Search

Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI), a common disease that can have serious consequences, occurs when myocardial blood flow stops due to occlusion of the coronary artery. Early and accurate prediction of AMI is critical for rapid prognosis and improved patient outcomes. Metabolomics, the study of small molecules within biological systems, is an effective tool used to discover biomarkers associated with many diseases. This study intended to construct a predictive model for AMI utilizing metabolomics data and an explainable machine learning approach called Explainable Boosting Machines (EBM). The EBM model was trained on a dataset of 102 prognostic metabolites gathered from 99 individuals, including 34 healthy controls and 65 AMI patients. After a comprehensive data preprocessing, 21 metabolites were determined as the candidate predictors to predict AMI. The EBM model displayed satisfactory performance in predicting AMI, with various classification performance metrics. The model's predictions were based on the combined effects of individual metabolites and their interactions. In this context, the results obtained in two different EBM modeling, including both only individual metabolite features and their interaction effects, were discussed. The most important predictors included creatinine, nicotinamide, and isocitrate. These metabolites are involved in different biological activities, such as energy metabolism, DNA repair, and cellular signaling. The results demonstrate the potential of the combination of metabolomics and the EBM model in constructing reliable and interpretable prediction outputs for AMI. The discussed metabolite biomarkers may assist in early diagnosis, risk assessment, and personalized treatment methods for AMI patients. This study successfully developed a pipeline incorporating extensive data preprocessing and the EBM model to identify potential metabolite biomarkers for predicting AMI. The EBM model, with its ability to incorporate interaction terms, demonstrated satisfactory classification performance and revealed significant metabolite interactions that could be valuable in assessing AMI risk. However, the results obtained from this study should be validated with studies to be carried out in larger and well-defined samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Doxorubicin (DOX) is a type of chemotherapy drug frequently used to treat different malignancies. However, one of the most serious adverse effects of DOX usage is the potential of cardiotoxicity. Cardioprotective medications may be used to reduce cardiac damage because of DOX therapy. Glycyrrhizin (GL) is found in high amounts in the roots of the 'Licorice' plant from the Glycyrrhiza species. Due to its possible effects on blood pressure (BP) and cardiovascular health, GL has attracted attention concerning the heart. Oxidative stress and inflammatory process have been shown to be responsible for DOX-induced cardiotoxicity (DIC). For this reason, in consequence of its possible pharmacological benefits, such as antiinflammatory and antioxidant GL has been researched in this study. Here in, we aimed to investigate the protective effects of GL on DIC. Materials and Methods: In this study, thirty-two male Wistar albino adult male rats were used. Four groups of rats were assigned at randomly: Control, DOX, GL+DOX, and GL groups. DOX was given 20 mg/kg intraperitoneally (i.p.) and 100 mg/kg GL was administered orally (p.o.) once a day for 14 days. Electrocardiography (ECG) and BP records of the rats were obtained. In addition, malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione (GSH) levels in the tissue were measured. Histopathological analyses were performed on the myocardium and descending aorta. Results: In the DOX group, mean and diastolic BP were higher than in the control group (p<0.05). In the GL+DOX group, diastolic BP was lower than in the DOX group (p<0.05). Pathological ECG changes such as ST segment changes and T negativity were observed in DOX-treated groups. MDA, SOD, CAT, and GSH levels studied in heart tissue were similar in all groups (p>0.05). GSH level in descending aorta was significantly lower in the GL+DOX group compared to the other groups (p<0.05). In the DOX group, degenerated cardiomyocyte density, interstitial edema, and severity of congestion-hemorrhage were statistically significantly increased compared to the control group (p<0.05). On the other hand, degenerated cardiomyocyte density was found to be significantly decreased in the GL+DOX group compared to the DOX group (p<0.05). In the DOX group, thinning of elastic lamellae and loss of myofibrils in muscle cells were observed in the descending aorta. Therefore, the histopathological alterations identified in the DOX group exhibited a significant statistical improvement in the GL+DOX group (p<0.05). Conclusion: Based on the study's findings, GL can regulate high BP caused by DOX and also alleviate the toxic effects of DOX on both the myocardium and descending aorta. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Atrial fibrillation (AF), a condition that might occur after a heart bypass procedure, has caused differing estimates of its occurrence and risk. The current study analyses the possible risk factors of post-coronary artery bypass grafting (post-CABG) AF (postoperative AF [POAF]) and presents a software for preoperative POAF risk prediction. Methods This retrospective research was performed on 1,667 patients who underwent CABG surgery using the hospital database. The associations between the variables of the patients and AF risk factors after CABG were examined using multivariable logistic regression (LR) after preprocessing the relevant data. The tool was designed to predict POAF risk using Shiny, an R package, to develop a web-based software. Results The overall proportion of post-CABG AF was 12.2%. According to the results of univariate tests, in terms of age (p < 0.001), blood urea nitrogen (p = 0.005), platelet (p < 0.001), triglyceride (p = 0.0026), presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; p = 0.01), and presence of preoperative carotid artery stenosis (PCAS; p < 0.001), there were statistically significant differences between the POAF and non-POAF groups. Multivariable LR analysis disclosed the independent risk factors associated with POAF: PCAS (odds ratio [OR] = 2.360; p = 0.028), COPD (OR = 2.243; p = 0.015), body mass index (OR = 1.090; p = 0.006), age (OR = 1.054, p < 0.001), and platelet (OR = 0.994, p < 0.001). Conclusion The experimental findings from the current research demonstrate that the suggested tool (POAFRiskScore v.1.0) can help clinicians predict POAF risk development in the preoperative period after validated on large sample(s) that can represent the related population(s). Simultaneously, since the updated versions of the proposed tool will be released periodically based on the increases in data dimensions with continuously added new samples and related factors, more robust predictions may be obtained in the subsequent stages of the current study in statistical and clinical terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Journal of Trauma & Emergency Surgery / Ulusal Travma ve Acil Cerrahi Dergisi is the property of KARE Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Aim: The first imaging method to play an vital role in the diagnosis of COVID-19 illness is the chest X-ray. Because of the abundance of large-scale annotated picture datasets, convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have shown considerable performance in image recognition/classification. The current study aims to construct a successful deep learning model that can distinguish COVID-19 from healthy controls using chest X-ray images. Material and Methods: The dataset in the study consists of subjects with 912 negative and 912 positive PCR results. A prediction model was built using VGG-16 with transfer learning for classifying COVID-19 chest X-ray images. The data set was split at random into 80% training and 20% testing groups. Results: The accuracy, F1 score, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative values from the model that can successfully distinguish COVID-19 from healthy controls are 97.3%, 97.3%, 97.8%, 96.7%, 96.7%, and 97.8% regarding the testing dataset, respectively. Conclusion: The suggested technique might greatly improve on current radiology-based methodologies and serve as a beneficial tool for clinicians/radiologists in diagnosing and following up on COVID-19 patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The main purpose of this research is to develop a novel user-friendly web tool based on machine learning approaches, which applies a variety of techniques to address the class imbalance problem. Material and Methods: Shiny, an opensource R package, was used to develop the proposed web tool. The interactive tool can handle the class imbalance problem for binary classification dataset(s) by implementing sampling-based methods. As a clinical application, the dataset retrospectively obtained from the database of the Cardiovascular Surgery Department of Turgut Özal Medical Center, İnönü University, Malatya, Türkiye was used in this web-based software. To overcome the class imbalance problem, sampling-based methods were implemented on the original dataset. After this process, the classification of hypertension in patients with coronary artery disease was achieved by three classification models. Results: According to the outputs of the developed web application, the best classification performance was obtained by the support vector machines with radial basis function kernel (SVM-RBF) model after applying the density-based synthetic minority over-sampling technique oversampling method. The accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, precision, f-measure, and g-mean metrics of the relevant model were calculated as 0.99, 0.99, 0.99, 0.95, 0.97, and 0.97, respectively. Conclusion: The oversampling methods used in this research indicated a more positive contribution to the classification performance of the models as compared to the undersampling methods. When the undersampling methods were applied, the three classification models did not demonstrate successful classification performance, whereas the SVM-RBF model outperformed the other two models when the oversampling methods were implemented. The designed interactive web application is freely accessible through http://biostatapps.inonu.edu.tr/twoclsbalancer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Medical Records is the property of Medical Records and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Turkish Journal of Trauma & Emergency Surgery / Ulusal Travma ve Acil Cerrahi Dergisi is the property of KARE Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

OBJECTIVE: In our study, the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in Malatya province, other than confirmed case deaths, were investigated. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The records of those who died between 2016 and 2020 were reviewed on the official website of the Malatya Metropolitan Municipality, and the numbers of deaths in those 5 years were recorded on a weekly basis. The arithmetic mean of the deaths between 2016 and 2019 was calculated, and it was investigated whether the number of deaths in 2020 was more than expected. RESULTS: In 2020, 1743 (61%) excess deaths were detected. While the mean number of deaths reported 4 years before 2020 was 2860, it was determined that the number of deaths in 2020 was 4603, and there were 1743 (61%) excess deaths. CONCLUSION: The deaths occurred in Malatya during the COVID-19 pandemic were more than expected. It has been supposed that some deaths were of polymerase chain reaction negative and hence unrecorded COVID-19 patients' deaths, and some deaths were caused by other indirect effects of the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study aims to develop web-based and user-friendly DTROC software in which clinicians and researchers can perform two- and three-dimensional receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses and calculate diagnostic test performance metrics. Materials and Methods: An illustrative example was presented to implement two- and three-dimensional ROC analyses in medicine. As a case study, three-dimensional ROC analysis in DTROC was applied to the ktemp variable (measurements on the neuropsychometric test for "temporal factor") in the open-access data set named "AL" (Alzheimer's disease neuropsychometric marker dataset). DTROC web-based software was developed using "plotly", "pROC", "dplyr", "shiny", "shinydashboard", "rhandsontable", "shinyBS", "DT", "epiR", "DiagTest3Grp", and "the "shiny" libraries. Results: The developed web-based DTROC software allows clinicians and researchers to analyze two and three-dimensional ROC analyzes, ROC curve comparisons, optimum cut-off calculations, required sample size estimation for diagnosis, and calculate metrics for two/more than two-class diagnostic tests without any programming language knowledge or theoretical background about the analyzes mentioned above. When the results for the ktemp variable in the AL data set used in practice were examined, the volume under the surface was found to be 0.77. According to the application results in DTROC Three-dimensional ROC analysis, it can be said that the ktemp variable has a distinguishing feature in detecting AL. Conclusion: All the comprehensive features of DTROC can be accessed free of charge through a graphical user interface that makes the analysis process very easy for users and automates the analysis process. With all these features, DTROC provides much more comprehensive features and various applications than commercial and free software to achieve two/three-dimensional ROC analyses and calculate diagnostic test metrics for two / more classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is no consensus on the optimal drainage technique in the management of biliary anastomotic strictures occurring after right-lobe living-donor liver transplantation (RL LDLT). Aims: To investigate whether there is a superiority between unilateral and bilateral drainage groups in terms of efficacy and safety of biliary drainage in RL LDLT patients undergoing double-biliary reconstruction. Study Design: Retrospective Cohort Methods: Between January 2009 and August 2019, 1693 patients underwent RL LDLT. Of these, 182 patients who developed biliary anastomotic strictures out of the 306 patients who had double-biliary reconstruction, were included in the study. One hundred fifty-five patients with technical success were divided into 2 groups as unilateral (n=116) and bilateral (n=39) drainage groups. The groups were compared in terms of variable parameters such as clinical success, additional procedure, post-ERCP complication, procedures after clinical failure, hospital stay, mortality, and survival. Results: The clinical success was higher in the bilateral group (70% vs. 82%, P = .201). In the initial and the follow-up periods, a total of 44 (38%) patients in the unilateral group were switched to the bilateral drainage group due to the increased need for stenting. The placement of a stent successfully solved the problem only in 28% (32/117) of the patients in the unilateral group, while this rate was 44% (17/39) in the bilateral group. The median follow-up time of both groups was 42 months, and was equal. The number of stent-free follow-up patients in the unilateral drainage group was less than that in the bilateral drainage group (4 and 7, respectively). Conclusion: An active attempt should be made for bilateral drainage in patients with biliary anastomotic stricture following RL LDLT. However, for patients in whom bilateral drainage is not possible, unilateral drainage may be recommended, with the placement of a maximum number of stents following primary biliary balloon dilatation, depending on the degree of stricture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Biostatistics is the property of Turkiye Klinikleri and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Aim: COVID-19 pandemic has created a serious psychological impact worldwide since it has been declared. This study aims to investigate the level of psychological impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Turkish population and to determine related factors. Methods: The study was carried out by an online questionnaire using the virtual snowball sampling method. The sociodemographic data were collected on the following subjects: participants’ experience on any signs of infection within the last month, the history of COVID-19 contact-treatment-quarantine, level of compliance with precautionary measures, the sources of information and level of knowledge about the pandemic process and their belief levels on the knowledge they acquire. Besides, the questions that take place in the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21), and Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) were asked to participants. Results: Of the 3549 participants, anxiety was found in 15.8%, depression in 22.6%, stress in 12.9%, and psychological trauma in 20.29% based on moderate and above levels. Female gender, young age, higher education level, being single, high monthly income, presence of psychiatric illness, a large number of people living together, having any signs of infection, and contact history with COVID-19 infected person or contaminated object are identified as risk factors that may increase psychological impact. Compliance with the rules was found to reduce the risk of psychological response. Conclusions: The risk factors for the psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and acknowledging these factors can help to formulate the interventions to reduce the stress levels of the population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Gastric carcinoma is the fourth most common carcinoma worldwide. The relationships established between the tumor morphology and the prognosis have not been very effective until recent times. Poorly Differentiated Clusters (PDCs); are structures those can be easily identified in H&E sections. A new grading system based on PDC count has been studied in colorectal carcinoma; and found to be associated with prognosis. We have aimed to investigate this concept in gastric carcinoma. Material and Methods: Our study included 80 cases, consisting of 16 females and 64 males having gastric carcinoma with intestinal morphology. For each case; conventional grade, PDC grade and prognostic parameters to be applied in the study were determined, and statistically compared. Results: Significant discrepancy was found between the two grading systems. PDC tumor grades were statistically related to; median metastatic lymph node counts, metastatic lymph node ratios, lymph node stages (pN) and the presence of perineural invasion. Conclusion: In stomach carcinoma; PDC grading system was found to be related to a significant part of the expected parameters and may have a prognostic value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkish Journal of Trauma & Emergency Surgery / Ulusal Travma ve Acil Cerrahi Dergisi is the property of KARE Publishing and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study was designed to identify and assess risk factors for portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in patients with cirrhosis. A total of 98 cirrhosis patients with PVT were identified and 101 cirrhosis patients without PVT were chosen as the control group in this retrospective study. Several variables were measured and the two groups PVT and non-PVT were compared statistically. PVT was identified in 98 patients (10%). Significant differences in hematocrit, international normalized ratio, albumin, bilirubin and glucose were determined between the groups (P<0.05). Out of the thrombophilic risk factors in the patients with PVT factor V Leiden was identified in 8.8%, prothrombin gene 6.6% and methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase 2.2%. There was no difference in survival time between groups (P>0.05). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In a research, it is not desirable that the dataset to be used contains missing value (s) and researchers try to cope with this situation. The main purpose of this research is to develop new user-friendly web-based software that uses various techniques to handle missing value(s). Material and Methods: In this study, to assess the performance of the software, various scenarios were tested: 5 variables were normally distributed, different sample sizes (n=1000, 1500, 2000 and 2500), high (r <-0.70 or r> 0.70) and low correlations (-0.30

Objective: The calculation of sample size and power analysis plays an important role in biomedical research. The most general definition of the calculation of the sample size and power analysis is to determine the minimum number of individuals that have the ability to represent the population during the planning phase of the study. Since the statistical methods for each research plan are different, the calculation of sample size and power analysis will be different. Therefore, it is difficult to calculate the sample size and power analysis manually for each clinical trial. The aim of this research is to develop a new user-friendly web-based tool that calculates sample size and power analysis for hypothesis testing, diagnostic tests, correlation and regression analysis using the open source software R Shiny package and guides the researchers with examples. Material and Method: This web tool will be updated upon the updated R software packages, including shiny, shinydashboard, pwr, powerAnalysis, powerMediation, MKmisc and rhandsontable. Scripts were written for calculations that could not be done by these packages. Results: Hypothetical samples were created to introduce menus in the web-based software developed for the calculation of sample size and power analysis, and screen images of the results of these samples were given. Conclusion: The designed interactive web application is freely accessible through http://biostatapps.inonu.edu.tr/WSSPAS. In the future studies, it is aimed to further strengthen the software by adding modules that can calculate sample size and power analysis for different multivariate statistical and machine learning methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Total parenteral nutrition (TPN) is a technique which is use to give vitally mandatory substances in to the venous compartments whenever the gastrointestinal system cannot be used by the patients. Telomerase catalyzes DNA synthesis, which is necessary to maintain telomere length and stabilize the genome to allow continued cell proliferation. In this study, we explored the effects of TPN administration on telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) expression in various tissue and serum telomerase level. Material and Methods: In this study a number of 42 same-aged albino, equal number of male and female, new zealand rabbits were use, divided in to three groups. Group 1 rabbits received TPN for 10 days via a central venous catheter. Group 2 received 50 mL/ kg/day physiological saline via a central venous catheter. Group 3 served as the control group. The rabbits were sacrificed after 10 days, and serum telomerase levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. TERT expression in gonadal, liver, jejunum, and skin tissues were determined immunohistochemically. Blood samples were obtained before and after TPN and saline administration in the TPN and serum saline groups, respectively, and at the end of the experiment in the control group. Results: Telomerase expression in liver, gonads and serum level of TPN group was significantly higher than control and serum saline groups. Conclusion: TPN may be a positive effect in liver and gonadal telomer kinetic. However, we think that TPN increases DNA damage throughout the body. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Biostatistics is the property of Turkiye Klinikleri and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Ischemia/reperfusion injury occurs after testicular torsion, levels of free oxygen radicals and inflammatory cytokines are increased in both the torsional and contralateral testis, leading to testicular injury. The present study investigated whether orchiopexy or orchiectomy after testicular torsion was superior in terms of fertility potential in the long term. Following 720°, 4 h left testicular torsion, orchiectomy or orchiopexy was performed on 84 rats, which were then sacrificed and evaluated for testicular function at day 1, at 3 months and 6 months (n = 14 per group). An additional 14 rats were in the control group. Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), and testosterone levels were significantly lower in the orchiopexy group than the orchiectomy and control groups after 3 months. However, there were no significant differences in hormone parameters among the three groups after 6 months. The hormone levels, Johnsen score, seminiferous tubule diameter, and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression at 3 and 6 months were not significantly different between the orchiectomy group and controls. Histopathological analyses at 3 and 6 months indicated significant decreases in Johnsen score and seminiferous tubule diameter in the ipsilateral testis in the orchiopexy group. At 3 months, the level of iNOS expression in the contralateral testis was significantly lower in the orchiopexy group than in other groups. At 6 months, however, it was not significantly different between the orchiopexy and control groups. There were no significant differences in iNOS expression at 3 or 6 months in the orchiectomy group compared to controls. The ipsilateral testis in the orchiopexy group began to atrophy at 3 months, and the degree of atrophy became more evident at 6 months. The level of iNOS expression was low in the bilateral testis at 3 months in the orchiopexy group, and sperm in the contralateral testis were not yet functionally healthy. The level of iNOS expression in the ipsilateral testis decreased further at 6 months in the orchiopexy group, while that in the contralateral testis returned to the normal level. Testicular functions were restored faster after orchiectomy compared to orchiopexy following testicular torsion. However, follow-up of the rats for 6 months demonstrated that orchiopexy or orchiectomy procedures conducted on the testicular torsion had no effect on future fertility potential after 4 h of torsion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Duodenal ulcer perforation is a serious condition. A number of methods have been defined and used in surgical treatment. In this study, it was aimed to compare the effectiveness of 'primary repair' and 'drain placement without repair' methods in duodenal perforations using an animal model., Methods: Three equivalent groups of ten rats each were formed. Perforation was created in the duodenum in the first (primary repair/sutured group) and the second group (drain placement without repair/sutureless drainage group). In the first group, the per-foration was repaired with sutures. In the second group, only a drain was placed in the abdomen without sutures. In the third group (control group), only laparotomy was performed. Neutrophil count, sedimentation, serum C-reactive protein (CRP), serum total an-tioxidant capacity (TAC), serum total thiol, serum native thiol, and serum myeloperoxidase (MPO) analyses were performed on animal subjects in the pre-operative period and on the post-operative 1st and 7th days. Histological and immunohistochemical (transforming growth factor-beta 1 [TGF-β1]) analyzes were performed. Blood analysis, histological, and immunohistochemical findings obtained from the groups were compared statistically., Results: There was no significant difference between the first and second groups, except for the TAC on the post-operative 7th day and MPO values on the post-operative 1st day (P>0.05). Although tissue healing was more pronounced in the second group than in the first group, there was no significant difference between the groups (P>0.05). TGF-β1 immunoreactivity observed in the second group was found to be significantly higher than in the first group (P<0.05)., Conclusion: We think that the sutureless drainage method is as effective as the primary repair method in the treatment of duo-denal ulcer perforation and can be safely applied as an alternative to the primary repair method. However, further studies are needed to fully determine the efficacy of the sutureless drainage method.

Aim: To reveal the relationships between patient findings and tissue resection in elderly patients., Materials and Methods: Between September 2020 and September 2022 three hundred eighty four patients over the age of 60 who were operated with the diagnosis of groin hernia were retrospectively analyzed. Gender, age, height, weight and body mass index value, groin and inguinal hernia types, hernia sides, primary or recurrent cases, hernia sac content, incarceration, tissue necrosis and resection presence, and accompanying pathologies were recorded. These findings were compared and evaluated in order to determine the relationships between patient findings and tissue resection, and the findings at risk for tissue resection., Results: Of the patients in the study, 352 (91.7%) were male and 32 (8.3%) were female. The mean age, height, weight and BMI were 67.48±5.893 years, 169.27±6.113 cm, 73.28±7.878 kg and 25,566±2.3518 kg/m2, respectively. There were 369 inguinal, 15 femoral, 285 indirect, 84 direct, 312 primary, and 72 recurrent hernias. Incarceration was present in 65 (16.9%) patients, 19 (4.9%) of these patients underwent resection due to tissue necrosis (twelve omentum and seven small intestine). Tissue resection was 3.1% in male, 25% in female, 4.3% in inguinal, 20% in femoral, 5.6% in indirect, 0% in direct, 3.5% in primary and 11.1% in recurrent hernias. Tissue resections were significantly higher in females, femoral hernias, indirect inguinal hernias and recurrent cases (p<0.05)., Conclusions: We can say that female gender, femoral, indirect and recurrent hernias are important risk factors for tissue resection in elderly patients., Key Words: Elderly Patients, Emergency Surgery, Groin Hernia, Incarceration, Tissue Resection.

Background: Appendicitis is one of the most common surgical emergencies among children. In this retrospective clinical study, we attempted to determine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic period on hospital admission time and length of hospital stay (LOS) in pediatric appendicitis cases., Methods: We retrospectively compared pediatric appendectomies from the date of the first reported COVID-19 case to June 1, 2020, which is considered as the start of the normalization process, with pre-pandemic pediatric appendectomies of the same number of days in terms of age, gender, hospital admission time, LOS, parental educational level, laboratory values, and histopathological findings., Results: There was an average increase of 2 days in the time from the onset of symptoms to hospital admission in pediatric appen-dicitis patients in the COVID-19 period (p=0.001). Furthermore, C-reactive protein value was statistically significantly higher in the COVID-19 period (p=0.018). Given the LOS, it was calculated as an average of 5 days in the pre-pandemic period and 4 days in the COVID-19 period, and this difference was statistically insignificant (p=0.273). There was no significant difference between the groups in terms of histopathological findings (p=0.176). The parental educational level had no effect on the admission time., Conclusion: The hospital admission time of pediatric appendicitis patients is significantly prolonged in the COVID-19 pandemic, but this prolongation had no histopathological effect. During the pandemic, the recovery of patients who required urgent treatment during the 'stay-at-home' period was also negatively affected. Notwithstanding, we are of the opinion that the absence of an increase in the LOS may be due to the willingness of both families and physicians to keep the LOS as short as possible. Despite the increase in hospital admission time in pediatric appendicitis during the Covid 19 pandemic process, the lack of increase in the rate of complicated appendicitis may be an indicator of the importance of other factors in the development of complicated appendicitis.

Objective: Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration has been successfully applied in both diagnosis and staging of mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathies and masses, especially in malignant cases. However, the optimal procedure of Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration to further increase diagnostic yield and minimize processing complexity remains controversial. This study aims to compare aspiration biopsy (Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration) and non-aspiration biopsy (Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle capillary sampling) in terms of sample adequacy, diagnosis, and quality in malignant cases., Methods: Between March 2018 and June 2020, Endobronchial ultrasound-guided was performed sequentially on patients with mediastinal and/or hilar lymph nodes that were considered malignant. Each lymphadenopathy was sampled with and without aspiration. A single-blinded pathologist evaluated the samples., Results: A total of 84 lymph nodes evaluations of 51 patients were included. Most samples were taken from the right lower paratracheal lymph nodes (n=27, 32.2%) and subcarinal LN (n=21, 25%). The mean size of the lymph nodes was 21.21±8.257 (8-40) mm. The agreement between the two procedures in terms of sample adequacy and diagnostic yield was 69.1% (95%CI 58-78.7, p=0.076). In addition, according to the goodness-of-fit statistics, the kappa values were 0.255 (p=0.015) and 0.302 (p=0.004) for sample adequacy and diagnostic yield, respectively. There was no difference between the two procedures in relation to complications., Conclusion: Although the agreement between the two procedures is weak, Endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle capillary sampling can be performed with less personnel, without reducing diagnostic yield and tissue adequacy. These findings can assist clinicians in determining the optimal procedure for Endobronchial ultrasound-guided.

Background: Knowledge of the utility of angiographic embolization (AE) in pediatric cases of blunt abdominal solid organ trauma injuries is limited. The current study is an examination of AE as an effective and reliable method to control bleeding in patients with persistent bleeding due to blunt trauma-induced abdominal solid organ injury., Methods: This was a retrospective examination of patients <17 years of age who had experienced blunt abdominal solid organ injury and who presented at a single institution within 4 years. A statistical analysis of the data was performed., Results: The mean length of intensive care unit stay was 4 days for those who underwent embolization (n=11), and the mean length of hospital stay was 12 days. The average pre-AE blood loss, as measured by the decrease in hematocrit (%) from admission to embolization, was -7.33+-5.3% (p<0.001). The average post-AE blood loss, as measured by the change in hematocrit 72 hours post AE, was 2+-0.97% (p>0.05). All of the patients were discharged with a full recovery., Conclusion: AE was a safe and effective method to control solid organ hemorrhage in pediatric patients with blunt abdominal injuries.