STEM Club Evaluation Scale: Validity and Reliability Study

In STEMNET's report, 76% of 500 teachers interviewed stated that joining the STEM Club increased students' ability to solve real-world problems. This study aims to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool for evaluating STEM clubs. The research sample consisting of 149 teachers who carry out STEM club activities in schools in Turkey was determined using the purposive sampling method. Content and construct validity and reliability analyses have been performed for this purpose. To ensure content validity, (1) a pool of questions based on the literature was created, (2) draft scale items were determined, (3) an expert was allowed to check them, and (4)item difficulty and discrimination index were calculated. To ensure construct validity, (1) exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and (2) confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were performed on both the same and different samples. As a result of the analyses, having the same data set be analyzed with different software was sufficient for verifying the factor structure. A three-factor structure consisting of 29 items was obtained, which explains 52% of the variance. Cronbach’s alpha of reliability for the overall scale was calculated as .92. As a result, a valid and reliable scale was determined to have been developed for researchers and program practitioners to evaluate STEM clubs. Suggestions have been made that the scale can be used on STEM clubs at the provincial, district, and school levels to determine their efficiency and productivity

New and Simple Approach for Preventing Postoperative Peritoneal Adhesions: Do not Touch the Peritoneum without Viscous Liquid—A Multivariate Analysis

Background. Postoperative peritoneal adhesions (PPAs) are an unsolved and serious problem in abdominal surgery. Method. Viscous liquids of soybean oil, octyl methoxycinnamate, flax oil, aloe vera gel, and glycerol were used in five experiments, using the same methodology for each. Liquids were applied in the peritoneal cavity before and after mechanical peritoneal trauma. Results were evaluated by multivariate analysis. Results. Compared with the control group, macroscopic and microscopic adhesion values before (P < .001) and after (P < .05) application of viscous liquids significantly reduced PPAs. Values were significantly lower when liquids were applied before rather than after peritoneal trauma (P < .0001). Discussion. Viscous liquids injected into the peritoneal cavity before or after mechanical peritoneal trauma decrease PPA. Injection before trauma was more effective than after trauma. In surgical practice, PPA formation may be prevented or decreased by covering the peritoneal cavity with an appropriate viscous liquid before abdominal surgery

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P &lt; 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

AN OPTIMUM RELAY SELECTION FOR COOPERATIVE TRANSMISSION AND SPECTRUM SENSING IN COGNITIVE NETWORKSy

In this paper, we propose a jointly optimized relay selection scheme for both cooperative transmission and spectrum sensing purposes for cognitive radio networks. Our aim is to select a relay to achieve the sufficient performances of cooperative transmission and spectrum sensing for the secondary network while ensuring the quality of service (QoS) of primary user. We present error performance of transmission and probability of detection for spectrum sensing via computer simulations. Results show that our jointly optimized scheme provides encouraging performance for both transmission and spectrum sensing in cognitive radio networks

The effect of telephone triage on symptom management in patients with cancer undergoing systemic chemotherapy: a randomized controlled trial

Purpose: Patients with cancer experience chemotherapy-related symptoms in the home after treatment in the hospital. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of the telephone triage on symptom management, quality of life, and self-care management in patients with cancer undergoing treatment of systemic chemotherapy. Methods: The study was conducted as a single-blind randomized controlled trial. The sample consisted of 65 patients who were randomly assigned to intervention and control groups. A telephone symptom triage protocol (TeleTRIAGE) was applied to the patients in the intervention group during the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th cycles of chemotherapy treatment. The control group received standard nursing care. Pretest and posttest data were collected using a Personal Information Form, the Chemotherapy Symptom Assessment Scale, the FACT-G Quality of Life Scale and the Self-Care Agency Scale. Results: Compared to the control group, the patients in the intervention group showed a decrease in appetite change, symptom severity, and the degree of discomfort in feeling pessimistic and sad (p < 0.05), and their mean quality of life and self-care management scores increased (p < 0.05). Conclusions: It was found that the TeleTRIAGE protocol applied to patients with cancer undergoing treatment of systemic chemotherapy improved symptom management, quality of life and self-care management. Trial registration: www.clinicaltrials.gov, NCT04162717.No sponso

Pyloric Gland Adenoma: A Case Report

Endoscopic procedures are the gold standard in identifying, monitoring and treating gastrointestinal system lesions. The evaluation of benign, precancerous and malignant characteristics of these lesions requires good endoscopic inspection and precise pathological examination. Pyloric gland adenoma is a rare precancerous lesion defined in recent years and herein is reviewed in the present case along with the literature

Effects of intraperitoneal glycerol and flax oil administration on colonic anastomosis healing

Abstract Effects of Intraperitoneal glycerol and flax oil on colonic anastomosis healing process was studied. Thirty female Wistar albino rats were divided into three groups. Each rat underwent segmental colonic resection with single-layer anastomosis. In group-1, the anastomotic line was covered with 9%NaCl, in group-2 with glycerol, and in group-3 with flax oil. The rats were sacrificed on postoperative day 10. Anastomosis burst pressures, tissue hydoxyproline levels and anastomosis histopathological characteristics were evaluated. We observed no statistical differences among all groups in mean bursting pressures (p= 0.767). The mean hydroxyprolin level of group 1 was statistically lower than group 2 and 3 (p=0.0001) but no difference between them 3 (p=0.436). Histopathologic evaluation results were not statistically different in all groups. The p values were 0.664 for inflammation, 0.638 for neovascularization, 0.381 for fibroblast ingrowth, and 0.295 for collagen deposition. Glycerol and flax oil are not harmful to the colonic anastomosis healing process. On the contrary, they increase mean tissue levels of hydroxyproline, which is directly related to anastostomotic healing. These liquids securely applicable for colonic anastomosis performed peritoneal cavities