Aim: Depression is a multi-factorial disease characterized by a variety of symptoms. Individuals with psychiatric disorders are seem to be more prone to periodontitis. However, depression and periodontal disease can be considered bidirectional risk factors. Periodontal diseases can also be an effect on depression. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of non-surgical mechanical periodontal treatment on psychological state. Materials and Methods: Two randomized groups were established from depressed patients with non-treated periodontal diseases. Test (n = 92) and control group (n = 92). Clinical periodontal and psychological measures were administered at baseline and at 6 weeks in the control and test group. Periodontal treatment was applied to the test group. Results: After 6 weeks (the end of the periodontal therapy) there was a significant decrement in the results of Beck Depression Inventory (pa = 0.038) and a significant increment in Body Cathexis Scale (pa < 0.001) results in the test group. However, the results of Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (pa = 0.820) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (pa = 0.071) is similar between test and control groups. Conclusion: Within the limits of present study, the results suggest that periodontal treatment might be useful to improve depressive patients’ psychological conditions.
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OBJECTIVE: Obesity is considered a major risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). This study aimed to examine the correlation between anthropometric measurements, which have been recently defined and are indicative of abdominal obesity and cardiometabolic diseases, OSAS severity, and polysomnography (PSG) parameters in patients with OSAS.MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective cohort study included patients who underwent all-night polysomnography with a prediagnosis of OSAS. These patients were categorized as having mild (5-15), moderate (15-30), and severe (>30) OSAS according to the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI). The anthropometric measurements used in the study consisted of waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), (waist/hip)-to-height ratio (WHHR), a body shape index (ABSI), body adiposity index (BAI), abdominal volume index (AVI), and conicity index (CI).RESULTS: A total of 410 individuals were enrolled in the study (31 control subjects and 129 with mild, 101 with moderate, and 149 with severe OSAS). A significant difference was observed between groups in terms of all anthropometric measurements (p<0.05). The difference between the groups was significant in terms of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease (p<0.05). There was a significant correlation between each of the anthropometric measurements and the PSG parameters. In the receiver operating characteristic analysis, cutoff values that predicted severe OSAS were ABSI>0.08, BAI>28.29, AVI>25.54, and CI>1.37. Multiple regression analyses demonstrated that age, sex, and AVI were independent predictors that determine OSAS presence.CONCLUSION: Anthropometric parameters that are indicators of abdominal obesity were found to be robustly correlated with cardiometabolic diseases and the severity of OSAS.
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Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the Vickers hardness numbers
(VHNs) of two bulk-fill resin-based composites (BFRBC) and a conventional
hybrid resin-based composite (RBC) through the layers of a 5mm thickness
model with two different light-curing time intervals.
Methodology: In the present study, a sonic-activated and dual-cure
BFRBC, and a conventional hybrid RBC were used. Semi-cylindrical
specimens 4 mm in radius and 5 mm in height were prepared using a twopiece stainless-steel mold (n=10). The BFRBCs allowed a single 5mm
increment to be introduced into the molds, whereas hybrid RBC was
incremented (2+2+1 mm). Two different time intervals were applied for
the light-curing (irradiance of 1200 mW/cm2) of each material (hybridsonic-activated bulk-fill, 20 s and 40 s; dual-cure bulk-fill, 7 s and 15 s).
VHN measurements were carried out from top to bottom at every 1 mm of
the specimen thickness. Data were analyzed using three-way and two-way
ANOVA for the VHN and bottom/top ratios and Bonferroni correction for
multiple comparisons (p=0.05).
Results: For each layer and time interval groups, there was a significant
difference between the materials. The highest VHN was found within
hybrid groups, whereas dual-cure bulk-fill groups showed the lowest
results. Sonic-activated bulk-fill had the lowest bottom/top ratios, which
were significantly different from those of the other materials. There was
no significant difference between the different time intervals for
bottom/top ratios within each material.
Conclusion: Increased irradiation intervals positively affected the VHN
of hybrid and dual-cure bulk-fill. BFRBCs showed clinically acceptable
bottom/top hardness ratios.
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Objective: The study was designed to evaluate the reliability of the peer assessment in the objectively structured clinical examination (OSCE) for the summative assessment of 4th grade students at the end of general surgery clerkship. Method: The study was planned prospectively with the permission of the Dean of Medicine Faculty and approval of the ethics committee. The 6th grade students who were in the surgery rotation participated in the study as peer assessors (PA). Both peers and department of general surgery assessed the students. Pass/fail point was accepted as 60. The scores of OSCE and performance evaluation given by peers and faculty were compared statistically.Results: Twenty-three students completed general surgery clerkship. Ten students (43.5%) were female. According to performance scores given by the faculty, 15 (65.2%) of the 23 students were successful, while all students were considered successful (having a grade of 60 or more) based on the scores of peer evaluation. There was a significant difference between the faculty members and PA with regard to the performance evaluation (p=0.008). The faculty members found five students (27.8%) successful in the OSCE (having a grade of 60 or more). However, ten students (43.5%) received a score of at least six from peer evaluation. Although there was a difference, it was not significant (p=0.063). Gender did not affect scoring in performance evaluation and OSCE application.Conclusion: Although there was a difference between faculty members and peer evaluators in the performance evaluation, no difference was observed in OSCE. In conclusion, OSCE assessment by peer evaluators is reliable.
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We aimed to investigate the relationship between the preoperative neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and the postoperative tumor stage and grade in patients with organ- confined urothelial bladder cancer. We examined 308 patients who underwent transurethral resection in our clinic. Our study only included patients whose pathology results were organ-confined urothelial bladder cancer. The patients were classified according to tumor stage (Ta, T1, and T2) and tumor grade (Grade 1 and 2, indicating a low-grade; Grade 3, referring to a high-grade). Then each group was compared within itself based on the NLR evaluated before the surgery. A total of 279 cases (90.6%) were male. The mean age, tumor size, neutrophil and lymphocyte counts of the patients were 69.33±10.92 years, 2.99±2.35 cm, 5.36±1.99 K/uL, and 2.23±0.78 K/uL, respectively. Inflammation parameters regarding the cancer stage were as follows: NLR was 2.08, 2.36, and 3.07, for Ta, T1, and T2 tumors respectively. The relationship between T1 and T2 tumors and Ta and T2 tumors was significant (p <0.001, p <0.001). But there was no significant difference between the Ta and T1 tumors (p: 0.142). NLR was 2.07 and 2.78 for low- and high-grade tumors, respectively. These values were statistically significant (p <0.001). We could not statistically correlate between Ta and T1 tumors. However, based on the other positive correlations we have obtained, we think that NLR evaluated before transurethral resection may be a valuable parameter in predicting the operative pathology result.
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Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the demographic, clinical and serological characteristics of patients with Sjögren’s syndrome (SS).Materials and Methods: Forty-nine patients with SS admitted to our outpatient clinic between January 2015 and April 2019 were included in this study. Patients were evaluated retrospectively in terms of age, gender and primary/secondary SS state; concomitant diseases with secondary SS, the presence of other related chronic diseases, minor salivary gland biopsy and autoantibody evaluation results were recorded.Results: The mean age of the 49 patients (46 females, 3 males) included in the study was 48.39±11.45 years (minimum: 18, maximum: 81). Female/male ratio was 15.3/1. Thirty-four (69.4%) of the patients had primary SS, while 15 (30.6%) patients were diagnosed as secondary SS. The most common symptom at the time of diagnosis was dry eye (98%) and dry mouth (92%). Antinuclear antibody positivity was found to be 40.8% and rheumatoid factor positivity as 28.6%. Anti-SS-A and anti-SS-B was positive in 46.9% and 26.5% of the patients, respectively.Conclusion: SS is characterised by heterogeneity of clinical manifestations, serological markers and symptoms. The symptom severity and variety of the patients are also affected by the other concomitant rheumatic diseases.
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Aim: Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) has become an important assessment method in medicine which is more reliable than traditional exams. Faculty members make an opinion about the students during their clerkship. We aimed to investigate whether their judgments affect the scoring in the OSCE application.Material and Methods: The study was planned prospectively. 4th-year students participating in the OSCE was identified as the working group. At the end of the clerkship, the faculty members gave a performance assessment (PA) score including the professional attitude of the students. PA and OSCE scores were compared. Two other faculty members participated all OSCE stations as external evaluators.Results: There was a difference between OSCE and PA scores. Fewer students were successful at OSCE than PA (p=0.002). While the mean PA scores of three of the five faculty members were statistically similar, other two were different. The scores given by the responsible faculty members and the external evaluators from the faculty of internal medicine were similar (p>0.05). The evaluators from the surgical faculty gave lower scores statistically different from both groups (p<0.05). There was a strong relationship between the scores given by the faculty members responsible for the OSCE application and the faculty members from the surgical faculty (r=0.936; p<0.001) and those from the internal medicine faculty (r=0.947; p<0.001).Conclusion: PA scores of the faculty members did not affect the OSCE scores which were supported by the external observers. The OSCE assessment was not influenced by the PA, and was found to be reliable.
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Aim: Intervertebral disc degeneration (IVDD) is caused byseveral genetic and environmental factors. Aggrecan is themajor component of intervertebral disk matrix proteoglycanwith multiple functional domains. The aim of this study wasto investigate the possible association between ACAN (codingaggrecan) gene variable number tandem repeat (VNTR)polymorphism and susceptibility to IVDD.Methods: Two hundred and sixty subjects participated in thisstudy. The disease group comprised 150 patients diagnosed withsymptomatic IVDD. The control group consisted of 110 healthysubjects. The ACAN gene VNTR region was analyzed using thepolymerase chain reaction (PCR) method.Results: The most common allele in the patient and the controlgroup was 27 repeat allele (49% and 34.55%, respectively).Allele 26 was more frequent in males compared to females(p=0.030). Allele 21 and 23 were more common in ones livingin rural areas (p=0.030) while allele 27 was the most frequent inones living in urban areas (p<0.001). Allele 26, allele 29 and allele30 were less frequent in the patient group than in the controlgroup (p=0.013, p=0.001 and p=0.001, respectively) while allele27 was more common in the patient group compared to thecontrol group (p=0.001).Conclusion: Our results showed that ACAN VNTR allele 27had a positive relationship with IVDD susceptibility in a Turkishpopulation.
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Objectives: This study aims to compare the effectiveness of dry needling (DN) and kinesiotaping (KT) therapies on pain, quality of life, depression, and physical function in the treatment of myofascial pain syndrome (MPS).Patients and methods: The study included a total of 60 patients (4 males, 56 females; mean age 31.2±9.8 years; range, 18 to 56 years) diagnosed with MPS between January 2014 and June 2014. The patients were randomly divided into two treatment groups: the DN group (n=30) and KT group (n=30). Both groups performed stretching and postural exercises. The scales used for measurements were the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for pain, a pressure algometer for the pressure-pain threshold, the Short Form-36 (SF-36) for the quality of life, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) for depression, and the Neck Pain and Disability Scale (NPDS) for physical function. The patients were evaluated by a single assessor three times: pre-treatment, at the end of the treatment, and two months after the treatment.Results: Both DN and KT provided significant improvements for all baseline measurements (VAS, pressure pain threshold, all subscales of SF-36, BDI, and NPDS scores) at the end of the treatment and two months after the treatment (p<0.05). However, there was no significant difference between the groups in all measurements (p>0.05).Conclusion: Kinesiotaping is as an effective method as DN in the treatment of MPS. It can be served as a non-invasive alternative to patients with needle phobia.
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Background and Design: The most important avoidable risk factor for skin cancer is ultraviolet light exposure. The aim of this study is toevaluate the frequency and the effect of counseling on sun protection behaviors and early detection of skin cancer.Materials and Methods: Five hundred individuals aged 45-75 years participated in this cross-sectional survey between February 6th and March07th of 2019. Participants were directed to filled out a questionnaire to understand their sun protection behaviors and learn whether theyreceive counseling on sun protection and early detection of skin cancer.Results: Out of the 500 subjects, 283 (56.6%) were female and 217 (43.4%) were male. The mean age was 56.65±9.24 years (45-75 years).Two hundred and thirty-four (46.8%) respondents reported having skin-cancer risk factors. The rates of counseling on sun protection andbehavior of sun protection were 16% and 39.4%, respectively. Sun protection counseling was significantly associated with self-reported skincancerrisk factors and being a female (p<0.001; p=0.048, respectively). The rate of counseling on early detection of skin cancer was low (skinselfexamination: 12%; moles monitoring: 11.8%; annual checkup: 13.2%). The counseling on sun protection and early detection of skin cancerwere significantly associated with behaviors of sun protection and early detection of skin cancer (p<0.001; p<0.001, respectively). The olderage had a negative effect on the counseling and behaviors (p=0.047; p=0.005, respectively), however, high level of education had a positiveeffect (p=0.024; p<0.001).Conclusion: Counseling by healthcare professionals on primary and secondary preventions for the middle-aged and older people seems to beinsufficient. Further studies on this issue may be beneficial on prevention and early detection of skin cancer.
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