An Investigation into the Effects of Topic Familiarity on Comprehension and Vocabulary Learning

This study aims to understand the relationship between text comprehension and incidental vocabulary gain, and the effect of topic familiarity on these variables. Freshman students of the ELT department at a state university took part in this repeated-measures design. A background questionnaire was employed to decide more and less familiar topics for the present group. On a five-point Likert scale, they were asked to rate how much familiar they are with the listed topics. Following the administration of the questionnaire, they read four contrived script-based texts two of which have a more familiar content, while the remaining two texts present less familiar information. Upon reading, they completed a free recall task. Passage sight vocabulary was tested 2 days and 18 days after reading the texts through vocabulary recognition and vocabulary production tasks. Correlational analyses and t-test results depicted robust effects of topic familiarity for all variables; however, the relationship between text comprehension and vocabulary gains was mediocre. Keywords: Topic familiarity; incidental vocabulary acquisition; reading in a second languag

La medición de los conocimientos léxicos de estudiantes jóvenes de ingles

Vocabulary knowledge that constitutes the milestones of written and oral language is one of the essentials of foreign language learning. Despite its vital importance, vocabulary learning and teaching does not get the necessary attention in L2 learning. As possession of lexical knowledge is a sine qua non for communicative competence, it is essential to study learners’ vocabulary levels in Turkey, where English is taught as a foreign language (EFL). Within this context, this study aims to examine the effect of grade level and gender variation in EFL receptive vocabulary size of a group of young learners. The New Vocabulary Levels Test (McLean & Kramer, 2015) was used to determine the receptive vocabulary sizes of young learners across four years of middle school. It was found that all the participating learners know the most frequent 2,000 words in English, which is a critical learning objective for low-level EFL learners. In addition, a developmental pattern, which shows incremental increase in vocabulary size as the grade levels increase, was observed. The findings obtained from this study add to our knowledge of the incremental patterns of vocabulary development, and of gender differences in vocabulary knowledge.El conocimiento léxico constituye un hito en el lenguaje oral y escrito y es uno de los elementos esenciales en el aprendizaje de la lengua extranjera. A pesar de esta importancia, el proceso de la enseñanza y aprendizaje del vocabulario no recibe la debida atención en la didáctica de la L2. Dado que el conocimiento léxico es un componente esencial para la competencia comunicativa, es fundamental estudiar los niveles de adquisición de vocabulario en Turquía, donde se enseña el inglés como lengua extranjera (EFL). Dentro de este contexto, este estudio pretende examinar el efecto del nivel de curso y el factor de género en el tamaño receptivo entre un grupo de estudiantes jóvenes. EL New Vocabulary Levels Test (McLean & Kramer, 2015) se empleó para determinar el tamaño receptivo de vocabulario entre estudiantes jóvenes a lo largo de cuatro años de la enseñanza secundaria. Se descubrió que todos los participantes conocen las 2000 palabras más frecuentemente empleados en ingles, lo cual es una meta importante para el alumnado con un nivel más bajo de ingles. Por otra parte, se observó un patrón de desarrollo que mostraba un aumento incremental del tamaño de vocabulario conforme el alumnado avanzaba de curso. Los resultados obtenidos en este estudio se suman a nuestros conocimientos de los patrones incrementales del desarrollo léxico y de las diferencias en el conocimiento de vocabulario dependiendo del factor de género

La medición de los conocimientos léxicos de estudiantes jóvenes de inglés

Vocabulary knowledge that constitutes the milestones of written and oral language is one of the essentials of foreign language learning. Despite its vital importance, vocabulary learning and teaching does not get the necessary attention in L2 learning. As possession of lexical knowledge is a sine qua non for communicative competence, it is essential to study learners’ vocabulary levels in Turkey, where English is taught as a foreign language (EFL). Within this context, this study aims to examine the effect of grade level and gender variation in EFL receptive vocabulary size of a group of young learners. The New Vocabulary Levels Test (McLean & Kramer, 2015) was used to determine the receptive vocabulary sizes of young learners across four years of middle school. It was found that all the participating learners know the most frequent 2,000 words in English, which is a critical learning objective for low-level EFL learners. In addition, a developmental pattern, which shows incremental increase in vocabulary size as the grade levels increase, was observed. The findings obtained from this study add to our knowledge of the incremental patterns of vocabulary development, and of gender differences in vocabulary knowledge.El conocimiento léxico constituye un hito en el lenguaje oral y escrito y es uno de los elementos esenciales en el aprendizaje de la lengua extranjera. A pesar de esta importancia, el proceso de la enseñanza y aprendizaje del vocabulario no recibe la debida atención en la didáctica de la L2. Dado que el conocimiento léxico es un componente esencial para la competencia comunicativa, es fundamental estudiar los niveles de adquisición de vocabulario en Turquía, donde se enseña el inglés como lengua extranjera (EFL). Dentro de este contexto, este estudio pretende examinar el efecto del nivel de curso y el factor de género en el tamaño receptivo entre un grupo de estudiantes jóvenes. EL New Vocabulary Levels Test (McLean & Kramer, 2015) se empleó para determinar el tamaño receptivo de vocabulario entre estudiantes jóvenes a lo largo de cuatro años de la enseñanza secundaria. Se descubrió que todos los participantes conocen las 2000 palabras más frecuentemente empleados en ingles, lo cual es una meta importante para el alumnado con un nivel más bajo de ingles. Por otra parte, se observó un patrón de desarrollo que mostraba un aumento incremental del tamaño de vocabulario conforme el alumnado avanzaba de curso. Los resultados obtenidos en este estudio se suman a nuestros conocimientos de los patrones incrementales del desarrollo léxico y de las diferencias en el conocimiento de vocabulario dependiendo del factor de género

The Burden of Premature Mortality in Turkey in 2001 and 2008

Background: Standard expected years of life lost (SEYLL) is a measure that is used to evaluate losses due to premature deaths. Aims: The present study provides an analysis of premature mortality in Turkey for the years 2001 and 2008 and supplies evidence for making policies and setting health agendas over the long term. Study Design: Cross-sectional study. Methods: This study calculated SEYLL by gender, age group and causes of death in Turkey in 2014. The SEYLL measure counts the years lost in a population as a result of premature mortality and is computed by multiplying the number of deaths and standard life expectancy at the age at which death occurs. Results: The burden of premature mortality in Turkey was calculated as 4 104 253 SEYLL and 4 472 443 SEYLL in 2001 and 2008, respectively. Among these 42.7% and 43.9% of SEYLL were in females in 2001 and 2008, respectively. The leading five causes of premature mortality in the Turkish population in 2001 were cardiovascular system diseases (34.72%), perinatal conditions (12.69%), neoplasms (12.51%), external causes of injury (7.66%), and infections and parasitic diseases (6.57%). In 2008, the major causes were cardiovascular diseases (41.17%), neoplasms (14.63%), respiratory system diseases (9.81%), perinatal conditions (5.59%), and external causes of injury (5.29%). Conclusion: The majority of the burden of premature mortality in Turkey is attributable to non-communicable diseases. While premature deaths from infections and parasitic diseases, perinatal conditions and congenital anomalies decreased between 2001 and 2008, deaths from cardiovascular diseases, neoplasms and respiratory system diseases increased dramatically. Coordinated efforts for effective national prevention programs (such as regular monitoring of adults for early diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases and for malignancies by family physicians) should be developed by policy makers to decrease preventable and premature deaths from non-communicable diseases

Gençlik cinsel sağlığı: Türkiye'deki bir üniversitede öğrenciler arasında cinsel bilgi, tutumlar ve davranışlar]

Introduction: To determine sexual attitudes, behavior, and knowledge of Namik Kemal University (NKU) students about sexual health and sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Method: A sample representing 10% of the undergraduate population of NKU in 2009-2010, was studied. Of 1,500 questionnaires distributed, 1,314 (87.6%) were filled out. Results: The mean age of the respondents (52.9% male) was 20.07 +/- 1.75 years. The rate of students who had received sexual health education was 32.0%, and 15.3% had previously used a sexual health service. Eleven percent of the female students and 50.3% of the male students had had sexual intercourse. The average age of initial sexual intercourse was 16.83 +/- 2.07 years. Of the students who had had sexual intercourse, 46.6% reported that they did not use any contraception method. The most preferred method was condoms (37.6%). The rate of contraceptive use was 58.7% in sexually educated students and 43.9% in those not educated (p=0.004). The most well-known STI was AIDS (96.5%), with sexually educated students giving higher rates of correct answers about STIs (p<0.05) Conclusion: The students who had received sexual health education were more knowledgeable about vital consequences of STI's, even though it is not sufficient, than sexually active students. Awareness of safe sexual practices and changes in behavior, in particular, promoting condom use should be established in higher risk youths. Deficiencies in knowledge could be addressed by adding a sexual healthtraining component to the university curriculum, and unmet requirements could be met by reorganizing medico-social centers in universities

Increase of Knowledge Level of Nursing Students About Occupational Health and Safety

Aim:This aim of the study is to determine the knowledge of nursing students about work related risk factors, work accidents and occupational diseases and to raise the awareness of the about occupational health and safety.Materials and Methods:This study was carried out as a semi-experimental study. It was conducted with the 62 Namık Kemal University, College of Health, Nursing Department third class students who accepted to participate, between February and May 2015. After applying a pre-test, a training program about occupational health and safety was implemented to the students and a post-test was applied at the end of the training program. The content of training program and pre-test and post-test were developed by the researchers. Data was analyzed with IBM SPSS Ver.18 and descriptive statistics were used.Results:The meanage of students is 21.70±1.32. nearly eighty percent of them female and 21% of them stil working in a health facility. The ratio of the true answers about the description of occupational health, work related risk factors, risk groups, occupational diseases, protection principles and precautionary measures is 20% in pre-test and it raised nearly 90-95% in post-test.Conclusion:A significant increase in the knowledge and awareness of the nursing students was determined with the training program. Occupational health and safety coursess hould be implemented to curriculum of health colleges

Doğrudan Yabancı Yatırımlar Kadın İstihdamını Artırır mı? Türkiye’de Hizmetler Sektörüne Yakından Bakış

The aim of this study is to investigate of the relationship between foreign direct investment and women employment. Focusing on services sector with the highest rate of women employment, we empirically attest whether foreign direct investment creates job opportunities for women and decrease the gender inequality for women in terms of employment. Propensity Score Matching techniques and Difference-in-Difference techniques are employed to firm level data for Turkish services industry over 2003-2012. The results of the study suggest that foreign direct investment increase women employment and create good jobs for women

The frequency of Duchenne muscular dystrophy/Becker muscular dystrophy and Pompe disease in children with isolated transaminase elevation: results from the observational VICTORIA study

IntroductionElevated transaminases and/or creatine phosphokinase can indicate underlying muscle disease. Therefore, this study aims to determine the frequency of Duchenne muscular dystrophy/Becker muscular dystrophy (DMD/BMD) in male children and Pompe disease (PD) in male and female children with isolated hypertransaminasemia.MethodsThis multi-center, prospective study enrolled patients aged 3–216 months with serum alanine transaminase (ALT) and/or aspartate transaminase (AST) levels &gt;2× the upper limit of normal (ULN) for ≥3 months. Patients with a known history of liver or muscle disease or physical examination findings suggestive of liver disease were excluded. Patients were screened for creatinine phosphokinase (CPK) levels, and molecular genetic tests for DMD/BMD in male patients and enzyme analysis for PD in male and female patients with elevated CPK levels were performed. Genetic analyses confirmed PD. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics of the patients were analyzed.ResultsOverall, 589 patients [66.8% male, mean age of 63.4 months (standard deviation: 60.5)] were included. In total, 251 patients (188 male and 63 female) had CPK levels above the ULN. Of the patients assessed, 47% (85/182) of male patients were diagnosed with DMD/BMD and 1% (3/228) of male and female patients were diagnosed with PD. The median ALT, AST, and CPK levels were statistically significantly higher, and the questioned neurological symptoms and previously unnoticed examination findings were more common in DMD/BMD patients than those without DMD/BMD or PD (p &lt; 0.001).DiscussionQuestioning neurological symptoms, conducting a complete physical examination, and testing for CPK levels in patients with isolated hypertransaminasemia will prevent costly and time-consuming investigations for liver diseases and will lead to the diagnosis of occult neuromuscular diseases. Trial RegistrationClinicaltrials.gov NCT04120168