlar özellikle cerrahi branşların dahili branşlara katkısının yüksek olduğunu göstermekle birlikte, ilginç şekilde operasyonel faaliyetleri düşük olan cerrahi branşların performansa dayalı ücret sisteminden fayda görmediği belirlenmiştir. Ancak yine de sözkonusu cerrahi branşları, dahili branşların katkısıyla performans sisteminden gizli şekilde yararlandığı çalışmanın bir diğer ilgi çekicibulgusudur.The renewal of health services in Turkey, in particular performance setting processes of physicians is an important variable affecting the level of patient satisfaction. Secondary health care services is the area in which the effects of the performancebased compensation system is most heavily felt . In this context; physicians are able to obtain higher wages as long as they achieve higher productivity . But, despite the low productivity in some branches, efficiency may appear high with the contribution from other departments In this study, performance-based compensation system of secondary line health services, is investigated, and the levels of performance and contributions have been determined by using actual data movement through a health care facility. The results obtained reflect especially the high contribution of surgical branches to , internal branches, however, the surgical branches with lower level of operational activities did not get much benefit from the performance-based compensation system .. However, Another interesting finding of the study is that surgical branches in question, benefited from performance system in a somewhat hidden manner with the contribution of the internalbranches

How the Manager Trust and Distributive Justice Can Affect the Employees' Job Embeddedness

The aim of this study is to reveal the effect of manager trust and distributive justice on employees' job embeddedness. In this scope, Global Job Embeddedness Scale was adapted to Turkish language at first and then a questionnaire composing the scale of job embeddedness, manager trust and distributive justice was prepared. Major findings from the empirical study are (1) adapted version of Global Job Embeddedness Scale to Turkish language is reliable and valid, (2) although both manager trust and distributive justice have an effect on the employees' job embeddedness, it is understood, in the model that manager trust significantly outweigh the distributive justice with regard to influence on employees' job embeddedness

Comparison of the application of intra-articular and intravenous tranexamic acid to reduce blood loss during primary total knee arthroplasty

Tranexamic acid (TXA) is frequently administered intravenously because it is recognized as a safe and effective procedure. This study's objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of intravenous and intra-articular TXA treatments in patients who have had primary unilateral knee joint replacement. Patients were divided into groups based on TXA applications. Group A patients, those who received intravenous TXA, Group B patients, those who received intraarticular TXA, and Group C patients were intended to serve as the control group. Age, gender, ASA scores, length of hospital stay, preoperative, postoperative, and discharge hemoglobin and hematocrit levels, and the quantity of blood product transfusion given to the patients was analyzed retrospectively. Analysis of the patient’s postoperative Hb values revealed that group C patients had lower Hb values (p &lt; 0.05). Postoperative Hct levels were also seen to be significantly lower in group C individuals (p &lt; 0.05). When the patients' Hb levels were measured at discharge, it was discovered that group C patients had lower Hb levels (p &lt; 0.05). The Hct values of group C patients at discharge were also found to be considerably lower (p &lt; 0.05). It was found that group C patients received significantly more blood transfusions than the other groups (p &lt; 0.05) when the number of patient blood transfusions was compared between the groups. Intravenous and intra-articular TXA successfully minimize blood loss in primary TKA. The benefits of intra-articular administration over intravenous administration include convenience of administration, local application, and a higher level of safety

Merkez Kaboratuvar AR-GE Eğitim ve Ölçme Merkezinde Malzeme Karakterizasyonu

ODTÜ Merkez Laboratuvar, üniversitelerdeki tüm araştırmacılara açık olan laboratuvar olanakları ile özel ve kamu kuruluşlarının araştırma, ürün geliştirme ve üretim aşamalarında ihtiyaç duydukları test ve ölçüm isteklerini karşılayan bir laboratuvar olarak çalışmaktadır. Bu hizmeti sunmak için gerekli olan sarf ve teçhizat alımlarının bir kısmı bu projeden elde edilen kaynak kullanılarak gerçekleştirilecektir