Mental health, religion and suicide

Suicide is one of the most common yet serious concerns, and a worldwide subject that individuals have debated from the past to the present. Suicidal ideation affects and disrupts the functionality of a human being regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, or even religion. This article aims to discuss suicide in general and from an Islamic perspective in specific, as research has shown that an Islamically oriented approach and intervention works better with the Muslim population in general. The paper also aims to have a broader view of how Islam categorized suicide classically and its modern implications, which also lets us explore the similarities, and differences between the Islamic pers- pective and different religions about suicide and related mental health con- cerns. A collection of both classic and modern sources was used to extract information and provide a scope of definitions to clarify suicide and religios- ity concerning the teachings and opinion of Islam about the meaning of life, afterlife, and soul. It was found that the Muslim population showed a lower rate of suicide in comparison to individuals from other religions, and reli- gious individuals showed faster recovery from suicidal ideation. Yet, Muslims are not immune to mental health conditions that would result in suicide. Therefore, further studies and research need to be conducted to understand the huge stigma around Muslim about mental health and suicide in the Mus- lim communities, to compare the effectiveness among the religious and the non-religious Muslims, and lastly to fill the gap as to why the Muslim popula- tion tends to be hesitant in seeking help regarding their psychological problems

ANADOLU ALEVÎLİĞİNİN TEMEL SORUNLARI

Alawism and Bektashism are one of the most striking groups in Anatolia considering the population density. Alawism that has mostly been on the agenda for the last fifty years, has been heavily discussed with its religious, political, ethnic and economical dimensions.Actually, it is not possible to handleAlawism and Bektashism independently from the change process that dragged the whole World and Turkey consequently. It was not possible for Alawism to stay away from this process which changed rapidly all social structures in the last two centuries. In essence, the change and transformation in the second half of the twentieth century in Alawite community who lives based on the principle of trust and rather in a closed structure in rural areas, can only be explained by the characteristics of the era. Therefore, in addition to many historical, social, political, economic and religious aspects of the subject stemming from the past, there are also problems brought about by the modern era. In this article, the main issues of Anatolian Alawism are discussed. In this context, the question of how the methods should be followed in firework studies has been discussed and the issue of the reliability of the available information has been debated. Also, the boundaries of the Alawism concept, the issue of Alavians’ ethnic origin, approaches to their religious status and the problem of politicization have been addressed. Thus, it has been tried to provide information in a general and objective way to those who want to know about the fundamental problems of Anatolian Alawism today

The Association between Plasma D-dimer Levels and Community-Acquired Pneumonia

BACKGROUND: Plasma D-dimer levels are directly related to the intra- and extra-vascular coagulation that occurs in acute and chronic lung damage in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). OBJECTIVES: This study examines the relationship between the severity of community-acquired pneumonia and D-dimer levels. In addition, the study examines the correlations among community-acquired pneumonia, the radiological extent of the disease and mortality. METHODS: The Pneumonia Severity Index was used to classify patients into five groups. Patients were treated at home or in the hospital according to the guidelines for community-acquired pneumonia. Blood samples were taken from the antecubital vein with an injector and placed into citrated tubes. After they were centrifuged, the samples were evaluated with the quantitative latex method. RESULTS: The study included 60 patients who had been diagnosed with community-acquired pneumonia (mean age 62.5 ± 11.7) and 24 healthy controls (mean age 59.63 ± 6.63). The average plasma D-dimer levels were 337.3 ± 195.1ng/mL in the outpatient treatment group, 691.0 ± 180.5 in the inpatient treatment group, 1363.2 ± 331.5 ng/mLin the intensive care treatment group and 161.3 ± 38.1ng/mL in the control group (p<0.001). The mean D-dimer plasma level was 776.1 ± 473.5ng/mL in patients with an accompanying disease and 494.2 ± 280.1 ng/mL in patients without an accompanying disease (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Plasma D-dimer levels were increased even in community-acquired pneumonia patients who did not have an accompanying disease that would normally cause such an increase

Sleep scheduling with expected common coverage in wireless sensor networks

Abstract Sleep scheduling, which is putting some sensor nodes into sleep mode without harming network functionality, is a common method to reduce energy consumption in dense wireless sensor networks. This paper proposes a distributed and energy efficient sleep scheduling and routing scheme that can be used to extend the lifetime of a sensor network while maintaining a user defined coverage and connectivity. The scheme can activate and deactivate the three basic units of a sensor node (sensing, processing, and communication units) independently. The paper also provides a probabilistic method to estimate how much the sensing area of a node is covered by other active nodes in its neighborhood. The method is utilized by the proposed scheduling and routing scheme to reduce the control message overhead while deciding the next modes (fullactive, semi-active, inactive/sleeping) of sensor nodes. We evaluated our estimation method and scheduling scheme via simulation experiments and compared our scheme also with another scheme. The results validate our probabilistic method for coverage estimation and show that our sleep scheduling and routing scheme can significantly increase the network lifetime while keep- ing the message complexity low and preserving both connectivity and coverage

Comparison of Clinical and Hemodynamic Effects of Isoflurane and Sevoflurane Anesthesia in Calves

Background: Inhalation anesthesia is the preferred method for use on many animal species, including ruminants, due to its superiority over the injectable anesthetics. The most commonly used inhalation anesthetics are isoflurane and sevoflurane The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of isoflurane and sevoflurane anesthesia on the cardiovascular system of calves.Materials, Methods &amp; Results: A total of 20 calves (11 male, 9 female) between 1 and 6 months in age and 50 to 85 kg in body weight were used. The calves were divided randomly into two groups of 10 each, with one group being administered isoflurane and the other sevoflurane. An intramuscular dosage of 0.1 mg/kg of xylazine was administered to the calves as premedication. Induction was performed 10 min after calves were given an intramuscular dosage of 4 mg/kg of ketamine. Inhalation anesthesia was maintained with isoflurane or sevoflurane in 100% oxygen saturation. Before anesthesia, after induction and at intervals of 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 45, and 60 min of anesthesia, the body temperature, heart rate, and respiratory rate of the calves were recorded. Additionally, before anesthesia, after induction and at intervals of 15, 30, 45, and 60 min of anesthesia, serum electrolyte (Na+, Ca++, K+, Mg++) and blood gases (pH, pCO2, pO2, HCO3-, TCO2, O2Sat, HCT) were evaluated from blood samples taken from both groups. The second derivation, durations and amplitudes of the P and T waves, the durations and amplitudes of the QRS complex, and the durations of PQ and QT intervals were evaluated on the ECGs recorded before anesthesia, after induction and during anesthesia. Following anesthesia termination, the extubation time and the time it took for straightening of the head and standing up were recorded. Decrease in heart rate and body temperature were found significant in two of the groups. Decrease in respiratory rate compared to initial values after premedication was statistically significant for both groups. However, during anesthesia, an increase occurred. This incresae in respiration rate was not statistically significant compared to initial values. The incease in the values of pCO2, pO2, HCO3 and the decrease in the values of pH and Hct comparing the initial values was found statistically significant in both groups.Discussion: In ruminants, isoflurane has an induction concentration of 3-5% and an anesthetic concentration of 1.5-3%, while sevoflurane has an induction concentration of 4-6% and an anesthetic concentration of 2.5-4%. In this study, the concentration of isoflurane was 2.3% (2-5) and the of sevoflurane was 4.07% (3-5) for surgery. In the isoflurane group, extubation, straightening of the head and standing up times were 12.40 ± 3.77 min, 20.4 ± 1.57 min, and 30.80 ± 1.89 min, respectively. In the sevoflurane group, extubation, straightening of the head and standing up times were 13.40 ± 4.99, 19.2 ± 1.49, and 28.0 ± 1.83 min, respectively. Although the calves in the isoflurane group were extubated earlier than those of the sevoflurane group, the time elapsed for straightening of the head and standing up were longer than that of the sevoflurane group. The anesthesia protocol provided a smooth anesthetic administration, general anesthesia and awakening. In conclusion, the effects of isoflurane and sevoflurane anesthesia on the cardiovascular and respiratory system were similar, and although the changes that emerged during anesthesia were statistically significant, it was nonetheless found that the changes were within the physiological limits

Tailoring the optical and spectroscopic properties of ascorbic acid via solvation with DMSO: A theoretical study using different quantum models

The anti-oxidizing properties and physiological action of ascorbic acid have recently attracted considerable research attention. This study employs dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) solvent to examine the interaction of solvent molecules and the resulting structural modifications in ascorbic acid through trial and error with three quantum solvation models (CPCM, IEFPCM, and SMD). DMSO was selected from the models to analyze changes in the optical bandgap and spectroscopic properties using first-principles methods. Geometry optimization was performed at two different levels of theory: Hartree-Fock (HF) and density functional theory (DFT). The DFT method was employed with a 6–311 G/B3LYP basis set to yield the ground-state energy. The electronic orientation was investigated through potential energy mapping, while spectroscopic analysis encompassed ultraviolet (UV–VIS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques. Additionally, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to gain a deeper understanding of the chemical structures of the compound. The findings shed light on the DMSO-Ascorbic acid interactions and revealed structure-property correlation. © 2023 The Author(s

Stakeholder Opinions on Urban Agriculture: The Case of Iğdır

Urban agriculture encompasses all agricultural activities within or near urban areas. Due to its complex interactions within environmental, social, and economic contexts, urban agriculture faces various challenges. Therefore, various stakeholders are involved in the process of developing urban agriculture. This study aims to determine the place and importance of urban agriculture in the eyes of stakeholders in Iğdır City and its surrounding areas. This will provide an understanding of what can be done in the region within the scope of urban agriculture. Semi-structured interview forms were used in the study. Five questions were asked to the stakeholders, and descriptive analysis, one of the qualitative data analysis methods, was used to analyze the data. According to the findings, it was concluded that Iğdır city holds significant potential in terms of urban agricultural activities. Based on the stakeholder opinions, opportunities for urban agriculture in Iğdır City were discussed

μ-Squarato-κ2 O 1:O 2-bis­{[2-(2-amino­ethyl)pyridine-κ2 N,N′]aqua­nickel(II)} squarate 0.25-hydrate

The asymmetric unit of title compound, [Ni2(C4O4)(C7H10N2)4(H2O)2]C4O4·0.25H2O, contains one-half of a squarate ligand, one-half of an uncoordinated squarate dianion, two 2-(2-amino­ethyl)pyridine ligands and one aqua ligand, all coordinated to an NiII ion. The compound also contains 0.25 solvent water mol­ecules. The NiII ion has distorted octa­hedral geometry. The squarate ligand adopts a μ-1,2 coordination mode, the intra­dimer NiII⋯NiII separation being 7.1442 (7) Å, while the other squarate unit acts as a counter-anion. The crystal structure is stabilized by inter­molecular O—H⋯O and N—H⋯O hydrogen-bond inter­actions, forming a three-dimensional network

Changes in Serum Natriuretic Peptide Levels after Percutaneous Closure of Small to Moderate Ventricular Septal Defects

Background. B-type natriuretic peptide has been shown to be a very sensitive and specific marker of heart failure. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of percutaneous closure of ventricular septal defects with Amplatzer septal occluders on brain natriuretic peptide levels. Methods. Between 2008 and 2011, 23 patients underwent successfully percutaneous ventricular septal defect closure in 4 cardiology centers. Brain natriuretic peptide levels were measured in nine patients (4 male, mean ages were 25.3 ± 14.3) who underwent percutaneous closure with Amplatzer occluders for membranous or muscular ventricular septal defects were enrolled in the study. Brain natriuretic peptide levels were measured one day before and one month after the closure. Patients were evaluated clinically and by echocardiography one month after the procedure. Results. Percutaneous closures of ventricular septal defects were successfully performed in all patients. There was not any significant adverse event in patients group during followup. Decrease in brain natriuretic peptide levels after closure were statistically significant (97.3 ± 78.6 versus 26.8 ± 15.6, P = 0.013). Conclusion. Brain Natriuretic Peptide levels are elevated in patients with ventricular septal defects as compared to controls. Percutaneous closure of Ventricular Septal Defect with Amplatzer occluders decreases the BNP levels