Chemerin as a marker of subclinical cardiac involvement in psoriatic patients

Background: Chemerin has been associated with psoriasis and inflammation, but there are no studies demonstrating an association between chemerin and subclinical cardiac involvement in psoriatic patients. Therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate whether psoriatic patients with increased epicardial fat tissue, impaired flow-mediated dilatation, and diastolic dysfunction have higher serum chemerin levels than a healthy control group. Methods: The study included 60 psoriatic patients and 32 healthy controls. Echocardiographic parameters, epicardial fat tissue, flow-mediated dilatation, and chemerin levels were recorded for both groups. Results: The serum levels of chemerin in the psoriatic patients were significantly higher than in the control group. The diastolic function parameters, including isovolumic contraction and relaxation time, E’/A’ (early diastolic mitral annular velocity/late diastolic mitral annular velocity), and E/E’ (early diastolic peak velocity of mitral inflow/early diastolic mitral annular velocity) values, differed significantly between the groups. Epicardial fat tissue was significantly higher and flow-mediated dilatation was significantly lower in psoriatic patients than in the controls. Chemerin was significantly positively correlated with age, body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, waist circumference, E/E’, and epicardial fat tissue. Serum chemerin was significantly negatively correlated with E’, E’/A’, and flow-mediated dilatation. A multiple linear regression analysis showed that chemerin was independently correlated with E/E’. Conclusions: Psoriatic patients exhibit early subclinical atherosclerosis and diastolic dysfunction. Chemerin can be used as a marker to screen for patients with subclinical cardiac involvement

Evaluation of treatment compliance and quality of life status of type 2 diabetes mellitus patients

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a serious and progressive disease that occurs when carbohydrates, fat and protein are not used effectively in the body, but it is a problem that greatly affects the individual when the desired level of control cannot be achieved. In this study, the relationship between Treatment Compliance and Quality of Life in Type 2 DM Patients aged 65 and over was evaluated to inform patients about chronic complications, prevent complications, and maintain appropriate care when complications develop. The research was planned as descriptive and cross-sectional. In the unit with a population of 4000, 90 people aged 65 and over with Type 2 DM were included in the study. The mean age of the participants was 71.99±5.76 years (min-max: 65-94). 55.6% of the patients were women, 84.4% were married and 55.6% were primary school graduates. The mean score of the Elderly Quality of Life Scale was 23.32±6.59, and the mean score of the Patient Compliance Scale in the Treatment of Type 2 DM was 86.67±8.68. In the study, the relationship between Treatment Compliance and Quality of Life in Type 2 DM patients aged 65 and over was evaluated, and a negative and independent significant relationship was found between scale scores. This study will set an example for patients diagnosed with Type 2 DM to adapt to their treatment and determine their quality of life and make future plans. [Med-Science 2022; 11(4.000): 1395-7

Nutrition related knowledge and attitudes of mothers and teachers of kindergarten children

Programs focusing on health and nutrition help ensure children’s early development. Nutrition knowledge of families and teachers has a significant impact on children’s eating habits and dietary patterns. Recently, there is an increase in the number of daycare schools in North Cyprus, offering services between 8 AM to 6 PM and provide two main meals and two snacks during the day. This study was carried out to understand the nutrition-related knowledge of kindergarten teachers and mothers of children aged 2-5 and their attitudes towards nutrition, and find the deficiencies in the knowledge and attitude of both groups as they significantly impact dietary habits of children. The 121 participants from the Kyrenia District, Turkish Republic of North Cyprus were enrolled, 79 were educators in the kindergarten and 42 were mothers. It was observed that there is no statistically significant difference between mothers' and teacher's knowledge and attitude of the nutritional content of foods. Our study also showed that though mothers were educated and possessed knowledge of nutrients yet their attitudes did not reflect it. Our study revealed that the current knowledge status of teachers and caregivers, as well as their attitudes towards various aspects of diet, are not sufficient to lay the foundation of healthy eating

Attitudes toward the elderly among young family physicians in Turkey

Introduction: General practitioners'(GPs) role is important as they are easily accessible especially for elderly. Young GPs need to improve their attitudes toward the elderly so that they can be a part of solution for health problems of elderly in the future. The aim of this study is to determine attitudes of young GPs toward elderly by the University of California at Los Angeles Geriatrics Attitude Scale (UCLA-GAS). Methods: It is a cross-sectional study performed with questionnaires including UCLA-GAS. The study population was 260 young doctors (GP residents and GPs in their first 5 years after qualification). Statistical evaluation of the data included percentage, mean, and Kolmogorov–Smirnov test and analysis of variance test. Results: Of the participants, 58.1% (n = 151) were women, 35.4% (n = 94) of them were GPs, and the remaining were GP residents. The mean age was 31.30 ± 5.40 years (range = 24–55 years). The mean score of UCLA-GAS was 46.85 ± 5.63 (range = 30–61). Participants ≤30 years of age had significantly higher scores (47.70 ± 5.99) than age above 30 years (45.68 ± 4.89) (P = 0.003). There was no statistically significant difference between GP residents and GPs (P = 0.989) and between participants who had rotation in elderly healthcare service (n = 63) or not (n = 197) (P = 0.383). However, as the duration of work increased, the score of UCLA-GAS decreased significantly (r = −0.216, P < 0.001). Conclusion: Young doctors who were interested in elderly showed more positive attitude as expected. However, the ones who were older and worked longer had less positive attitude. It seems important to understand and prevent this unfavourable attitude with formal education system about elderly healthcare during residency

Tendency towards violence and social roles: a descriptive study among high school students in Turkey

Background: Violence affects more than half of women worldwide and the perception of social roles has a significant role in this. Adolescence is a sensitive developmental period in the life of an individual. It is therefore important to understand the perception of violence and change the acceptance of violence among adolescents

Health literacy levels of the workers in a steel factory: A cross sectional study in Turkey

© 2018 Faculty of Health and Social Sciences of University of South Bohemia in České BudějoviceHealth literacy is important as it shows the degree to which a person understands and interprets medical information and makes the appropriate health decision. The workers of steel factories are often faced with health information and issues in their work place related to personal protection, occupational hazards and occupational injuries. Therefore, it is important to demonstrate the health literacy of the workers to ensure health literacy responsive work places. This paper aims to show the health literacy level of the steel factory male workers in Turkey. In this study, in order to measure the health literacy level of men, REALM and NVS scales were used. Additionally, questions related to socio-demographics and the health information sources and General Health Questionnaire were applied. For the analysis, chi-square and ANOVA tests were used. Of the participants, the mean age was 34.9 ± 8.8 (min.–max. = 18–53), the mean scores were 64.0 ± 2.1, 3.2 ± 1.2, and 1.5 ± 0.8, respectively for REALM, NVS and GHQ scales. According to REALM scale, 8.1% (n = 20) of the workers had limited health literacy. Whereas, in the NVS scale, 5.7% (n = 14) had inadequate health literacy, and 55.1 % (n = 136) had limited health literacy. At least one of every ten workers had limited or inadequate health literacy level. The results should be taken into consideration by the healthcare providers and policymakers while implementing health promotion interventions to increase the health literacy level of the workers

Anti-Mullerian hormone as a diagnostic tool for ovarian remnant syndrome in bitches

Ovariohysterectomy is a surgical procedure performed for sterilization. If part or all of an ovary remains after the surgical procedure, ovarian remnant syndrome (ORS) occurs. After revascularization of the remaining ovarian tissue, the sexual cycle of bitches and queens continues. The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of serum anti-Mullerian hormone (AMH) measurement for the diagnosis of ORS in bitches. Forty-six female dogs were divided into four groups: the prepubertal, unspayed, spayed, and ORS groups. The serum AMH, progesterone, and estradiol concentrations of the bitches in all groups were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The stage in the sexual cycle of each bitch was determined based on vaginal cytology findings and serum estradiol and progesterone levels. The mean serum AMH concentration of the unspayed bitches (4.26 +/- 0.82 ng/ml) was similar to that of the bitches with ORS (4.40 +/- 1.09 ng/ml). However, the difference between the mean serum AMH level of the bitches with ORS and the spayed bitches (0.28 +/- 0.09 ng/ml) was significant. In conclusion, the present study has demonstrated that the serum AMH level is substantially lower in spayed than in both intact bitches and bitches with ORS. According to this result, measurement of the serum AMH level is a useful tool for diagnosis of ORS in bitches

Evaluation of the relationship between viral load and biochemical parameters in Covid-19 patients

In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between the viral load detected by PCR and the biochemical and demographic data of patients who were admitted to our hospital and positive for SARS-CoV-2 infection. Data from 132 laboratory-confirmed adult patients were retrospectively analyzed. COVID-19 patients were classified in different groups as pneumonia-non pneumonia and symptomatic- asymptomatic patients. In all, 77.2% patients were symptomatic and 39.4% had pneumonia. The most common laboratory abnormalities of all patients were elevated C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer, Fibrinogen and Neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR). Statistically significant differences (p &lt; 0.05) were found between the symptomatic and asymptomatic groups regarding CRP, NLR, Prothrombin Time (PT), international normalized ratio (INR), D-dimer and Fibrinogen. Additionally of these parameters significantly higher aspartate amino-transferase (AST), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) observed in pneumonia group compared to non-pneumonia group. The cycle threshold (Ct) values in all patients were 32.42 ± 6.03 and there were no significant differences in Ct values between the groups. There was a negatively significant correlation between Ct and blood urea nitrogen (BUN) (r=-0,205, P=0.019). Abnormalities of several hematologic and biochemical biomarkers were associated with SARSCoV-2 infection and disease severity. To investigate the association with disease severity and viral load, quantitative PCR results would be more accurate than semi-quantitative Ct results. [Med-Science 2021; 10(2.000): 469-73