Scopus İndeksli Açık & Kapalı Erişimli Yayınlar
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Item Comparison Of Clinical Characteristics Of Second And Third Peaks Of COVID-19 Pandemic: Effects Of Vaccination And Preventive Measures(2022) Ozdemir, Ozer; Arslan, Atakan; Bulbul, Hande M.; Ozdemir, PelinBACKGROUND: Understanding the differences in consequent peaks of COVID-19 may guide us for better predicting future disease characteristics. In this study, we aimed to compare clinical and radiological characteristics as well as out-comes of hospitalized patients with the diagnosis of COVID-19 in second and third peaks of disease.METHODS: We retrospectively included 303 hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The study population was examined in two groups: patients hospitalized between October 2020 and January 2021 during second peak and patients hospital-ized between March and June 2021 during third peak.RESULTS: There were 171 patients in group 1 and 132 patients in group 2. The patients in group 2 were younger (64 +/- 13.27 vs. 56.02 +/- 15.39, respectively; P<0.001) and female proportion was higher (64.9% and 48.5% males; P=0.005). Smoking history and presence of comorbidities were less in group 2 (41.5% vs. 25.7%, P=0.008; and 78.5% vs. 59.1%, P<0.001) and symptom duration was shorter (median 7 days vs. 6 days, P=0.039). CT severity scores, LDH, CRP, D-di-mer, Ferritin, and creatinine levels were lower in group 2 (P=0.003, P=0.008, P<0.001, P<0.001, P<0.001, respectively), and mortality ratio was lower (N.=39 [28%] vs. N.=15 [11.4%], P=0.01). Duration of hospital stay and need for intensive unit care were similar across groups (median 8 days vs. 7 days, P=0.673 and N.=39 [22.8%] vs. N.=33 [25.2%], P=0.683).CONCLUSIONS: Although duration of hospital stay was lower in third peak, clinical severity scores and prognostic markers were lower compared with second peak. These may reflect the increased proportion of immunized people, and the effect of preventive measures.Item Characteristics Of Our Hypoxemic COVID-19 Pneumonia Patients Receiving Corticosteroids And Mortality-Associated Factors(2022) Sengul, Aysun; Mutlu, Pinar; Ozdemir, Ozer; Satici, Celal; Turan, Muzaffer Onur; Arslan, Sertac; Ogang, Nalan; Unsal, Zuhal Ekici; Bozkus, Fulsen; Capraz, Aylin; Demirkol, Mustafa Asim; Mutlu, Levent Cern; Gulhanm, Pinar Yildiz; Alkilinc, Ersin; Fazlioglu, Nevin; Soyler, Yasemin; Kabalak, Pinar Akin; Kizilgoz, Derya; Turan, Pakize Ayse; Yildirim, Fatma; Aydemir, Yusuf; Sen, Nazan; Mirici, Arzu; 35839345Background COVID-19 is a disease associated with diffuse lung injury that has no proven effective treatment yet. It is thought that glucocorticoids may reduce inflammation-mediated lung injury, disease progression, and mortality. We aimed to evaluate our patient's characteristics and treatment outcomes who received corticosteroids for COVID-19 pneumonia. Methods We conducted a multicenter retrospective study and reviewed 517 patients admitted due to COVID-19 pneumonia who were hypoxemic and administered steroids regarding demographic, laboratory, and radiological characteristics, treatment response, and mortality-associated factors. Results Of our 517 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia who were hypoxemic and received corticosteroids, the mortality rate was 24.4% (n = 126). The evaluation of mortality-associated factors revealed that age, comorbidities, a CURB-65 score of >= 2, higher SOFA scores, presence of MAS, high doses of steroids, type of steroids, COVID-19 treatment, stay in the intensive care unit, high levels of d-dimer, CRP, ferritin, and troponin, and renal dysfunction were associated with mortality. Conclusion Due to high starting and average steroid doses are more associated with mortality, high-dose steroid administration should be avoided. We believe that knowing the factors associated with mortality in these cases is essential for close follow-up. The use of CURB-65 and SOFA scores can predict prognosis in COVID-19 pneumonia.Item Apparently We Cannot Live, We are like Infectious Zombies: A Qualitative Research on Personal and Familial Experiences of Health Workers in the Filiation Teams in Turkey during the COVID-19 Pandemic(2022) Karatas, Mustafa; Gure, Merve Deniz Pak; Duyan, Veli; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0998-2552; 35658819This study aims to examine the experiences of health workers in filiation teams in Turkey. The qualitative research model has been used. 375 health workers have participated using a non-probability sampling method. The data were collected over the internet using the questionnaire. The data have been analyzed with the MAXQDA and various code-sub codes-segment maps and code matrices have been used. The results expressed in two dimensions: instrumental and emotional areas. It has been observed that issues such as burnout, loss of motivation, and future anxiety have often been coded due to poor working conditions of the filiation teams, lack of rewards, and other factors. They have been determined as experiencing social stigma along with fear of infecting their families, and therefore have problems with child care, visiting adult family members in the risk group. It is recommended to develop psychosocial support services and improve organizational conditions.Item Thyroxin And Thyroid-Stimulating Hormone Changes In Patients With Covid-19(2022) Kayhan, Sanem; Kirnap, Nazli GulsoyObjective: Whether COVID-19 has any effect on thyroid function is still up for debate. The aim of this study was to assess thyroid function in COVID-19 patients. Materials and methods: Clinical signs, laboratory results, and computed tomography scans of the chest of patients followed up in our hospital due to COVID-19 infection, who did not have a known history of thyroid disease, were analyzed retrospectively. Prior to the initiation of treatment for COVID-19 infection, a total of 131 patients who underwent thyroid function tests and 70 healthy volunteers were included in the study as the control group. Serum free thyroxine (fT4) and thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) levels of COVID-19 and control groups were measured and compared. Results: When compared with the healthy control group, within the normal range, COVID-19 patients had a significantly lower TSH level and significantly higher fT4 level (p=0.001, p < 0.001, respectively). When each group was compared with the control group in terms of clinical severity, it was found that TSH levels were significantly lower in the critical case group (p < 0.001), and fT4 levels were significantly higher in all levels of clinical severity of COVID-19 (mild to critical) (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p=0.001, and p=0.006, respectively). Conclusion: Although TSH and fT4 levels were within the normal range in COVID-19 infection, they changed significantly. This suggests that the changes in thyroid function tests in COVID-19 did not have any clinical significance, but caution should be exercised for the transition to thyrotoxicosis in patients with borderline thyroid function tests.Item A Case of Transient Visual Field Defect following Administration of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine(2022) Sezenoz, Almila Sarigul; Gungor, Sirel Gur; Kibaroglu, Seda; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7030-5454; https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6178-8362; https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3964-268X; 35404749; AAJ-4860-2021; AAD-5967-2021; AAJ-2956-2021Purpose To report a case of transient visual field (VF) defect after coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) vaccination. Case Report A 38-year-old Caucasian, otherwise healthy female patient, presented with a complaint of vision loss in the outer quadrant in her left eye after the second dose of Pfizer (R)-BioNTech (TM) COVID-19 vaccine. The Snellen visual acuity was 20/20 in both eyes. She did not have relative afferent pupillary defect nor disturbance of color vision. Her intraocular pressures, slit lamp and fundus examinations were normal. In the VF test, a temporal hemifield defect in the left eye and a nasal peripheral VF defect in the right eye were detected. Other imaging characteristics and neurological examination were normal. She was followed without any treatment. One week later, the patient was re-evaluated and complete resolution of the VF defect was observed. Conclusion Clinicians should be aware that patients can experience transient visual symptoms following COVID-19 vaccination.Item Anxiety Levels and Changes in Health and Hygiene Behaviors in Mothers of Children with Asthma in Early COVID-19 Lockdown in Turkey(2022) Sancakli, Ozlem; Tuncel, Tuba; Eren Akarcan, Sanem; Kanik, Ali; Ozyurt, Gonca; Ozdogru, Emine Ece; 35290751Objective: The restrictions imposed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have caused significant changes in people's lives. This study aimed to investigate anxiety levels and changes in health and hygiene behaviors in mothers of children with asthma in early COVID-19 lockdown in Turkey.Materials and Methods: This study was a cross-sectional survey conducted on children with asthma, 6 to 11 years of age, between June 1 and 30, 2020, in Turkey. A sociodemographic data form, health and hygiene behavior form, childhood asthma control test, and state-trait anxiety inventory were administered to the mothers of the children.Results: The asthma group included 123 children (Female: 39.0%) and median age, interquartile range (IQR) [minimum-maximum]: 8.0 (6) [6-12] years; the control group included 88 children (Female: 47.7%) median age, IQR [minimum-maximum]: 8.0 (7) [5-12] years. Increased hygiene behaviors and high compliance with social isolation measures were recorded in the early lockdown, with no difference between the groups. Before the pandemic, the most frequently used cleaning products were general-purpose cleaners. During the early lockdown, however, the most frequently used product was disinfectants and was similar in both groups.In both groups, the rate of using nutritional supplements increased during the pandemic period, but the rate was higher in children with asthma both before and during the early lockdown (P < 0.001). The anxiety levels of the mothers in asthma and control groups were similar.Conclusion: This study is the first in Turkey demonstrating that, in mothers of children with asthma, lifestyle changes related to health and hygiene and anxiety levels are similar to those of other children and their mothers during the early lockdown period of COVID-19 pandemic.Item An experience in the COVID-19 pandemic period: Turkish Cardiovascular Surgery Online Board Exam 2020(2022) Sahin, Hatice; Ozgur, Alper; Paker, Tufan; Atay, Yuksel; 35444842Background: The aim of this study was to provide information about the results of the Turkish Cardiovascular Surgery Board written exam, which was held online due to the pandemic. Methods: This cross-sectional study included a total of 41 cardiovascular surgeons and residents (39 males, 2 females) in November 21st, 2020 between 10:00 A.M. and 12:00 P.M. After the online exam was completed, data on participant information and answers to exam questions were obtained from the information system. Results: Of all participants, 39% were working in university hospitals. A total of 82.9% of the participants were specialists. The total mean score of the participants was 60.3 +/- 10.2 and 53.7% of them were declared successful-passed. Aortic surgery (63%), heart failure surgery (50%), and mitral valve surgery (50%) were the most incorrectly answered questions. Conclusion: With the online exam, the Board gained different experiences regarding exam planning and implementation. The Turkish Cardiovascular Surgery Board did not give up the Board exam during the pandemic period and conducted a reliable written exam with many participants.Item Detecting COVID-19 from Respiratory Sound Recordings with Transformers(2022) Aytekin, Idil; Dalmaz, Onat; Ankishan, Haydar; Saritas, Emine U.; Bagci, Ulas; Cukur, Tolga; Celik, Haydar; Drukker, K; Iftekharuddin, KMAuscultation is an established technique in clinical assessment of symptoms for respiratory disorders. Auscultation is safe and inexpensive, but requires expertise to diagnose a disease using a stethoscope during hospital or office visits. However, some clinical scenarios require continuous monitoring and automated analysis of respiratory sounds to pre-screen and monitor diseases, such as the rapidly spreading COVID-19. Recent studies suggest that audio recordings of bodily sounds captured by mobile devices might carry features helpful to distinguish patients with COVID-19 from healthy controls. Here, we propose a novel deep learning technique to automatically detect COVID-19 patients based on brief audio recordings of their cough and breathing sounds. The proposed technique first extracts spectrogram features of respiratory recordings, and then classifies disease state via a hierarchical vision transformer architecture. Demonstrations are provided on a crowdsourced database of respiratory sounds from COVID-19 patients and healthy controls. The proposed transformer model is compared against alternative methods based on state-of-the-art convolutional and transformer architectures, as well as traditional machine-learning classifiers. Our results indicate that the proposed model achieves on par or superior performance to competing methods. In particular, the proposed technique can distinguish COVID-19 patients from healthy subjects with over 94% AUC.Item Determination Of Thermal Comfort Among Nurses Working With Personal Protective Equipment In COVID-19 Clinics(2022) Karahan, Azize; Isik, Sevcan Avci; Cevik, Banu; Erturk, Elif Budak; Aydin, Firuze Cevik; Kilicli", Arnel Boke; Akcin, Birgul; Acar, Aysel; Gulkan, Ayse Dudu; Bilir, Yesim Aybar; 36289017Aims This study aimed to determine thermal comfort among nurses working with personal protective equipment in COVID-19 clinic. Methods In this study, a descriptive design was carried out between June and September 2020. Sample of the study consisted of 246 nurses (77.6%) who worked in the COVID-19 clinics with personal protective equipment. We used a questionnaire to determine thermal comfort of nurses; a follow-up form to determine the factors affecting thermal comfort; and the ASHRAE Thermal Sensation Scale. Four measurements and follow-ups were made three times. Results More than half of nurses complained of ambient temperature and ventilation, one-third complained of humidity and nearly half complained of poor air quality. The mean thermal comfort score of nurses working in COVID-19 clinics was 1.19 (SD = 0.75). The thermal comfort of the nurses was negatively affected in all measurements except before wearing personal protective equipment. The highest scores were measured leaving the patient room and before removing personal protective equipment (M = 2.65, SD = 0.58). Conclusion The thermal comfort, work performance and stress levels of the nurses were negatively affected by working with personal protective equipment. This study reveals the necessity of improving the working conditions of nurses, including working hours, environment and personal protective equipment.Item Focusing on the big picture while observing the concerns of both managers and passengers in the post-covid era(2021) Samanci, Simge; Atalay, Kumru Didem; Isin, Feride BaharThis study reveals how to improve and define the issues of service quality in the airline sector after the outbreak of COVID-19, to what extent customer needs (important issues) and expectations (expected performances) will differ, and the priorities of airline sector managers in terms of resource allocation, costs, planned strategies, and operational efficiency and effectiveness. It offers a systematic and interactive perspective by simultaneously providing the perspective of both airline managers and passengers by using a new hybrid method, namely Fuzzy Importance, Expected Performance, and Priority Analysis (FIEPA) with VIKOR. This method allows the use of different perspectives of different managers in the analysis, which can be prioritized with different weights. According to the results of the study, in which 449 passengers participated on Twitter, the attributes on which airline managers should focus were determined, having three distinctive characteristics of being important for customers, having high priority according managers, and having low expected performance according customers. Twenty-two attributes related to the service quality of airlines during outbreak periods were classified into three main dimensions as "social distance and hygiene during flight", "information awareness and concern", and "infection alert procedure".