Transformative Learning and Pedagogical Approaches in Education for Sustainable Development: Are Initial Teacher Education Programmes in England and Turkey Ready for Creating Agents of Change for Sustainability?

Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a feature of academic and policy debates within initial teacher education around the world. A theme within these debates is the extent to which ESD is more than just a body of knowledge, and if it suggests different pedagogical approaches which may be prevalent in most countries. Another feature of these debates is whether ESD can be seen as suggesting a transformative approach as opposed to a transmissive approach. As a qualitative study, using examples from research and evidence gathered in England and Turkey through document analysis, this article identifies both the opportunities and challenges for teacher education courses using ESD as a means for promoting a distinctive pedagogical approach and whether they can be seen as posing transformative learning

Design and evaluation of an ontology based information extraction system for radiological reports

Cataloged from PDF version of article.This paper describes an information extraction system that extracts and converts the available information in free text Turkish radiology reports into a structured information model using manually created extraction rules and domain ontology. The ontology provides flexibility in the design of extraction rules, and determines the information model for the extracted semantic information. Although our information extraction system mainly concentrates on abdominal radiology reports, the system can be used in another field of medicine by adapting its ontology and extraction rule set. We achieved very high precision and recall results during the evaluation of the developed system with unseen radiology reports. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Embolisation von Katheterbeschichtung in das Myokard

Zusammenfassung: Interventionelle kardiovaskuläre Eingriffe nehmen stetig zu. Die verwendeten Führungskatheter sind mit hydrophilem Material beschichtet, das Einführen wie Kontrolle der Katheter erleichtert und gleichzeitig vaskuläre Spasmen verhindert. Wir berichten von 2Fällen, bei denen die Verwendung eines ChoICE®-PT-Führungskatheters bei Koronarangiographie zu einer Embolisation dieser hydrophilen Beschichtung mit nachfolgendem Verschluss kleiner intramyokardialer Arterien führt

Design and evaluation of an ontology based information extraction system for radiological reports

This paper describes an information extraction system that extracts and converts the available information in free text Turkish radiology reports into a structured information model using manually created extraction rules and domain ontology. The ontology provides flexibility in the design of extraction rules, and determines the information model for the extracted semantic information. Although our information extraction system mainly concentrates on abdominal radiology reports, the system can be used in another field of medicine by adapting its ontology and extraction rule set. We achieved very high precision and recall results during the evaluation of the developed system with unseen radiology reports. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd

Dynapenic abdominal obesity and susceptibility to fall: a prospective analysis of the Osteoarthritis Initiative

Background: The prediction of the risk of falling remains a challenge in geriatric medicine and the identification of new potential reversible risk factors is a public health priority. In this study, we aim to investigate the association between DAO (dynapenic abdominal obesity) and incident falls in a large sample of people with knee OA (osteoarthritis) or at high risk for this condition, over 8 years of follow-up. Methods: DAO was defined using a waist circumference more than 102 cm in men and 88 cm in women and a concomitant presence of dynapenia, defined as a time over 15 s in the five times chair stands time. Falls, during follow-up, were recorded using self-reported information in the previous year. A logistic binary regression analysis was run, adjusted for potential confounders at the baseline, reporting the data as odds ratios (ORs) with their 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Overall, 3,844 subjects were included, majority of whom had abdominal obesity. Across the 8 years of follow-up, 2,695 participants fell vs. 1,149 not reporting any fall. Taking those without DAO as reference, the presence of only dynapenia was not associated with risk of falls (OR = 1.18;95%CI: 0.73–1.91; p = 0.50), whilst the presence of abdominal obesity (OR = 1.30; 95%CI: 1.09–1.56; p = 0.004) and DAO (OR = 1.31; 95%CI:1.01–1.73; p = 0.04) were significantly associated with a higher risk of incident falls. Conclusion: DAO significantly increased risk of falls as well as the presence of abdominal obesity

Volumetric measurements of the subcortical structures of healthy adult brains in the Turkish population

Background: The interest in the morphological development of brain structures during childhood and adolescence arises from discussions on subcortical anomalies and sexual dimorphism, from adolescent changes in cognitive functions supported by cortical and subcortical structures to a wide range of childhood neuropsychiatric diseases. This study aims to investigate the relationships subcortical structures regarding age/gender changes in the healthy adult human brain using web-based VolBrain. Materials and methods: In this study, 303 normal healthy adults [male and female] were obtained using a 1.5 T unit with a 20-channel head coil. Results: The volumes of White Matter, Gray Matter, Total Brain, Cerebrospinal Fluid, and Total Intracranial Volume were significantly higher in males than those in females. Our analysis revealed a significantly larger accumbens volume for females. With age less than or equal to 50 years, older males were found to have higher total LV, putamen, thalamus, amygdala, cerebrum, White Matter and Gray Matter volumes than females. The age greater than the 50-years-old group resulted in a mean of total thalamus, Globus Pallidus and accumbens volumes higher in females than those in males. Right hemisphere volumes in younger and older age groups resulted in volumes except caudate in the older age group; the mean of caudate was significantly higher in females than those in males. Conclusions: These conclusions might have important for the explanation of the effects of gender and age in cross-sectional structural MRI studies. Also, knowing the volume changes of the subcortical structures can provide convenience about the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of various neuromental disorders

The association of grip strength with depressive symptoms and cortisol in hair: A cross-sectional study of older adults

BACKGROUND: Low handgrip strength has been shown to be associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. One area of mental health that is understudied in relation to grip strength is chronic stress, which can exist independently to depression, or as a comorbidity or precursor to this condition. The present study examined cross-sectional associations between grip strength, an established marker of physical function, and (a) depressive symptoms and (b) chronic stress utilizing hair cortisol concentrations, while accounting for multiple pertinent confounding variables. // METHOD: Data were used from wave 6 (2012/13) of the English Longitudinal Study of Aging, a panel study of older (≥50 years) community-dwelling men and women. Grip strength was measured in kg using a hand-held dynamometer. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the 8-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale. Hair cortisol concentrations (pg/mg) were determined from samples of scalp hair and log-transformed for analysis to correct skewness. Associations of grip strength with depressive symptoms and hair cortisol concentration were tested using linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, ethnicity, wealth, smoking status, physical activity, body mass index, limiting long-standing illness, arthritis, diabetes, and hair treatment. // RESULTS: The sample comprised of 3741 participants (mean age 68.4 years, 66.4% female). After adjustment for age and sex, grip strength was significantly and negatively associated with both depressive symptoms (B = -0.038, SE = 0.004, P < 0.001) and hair cortisol (B = -0.003, SE = 0.001, P = 0.029). However, in the fully-adjusted models, both associations were attenuated and only the association with depressive symptoms remained statistically significant (B = -0.015, SE = 0.004, P < 0.001; hair cortisol B = -0.002, SE = 0.001, P = 0.088). // CONCLUSION: In a large sample of older adults in England, grip strength was negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Results were inconclusive regarding the association between grip strength and chronic stress. Further research examining the longitudinal relationships between muscular strength and specific aspects of mental health, while also exploring the neurobiological mechanisms underlying these associations, is warranted before recommendations for policy and practice can be made

The Prevalence and Indications of Intravenous Rehydration Therapy in Hospital Settings: A Systematic Review

Objective: We performed a systematic review to explore the prevalence of intravenous (IV) rehydration therapy in hospital settings, and we assessed it by patient groups and populations. Methods: A systematic review of major databases and grey literature was undertaken from inception to 28 March 2022. Studies reporting prevalence of IV rehydration therapy in a hospital setting were identified. The data were synthesised in a narrative approach. (3) Results: Overall, 29 papers met the inclusion criteria. The prevalence of IV rehydration therapy in paediatric patients ranged from 4.5% (hospitalised with diarrhoea and dehydration) to 100% (admitted to the emergency department with mild to moderate dehydration caused by viral gastroenteritis), and in adults this ranged from 1.5% (had single substance ingestion of modafinil) to 100% (hospitalised with hypercalcemia). The most common indication for IV rehydration therapy in paediatric patients was dehydration due to fluid loss from the gastrointestinal tract. Other causes included malnutrition, neuromuscular disease, bronchiolitis, and influenza. In adults, indications for IV rehydration therapy were much more diverse: fever, diarrhoea, drug intoxication, hypercalcemia, cancer, and postural tachycardia syndrome; (4) Conclusions: This systematic review showed that IV rehydration therapy in paediatric patients is often used to treat dehydration and diarrhoea, while in adults it has a broader spectrum of use. While IV rehydration therapy is important in correcting fluid problems and electrolyte status, the maintenance fluid prescribing practices vary considerably, and guidelines are scarce

The Ethnic 'Other' in Ukrainian History Textbooks: The Case of Russia and the Russians

This paper examines portrayals of Russia and the Russians in two generations of Ukrainian history textbooks. It observes that the textbooks are highly condemning of Ukraine's main ethnic other in the guise of foreign ruler: the tsarist authorities and the Soviet regime are always attributed dubious and malicious intentions even if there is appreciation for some of their policies. By contrast, the books, certainly those of the second generation, refrain from presenting highly biased accounts of the ethnic other as a national group (i.e. Russians). Instances where negative judgements do fall onto Russians are counterbalanced by excerpts criticizing ethnic Ukrainians or highlighting conflicting interests within the Ukrainian ethnic group. The negative appraisal of the ethnic other as foreign ruler is clearly instrumental for the nation-building project as it sustains a discourse legitimating the existence of Ukraine as independent state. However, recent trends in history education, the paper concludes, suggest that the importance of nurturing patriotism as a national policy objective is diminishing

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Psychological Well-Being of Caregivers of People with Dementia or Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

The aim of this systematic review was to investigate the effects of the COVID-19 lockdown on the psychological well-being of caregivers of people with dementia or mild cognitive impairment (PwD/MCI). Electronic databases were searched from inception to August 2022 for observational studies investigating the COVID-19 lockdown and psychological well-being of caregivers of PwD/MCI. Summary estimates of standardized mean differences (SMD) in psychological well-being scores pre- versus during COVID-19 were calculated using a random-effects model. Fifteen studies including 1702 caregivers (65.7% female, mean age 60.40 ± 12.9 years) with PwD/MCI were evaluated. Five studies found no change in psychological well-being parameters, including depression, anxiety, distress, caregiver burden, and quality of life. Ten studies found a worsening in at least one parameter: depression (six studies, n = 1368; SMD = 0.40; 95%CI: 0.09–0.71; p = 0.01, I2 = 86.8%), anxiety (seven studies, n = 1569; SMD = 1.35; 95%CI: 0.05–2.65; I2 = 99.2%), caregiver distress (six studies, n = 1320, SMD = 3.190; 95%CI: 1.42–4.95; p &lt; 0.0001; I2 = 99.4%), and caregiver burden (four studies, n = 852, SMD = 0.34; 95%CI: 0.13–0.56; p = 0.001; I2 = 54.1%) (p &lt; 0.05). There was an increase in depression, anxiety, caregiver burden, and distress in caregivers of PwD/MCI during the lockdown in the COVID pandemic. This could have longer term consequences, and it is essential that caregivers’ psychological well-being is assessed and supported, to benefit both themselves and those for whom they care