Relationship Dynamics: the Protective Effect of Relationship Satisfaction and Dependency on Parents’ Mental Health After Having a Preterm Baby

background Having a premature infant who is hospitalized with the risk of death and potential health problems is a traumatic experience for many parents. The present study investigated the depression, anxiety, stress, and post-traumatic growth (PTG) experienced by couples after the premature birth of their babies in terms of their relationship dynamics. participants and procedure The study was conducted on 209 individuals – 159 mothers (76.1%) and 50 fathers (23.9%) – who had premature babies born at or before 32 weeks of gestation. The participants completed the Relationship Assessment Scale, Emotional Dependency Scale, Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory, the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale, and a sociodemographic form. For interpretation of the data, intervariable relationships were analyzed using the Pearson correlation coefficient, and the mediation models were analyzed by the regression-based bootstrapping technique using the PROCESS Macro. results The relationship satisfaction and emotional dependency experienced by parents had a positive correlation with PTG following preterm birth. Relationship satisfaction was associated with lower levels of depression, anxiety, and stress. Emotional dependency was correlated with lower levels of depression and stress but not anxiety. For the mediating variables, it was found that depression and anxiety had a full mediating role between relationship satisfaction and PTG but stress did not. It was determined that depression had a partial mediating role between emotional dependency and PTG but anxiety and stress did not. conclusions The study findings revealed the importance of establishing family- and baby-centered neurodevelopmental neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). The results suggested that having healthcare professionals, primarily nurses and doctors, make observations about the relationship dynamics of parents during their stay at the NICU and guide parents to receive psychological support if they perceive weaknesses in the relationship – since such weaknesses predict possible risks of depression, anxiety and stress – would support the functionality of families. The findings are discussed, and future directions are suggested

What Do Children Think about Starting Primary School?

The current study aims to reveal preschoolers’ and first graders’ perspectives of primary school. A qualitative research design was employed, and multiple sampling methods were used to retrieve the participants. The participants were 15 preschoolers with an average age of 69 months attending and 15 first graders with an average age of 80 months. A semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was used for the data collection. The results showed that most preschoolers had some knowledge of primary school. Their views of primary school generally focused physical characteristics of the school, lessons and rules, and daily routines. First graders said that they were learning new things in primary school and that they felt happy when they started school. They also stated that they need friends in primary school to be happy and that it is important to listen to their teachers carefully. The biggest difference between preschool and primary school was the lessons. They also remarked that they need to play more games in primary school

Liability for Damage Caused by Domestic and Wild Animals in Turkish Law

Abstract.The Turkish Code of Obligations holds pet owners objectively liable for any damage caused by their pets regardless of fault on the grounds that they failed to carry out their supervisory duty. There is, however, no regulation on compensation for damages caused by wild or stray animals. The legal gap in this field is filled by case laws. The aim of this study is to compare pet owner liability regulated by private law as strict liability and state liability for damage caused by wild animals protected by national legislation and international conventions. The research material consists of current legislation, and judicial and administrative decisions on property damage and bodily injury caused by animals. Tort claims for damages caused by pets and wild animals differ by statute of limitations, judicial remedy, the law on which the case is based, and strict liability principles. Pet owner liability for damage caused by the pet is based on strict liability in private law while administrative court decisions hold the administration liable based sometimes on strict liability and sometimes on negligence.Keywords: Pet owner liability; Pets; Wild animals; Strict liability; Compensation Abstrak.Kode Kewajiban Turki meminta pemilik hewan peliharaan bertanggung jawab secara obyektif atas kerusakan yang disebabkan oleh hewan peliharaan mereka, terlepas dari kesalahan yang dilakukan. Adapun alasan yang diajukan karena pemilik hewan gagal menjalankan tugas pengawasan. Namun, tidak ada peraturan tentang kompensasi atas kerusakan yang disebabkan oleh hewan liar atau tersesat tersebut. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk membandingkan kewajiban pemilik hewan peliharaan yang diatur oleh hukum privat sebagai kewajiban yang ketat dan kewajiban negara atas kerusakan yang disebabkan oleh hewan liar yang dilindungi oleh undang-undang nasional dan konvensi internasional. Materi penelitian terdiri dari undang-undang saat ini, dan keputusan yudisial dan administratif tentang kerusakan properti dan cidera tubuh yang disebabkan oleh hewan. Klaim kerugian atas kerusakan yang disebabkan oleh hewan peliharaan dan hewan liar berbeda menurut undang-undang pembatasan, upaya hukum, hukum yang menjadi dasar kasus, dan prinsip tanggung jawab yang ketat. Tanggung jawab pemilik hewan peliharaan atas kerusakan yang disebabkan oleh hewan peliharaan didasarkan pada tanggung jawab yang ketat dalam hukum privat, sementara keputusan pengadilan administratif memegang tanggung jawab administrasi terkadang berdasarkan tanggung jawab yang ketat dan terkadang pada kelalaian.Kata kunci: Kewajiban pemilik hewan peliharaan; Hewan peliharaan; Hewan liar; Tanggung jawab yang ketat; Kompensasi Аннотация.Обязательственный кодекс Турции возлагает на владельцев домашних животных объективную ответственность за ущерб, причиненный их домашними животными, независимо от причиненного им вреда. Выдвинутые причины заключались в том, что владелец животного не выполнил свои обязанности по надзору за ним. Однако нет никаких правил относительно компенсации ущерба, причиненного дикими или бродячими животными. Целью этого исследования было сравнить обязанности владельцев домашних животных, регулируемые частным правом как строгое обязательство, и обязанности государства за ущерб, причиненный дикими животными, охраняемыми национальными законами и международными конвенциями. Материалы исследования состоят из действующего законодательства, судебных и административных решений в отношении имущественного ущерба и телесных повреждений, причиненных животными. Иски о возмещении ущерба, причиненного домашними и дикими животными, различаются в зависимости от закона об исковой давности, установленного закона, закона, на котором основано дело, и строгих принципов ответственности. Ответственность владельца домашнего животного за ущерб, причиненный домашним животным, основана на строгой ответственности по частному праву, в то время как решения административных судов предусматривают административную ответственность, иногда основанную на строгой ответственности, а иногда на небрежности.Ключевые слова: Обязанности владельцев домашних животных; Домашнее животное; Дикое животное; Строгая ответственность; Компенсаци

Approaches of the healthcare staff in a tertiary healthcare service providing hospital for seasonal influenza vaccination

Introduction: Seasonal influenza had many epidemics and pandemics throughout history and caused millions of people getting sick with severer progress and even death in the risk group. Having the influenza vaccination is essential for healthcare staff to protect their health as well as other individuals of the society. The present study aimed to determine the approaches of all healthcare personnel and candidates in Rize Training and Research Hospital providing tertiary healthcare services and to analyze their causes for not having the vaccination.Methods: The present cross-sectional research was carried out in Rize (Turkey). A questionnaire applied to 898 volunteers among 2200 hospital staff. Results: It was detected that the median age of the participants is 25 years; 61.0% of the participants are female; 59.8% of them are single; 69.8% do not have any children and 38.0% have a graduate degree. The rate of having vaccination once within lifetime was detected as 41.6% and the highest rate was observed in the physician group whereas the lowest rate was observed in the nursing student group. The causes for avoiding to have the vaccination included the considerations about the ineffectiveness of the vaccination, having influenza and the delay of arrival of the vaccination to the hospital. However, the rate of having vaccination was determined as 2.6% within all healthcare staff for this year. The majority of the participants who had the vaccination consisted of the nurses who consider themselves within the risk group. Conclusions: A significant decrease was detected in the vaccination rates of the healthcare staff when compared with previous years. The awareness should be increased to increase the vaccination rates. For this purpose, training should be organized, and the sustainability of such training should be provided

Hepatit B enfeksiyonu olan hastalarda yaşanılan zorlukların değerlendirilmesi

Objectives: Although stigma is well defined in people with a chronic disease or condition, it has not been studied much in individuals infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV). The study is one of the first descriptive individual studies conducted on this subject in our country. Our aim in this study was to evaluate the stigma experiences and concerns of individuals living with HBV, their sharing of their illness with the environment, and the state of being affected by their social relationships. Materials and Methods: Patients with hepatitis B surface antigen positivity who were admitted to the infectious diseases outpatient clinic were surveyed through face-to-face interviews. Epidemiological data, stigma experiences and anxiety states, people with whom they shared their illness, the reasons for not sharing, the impairment of social relations were questioned. Results: It was found that 19.5% of 390 individuals infected with HBV who participated in our study were "exposed" to stigma in various ways, and 27.4% were "worried" about experiencing this condition. In research, 19.9% of women, 41.4% of university graduates, and 34.8% of divorced or widowers were found to experience higher stigma (p=0.002, p=0.02 and p<0.001, respectively). It was determined that 56.7% of the participants did not share their illnesses, and this need increased with stigma experiences and anxiety. It was found that individuals mostly shared their disease status with their first-degree relatives (p<0.001). Conclusion: The fact that individuals infected with HBV experience different forms of stigma or experience anxiety suggests that there is a need to investigate these conditions and develop treatment interventions

Assessment of relationship between pain, psychological status, quality of life and body mass index

Objective: The purpose of the study is to evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQL), pain, the number of painful areas, and depression level; both to compare obesity level and these parameters, and to compare between obese and non-obese participants. Materials (Subjects) and Methods: 1875 voluntary patients were evaluated. Patients were grouped into 5 according to body mass index (BMI) values: Group 1:17-24.99kg/m2, Group 2:25-29.99kg/m2, Group 3:30-34.99kg/m2, Group 4:35-35.99kg/m2, Group 5: BMI more than 40kg/m2. Patients were asked to fulfill a questionnaire about demographic data and a number of painful areas (neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, back, low back, knee, ankle, and temporomandibular joint). All patients were evaluated with visual analog scale (VAS), for pain, short form-36 (SF-36) for HRQL, Beck Depression Scale (BDS) for depression level. Results:We have included 1832 patients (460 male, and 1372 female) in the study: Group 1: 285(16%), Group 2: 623(34%), Group 3: 653(36%), Group 4: 190(10%), Group 5: 81(4%). When the groups was compared according to VAS scores during activity; all other groups was higher than group 1 (p<0.01). When the BDS scores were compared; depression levels were higher in group 5 than the other groups. When a number of painful areas were compared; groups 3,4,5 had higher values than groups 1,2, and group 2 had higher values than group 1 (p<0.001). Conclusion: This study evaluates pain level, the number of painful areas, physical HRQL, and depression levels of pre-obese and obese patients using VAS, BDS, and SF-36 scores and proves negative effects when compared to the healthy population. But this effect does not correlate with BMI levels.Objective: The purpose of the study is to evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQL), pain, the number of painful areas, and depression level; both to compare obesity level and these parameters, and to compare between obese and non-obese participants. Materials (Subjects) and Methods: 1875 voluntary patients were evaluated. Patients were grouped into 5 according to body mass index (BMI) values: Group 1:17-24.99kg/m2, Group 2:25-29.99kg/m2, Group 3:30-34.99kg/m2, Group 4:35-35.99kg/m2, Group 5: BMI more than 40kg/m2. Patients were asked to fulfill a questionnaire about demographic data and a number of painful areas (neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, back, low back, knee, ankle, and temporomandibular joint). All patients were evaluated with visual analog scale (VAS), for pain, short form-36 (SF-36) for HRQL, Beck Depression Scale (BDS) for depression level. Results:We have included 1832 patients (460 male, and 1372 female) in the study: Group 1: 285(16%), Group 2: 623(34%), Group 3: 653(36%), Group 4: 190(10%), Group 5: 81(4%). When the groups was compared according to VAS scores during activity; all other groups was higher than group 1 (p<0.01). When the BDS scores were compared; depression levels were higher in group 5 than the other groups. When a number of painful areas were compared; groups 3,4,5 had higher values than groups 1,2, and group 2 had higher values than group 1 (p<0.001). Conclusion: This study evaluates pain level, the number of painful areas, physical HRQL, and depression levels of pre-obese and obese patients using VAS, BDS, and SF-36 scores and proves negative effects when compared to the healthy population. But this effect does not correlate with BMI levels

EVALUATION OF AN ENZYME IMMUNASSAY USING RECOMBINANT ANTIGENS FOR

Amaç: Bu çalışmada, anti-Treponema pallidum antikorlarını saptamak için rekom- binant antijen kullanan ve enzim "immunoassay" (EIA) prensibi ile çalışan bir testin (Trep-Screen ELISA) sifiliz taramasındaki performansının değerlendirilmesi amaç- lanmıştır. Gereç ve yöntem: Çalışmada, 2 örnek grubu kullanıldı. Birinci grupta kemilü- minesan mikropartikül enzim "immunoassay" (CMIA) yöntemi ile yapılan taramada pozitif bulunan ve Treponema pallidum hemaglütinasyon, Western Blot IgM ve IgG testleri ile doğrulanan 79 örnek yer aldı. İkinci grupta CMIA taramasında pozitif bulunan ancak diğer testlerle doğrulanmayan 71 örnek değerlendirildi. Örneklerin tümü değerlendirilen EIA testi ile çalışıldı. Bulgular: Testin duyarlılığı %97,5 (%95 güvenlik aralığı, %90,3-%99,6) olarak bu- lundu. EIA testinin ikinci gruptaki örneklerin %73,2'sinde negatif, %26,8'inde pozitif sonuç verdiği belirlendi. Sonuç: Değerlendirmeye alınan EIA testinin kullanımı kolay ve sifiliz taraması için yeterli duyarlılığa sahip olduğu sonucuna varıldı. Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the performance of an enzyme immunoassay (Trep-Screen ELISA) using recombinant antigens for determining anti- Treponema pallidum antibodies in screening syphilis. Material and method: Two group of samples were used in the study. The first group composed of 79 samples which were positive in the chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA) screening and were confirmed with Treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay, Western Blot IgM and IgG. The second group included 71 samples which were assessed to be positive in the CMIA screening but were not confirmed by the other tests. All of the samples were tested by evaluated EIA. Results: the sensitivity of the test was calculated as 97.5% (95% contidence internal, 90.3%-99.6%). With the EIA, 73.2% of the results were negative and 26.8% of the results were positive when second group samples were tested. Conclusion: It was concluded that evaluated EIA test is easy to use and sensitive enough for syphilis screening

Diagnostic performance of low-dose chest CT to detect COVID-19: A Turkish population study

PURPOSEWe aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of low-dose chest computed tomography (CT) in patients under investigation for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).METHODSThis retrospective study included 330 patients suspected of having COVID-19 from March 15 to April 16, 2020. We examined 306 patients upon initial presentation using both CT and real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase-chain-reaction (rRT-PCR). The diagnostic performance of CT was calculated using rRT-PCR as a reference. Clinical and laboratory data, CT characteristics, and lesion distribution were assessed for patients with a confirmed diagnosis via rRT-PCR.RESULTSA total of 250 patients were finally diagnosed with COVID-19. Clinical and laboratory findings included myalgia or fatigue (76%), fever (64.8%), dry cough (60.8%), elevated levels of C-reactive protein (86.4%), procalcitonin (62%), and D-dimer (58.2%), increased neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (54.8%), and lymphopenia (34%). Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of the initial CT scan were 90.4% (95% IC, 86%–93%), 64.2% (95% IC, 50%–76%), 91.8% (95% IC, 88%–94%), and 60% (95% IC, 49%–69%), respectively. The percentage of patients diagnosed on the initial rRT-PCR test was 51.6% (n=129). Most frequent CT characteristics of COVID-19 in the subgroup of rRT-PCR-positive patients were multiple lesion (97.4%, n=220), followed by bilateral involvement (88.5%, n=200), peripheral distribution (74.3%, n=168), ground-glass opacity (GGO) (69.2%, n=157), subpleural curvilinear opacity (41.6%, n=104), and mixed GGOs (27.6%, n=67).CONCLUSIONrRT-PCR may produce initial false negative results. For this reason, typical CT findings for COVID-19 should be known especially by radiologists. We suggest that patients with typical CT findings but negative rRT-PCR results should be isolated, and rRT-PCR should be repeated to avoid misdiagnosis

Physiological, Biochemical, and Transcriptional Responses to Single and Combined Abiotic Stress in Stress-Tolerant and Stress-Sensitive Potato Genotypes

Potato production is often constrained by abiotic stresses such as drought and high temperatures which are often present in combination. In the present work, we aimed to identify key mechanisms and processes underlying single and combined abiotic stress tolerance by comparative analysis of tolerant and susceptible cultivars. Physiological data indicated that the cultivars Desiree and Unica were stress tolerant while Agria and Russett Burbank were stress susceptible. Abiotic stress caused a greater reduction of photosynthetic carbon assimilation in the susceptible cultivars which was associated with a lower leaf transpiration rate. Oxidative stress, as estimated by the accumulation of malondialdehyde was not induced by stress treatments in any of the genotypes with the exception of drought stress in Russett Burbank. Stress treatment resulted in increases in ascorbate peroxidase activity in all cultivars except Agria which increased catalase activity in response to stress. Transcript profiling highlighted a decrease in the abundance of transcripts encoding proteins associated with PSII light harvesting complex in stress tolerant cultivars. Furthermore, stress tolerant cultivars accumulated fewer transcripts encoding a type-1 metacaspase implicated in programmed cell death. Stress tolerant cultivars exhibited stronger expression of genes associated with plant growth and development, hormone metabolism and primary and secondary metabolism than stress susceptible cultivars. Metabolite profiling revealed accumulation of proline in all genotypes following drought stress that was partially suppressed in combined heat and drought. On the contrary, the sugar alcohols inositol and mannitol were strongly accumulated under heat and combined heat and drought stress while galactinol was most strongly accumulated under drought. Combined heat and drought also resulted in the accumulation of Valine, isoleucine, and lysine in all genotypes. These data indicate that single and multiple abiotic stress tolerance in potato is associated with a maintenance of CO2 assimilation and protection of PSII by a reduction of light harvesting capacity. The data further suggests that stress tolerant cultivars suppress cell death and maintain growth and development via fine tuning of hormone signaling, and primary and secondary metabolism. This study highlights potential targets for the development of stress tolerant potato cultivars

Naiv hepatit C enfeksiyonlu hastaların on-altı yıllık prognozu

Objectives: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the clinical course of treatment-naive patients infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) who were followed up in various centers in Turkey. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective study performed with the participation of 15 centers. Patients aged 18 years and older with HCV infection were included. Results: A total of 391 treatment-naive patients infected with HCV were included in this study. During the follow-up period, the final values of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate transaminase, and total protein were significantly decreased when compared to the initial values (p<0.001, p<0.001, and p=0.005, respectively). In the study group, 19.2% of the patients underwent liver biopsy and 4.1% underwent transient elastography (FibroScan). An increased histological activity index (HAI) score and fibrosis in the second biopsy were observed in one patient, only increased HAI in two patients and increased fibrosis in one patient, as shown on the FibroScan. In the 16 years of the study period, cirrhosis was radiologically detected in only one patient. Conclusion: Even if rapid progression is not observed, close monitoring of the clinical findings related to liver failure and fibrosis with invasive or non-invasive methods may be useful.Amaç: Bu çalışmada ülkemizin çeşitli merkezlerinde takip edilen naiv hepatit C virüs (HCV) ile enfekte hastaların klinik seyrini değerlendirmeyi amaçladık. Gereç ve Yöntemler: Bu çalışma retrospektif olarak 15 merkezin katılımıyla gerçekleştirilmiştir. Çalışmaya 18 yaş üstü, HCV enfeksiyonu olan hastalar dahil edilmiştir. Bulgular: Çalışmada 391 tedavi-naiv HCV enfeksiyonlu hasta yer almıştır. Hastaların takip süresinde son alanine aminotransferase, aspartate transaminase ve total protein değerleri ilk düzeyine göre önemli düzeyde azalmıştır (sırasıyla p<0,001, p<0,001, p=0,005). Çalışma grubunda hastaların %19,2’sine karaciğer biyopsisi, %4,1’ine elastografi (FibroScan) uygulanmıştır. Takip esnasında bir hastada ikinci biyopside histolojik aktivite indeksi (HAI) ve fibroziste artma, iki hastada sadece HAI’da artma, birinde FibroScan ile fibrozis değerinde artma olduğu gözlenmiştir. Bir hastada 16 yıl içinde radyolojik olarak siroz saptanmıştır. Sonuç: Hızlı progresyon gözlenmemekle birlikte hastaların izleminde karaciğer yetmezliği ile ilgili klinik bulguların ve invaziv veya noninvaziv yöntemlerle fibrozisin yakın takibi yararlı olabilir