Symptom Incidence and Defining the Symptom Clusters in the Patients with Heart Failure

3rd World Heart Failure Congress -- NOV 29-DEC 02, 2012 -- Istanbul, TURKEYWOS: 00031169820017

Features of Pressure Ulcers in Hospitalized Older Adults

WOS: 000335385900005PubMed ID: 24531518BACKGROUND: The objectives of this study were to examine the prevalence and risk of pressure ulcers (PrUs) among hospitalized patients 65 years or older in a university hospital setting and to assess the potential for prevention and healing in that population. METHODS: The retrospective study conducted at the general medicine departments of Ege University Hospital in Izmir, Turkey, included 209 patients (115 females, 94 males) 65 years or older, who had been admitted to the hospital for a variety of reasons between April 1, 2011, and October 1, 2011. The following tools were used to collect data: a data collection form to identify the sociodemographic and medical characteristics of the patients, the Braden Risk Assessment Scale to assess the risk of PrUs, and a form to monitor PrUs, which included the site of the PrU, the category, and the PUSH (Pressure Ulcer Scale for Healing) score, a tool for tracking changes in PrUs status applied at weekly intervals. RESULTS: The mean patient age was 73 (6.4) years. The prevalence of PrUs was 5.8% during the hospital stay. Pressure ulcers appeared most frequently in the ischeal tuberosity area (40%), and 45.2% of all PrUs observed were category II. The comorbidities of the patients who had PrUs were as follows: rheumatoid arthritis, 40% (n = 5); acute renal failure, 24% (n = 3); multiple myeloma, 8% (n = 1); chronic renal failure, 8% (n = 1); pneumonia, 8% (n = 1); and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 8% (n = 1). CONCLUSIONS: Pressure ulcers are a common healthcare complication in the older adult population, with potentially severe consequences. The most important intervention that healthcare professionals can make to reduce PrUs is to determine and address risk factors

A comparative study on utilizing hybrid-type nanofluid in plate heat exchangers with different number of plates

Different methods have been utilized to enhance the thermal efficiency of the heat exchangers (HEs). A widely used method to upgrade the thermal efficiency of HEs is upgrading the thermal properties of working fluid by utilizing nanoparticles. In this study, Al(2)O(3)and CuO have been utilized to prepare Al2O3-CuO/water hybrid nanofluid. Accordingly, Al(2)O(3)and CuO nanoparticles have been mixed into the water with 1\% (50:50) weight concentration. The main objective of this work is testing the prepared hybrid nanofluid in plate-type HEs (PHEs) with 8, 12 and 16 plates to determine the influence of number of plates on heat transfer improvement by hybrid nanofluid. Experimental findings of the present study demonstrated that utilizing Al2O3-CuO/water hybrid-type nanofluid in the PHE enhanced thermal efficiency notably in comparison with single-type nanofluids. Using this hybrid nanofluid increased the thermal performance in all PHEs with different number of plates. However, it is observed that increasing number of plates led to more increment in thermal performance by utilizing hybrid nanofluid. The highest increment in overall heat transfer coefficient was obtained as 12\%, 19\% and 20\% in PHEs with eight, 12 and 16 plates, respectively. In addition, the highest enhancement in effectiveness was achieved as 10\%, 11.7\% and 16\% in PHEs with eight, 12 and 16 plates, respectively

Causative pathogens and antibiotic resistance in diabetic foot infections: A prospective multi-center study

WOS: 000378759700027PubMed ID: 26965794Aim: Clinical practice guidelines for the management of diabetic foot infections developed by the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) are commonly used worldwide. The issue of whether or not these guidelines need to be adjusted for local circumstances, however, has seldom been assessed in large prospective trials. Methods: The Turk-DAY trial was a prospective, multi-center study in which infectious disease specialists from centers across Turkey were invited to participate (NCT02026830). Results: A total of 35 centers throughout Turkey enrolled patients in the trial. Overall, investigators collected a total of 522 specimens from infected diabetic foot wounds for culture from 447 individual patients. Among all isolates, 36.4% were gram-positive organisms, with Staphylococcus aureus the most common among these (11.4%). Gram-negative organisms constituted 60.2% of all the isolates, and the most commonly isolated gram-negative was Escherichia coli (15%). The sensitivity rates of the isolated species were remarkably low for several antimicrobials used in the mild infection group. Conclusions: Based on our findings, several of the antimicrobials frequently used for empirical treatment, including some also recommended in the IDSA guidelines, would not be optimal for treating diabetic foot infections in Turkey. Although the IDSA guideline recommendations may be helpful to guide empiric antimicrobial therapy of DFIs, they should be adjusted to local conditions. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Quality of life and related factors among chronic hepatitis B-infected patients: a multi-center study, Turkey

Background: The aim of this study was to assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients in Turkey and to study related factors

Quality of life and related factors among chronic hepatitis B-infected patients: a multi-center study, Turkey

balkan, ilker inanc/0000-0002-8977-5931; Altindis, Mustafa/0000-0003-0411-9669; Sahin, Ahmet Ziyaettin/0000-0003-1060-6746; atilla, aynur/0000-0001-8027-1991WOS: 000386954300001PubMed: 27809934Background: The aim of this study was to assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients in Turkey and to study related factors. Methods: This multicenter study was carried out between January 01 and April 15, 2015 in Turkey in 57 centers. Adults were enrolled and studied in three groups. Group 1: Inactive HBsAg carriers, Group 2: CHB patients receiving antiviral therapy, Group 3: CHB patients who were neither receiving antiviral therapy nor were inactive HBsAg carriers. Study data was collected by face-to-face interviews using a standardized questionnaire, Short Form-36 (SF-36) and Hepatitis B Quality of Life (HBQOL). Values equivalent to p < 0.05 in analyses were accepted as statistically significant. Results: Four thousand two hundred fifty-seven patients with CHB were included in the study. Two thousand five hundred fifty-nine (60.1 %) of the patients were males. Groups 1, 2 and 3, consisted of 1529 (35.9 %), 1721 (40.4 %) and 1007 (23.7 %) patients, respectively. The highest value of HRQOL was found in inactive HBsAg carriers. We found that total HBQOL score increased when antiviral treatment was used. However, HRQOL of CHB patients varied according to their socio-demographic properties. Regarding total HBQOL score, a higher significant level of HRQOL was determined in inactive HBV patients when matched controls with the associated factors were provided. Conclusions: The HRQOL score of CHB patients was higher than expected and it can be worsen when the disease becomes active. Use of an antiviral therapy can contribute to increasing HRQOL of patients

Time-dependent analysis of extra length of stay and mortality due to ventilator-associated pneumonia in intensive-care units of ten limited-resources countries: findings of the International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC)

Ventilator-associated pneumonias (VAPs) are a worldwide problem that significantly increases patient morbidity, mortality, and length of stay (LoS), and their effects should be estimated to account for the timing of infection. The purpose of the study was to estimate extra LoS and mortality in an intensive-care unit (ICU) due to a VAP in a cohort of 69 248 admissions followed for 283 069 days in ICUs from 10 countries. Data were arranged according to the multi-state format. Extra LoS and increased risk of death were estimated independently in each country, and their results were combined using a random-effects meta-analysis. VAP prolonged LoS by an average of 2.03 days (95% CI 1.52-2.54 days), and increased the risk of death by 14% (95% CI 2-27). The increased risk of death due to VAP was explained by confounding with patient morbidity