Personality Organization in Anxiety Disorders: Comparison of Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder

The objective of this study was to explore the level of personality organization in patients diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and panic disorder (PD). The study comprised 86 patients undergoing treatment for GAD (n=46) and PD (n=40). Various tools were utilized for data collection including a Sociodemographic Data Collection Form, Personality Organization Diagnostic Form (PODF), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). A significant difference was observed between the GAD and PD groups regarding the PODF scores for mature defense, anxiety, and depression. However, no significant difference was observed in relation to the PODF identity total score and primitive defense scores. Furthermore, the quality of object relations and the overall level of personality organization according to the PODF did not display any significant differences between the groups. According to the BDI, comorbid depressive symptoms were detected in 67.4% (n=58) of the participants with GAD and PD. There was no significant difference in the PODF scores, quality of object relations, and the overall level of personality organization between the group with comorbid depressive symptoms and the group without it.These findings suggest that while the primary focus of therapeutic interventions should be on targeting the specific type of anxiety disorder, assessing the level of personality organization in patients with GAD and PD could add valuable insights to individual case understanding, selection of psychotherapy approaches, and the treatment process.

The Effect of Leucocytosis, Gender Difference, and Ultrasound in the Diagnosis of Acute Cholecystitis in the Elderly Population

Introduction. Acute cholecystitis is one of the most common reasons of acute abdominal pain for older patients to present to the emergency department (ED). Presentation may differ from that of the younger patient and is often complicated by coexistent disease due to elderliness. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the clinical presentation of acute cholecystitis, with special focus on comparision between elderly and young patients. Materials and Methods. This study included 318 patients who were admitted to the emergency department with right upper quadrant pain during a period of determined 8 months. After retrospective data collection, patients were groupped in accordance with their age, <65 and ≥65 years. Those who had ultrasonographic signs such as wall thickening and fluid collection were diagnosed as acute cholecystitis. Results. The young group (Group I) consisted of 225 patients, 132 females and 93 males. In Group I, 39 patients were diagnosed as acute cholecystitis of whom 27 were females and 15 were males. The elderly group (Group II) consisted of 93 patients 48 females and 45 males. In Group II, 36 patients were diagnosed as acute cholecystitis of whom 15 were females and 21 were males. Regarding the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis, the female to male ratio is 2.25 in Group I and 0.71 in Group II (p=0.016). The average white blood cells counts of patients with acute cholecystitis in Group I and in Group II were 9907x109/L(±4.437) and 17083x109/L(±7485), respectively (p<0,001). Conclusions. Acute cholecystitis is a common diagnosis in elderly patients with right upper quadrant pain. It is more frequent in female in the early ages, but the gender difference tends to change with age. Elderly patients demonstrate a higher level of white blood cells when compared to young patients in acute cholecystitis. Clinicians must maintain a degree of awareness in the evaluation of geriatric patients with right upper quadrant abdominal pain

EXPERIMENTAL STUDY AND FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS OF DOVETAIL ATTACHMENTS

In this study, the contact stresses in the dovetail-rim region of an aero-engine compressor disc under the action of the centrifugal forces of the blades are investigated. Dovetail-rim consists of two parts: the blade and the disc. Highly stressed areas occur at the edges of the interface of the disc and the blade during the operation. Fretting fatigue is commonly seen in dovetails, which is caused by high stress gradients. An experimental setup which is capable of performing tension test on a dovetail rim attachment is designed. Strain gauges and a 2D digital image correlation system (DIC) are used to measure the strains. Finite element (FE) models are created for comparisons. Two sets of experiments are conducted. In the first experiment, it is seen that the misalignment of the specimens causes asymmetric contact condition in the contact pairs of dovetail. Therefore, inconsistencies between the results are observed. In the second experiment, changes are made to prevent the asymmetry giving results more consistent to the finite elements analysis (FEA). However, in the first two experiments, it is seen that the system is extremely stiff, the displacements and the strains measured are small. Therefore, these measurements are highly sensitive on tolerances and imperfections

The Management of Invasive Fungal Infections: What to Consider in Empirical Treatment?

WOS: 000325121600001Invasive fungal infections (IFI) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality in immunocompromised patients. Candida and Aspergillus are the most common fungi that lead to IFI. While invasive Candida infections are most commonly seen in patients in intensive care units (ICUs) and very low birth weight infants, aspergillosis is most frequent in immunocompromised patients, especially in patients with hematological malignancies and in those undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Empirical treatment should be considered in all high-risk patients with hematological malignancies suspected of having IFIs

Enteral glutamine pretreatment does not decrease plasma endotoxin level induced by ischemia-reperfusion injury in rats

AIM: To investigate whether oral glutamine pretreatment prevents impairment of intestinal mucosal integrity during ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) in rats

DEVELOPMENT OF BOLTED FLANGE DESIGN TOOL BASED ON FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS AND ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK

In bolted flange connections, commonly utilized in aircraft engine designs, structural integrity and minimization of the weight are achieved by the optimum combination of the design parameters utilizing the outcome of Many structural analyses. Bolt size, the number of bolts, bolt locations, casing thickness, flange thickness, bolt preload, and axial external force are some of the critical design parameters in bolted flange connections. Theoretical analysis and finite element analysis (FEA) are two main approaches to perform structural analysis of bolted flange connections. Theoretical approaches require the simplification of the geometry and are generally oversafe. In contrast, finite element analysis is more reliable but at the cost of high computational power. In this paper, a methodology is developed for iterative analyses of bolted flange that utilizes artificial neural network approximation of a database formed with more than ten thousand non-linear analyses with contact algorithm. In the design tool, a structural analysis database is created by taking permutations of the parametric variables. The number of intervals for each variable in the upper and lower range of the variables is determined with the parameters correlation study in which the significance of parameters are evaluated. The prediction of the ANN based design tool is then compared with FEA results and the theoretical approach of ESDU. The results show excellent agreement of the ANN based design tool with the actual non-linear finite element analysis results within the training limits of the ANN

Development of Bolted Flange Design Tool Based on Artificial Neural Network

Finite element analysis (FEA) of bolted flange connections is the common methodology for the analysis of bolted flange connections. However, it requires high computational power for model preparation and nonlinear analysis due to contact definitions used between the mating parts. Design of an optimum bolted flange connection requires many costly finite element analyses to be performed to decide on the optimum bolt configuration and minimum flange and casing thicknesses. In this study, very fast responding and accurate artificial neural network-based bolted flange design tool is developed. Artificial neural network is established using the database which is generated by the results of more than 10,000 nonlinear finite element analyses of the bolted flange connection of a typical aircraft engine. The FEA database is created by taking permutations of the parametric geometric design variables of the bolted flange connection and input load parameters. In order to decrease the number of FEA points, the significance of each design variable is evaluated by performing a parameter correlation study beforehand, and the number of design points between the lower and upper and bounds of the design variables is decided accordingly. The prediction of the artificial neural network based design tool is then compared with the FEA results. The results show excellent agreement between the artificial neural network-based design tool and the nonlinear FEA results within the training limits of the artificial neural network.</jats:p

Parameters correlation study to investigate the effects of geometric variables on the safety of bolted flange connections

Bolted flange connections are commonly utilized structures in aircraft engine designs by means of assembling two or more circular casings to each other. Minimizing the weight of the structure without compromising the safety is the main intention in the design of bolted flange connections. Bolt size, the number of bolts used, bolt locations, casing thickness, and flange thickness are the critical geometric parameters that drive the design. Determining the significance of the geometrical parameters aids in both minimizing the weight and ensuring the structural safety. In this paper, parameters correlation study has been conducted to determine the sensitivity of selected geometric parameters in the safety of bolts and flanges. The influences of the geometric variables are compared according to equivalent Mises flange stress and force reaction occurring in the bolt when the structure is subjected to an axial tensile force. Parameters Correlation tool of ANSYS Workbench has been utilized for this purpose, in which parametric analyses are run by changing geometric parameters in a systematic way within the specified upper and lower limits of the design variables that define the bolted flange connection. The results of the parametric sets are exhibited in visual charts and numerical correlation matrices to determine the significance levels of the selected geometric variables on the analysis results. The outcome of the study is evaluated and discussed in the light of theoretical approaches in literature