Information and Communication Technology Skills of Students Using the Distant Education Management System to Complete Their Theology Undergraduate Education

Considering several variables, the present study aimed at examining the information and communication technology skills of university students taking their courses with the distant education system. In the study, the singular and relational survey model, one of general survey models, was used. The research sample was made up of 381 students attending the Distant Undergraduate Education Completion Program in Theology (DUECPT) at Dicle University in the Diyarbakir in Turkey in the academic year of 2013-2014. The first part of the questionnaire used the data collection tool in the study covered such demographic information about the students to reveal personal information about them as well as their use of information and communication technologies. As for the second part of the questionnaire, it included a scale to determine the participants’ information and technology skills. In the study, such descriptive statistics as frequencies, percentages, mean scores, mod and median as well as such parametric tests as t-test and one-way analysis of variance were applied. The results revealed that the university students’ information and communication technology skills differed significantly with respect to their gender, Internet use time, years of experience in computer use and their preferences of mobile device and that there was no significant difference with respect to their preferences of instructional methods (face-to-face or blended), their foreign language proficiencies, their preferences for studying (as a group or individual) and their preferences in learning

Intrapericardial Bronchogenic Cyst: An Unusual Clinical Entity

Mediastinal cysts are extremely rare clinical disorders. They usually have a pericardial origin. In this report, we present a 27-year-old male patient with a mediastinal bronchogenic cyst together with clinical presentation and management of the pathology

A novel approach for preventing esophageal stricture formation: olmesartan prevented apoptosis

Accidentally ingested corrosive substances can cause functional and structural damage to the esophageal tissue resulting in stricture formation. It has been reported that the administration of olmesartan (OLM) can have anti-inflammatory, antifibrotic and antiapoptotic effects on injured tissue. The aim of our study was to check if OLM could prevent formation of scars in the corrosive esophageal burn model. Fifty-one Wistar Albino rats were divided into six groups: Control, Sham, OLM, Sham + OLM, Burn, and Burn + OLM. Olmesartan (5 mg/kg) was given by gavage once per day for 21 consecutive days after injury. The morphology of the esophagus was assessed after Masson trichrome staining, and apoptosis was evaluated using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferased UTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) method. The serum nucleosomes (as an indicator of apoptosis), serum p53 protein, and esophageal tissue p53 protein levels of each group were measured by immunoassays. Muscularis mucosa damage, submucosal collagen deposition, and tunica muscularis injury in the Burn + OLM group decreased significantly compared with the Burn group (p < 0.05). Similarly, the number of apoptotic cells in the Burn + OLM group decreased compared with the Burn group (p < 0.05). Serum levels of nucleosomes and p53 and tissue of p53 protein did not differ between the groups. Exogenously administered OLM can effectively prevent the occurrence of esophageal strictures caused by corrosive esophageal burns. (Folia Histochemica et Cytobiologica 2014, Vol. 52, No. 1, 29–35

Tubeless Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy: Spinal versus General Anesthesia

Purpose: Tubeless percutaneous neplarolithotomy (PCNL) with double-J stenting is a good option for large kidney calculi without increasing blood loss. In many centers tubeless PCNL is performed under general anesthesia. In the present study we evaluated the impact of spinal anesthesia in patients undergoing tubeless PCNL. Material and Methods: Between February 2011 and February 2012, forty six patients with kidney calculi were treated with tubeless PCNL. Of these patients 26 were treated under spinal anesthesia (group 1) and remaining 20 were treated under general anesthesia (group 2). Groups were compared according to patient demographics, stone size, access number, operative time, presence of supracostal access, analgesic requirement, length of hospital stay, and complications. Results: There were not any statistically significant differences between groups in terms of patient demographics, mean stone size, mean access number, operative time, presence of supracostal access, and length of hospital stay. However, the analgesic requirement was significantly less in group 1 (53 +/- 39 mg vs. 111 +/- 46 mg, intravenous tramadol in groups 1 and 2, respectively P < .001). Conclusion: Tubeless PCNL under spinal anesthesia is a good alternative for general anesthesia in adult patients. Spinal anesthesia decreases analgesic requirement in patients that were performed tubeless PCNL compared to general anesthesia

Induction motor fault classification via entropy and column correlation features of 2D represented vibration data

Due to long-term use under challenging conditions, the sub-elements of induction motors may suffer certain defects over time. Such defects impair the vibration characteristics of the motors in different ways, depending on the type of defect. Therefore, the change in vibration characteristic provides indicators about the fault type and can be used in preventive maintenance strategies to ensure safe operation of the system. In this work, discrete-time vibration data were transformed into 2-dimensional grey-level images and decomposed into individual components by the Wavelet decomposition method. Features based on entropy and column correlation were extracted from these components and used to classify motor faults by using the Support Vector Machine method implemented by using the Sequential Minimal Optimisation algorithm. When the selected classifier is compared with other popular Machine Learning algorithms, it is observed that motor faults are more successfully classified, and these observations are presented in detail with comparative classification performance results

Blade expandable intramedullary nails for fixation of tibial shaft fractures

This study is aimed to compare the clinical and radiological differences between classic locked intramedullary nailing ( LIN) and blade expandable intramedullary nailing (BEIN) at tibia shaft fractures. Operation time, exposing of radiation time and fracture healing times were recorded. Visual anolog scale (VAS) , shortening of tibia , angulation at fracture line were compared. As a results all the patients healed successfully. In LIN group operation time, exposing of radiation time was longer (statistically significant). Because of shorter operation time and lower radiation exposure we recommend the BEIN technique as a preferable technique in tibia intramedullary nailing

Bidirectional inferior vena cava-pulmonary artery shunt: can it be an alternative for older patients presenting single ventricle heart disease in the third world countries?

The single ventricle cardiac pathologies are commonly treated with total cavopulmonary anastomosis in the current era The modality is usually performed in two stages and the bidirectional superior vena cava-pulmonary artery shunt constitutes the first stage; after a certain period, the inferior vena cava is connected to the anastomosis. However, especially in relatively older patients, single stage total cavopulmonary anastomosis is performed with various mortality and morbidity rates. This report is a review of an alternative method to the classical order of total cavopulmonary anastomosis, a prior bidirectional inferior vena cava-pulmonary artery shunt as a preparatory operation for total cavopulmonary connection in selected patient groups