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Investigating the readiness of students in primary teacher education program through verbal, model, and mathematical representations of number sets
No full textThe aim of this study is to determine the readiness of the first year students in Primary Teacher Education Department about the number sets. In line with this aim, students were asked to express counting numbers, natural numbers, whole numbers, rational numbers, irrational numbers, real numbers, and complex numbers with verbal, model, and mathematical representations. This study was designed as a survey study which is a descriptive model. A total of 61 students at Primary Teacher Education Program at Faculty of Education in a private university in the province of Ankara, Turkey participated in the study on a voluntary basis. Content analysis method was used to analyze the data. Results showed that Primary Teacher Education students have low level of readiness in the number sets. It was determined that participants had difficulty in expressing number sets with models; they tended to define natural numbers and counting numbers verbally and they defined irrational and real numbers associating them with other number sets. Moreover, it was ascertained that they used verbal, model, and mathematical expressions interchangeably when expressing the number sets. © Karadeniz Technical University. All rights reserved
Intestinal Failure and Aberrant Lipid Metabolism in Patients With DGAT1 Deficiency
No full textBACKGROUND & AIMS: Congenital diarrheal disorders are rare inherited intestinal disorders characterized by intractable, sometimes life-threatening, diarrhea and nutrient malabsorption; some have been associated with mutations in diacylglycerol-acyltransferase 1 (DGAT1), which catalyzes formation of triacylglycerol from diacylglycerol and acyl-CoA. We investigated the mechanisms by which DGAT1 deficiency contributes to intestinal failure using patient-derived organoids. METHODS: We collected blood samples from 10 patients, from 6 unrelated pedigrees, who presented with early-onset severe diarrhea and/or vomiting, hypoalbuminemia, and/or (fatal) protein-losing enteropathy with intestinal failure; we performed next-generation sequencing analysis of DNA from 8 patients. Organoids were generated from duodenal biopsies from 3 patients and 3 healthy individuals (controls). Caco-2 cells and patient-derived dermal fibroblasts were transfected or transduced with vectors that express full-length or mutant forms of DGAT1 or full-length DGAT2. We performed CRISPR/Cas9-guided disruption of DGAT1 in control intestinal organoids. Cells and organoids were analyzed by immunoblot, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry, chromatography, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, and for the activity of caspases 3 and 7. RESULTS: In the 10 patients, we identified 5 bi-allelic loss-of-function mutations in DGAT1. In patient-derived fibroblasts and organoids, the mutations reduced expression of DGAT1 protein and altered triacylglycerol metabolism, resulting in decreased lipid droplet formation after oleic acid addition. Expression of full-length DGAT2 in patient-derived fibroblasts restored formation of lipid droplets. Organoids derived from patients with DGAT1 mutations were more susceptible to lipid-induced cell death than control organoids. CONCLUSIONS: We identified a large cohort of patients with congenital diarrheal disorders with mutations in DGAT1 that reduced expression of its product; dermal fibroblasts and intestinal organoids derived from these patients had altered lipid metabolism and were susceptible to lipid-induced cell death. Expression of full-length wildtype DGAT1 or DGAT2 restored normal lipid metabolism in these cells. These findings indicate the importance of DGAT1 in fat metabolism and lipotoxicity in the intestinal epithelium. A fat-free diet might serve as the first line of therapy for patients with reduced DGAT1 expression. It is important to identify genetic variants associated with congenital diarrheal disorders for proper diagnosis and selection of treatment strategies
Evaluation of Treatment Response by Using a Handheld Dermoscope in Patients with Alopecia Areata
No full textObjective: Treatment response is variable in patients with alopecia areata, and may not be understood until significant hair growth is obtained. The aim of this study is to determine the potential benefit of handheld dermoscope in evaluating of treatment success in alopecia areata.
Methods: Forty-nine patients who were diagnosed with alopecia areata were included in the study. Diagnosis was established clinically, and scalp biopsy was performed in doubtful cases. Dermoscopic examinations were performed by a polarized light and handheld dermoscope with 10-fold magnification. The images were taken by a digital camera with threefold optical zoom. Among 49 patients, 30 of them were followed-up during six months and concluded the study.
Results: Of the 30 patients, 12 had a complete response to treatment (group 1), whereas 18 patients did not respond well to treatment or were remained completely responseless (group 2). When the trichoscopic findings were examined pretreatment, only thinning hairs were significantly more frequent in group 1 than group 2. The pre- and posttreatment findings of group 1 was shown that yellow dots, black dots, thinning hairs and broken hairs decreased or disappeared after the treatment, and this difference was statistically significant. In all of the patients in the first group, short terminal hairs were appeared at the end of treatment.
Conclusion: According to our study, polarized light handheld dermoscope provides benefit for the evaluation of treatment success in patients with alopecia areata
A New Generalized Deep Learning Framework Combining Sparse Autoencoder and Taguchi Method for Novel Data Classification and Processing
No full textDeep autoencoder neural networks have been widely used in several image classification and recognition problems, including hand-writing recognition, medical imaging, and face recognition. The overall performance of deep autoencoder neural networks mainly depends on the number of parameters used, structure of neural networks, and the compatibility of the transfer functions. However, an inappropriate structure design can cause a reduction in the performance of deep autoencoder neural networks. A novel framework, which primarily integrates the Taguchi Method to a deep autoencoder based system without considering to modify the overall structure of the network, is presented. Several experiments are performed using various data sets from different fields, i.e., network security and medicine. The results show that the proposed method is more robust than some of the well-known methods in the literature as most of the time our method performed better. Therefore, the results are quite encouraging and verified the overall performance of the proposed framework
Causes of low vision and blindness in a Turkish adult population: the Izmir eye study
No full textBackground: Data from Turkey show that sense organ diseases were the second leading cause of years lost due to disability in 2015. However, there are no reliable data on either the baseline causative disorders of visual impairment or the burden of these disorders on the population in Izmir region. Izmir is the third most populated city of Turkey with a population of approximately 4.2 million.
Aim: The purpose of this study was to define the baseline disorders causing low vision and blindness in accordance with World Health Organization criteria in an adult population in Izmir.
Methods: We evaluated the ophthalmologic reports of 20 790 people in Izmir, Turkey. Age- and sex-specific causes of low vision and blindness were identified.
Results: Bilateral low vision and blindness was detected in 347 people, 172 males and 175 females. For those aged 18-50 years, retinal dystrophies (37%), congenital eye anomalies (14%) and myopic degenerations (13%) were the most common causes. For those aged 50+years, age-related macular degeneration (21%) was the leading cause. Diabetic retinopathy (17%), corneal opacities (14%), cataract (12%) and glaucoma (9%) were also important. Sex was not a significant determinant.
Conclusion: The specific causes of visual impairment vary greatly with age, however, unavoidable retinal pathologies were the predominant causes at all ages
Lingual Treatment of an Adult Patient with a Simplified Extraction Protocol
No full textSuccessful orthodontic treatment of adult cases depends on the biological, mechanical, and esthetic requirements of patients. While customized lingual appliance systems meet the esthetic expectations of the patients, they provide improved patient comfort, have three-dimensional mechanical control, and can be used for the treatment of all types of malocclusions. This report demonstrated the use of fully customized lingual orthodontic brackets for treating an adult case with extraction
The influence of adjunctive caudal epidural steroid injection on the therapeutic effect of transforaminal epidural steroid injection
No full textBackground: Epidural steroid injection is widely used to treat the short and long-term symptoms of low back and radicular pain. To the best of our knowledge, the influence of transforaminal epidural steroid injection (TFSI) combined with caudal epidural steroid injection (CESI) on pain intensity, patient satisfaction, and quality of life in lumbar radiculopathy has not been examined.
Aim: To evaluate the short and long-term efficacy of TFSI, and TFSI combined with CESI (TFSI + CESI) in patients with lumbar radiculopathy.
Materials and Methods: We retrospectively examined the records of 104 patients with lumbar radicular pain and L4/5 and/or L5/S1 intervertebral disc disease who underwent TFSI or TFSI + CESI. We compared the pain intensity using a Visual Numeric Scale (VNS), North American Spine Society (NASS) pain satisfaction index, and EuroQol five dimensions (EQ-5D) quality of life scores before intervention, and after 1, 6 and 12 months.
Results: In the TFSI group, the mean pre-treatment VNS score was 9.2, which improved to 4.9 after 1 month and to 7.2 after 12 months. In the TFSI + CESI group, the mean pre-treatment VNS score was 9.4, which improved to 2.6 and 4.6 after 1 and 12 months, respectively. Improvement in the VNS scores was significantly higher in the TFSI + CESI group (P < 0.0001 for each). Mean EQ-5D quality of life index in the TFSI group improved from 0.59 in the pre-treatment phase to 0.76 after 12 months of intervention, while it improved from 0.62 in the pre-treatment phase to 0.84 at 12 months of intervention in the TFSI + CESI group. The EQ-5D scores were significantly better in the TFSI + CESI group at 1, 6, and 12 months after the procedure (P = 0.004, 0.036, and 0.042, for 1, 6, and 12 months, respectively). The NASS scores were significantly better in the TFSI + CESI group at 6 and 12 months after the intervention (P = 0.025 and 0.001 for 6 months and 12 months, respectively).
Conclusion: In patients with lower lumbar radiculopathy, a combined TFSI + CESI technique offers superior short and long-term pain relief, quality of life, and long-term patient satisfaction, than when TFSI is performed alone
Çok projeli kaynak kısıtlı proje çizelgeleme problemi: Bir yazılım firmasında uygulama çalışması
No full textProje yönetimi temel olarak projenin hedeflerine ulaşması için planlama ve çizelgeleme faaliyetlerinin birlikte ele alındığı faaliyetler bütünüdür. Proje çizelgeleme problemleri günümüzde proje temelli üretim yapan firmaların ortak problemi olup birtakım kısıtlar altında en kısa zamanda veya en az maliyetle projelerin tamamlanmasını amaçlayan çizelgeleme problemidir. Bu çalışmada proje bazlı çalışan ve aynı anda birden fazla projeyi eş zamanlı yürüten bir yazılım firmasındaki projelerin çizelgelenmesi için bir çözüm yolu önerilmiştir. Firmanın karşı karşıya kaldığı problemde öncüllük ilişkileri olan farklı faaliyetlere ve kısıtlı kaynaklara sahip birden çok projenin en kısa tamamlanma süresinin bulunması amaçlanmaktadır. Problemin çözümü için literatürde yer alan doğrusal karar modelleri araştırılmış ve ele alınan karar modeli optimizasyon programlama dili (OPL) yardımıyla kodlanmıştır. Karar modeli CPLEX çözücüsü ile çözdürülerek sonuçları incelenmiştir. Ayrıca firmanın proje çizelgeleme probleminin karar modeli ile çözümü kolaylaştırmak adına JAVA programlama dilinde bir yazılım geliştirilerek ara yüz tasarlanmıştır. Tasarlanan ara yüz sayesinde firma çalışanlarının önerilen yöntemi daha etkin kullanması sağlanmıştır. Sonuç bölümünde yapılan tez çalışması değerlendirilerek, ileride yapılabilecek çalışmalardan bahsedilmiştir.
Project management is basically a combination of planning and scheduling activities with the aim to meet project‟s targets. Nowadays project scheduling is a very common problem in project based production companies. The problem is aim to complete the projects with the shortest time or minimum cost under some constraints. In this thesis, a new method was proposed for generating a schedule for a software company which runs multiple projects simultaneously. The problem faced by the company is aimed at finding the smallest completion time of multi-projects which has different precedence and constrained resources in different activities. In order to solve the problem, the linear decision models were investigated and the chosen decision model was coded using Optimization Programming Language (OPL). The results of the decision model were investigated with the help of CPLEX Optimizer solver. In order to ease the use of the decision model and the solver, a user interface was added using JAVA programming language. As a result, the end users were able to use the proposed scheduling method more affectively. In the conclusion section, the current thesis was evaluated and the possible future studies were called out
EFFECTS OF LOWER GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT SURGERY ON SURVIVAL IN ELDERLY AND OCTOGENARIAN PATIENTS
No full textIntroduction: Life expectancy has significantly increased in the last decade. The decision to perform surgery has always been challenging in elderly patients. We aimed to evaluate outcomes in patients who underwent surgery for lower gastrointestinal tract diseases and investigate factors influencing morbidity and mortality, particularly in octogenarian patients, and the effects of age on prognosis and survival in the postoperative period.
Materials and Method: This study included patients aged >= 70 years who underwent lower gastrointestinal tract surgery; patients were divided into three groups as 70-75 years, 75-79 years, and >= 80 years. Age, gender, type of surgery, ASA score, length of hospital stay, morbidity, 30-day mortality, and overall survival were evaluated.
Results: The surgery was performed to 598 patients due to lower gastrointestinal tract diseases. There was a significant increase in the ASA score with increasing age (Chi-square=35.472; p<0.001). The survival rate was significantly higher in patients with malignancies than in those with benign diseases, and in patients who underwent elective surgery than in those who underwent emergency surgery (p<0.001). When patients were examined according to age groups, the overall survival was similar across groups (p=0.217).
Conclusion: There was no significant difference between octogenarian and younger patients for complications and survival. Thus, planned surgical interventions in elderly patients will not negatively affect survival and surgical interventions and can be safely performed in these patients
How effective are efficiency studies?: An evaluation in the context of cognitive behavioral therapies
No full textThe consensus view is that the main goal of a psychotherapy approach is to make changes in dysfunctional attitudes and behaviors. Therapeutic effectiveness, which is defined as "the establishment of causality between the intervention and the emergent changes in target behavior, symptom, or disorder," has been examined via studies of therapeutic effectiveness. In this review, we aimed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and/or effectiveness studies in terms of their methods, results, and approaches. In addition, we wanted to discuss debates and criticism about these studies in the context of Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy (CBT). In this context, the definition of therapeutic effectiveness has been given and then, the measuring methods have been discussed within the framework of effectiveness, efficacy, and meta-analysis studies. Differences in the point of views regarding the results of effectiveness studies have also been examined. The place of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy has been discussed in the context of mentioned topics. In the conclusion part, the numbers of questions that are thought to contribute to an effective interpretation for therapeutic effectiveness have been proposed. In this context, it is a fact that Cognitive and Behavioral Therapy, which is one of therapies most widely used, has been determined as effective on depression and anxiety disorder. The CBT's, prevalence, being a structured method, and studies about its impact on therapeutic change strengthens the evidence of its effectiveness. © 2018, Turkish Association of Nervous and Mental Health