Search

Objective:This study compared the pain associated with the intratympanic injection combined with various local anaesthetics vs without anaesthesia.Methods:The study included 40 patients (aged 18–78 years) who received intratympanic steroid injections for sudden idiopathic hearing loss or tinnitus. Each patient underwent all three injection methods at one-week intervals. Patients received one of two local anaesthetics (lidocaine injection or lidocaine spray) or no anaesthesia before intratympanic injection, and used a visual analogue scale to indicate the pain level after 5 and 45 minutes.Results:Five minutes after injection, patients who did not receive anaesthesia and those who received lidocaine spray reported lower pain scores than those who received a lidocaine injection (p < 0.05). There was no difference in pain scores for all three methods at 45 minutes after intratympanic injection.Conclusion:Neither of the local anaesthetics was found to be superior to having no anaesthesia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective Sleep hygiene can be described as practices to ease sleep and to avoid factors which decrease sleep quality. Inadequate sleep hygiene generally results in disturbance of daily life activities due to inability to sustain sleep quality and daytime wakefulness. The aim of the study was to assess psychometric properties of the Sleep Hygiene Index in clinical and non-clinical Turkish samples. Methods Data were collected from 106 patients with major depression and 200 were volunteers recruited from community sample who were enrolled at the university. The Sleep Hygiene Index (SHI), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) were administered to the subjects. All depression patients and thirty-two healthy volunteers underwent a twenty-day test-retest procedure. Factor structure of the SHI was evaluated with explanatory and multi-sample confirmatory factor analyses. Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients of the SHI with the PSQI, ISI and ESS were performed. Item analyses, internal consistency coefficients and intra-class correlations between two repeated applications in both patient and healthy subjects were calculated. Results Cronbach's alphas for the SHI in community sample and patients with major depression were 0.70 and 0.71, respectively. Scale scores had comparatively good temporal stability over a three-week time for either clinical or non-clinical samples. SHI had good internal reliability. Conclusion The findings of this present study suggest that the SHI may be a useful research or clinical assessment tool for evaluating sleep hygiene to guide case formulation, treatment planning in depression as well as nonclinical population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To investigate the effectiveness of eTansiyon smartphone application in blood pressure control in patients with hypertension., Background: Global prevalence of hypertension and the burden of chronic illness care, especially in primary care, are increasing in world. We have developed eTansiyon to ensure the continuity of patient-physician relationship, so it may help to improve the lifestyle of patients with hypertension, increase their adherence to treatment and achieve the target blood pressure., Methods: This study was a non-randomized controlled study. The sample was selected by random sampling method among the patients registered in 6 Family Health Units (FHUs). Randomization was performed at the FHU level; the units were randomized to 4 control group (CG) and 2 intervention group (IG), so that randomization in this study was 2:1. Both groups were followed up for at least four months. In addition to CG, IG were provided to use eTansiyon . Obtained data were analysed to evaluate differences between groups at the beginning and end of the study, intra-group changes after follow-up and interaction between groups and follow-up period., Findings: The study was performed with 124 patients in CG and 61 patients in IG. At the end of the study, the average systolic blood pressure/diastolic blood pressure (SBP/DBP) of office and home was significantly lower in IG compared to CG ( P < 0.001, MD 9.5 mmHg; P = 0.007, MD 3.8 mmHg; P < 0.001, MD 10.6 mmHg; P < 0.001, MD 4.8 mmHg, respectively), and it was found that the proportion of people with target blood pressure in IG was significantly higher than CG ( P < 0.001, 49.2%( n = 30) and 22.6%( n = 28), respectively). Repeated measures ANOVA and generalized estimating equations results showed that follow-up period and interaction between groups were significant in terms of office and home SBP/DBP and target blood pressure level during follow-up period ( P < 0.001, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, P < 0.001, P < 0.024, respectively).

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine whether coordination of prehospital emergency health services and Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (DEMP) and being prepared for disasters, such as building collapses, allow quick evaluation and fast intervention., Methods: The information flow, hierarchy, treatment, and rehabilitation processes, and rescue organization and planning during the rescue attempt for 35 people who needed help due to this building collapse were reviewed., Results: Of the 43 people who lived in this 8-story building, 35 were inside the building during the collapse; 40% of them were assessed as injured and 60% as exitus. Almost two-thirds (64.3%) of the injured individuals who were rescued were women. The mean duration until rescue was 330 (57.0-512.0) min., Conclusions: Leading and important factors that can increase the success rate in search and rescue interventions are informing official authorities as first early warning by individuals who can clearly define the situation, early security measures by security forces arriving before the health and search-rescue teams, accurate identification of estimated numbers of injured victims, and identifying and informing appropriate hospitals which victims rescued from the debris will be transferred to there.

Objective: Health-care workers (HCWs) are often seen as the most reliable source of vaccine-related information for their patients; nevertheless, various studies show that HCWs experience vaccine hesitation. In this study, the aim was to determine the reasons for vaccine hesitation among HCWs working in a large public hospital and its affiliated units in Istanbul., Methods: A descriptive method for collecting qualitative data was designed for this study. The data of the HCWs were analyzed in line with the vaccine hesitancy factors put forward by the World Health Organization (WHO)., Results: The most important vaccine hesitancy theme that emerged was the fear and lack of confidence in the vaccines, which was expressed at a higher rate than any other theme in all HCWs. The most cited reason for fear/lack of confidence in the vaccine was the fear of its side effects. It was observed that the HCWs who reported hesitation about vaccination due to pregnancy and breastfeeding consisted of women. The second most common theme for vaccine hesitation was reported as an inconvenience in accessing the vaccines . Although HCWs have priority, they stated that their reason for vaccine hesitancy was due to heavy personal issues or workloads. The final theme was about complacency , or thinking they do not need the vaccine., Conclusions: Vaccine hesitation is a challenge that can be overcome with detailed monitoring and policy-making. Although the vaccine seems to be more significant, we do not want to see vaccine hesitancy grow more than the vaccine itself.

Objective: The aim of this study is to report on the short-term and mid-term outcomes of preterm infants who underwent patent ductus arteriosus ligation through anterior mini-thoracotomy., Methods: Data for 103 preterm infants who underwent patent ductus arteriosus clipping through an anterior mini-thoracotomy at the 2nd intercostal space between 2009 and 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were divided into two groups according to their weight at the time of surgery. The complications, morbidity, and mortality rates of each group were compared at postoperative day 30 and at the end of 1 year after surgery., Results: During the operation, the median weight of the patients was 900 g (IQR 800-1125 g), the median age was 21 days (IQR 14.5-29 days). The lowest body weight was 460 g. In three patients (3%), there was intraoperative bleeding from the patent ductus arteriosus that required transition to median sternotomy. In one patient (1%) a residual patent ductus arteriosus that required reoperation was observed. Twelve patients (12%) died in the first 30 days postoperatively. Six patients (6%) died between the postoperative day 30 and 1 year. There was no statistically significant difference in the rates of mortality, morbidity, and complication between the groups., Conclusions: Based on our observations of over a hundred preterm infants with patent ductus arteriosus over a decade, ligation through anterior mini-thoracotomy is the main surgical procedure of choice for this patient group in our clinic. Our findings demonstrate the safety of this approach and we believe that it can be successfully replicated in other institutions.