Democratic Education: A Theoretical Review (2006–2017)

This theoretical review examines how democratic education is conceptualized within educational scholarship. Three hundred and seventy-seven articles published in English language peer-reviewed journals between 2006 and 2017 are discursively analyzed. Democratic education functions as a privileged nodal point of different political discourses. Two discourses against (elitist and neoliberal) and six discourses pro democratic education (liberal, deliberative, multiculturalist, participatory, critical, and agonistic) construct its meaning. It is argued that the different versions of democratic education respond to various (a) ontological and epistemological assumptions, (b) normative approaches to democracy, and (c) conceptions of the relationship between education and politics. For educational policy, the review provides a critique of elitist and neoliberal policies and support for participatory decision making across discourses. Recommendations for educational practice are made by identifying pedagogies across democratic education scholarship as well as specific pedagogies for each discourse

Black Hairy Tongue After Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation: An Unrecognized Cutaneous Presentation of Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Black hairy tongue (BHT) is an unusual condition in adults characterized by marked accumulation of keratin on the dorsum of the tongue, resulting in a hair-like appearance. Herein, we have described 15 patients developing BHT after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). BHT was generally accompanied by other cutaneous manifestations of cutaneous graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) or a precursor of GVHD. Our experience in this series emphasized that histopathologic evaluation is required for seemingly harmless eruptions like BHT in the posttransplantation period. Given the important prognostic implications of GVHD, physicians should be careful when confronted with BHT

Black Hairy Tongue After Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation: An Unrecognized Cutaneous Presentation of Graft-Versus-Host Disease

Black hairy tongue (BHT) is an unusual condition in adults characterized by marked accumulation of keratin on the dorsum of the tongue, resulting in a hair-like appearance. Herein, we have described 15 patients developing BHT after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). BHT was generally accompanied by other cutaneous manifestations of cutaneous graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) or a precursor of GVHD. Our experience in this series emphasized that histopathologic evaluation is required for seemingly harmless eruptions like BHT in the posttransplantation period. Given the important prognostic implications of GVHD, physicians should be careful when confronted with BHT

Effects of comorbidities associated with COVID-19 cases in Intensive Care Unit on mortality and disease progression

OBJECTIVE: The patient’s age, gender and the presence of certain concomitant diseases have been reported to play a part in the course and progression of COVID-19 in the literature. In this study, we aimed to compare the comorbidities causing mortality in critically ill Intensive Care Unit (ICU)-patients diagnosed with COVID-19. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The data as regards the COVID-19 cases followed up in the ICU were retrospectively reviewed. 408 COVID-19 patients with positive PCR test were included in the study. In addition, a subgroup analysis was performed in patients treated with invasive mechanical ventilation. While the primary aim of this study was to evaluate the difference in survival rates due to comorbidities in critical COVID-19 patients, we also aimed to assess the comorbidities in severely intubated COVID-19 patients in terms of mortality. RESULTS: A statistically significant increase in mortality was observed in patients with underlying hematologic malignancy and chronic renal failure (p=0.027, 0.047). Body mass index value in the mortal group was significantly higher in both the general study group and subgroup analysis (p=0.004, 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Advanced age and comorbidities such as chronic renal failure and hematologic malignancy in COVID-19 patients are associated with poor survival prognosis in critically ill COVID-19 patients

Carotid Body Tumors and Our Surgical Approaches

Glomus tumors known as paragangliomas are neoplasms arising from the neural crest. They are named according to the place they originate from. Tumors originating from the carotid body at the carotid bifurcation are called Carotid Body Tumors (CBT). Surgical intervention is planned according to the Shamblin classification. 17 patients were operated after being diagnosed with CBT in our clinic between February 2007 and June 2010. 12 (70.5%) of the patients were male, and 5 (29.4%) of the patients were female. The average age was 42 (ages ranging between 32 and 47). Nine of the patients were diagnosed and treated with Shamblin type I tumor, seven of the patients with type II and one patient with type III. Only one patient had bilateral carotid tumor. In all patients with Shamblin type I and II, blunt dissection of the tumor was conducted smoothly by means of thermal cautery in the subadventitial plane. The patient with Shamblin type III had tumor invasion in the carotid artery and adjacent tissues were in an adherent state. Therefore mass resection was carried out by resecting 2 cm of the distal portion of the common carotid artery and 3 cm of the proximal portion of the internal carotid artery. 6 mm of synthetic polytetrafluoroethylene graft was interpositioned between the common carotid artery and the internal carotid artery. External carotid artery was anastomosed to this graft in an end-to-end fashion. The patient developed vocal cord paralysis postoperatively on the lesion side. The patient who underwent bilateral tumor excision developed Baroreflex Failure Syndrome. In the two patients thrombus developed in the internal carotid artery in the early postoperative period. These patients underwent thrombectomy and developed hemiplegia on the lesion side. One of them died on the seventh post-operative day while in follow-up in the intensive care unit. Surgical resection is the recommended treatment for carotid body tumors. Shamblin I and II type tumors’ dimensions and pathological characteristics allow dissection. However Shamblin III tumors may require carotid artery resection and reconstruction due to tissue invasion. The possibility of post-operative cranial nerve paralysis and arterial thrombosis should be taken into account