The relationship of serum asymmetric dimethylarginine concentrations and lung involvement in patients with COVID-19 infection

Aim: COVID-19 infections the tissue through angiotensin converting enzyme 2 receptor, which is also expressed on endothelial cells. Endothelial dysfunction may be associated with lung involvement. Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) is an indirect marker of endothelial dysfunction. The aim of our study was to evaluate ADMA concentrations and to identify its association with lung involvement in patients with COVID-19 disease. Methods: We included 42 patients with COVID-19 infection and lung involvement (Group 1). Forty-two age and sex matched patients without pneumonia acted as the control group (Group 2). All patients gave blood samples for ADMA at the 1st month control visit after discharge. We compared C-reactive protein (CRP) and ADMA concentrations in addition to routine biochemical parameters between groups. Results: Patients with lung involvement had higher admission glucose, CRP, and ADMA concentrations, and displayed lower hemoglobin concentration and lymphocyte count compared to patients without lung involvement. Although patients with lung involvement had higher ADMA concentrations with respect to those without; plasma ADMA levels were also higher than normal values in control group. Multivariate analysis identified log CRP concentration (OR= 3.047, 95% CI=1.881-5.023, p<0.001) as the independent predictor for lung involvement. And, there was a correlation between ADMA and CRP (r: 0.318, p: 0.003). Conclusion: We revealed elevated ADMA concentrations as the surrogate of endothelial dysfunction in COVID-19 patients whether they have pneumonia or not

Attitudes of nursing and medical school students towards ageism

The present study aimed to evaluate the attitudes of nursing and medical school students towards age discrimination and to determine the association between these attitudes and various variables. A total of 662 students, 328 from the Faculty of Nurse Education and 334 from the Faculty of Medicine, participated in the present descriptive and cross-sectional study.Data were collected using Data Form for socio-demographic characteristicsand Ageism Attitude Scale (AAS). Descriptive statistics, t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, Chi-square test, One-Way ANOVA, and Kruskal Wallis test were used to evaluate the data using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows (Version 20.0).Nursing school students had higher points in restricting the life of elderly people, positive discrimination towards them and Ageism Attitude Scale, but had lower points in negative discrimination towards them compared to medical school students. While the points of positive discrimination towards elderly and Ageism Attitude Scale of the students of two schools were not significantly different (p>0.05), points of restricting the life of elderly people and negative discrimination towards elderly varied significantly between the students of two schools (p [Med-Science 2020; 9(4.000): 848-55

Comparison of Nursing and Mechanical Engineering Students' Codependency Levels

This study aims to determine and compare nursing students' and mechanical engineering students' codependency levels and the factors that affect codependency. This study is designed as a descriptive-comparative research. Data has been collected using an information form and the Codependency Assessment Tool (CODAT). Higher scores indicate higher levels of codependency. The sample consists of 283 undergraduate students who voluntarily participated in this study. The data has been evaluated in SPSS 11.5 using statistical tests such as frequency, mean, independent-samples t-test, and one-way ANOVA testing. Students' mean CODAT score was 51.89 (SD = 9.93). Students were found to have mild level codependency. No statistically significant difference was found to exist between total scale scores and gender, or between nursing students' and mechanical engineering students' total CODAT scores. However, mechanical engineering students had higher scores than nursing students for the hiding-self subscale. First-year students with a history of mental illness, being treated for mental illness, or current/previous alcohol or drug use who expressed having more familial problems have significantly higher scores. The results obtained from this study contribute to the literature on codependency in terms of the nature of and factors affecting codependency

Psychologic correlates of eating attitudes in Turkish female college students

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the frequency and correlates of disordered eating attitudes in a university-sample Turkish female population and to evaluate the contribution of maternal psychopathologic symptoms and family functioning