Scale of Attitudes Towards Online Formative Assessment: Teacher’ Attitudes during COVID-19 Pandemic

Due to the pandemic in many countries, schools were closed in 2020. Therefore, education was suspended, and distance education was started. During the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, teachers gave lessons online in virtual classrooms. In this study, Scale of Attitudes Towards Online Formative Assessment (S-AOFA) for teachers conducting online and distance courses was developed, and the teachers' attitudes were examined with respect to demographic variables. In the study conducted in the mixed-design method, qualitative and quantitative data were collected for the scale development and survey. Data were obtained from 369 teachers (science teacher, mathematics teacher, classroom teacher, and teachers in other fields) working in school in Turkey. S-AOFA was made up of 20 items and two factors as a five-point Likert-type. When the teachers' attitudes towards online formative assessment (AOFA) was examined, it was found that the mean for the factor of "Assessment Systems" was lower than that of the "Assessment Approaches". In addition, the findings revealed that there was no significant difference in the teachers' AOFA in terms of gender and that no significant difference existed in AOFA with respect to the school levels of the teachers (elementary, secondary and high school). Moreover, the results demonstrated that there was a low negative significant relationship between the teachers' AOFA and the number of students in which virtual lessons were given online. Lastly, there was a low level positive significant relationship between the teachers' AOFA and the in-class participation percentages of the students who were taught online in virtual classrooms. S-AOFA could be used by researchers in different studies in future

Respiratory Health Symptoms among Students Exposed to Different Levels of Air Pollution in a Turkish City

In this study, we aimed to investigate the frequency of respiratory health symptoms among high school students attending schools at industrial, urban and rural areas in a Turkish city. Three schools located in different zones of the city having different pollution characteristics were chosen based on the pollutant distribution maps using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) software. A cross-sectional survey was performed among 667 high school students in the schools. Outdoor and indoor nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and ozone (O3) concentrations were also measured by passive samplers in the same schools to investigate possible routes of exposure. Chronic pulmonary disease (OR = 1.49; 95%CI: 1.11–1.99; p = 0.008), tightness in the chest (OR = 1.57; 95%CI: 1.22–2.02; p = 0.001), morning cough (OR = 1.81 95%CI: 1.19–2.75; p = 0.006) were higher among students in the industrial zone where nitrogen dioxide and ozone levels were also highest. There were no indoor sources of nitrogen dioxide and ozone exists in the schools except for the dining hall. As a conclusion, this study has noticed that air pollution and respiratory health problems among high school students are high in industrial zones and the use of passive samplers combined with GIS is an effective tool that may be used by public health researchers to identify pollutant zones and persons at risk

Evaluation of patients with fibrotic interstitial lung disease: Preliminary results from the Turk-UIP study

OBJECTIVE: Differential diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is important among fibrotic interstitial lung diseases (ILD). This study aimed to evaluate the rate of IPF in patients with fibrotic ILD and to determine the clinical-laboratory features of patients with and without IPF that would provide the differential diagnosis of IPF. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The study included the patients with the usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) pattern or possible UIP pattern on thorax high-resolution computed tomography, and/or UIP pattern, probable UIP or possible UIP pattern at lung biopsy according to the 2011 ATS/ERSARS/ALAT guidelines. Demographics and clinical and radiological data of the patients were recorded. All data recorded by researchers was evaluated by radiology and the clinical decision board. RESULTS: A total of 336 patients (253 men, 83 women, age 65.8 +/- 9.0 years) were evaluated. Of the patients with sufficient data for diag-nosis (n=300), the diagnosis was IPF in 121 (40.3%), unclassified idiopathic interstitial pneumonia in 50 (16.7%), combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE) in 40 (13.3%), and lung involvement of connective tissue disease (CTD) in 16 (5.3%). When 29 patients with definite IPF features were added to the patients with CPFE, the total number of IPF patients reached 150 (50%). Rate of male sex (p<0.001), smoking history (p<0.001), and the presence of clubbing (p=0.001) were significantly high in patients with IPE None of the women <50 years and none of the men <50 years of age without a smoking history were diagnosed with IPE Presence of at least 1 of the symptoms suggestive of CTD, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and antinuclear antibody (FANA) positivity rates were significantly higher in the non-IPF group (p<0.001, p=0.029, p=0.009, respectively). CONCLUSION: The rate of IPF among patients with fibrotic ILD was 50%. In the differential diagnosis of IPF, sex, smoking habits, and the presence of clubbing are important. The presence of symptoms related to CTD, ESR elevation, and EANA positivity reduce the likelihood of IPF

Effect of using concept caricature in science and technology teaching to academic success of 7th graders

Bu çalışmada, Fen ve Teknoloji dersi "İnsan ve Çevre" ünitesinde kavram karikatürü tekniği kullanımının, ilköğretim 7. sınıf öğrencilerinin akademik başarıları üzerine etkisi araştırılmıştır. Araştırma ön test, son test ve hatırlama testi olmak üzere üç aşamada gerçekleştirilen başarı testleri ile yürütülmüştür. Araştırmanın deney grubuna Fen ve Teknoloji dersi öğretim programına uygun olarak hazırlanan kavram karikatürü; kontrol grubuna ise geleneksel öğretim yöntemi ile konu anlatılmıştır. Araştırmanın evrenini, Şırnak il merkezinde öğrenim gören ortaokul öğrencileri oluşturmaktadır. Araştırmanın örneklemini ise Şırnak Toki Ortaokulu'nda 7. sınıf düzeyinde öğrenim gören 98 öğrenci oluşturmaktadır. Toki Ortaokulu 7. Sınıf düzeyinde yer alan dört sınıf, rastgele yöntemle iki kontrol grubu ve iki deney grubu olarak ayrılmıştır. 'İnsan ve Çevre' ünitesi deney grubundaki öğrencilere Fen ve Teknoloji öğretim programına uygun olarak hazırlanan kavram karikatürleri yöntemi; kontrol grubuna ise geleneksel yöntem ile 2 hafta süresince ders anlatılmıştır. Öğrencilerin başarı düzeylerinin belirlenmesinde veri toplama aracı olarak, güvenirlik katsayısı 0.818 olan ve 25 sorudan oluşan "İnsan ve Çevre Başarı Testi" kullanılmıştır. Veriler, SPSS 10.00 istatistik paket programı aracılığıyla analiz edilmiştir. .Deney ve kontrol gruplarının ön test, son test ve hatırlama testlerinden aldıkları puanların, gruplar arası ve her bir grubun kendi içinde farklılaşma düzeylerini incelemek amacıyla dokuz hipotez geliştirilmiş ve bu hipotezler istatistiksel yöntemlerle test edilmiştir. Hipotezlerin test edilmesi aşamasında bağımsız örneklem t-testi kullanılmıştır. Araştırmanın sonucunda kavram karikatürü tekniği uygulanan deney grubu ile geleneksel yöntem uygulanan kontrol grubu arasında son test ve hatırlama testi sonuçları bakımından anlamlı bir farklılık gözlenmemiştir. Kavram karikatürü tekniğinin öğrencilerin akademik başarılarını arttırmada ve öğrenilenlerin kalıcılığını sağlamada beklenilen ölçüde etkili olmadığı sonucuna ulaşılmıştır.In this study, the effect of the concept cartoon technique used in "Human and Enviorenment" Unit of Science and Technology course on the academic achievement of 7th grade primary school students has been investigated. The research was conducted with three successive tests, which are pre-test, post-test and recall test. Science and Technology course is taught by using the concept caricature prepared according to the curriculum of Science and Technology course for the experiment group of the research while the subject is taught by traditional teaching method in the control group. The population of the research is composed of middle school students who are studying in Sirnak province center. The sample of the research consists of 98 students who are studying at 7th grade level in Sirnak Toki Middle School. The four classes in the 7th grade of Toki Middle School were divided into two control groups and two experimental groups by random method. The unit of "Human and Environment" is taught by using the concept caricature prepared according to the curriculum of Science and Technology course for the experiment groups and the traditional teaching method is used to teach the same unit for control groups both for two weeks. "Human and Environmental Achievement Test", which has a reliability coefficient of 0.818 and consists of 25 questions, was used as the data collection tool in determining the success levels of the students. The data were analyzed by SPSS 19.00 statistical package program. Nine hypotheses were developed to examine the scores of the pre-, post-test and recall tests of the experimental and control groups, between the groups and within each group, and these hypotheses were tested by statistical methods. Independent sample t-test was used to test hypotheses. As a result of the research, no significant difference was observed between the experimental group in which the concept caricature technique was used and the control group in which the traditional method was used in terms of the results of the final test and the recall test. It has been achieved that the concept caricature technique is not effective not to the degree that is expected on increasing the academic achievement of the students and endurance of the learners

Vanishing white matter disease with different faces

Purpose: The goal of this study was to better understand vanishing white matter (VWM) disease, which is one of the most common hereditary white matter disorders, and its relationship to radiologic features, genetic analyses, and clinical findings. Methods: We performed a study on 11 patients to describe the clinical and neuroimaging features of VWM. Patients were grouped into “infantile,” “early childhood,” and “juvenile” based on their onset age. EIF2B1–5 genes encoding five subunits of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2B (eIF2B) were analyzed in all patients with clinically suspected VWM disease. Results: In brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), all patients showed white matter abnormalities with various degrees. The initial clinical presentation in five of patients was ataxia, with severe refractory epilepsy in three patients. In children with infantile-onset VWM, a rapid deterioration of motor function was detected, and the frequency of epilepsy was higher. Two patients showed manifestations of end-stage VWM disease, and one of them had chronic subdural hematoma. One of our patients and his father were diagnosed with Brugada syndrome. Sequencing of the exons and exon-intron boundaries of the EIF2B1–5 genes revealed mutations in the genes EIF2B5 (5 cases), EIF2B3 (3 cases), and EIF2B4 (2 cases). We also found a novel mutation in one patient: c.323_325delGAA in the EIF2B1 gene. Conclusions: In this study, in addition to classical clinical and radiological findings, we wanted to emphasize that we may be confronted with refractory epilepsy (early infancy), cardiac problems, and intracranial complications that may occur in advanced stages

İron Sazlığı’nda (Bi̇tli̇s, Türki̇ye) yeti̇şen karaburun balığının [chondrostoma regium (heckel, 1843)] besi̇n öğeleri̇ni̇n i̇ncelenmesi̇

İron Sazlığı Bitlis İli’nde yer alan Türkiye’nin önemli sulak alanlarından biridir. Alanda yaşayan karaburun balığı (Chondrostoma regium Heckel, 1843) bölge halkı tarafından yoğun bir şekilde tüketilmektedir. Bu çalışmada, balıkçılar tarafından Kasım (2019) tarihinde yakalanan balıkların besin kompozisyonunun belirlenerek yöre halkı için besinsel değerinin incelenmesini amaçlanmıştır. Bu kapsamda; balıkçıdan temin edilen balıklar soğuk zincir ile laboratuvara getirilmiş ve disekte edilerek analizlere kadar -18 ºC’de saklanmıştır. Analizler sonucunda numunelerde protein %18.62±2.10, yağ %2.61±1.08, kül %1.44±0.35, nem %75.66±0.99 ve kuru madde %24.33±0.99 olarak bulunmuştur. Literatürde Chondrostoma regium (Heckel, 1843)’un besin değerlerinin incelendiği çalışmalar oldukça kısıtlı olup çalışmanın bu anlamda literatüre katkı sağlayabileceği düşünülmüştür