The Perceptions of Teachers, Students and Parents on the Learning of a Mother Tongue by Bilingual Turkish Students (Nottingham and Leicester Supplementary Schools Cases, England)

It is important for bilingual children growing up in a foreign country to learn an L2 as it is to learn one’s family’s mother tongue; to learn and understand the L1 of that society, develop communication skills with relatives and learn their cultures’ values. This research investigates the learning of Turkish as a one’s family’s mother tongue (L2) by Turkish-English bilingual students living in Nottingham and Leicester. A qualitative research methodology was applied in this study. The data were collected from a total of 8 students between the ages of 5-6, 3 teachers and 11 parents at Nottingham and Leicester Turkish Supplementary schools. In order to gather data about learning techniques, semi-structured interviews and observation were carried out. The purpose of this study is to understand and explain the students’, parents’ and teachers’ views on bilingual Turkish students’ learning of their mother tongue at 5-6 years old. The findings show that the views of the parents’ and students’ on learning Turkish as an L2 as one’s family’s mother tongue are essential to supporting effective communication with their relatives, by using and learning Turkish and its culture. According to teachers, they, in common with others, say they intend to teach Turkish to students so they will be able to express themselves in their mother tongue and help them to acquire their own background’s cultural values. The research’s participants highlighted that their difficulties are with speaking and reading skills; as a possible solution, encouraging students to speak, read and write in Turkish, and watch Turkish media programmes in order to improve their productive skills is recommended. Keywords: Bilingualism, Turkish language learning, mother tongue, L1-L

Investigation of the Mechanical Behavior of a New Generation Wind Turbine Blade Technology

Wind turbine blades are one of the largest parts of wind power systems. It is a handicap that these large parts of numerous wind turbines will become scrap in the near future. To prevent this handicap, newly produced blades should be recyclable. In this study, a turbine blade, known as the new generation of turbine blade, was manufactured with reinforced carbon beams and recycled, low-density polyethylene materials. The manufacturing addressed in this study reveals two novelties: (1) it produces a heterogeneous turbine blade; and (2) it produces a recyclable blade. In addition, this study also covers mechanical tests using a digital image correlation (DIC) system and modeling investigations of the new generation blade. For the mechanical tests, displacement and strain data of both new generation and conventional commercial blades were measured by the DIC method. Instead of dealing with the modeling difficulty of the new generation blade’s heterogeneity we modeled the blade structural system as a whole using the moment–curvature method as part of the finite element method. Then, the behavior of both the new generation and commercial blades at varying wind speeds and different angles of attack were compared. Consequently, the data reveal that the new generation blades performed sufficiently well compared with commercial blades regarding their stiffness

Comorbidities and their impact on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Kronik obstrüktif akciğer hastalığında komorbiditelerin hastalık üzerine etkileriKronik obstrüktif akciğer hastalığı (KOAH), akciğer etkilenimi ve çeşitli komorbidetelerden kaynaklanan yıkıcı sonuçları olan kompleks bir hastalıktır. Komorbiditeler, semptomları, yaşam kalitesini, komplikasyonları, hastalığın yönetimini, ekonomik yükünü ve mortalitesini etkilemektedir. Komorbiditelerin önemi, KOAH'ın sonuçları üzerine olan etkilerinden kaynaklanmaktadır. KOAH'ta görülen en sık komorbiditeler, kardiyovasküler, endokrinolojik, müsküloskeletal ve psikolojik olanlar ve akciğer kanseridir. KOAH olgularının en az %50'sinde üç veya daha fazla komorbidite bulunmaktadır. Yeni GOLD kılavuzu komorbiditelerin proaktif olarak araştırılmasını ve tedavisini önermektedir. Ancak bu komorbiditelerin aktif tedavisinin, KOAH'ın sonuçlarını etkilediğine dair kesin bir kanıt yoktur. Öte yandan kardiyovasküler hastalıklar ve akciğer kanseri gibi komorbiditeler, KOAH mortalitesi üzerinde önemli etkiye sahiptir. Çeşitli çalışmalar, Charlson komorbidite indeksinin veya KAOH spesifik komorbidite indeksinin (COTE) KOAH mortalitesi ile ilişkili olduğunu göstermiştir. Bu kısa derleme, KOAH üzerindeki etkileri ile beraber en sık görülen komorbiditeleri özetlemeyi amaçlamıştır.Comorbidities and their impact on chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseChronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a complex disease that is associated with devastating outcomes resulting from lung involvement and several comorbidities. Comorbidities could impact on symptomology, quality of life, the complications, the management, economic burden and the mortality of the disease. The importance of comorbidities originates from their impact on the outcome of COPD. The most frequent comorbidities in COPD are cardiovascular, endocrinological, musculoskeletal, phycological disorders and lung cancer. Almost 50% of the COPD patients have 3 or more comorbidities. The recent Global Initiative of Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) Guideline suggested proactive search and the treatment of the comorbidities. However, there is no certain evidence demonstrating that active treatment of comorbidities improve the outcomes of COPD. However, it is well known that several comorbidities such as cardiovascular disease and lung cancer have greater impact on mortality caused by COPD. Several studies have shown that Charlson Comorbidity index or more recenty COPD Specific Comorbidity Index (COTE) has been found to be related with mortality of COPD. This concise review intended to summarize the most frequent comorbidities in association with their impact on COPD

11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 gene expression is increased in ascending aorta tissue of metabolic syndrome patients with coronary artery disease

İstanbul Bilim Üniversitesi, Tıp Fakültesi.11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 1 (11β-HSD-1) activity and mRNA levels are increased in visceral and subcutaneous adipose tissues of metabolic syndrome subjects. We analyzed 11β-HSD-1 expression in human epicardial adipose (EA) and ascending aorta (AA) tissues of metabolic syndrome patients and examined their contribution to the development of coronary atherosclerosis. The 11β-HSD-1 expression was evaluated by qRT-PCR in EA and AA tissues of 20 metabolic syndrome patients with coronary artery disease (metabolic syndrome group) and 10 non-metabolic syndrome patients without coronary artery disease (controls). 11β-HSD-1 expression was increased in EA and AA tissues of the metabolic syndrome group (4.1- and 5.5-fold, respectively). A significant positive correlation was found between 11β-HSD-1 expression in EA tissue and waist hip ratio and 11β-HSD-1 expression in AA tissue and body mass index, while a negative correlation was found between 11β-HSD-1 expression in EA tissue and HDL. Expression of CD68, a macrophage marker, was significantly increased in both tissues of the metabolic syndrome group; it was 2-fold higher in AA tissue compared to EA tissue in the metabolic syndrome group. Our findings of increased expression of 11β-HSD-1 and CD68 in AA tissue of the metabolic syndrome group lead us to suggest that they contribute to coronary atherosclerosis in metabolic syndrome. This positive correlation between obesity markers and 11β-HSD-1 in AA and EA tissues strengthens the evidence that 11β-HSD-1 has a role in metabolic syndrome. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report showing 11β-HSD-1 and CD68 expression in AA tissue of metabolic syndrome patients. We suggest that there is tissue-specific expression of 11β-HSD-1 in metabolic syndrome and associated cardiovascular disorders

Outcome of Very Low and Low Birth Weight Infants with Esophageal Atresia: Results of the Turkish Esophageal Atresia Registry

Introduction The data of the Turkish Esophageal Atresia Registry (TEAR) was evaluated to define the outcome of very low birth weight (VLBW) and low BW (LWB) infants with esophageal atresia (EA)

The effect of azygos vein preservation on postoperative complications after esophageal atresia repair: Results from the Turkish Esophageal Atresia Registry

Aim: Preservation of the azygos vein (AV) maintains normal venous drainage of the mediastinum and decreases postoperative congestion. The modification of esophageal atresia (EA) repair by preserving AV may prevent postoperative complications and may lead to better outcomes. The data from the Turkish Esophageal Atresia Registry (TEAR) were evaluated to define the effect of AV preservation on postoperative complications of patients with EA. Methods: Data from TEAR for a period of five years were evaluated. Patients were enrolled into two groups according to the preservation of AV. Patients with divided (DAV) and preserved AV (PAV) were evaluated for demographic and operative features and postoperative complications for the first year of life. The DAV and PAV groups were compared according to the postoperative complications, such as fis-tula recanalization, symptomatic strictures, anastomotic leaks, total number of esophageal dilatations, and anti-reflux surgery. In addition, respiratory problems, which required treatment, were compared between groups. Results: Among 502 registered patients; the data from 315 patients with the information of AV ligation were included. The male female ratio of DAV (n = 271) and PAV (n = 44) groups were 150:121 and 21:23, respectively (p > 0.05). The mean body weight, height, gestational age, and associated anomalies were similar in both groups (p > 0.05). The esophageal repair with thoracotomy was significantly higher in DAV group, when compared to the PAV group (p 0.05). There was no difference between DAV and PAV groups for anastomotic leaks, symptomatic anastomotic strictures, fistula recanalization, and the re-quirement for anti-reflux surgery (p > 0.05). The rate of respiratory problems, which required treatment, was significantly higher in the DAV group (p < 0.05) Conclusion: The data in the TEAR demonstrated that preserving the AV during EA repair led to no sig-nificant advantage on postoperative complications, with exception of respiratory problems. AV should be preserved as much as possible to maintain a normal mediastinal anatomy and to avoid respiratory com-plications. (c) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved