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Objective: Picture description tasks are used to elicit language samples in individuals with aphasia and other cognitive disorders. However, task selection may affect the type of language variables elicited. In this study, our goal is to compare the strengths and the weaknesses of the two internationally used picture description tasks with a novel picture description task developed specifically for Turkish-speaking individuals., Materials and Methods: In sum, 20 cognitively healthy individuals with a mean age of 52 ± 14/3 were included. Three different picture description tasks composed of single pictures were used: The Picnic Scene from the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised, the Cookie Theft picture from the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination and the Accident Scene from the Turkish Language Assessment Test for Aphasia. All language samples were recorded using a digital voice recorder. Automated and semi-automated approaches were used for the systematic analysis of the language features that were classified into four levels: general language measures, the morphosyntactic level, the lexicosemantic level and the sentence level., Results: Participants showed greater efficiency and produced the greatest number of subordinate clauses, derivational suffixes, passive voice suffixes and relative past tense construction during the Accident Scene description. On the lexicosemantic level, the Picnic Scene was particularly superior to the Cookie Theft Picture in eliciting nouns. Imperfective aspect use was less frequent in the Accident Scene description., Conclusion: All three tasks had limitations and advantages compared with each other. We recommend the development of novel picture description tasks that would be more effective in eliciting specific language features in Turkish-speaking individuals., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permission@oup.com.)

SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of COVID-19, which was officially declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020, is transmitted from person to person through respiratory droplets and close contact and can cause severe respiratory failure and pneumonia. Currently, while the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing and countries are taking strict precautions to protect populations against infection, the most effective precautions still seem to be social distancing and wearing a mask. The question of how effective masks were in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic has been widely discussed, both in public and scientific circles, and the protection of different mask types has been examined. This study aimed to examine the comfort conditions provided by the different mask types to the user during use. For this purpose, single-ply, double-ply, three-ply, cloth, FFP1, FFP2, and FFP3 masks with different standards were examined, with and without a valve. To conduct the experiments, the novel thermal head measurement system, developed within the scope of this study, was used specifically for mask comfort studies. Thanks to the developed measurement system, the thermal resistance and water vapor resistance values of different masks were measured, and their comfort conditions were evaluated. According to the findings, cloth masks provide a comfortable condition, with lower thermal resistance and water vapor resistance values than other masks. In addition, it was observed that surgical masks offer better thermal comfort conditions, although they have lower protection than FFP masks.

In the current study, a questionnaire to evaluate satisfaction levels and related factors upon discharge was completed by 100 patients receiving care for mental illness in a tertiary care hospital in Turkey. The relationships among sociodemographic variables, nonpharmacological interventions, and participants' views about the treatment course and quality of care they received were investigated. Overall satisfaction levels of participants were good. Older participants reported more positive opinions. Involuntary hospitalization, use of restraints/seclusion, or electroconvulsive therapy did not change overall satisfaction. Participants who were hospitalized for the first time were more afraid of other patients, which may imply that this population needs special care from the treatment team. Spending an adequate amount of time and providing necessary information about their treatment plan impact patients' treatment experience positively. [ Journal of Psychosocial Nursing and Mental Health Services, 59 (4), 38-47.].

Aim: To investigate a possible association between headache and psychoactive substance use., Methods: 1055 psychoactive substance abusers were consecutively admitted. All patients filled out a detailed headache questionnaire and 1015 patients were included., Results: Twenty seven percent of patients reported having headache. Eighteen percent of patients reported having headache attributed to a substance or its withdrawal and 1.4% had unclassified headache. The most commonly used substances were cannabis (80.5%), alcohol (74.6%), methylamphetamine (18.7%), benzodiazepine (10.4%), volatile solvent (5.8%), cocaine (4.4%), heroin (2.1%), opioids (0.5%), and other substances (1.7%). Fifteen patients reported that onset of headache occurred prior to onset of substance use, while 94.5% had headaches occurred after substance abuse. A higher incidence of headache was found in the benzodiazepine, methylamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, volatile solvent abusers. Seventy-eight percent of headache patients have never sought help from a physician despite the severity and frequency of headache., Conclusions: In our study, the prevalence of headache among all psychoactive substance abusers was 26.9%. Although this is one-group study without any comparison with non-addict population and associational data must be interpreted with caution, the results of this study indicate a possible relationship may exist between headache and substance use since 94.5% of substance users described headaches after the onset of substance use. The younger start and the longer duration of cannabis use caused the higher incidence of headache, but this correlation was not observed in other substance use. Migraine was far more prevalent in the abusers than in previously reported community populations., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Trimetazidine (TMZ) reduces intracellular acidosis and inhibits oxygen-derived free radicals and neutrophile infiltration in ischemia and hypoxia, which are the primary steps of adhesion formation. Our aim is to study the anti-adhesion potential of trimetazidine in a rat uterine horn model., Methods: Forty non-pregnant female Wistar-Albino rats were randomly assigned, with ten in each group, to receive 2 ml saline, or 5 mg/kg intraperitoneal trimetazidine postoperatively, and control and sham. TMZ was administered to TMZ postoperative group 5 mg/kg i.p. daily for 5 days after the operation. Both uterine horns were exposed, and then a 2 cm segment of the anti-mesenteric surface of both the uterine horns were traumatized in 10 spots with unipolar electrocautery for 2 s with a power of 50 Watts. All the animals were killed by lethal dose of ether on postoperative 14th day. Intraperitoneal adhesions were scored by clinical adhesion scoring system, and histological and morphometric analysis was performed., Results: Total adhesion score (TAS) of control group was 10 while the sham group was found to be 0. TAS of the placebo group that was given saline (TAS 5), and postoperative TMZ applied group (TAS 3.5) were significantly lower than the control group (p < 0.05). The severity scores of postoperative TMZ and sham groups were significantly smaller than the other groups (p < 0.05)., Conclusion: TMZ significantly reduced the extent and severity of horn adhesions. The promising efficacy demonstrated by the intraperitoneal TMZ in this model warrants further investigation in clinical trials focused on gynecological procedures.

Empty sella syndrome is an anatomical and clinical entity composed of intrasellar reposition of the CSF and compression of the pituitary tissue, resulting in a clinical picture of headache, visual field defect, CSF rhinorrhea and some mild endocrinological disturbances. While some cases are primary with no appreciable aetiology, secondary cases are associated with prior operation or radiotherapy of the region. In our series, 3 patients with primary empty sella syndrome were treated by the current approach of extradural filling of the sellar cavity. This technique was first described by Guiot and widely accepted thereafter. We used a detachable silicon balloon filled with HEMA or liquid silicone for obliteration of the sellar cavity and obtained clinically satisfactory results without complications. Visual symptoms regressed and headache disappeared. But at long term follow-up all the balloons were found to be deflated. Despite the facility and efficacy of the technique we do not recommend it in the treatment of the empty sella because the filling of the sella is only transient and relapses may occur.

Meckel-Gruber syndrome is a congenital disorder characterized by occipital encephalocele, polydactyly and polycystic kidneys. This rare syndrome has been reported in the literature as incompatible with life. We present the case of a newborn afflicted with the clinical triad of Meckel-Gruber syndrome. Appropriate treatment instituted in our case led to a good early outcome.

Cold Vapour Atomic Absorption Spectrometry (CVAAS) and Gas-Liquid Chromatography (GLC) have been used for determination and speciation of mercury. Total mercury, methylmercury, ethylmercury and phenylmercury concentrations in urine samples taken from students and staff of a dental work-place were investigated. Air samples were also analyzed. Detection limits, as three times the standard deviation, and in units of ng analyte per ml urine were found to be 1.7, 12, 2.4 and 21 for total mercury, methylmercury chloride, ethylmercury chloride and phenylmercury chloride, respectively.