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Purpose: The aims were to translate the Evaluation of Daily Activity Questionnaire (EDAQ) into Turkish, then test validity and reliability in people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Turkey. Material and Methods: Phase 1: The EDAQ was forward and backward translated, culturally adapted following cognitive debriefing interviews with participants with RA (n = 10) and finalized by an expert committee. Phase 2: Participants (n = 215) completed a questionnaire including the EDAQ, Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), and Short-Form 36 v1 (SF-36v1). Two weeks later, the EDAQ was again completed for test–retest reliability (n = 82:38%). Internal construct validity was assessed using Rasch analysis. Internal consistency, concurrent validity, and test–retest reliability were assessed. Results: Following cultural adaptation, one item was removed, and examples increased or changed. Cronbach's α values were 0.71 − 0.93 for all EDAQ domains, that is, acceptable to good. The EDAQ met Rasch model requirements for fit (excellent construct validity: p > 0.05). Concurrent validity was moderate to strong for most EDAQ domains with HAQ (rs 0.49–0.81) and SF-36-v1 Physical Function (rs 0.42–0.70). There was excellent test–retest reliability for all domains (ICC (2,1): 0.95–1.00). Conclusion: The Turkish EDAQ is a valid, reliable measure of daily activity ability for use in practice and research with Turkish speakers with RA. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION: The Evaluation of Daily Activity Questionnaire provides a comprehensive evaluation of daily activity ability for people with rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases. The Turkish Evaluation of Daily Activity Questionnaire is a valid, reliable patient-reported outcome measure in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, who considered it easy to complete. The Turkish Evaluation of Daily Activity Questionnaire is suitable for use in clinical practice and research to evaluate daily activity ability in people with rheumatoid arthritis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: This study aims to review available evidence about the relationship between structural and psychological empowerment and burnout among nurses. Background: Nurses are key healthcare providers, who experience higher levels of burnout due to uncertainty and role conflicts about nursing roles and responsibilities and poor management. Nurse empowerment is an effective approach to reduce nurse burnout and enhance patient care quality. Introduction: Positive working conditions along with positive attitudes and perceptions for nurses are crucial in the workplace. Nurse empowerment in the workplace results in quality improvements in work life and the provision of healthcare. Method: We conducted a systematic review in accordance with the recommendations of the Joanna Briggs Institute and the PRISMA guideline. Relevant studies published between 2007 and 2022 were identified via PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Ovid MEDLINE (R), Science Direct and Turkish scientific literature databases. Studies that reported correlation coefficients were pooled to conduct a meta‐analysis. Results: Random‐effects meta‐analyses showed a negative association between structural and psychological empowerment and emotional exhaustion. The overall findings showed a moderate and negative association between the six dimensions of structural empowerment and depersonalization. There was a positive association between structural empowerment and personal accomplishment. Discussion: There is a relationship between decreased burnout levels and nurse empowerment. The causal relationship between empowerment and burnout levels needs to be investigated in various healthcare settings in several countries. Conclusion: The relationship between structural and psychological empowerment and burnout levels emphasizes that empowerment can reduce nurse burnout. Nurse empowerment is a critical management strategy for improving the quality of life for nurses, increasing the quality and effectiveness of patient care and achieving positive outcomes. Implications for nursing and health policy: The encouragement and empowerment of nurses for prompt decision‐making and effective resource utilization, reduces nurse burnout, enhancing nurses' job commitment, productivity, satisfaction and competence along with increased quality of care. The encouragement of nurses as empowered managers at the macro, meso and institutional levels not only improves the overall quality of health services but also helps to find solutions for the issues concerning healthcare service users and the health system environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Nocturnal calf cramps (NCC) are painful contractions of the lower limbs at night, most commonly in the calf muscles. Many trials demonstrated that dry needling (DN) effectively treats various musculoskeletal conditions. This study aimed to examine the effectiveness of DN in treating NCC. Materials and Methods: Forty-two patients were randomized into two groups. The first group received stretching exercises, and the second group received stretching exercises and DN to trigger points in the gastrocnemius muscle. The cramp duration (CD), the number of cramps (NOC), cramp intensity (CI), algometric measurements of pressure pain threshold (PPT), and Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) values were recorded before, after, and three months after treatment. Results: There was no difference between the groups regarding the parameters investigated before intervention. Investigated before intervention. Both groups had a significant decrease in NOC, CI, and PSQI scores and an increase in PPT values after treatment and the third month (p<0.001). At post-treatment measures, between the groups, there was a significant decrease in CI (p<0.001) and PSQI (p=0.002), and increase in PPT (p=0.001) in the DN group, and no difference in NOC (p=0.545) and CD (p=0.140). At the 3-month follow-up, between the groups, there was a significant decrease in NOC (p=0.016), CI (p<0.001), and increase in PPT (p=0.003) in the DN group and no difference in PSQI (p=0.229) and CD (p=0.175). Conclusion: DN in the treatment of NCC in the short and medium term is an effective method of reducing pain, decreasing the duration and intensity of cramps, and improving sleep quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: This study aims to investigate the effects of concomitant laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) and hiatal hernia repair (HHR) on gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and identify other factors that influence the success of the surgery in a patient with obesity. Materials and Methods: A prospective study design was used to evaluate GERD symptoms in patients undergoing concomitant LSG+HHR, using the GERD symptom score (SS) questionnaire before and after the surgery. Logistic regression and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were employed to identify factors contributing to symptom improvement. Results: A total of 112 patients underwent the surgery, with 94 (75.3%) of them being female. The mean age was 37.41±10.44, and the body mass index (BMI) was 44.37±6.788. Eleven (9.8%) patients underwent concomitant cholecystectomy. Esophagitis was present in 22 (19.64%) patients before the surgery. The mean pre-operative GERD SS was 12 (4-18), which significantly decreased to a mean post-operative GERD SS of 0 (0-18) (p<0.001). Logistic regression and ROC analysis were used to evaluate other factors influencing the improvement of GERD symptoms. The variables identified were as follows: 6th-month weight (odds: 4.010; p<0.001), 6th-month BMI (odds: 3.644; p<0.001), 6th month excess weight (EW) (odds: 2.743; p<0.01), 6th month EW loss% (odds: 2.699; p<0.001), and 6th month total weight loss % (odds: 2.361; p=0.003). Conclusion: Concomitant LSG+HHR appears to be an effective treatment method for improving GERD symptoms. Post-operative weight loss of the patient was found to be another effective factor in the improvement of symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Nomophobia (NoMP) is the fear of being unable to interact with others via mobile phones and is a current topic in adolescents' mental health. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between NoMP in adolescents and their mothers' level of NoMP. Methods. The levels of depression, anxiety, attention deficit/hyperactivity-impulsivity symptoms, NoMP, and perceived parental emotional availability were examined. Results. One hundred fifty-five adolescents (60% girls) were included in the study with their mothers. Ninetythree (60%) adolescents (67.7% girls) and 64 (41.3%) mothers were classified as nomophobic. There was a positive correlation between the NoMP levels of adolescents and their mothers. Nomophobic girls perceived less paternal support. All psychopathologic symptoms were higher in the nomophobic mothers. There was no difference between nomophobic and non-nomophobic adolescents in terms of maternal psychopathologies. Conclusions. We suggest that parental effects should be investigated during the assessment of NoMP, especially in adolescent girls. The phone usage habits of mothers and their relationship with their adolescent children were closely associated with adolescent NoMP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and objective: Artificial intelligence‐based analysis of medical images has recently become a trendy field of study. The most significant effect on these systems to produce reliable and high‐performance results is the amount of accessed data. Although whole‐slide images (WSI), one of the current imaging techniques used in histopathology, storage costs are very expensive. Therefore, low‐dimensional visuals representing of WSIs is an essential field of study. Methods: In this study, deep auto‐encoder‐based models are designed to create low dimensional representations for WSI. The size reduction was performed for the input images in different sizes, at the ratios of 1: 3, 1: 6, and 1: 12, respectively. Results: Similarity index measure values were obtained as high as 0.957 and 0.938, respectively, using 128 × 128 × 3 dimensional patches in the size reduction process of 1: 3 and 1:12 on test WSI. Conclusion: The proposed model has a structure that can be applied in compression of WSIs and secure data transfer. By using these representations, both storage costs and the high‐level hardware costs required by deep learning algorithms can be significantly reduced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, development and alteration trends of ornamental plants sector in Turkey and the rest of the world were analysed. The competitive and structural analysis of outdoor ornamental plants sector in Konya province, Turkey, was carried out in accordance with the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats (SWOT) analytical technique and Diamond Model of Porter. Main data of the study have been obtained by a survey method from 16 managers of enterprises. According to the results, the ornamental plants sector in Turkey developed vigorously, especially after 1980s, in parallel with other parts of the world. The cultivated area of ornamental plants in Turkey, which was 1513.2 ha in 2000, tripled to 4786.0 ha in 2011. Outdoor ornamental plants sector in Konya province has developed in parallel with that in the whole country and the number of enterprises producing has increased by 50% in the last decade. Competition level of outdoor ornamental plants sector is low in Konya. As a strategy to increase it, the aggregation of production in larger companies and diversification of the spectrum of plants more adapted to the natural conditions are discussed.

Lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is a type of vegetable that can be produced in almost every region of Turkey and is consumed throughout the year. Product yield and quality decrease in soils with poor organic matter content. Rhizobacteria (PGPR) and Liquid vermicompost, which support plant growth, were used in the study carried out to increase crop yield and improve soil. In the study; plant head length, head diameter, root collar diameter, leaf fresh and dry weight, root length, leaf number, head weight, water-soluble dry matter content and plant nutrient content (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn and Cu) was measured. As a result of different PGPR strains and vermicompost applications, when single PGPR applications and PGPR and vermicompost combination applications are compared; It has been observed that PGPR+VC applications are more effective in increasing the yield, development and nutrient content of lettuce plant. Among the applications in the study, the combination of YÖ41+VC (bacteria+vermicompost) came to the fore. As a result; the PGPR+VC combination used in the study made a significant contribution to the yield components with its effect on the head weight, number of leaves, stem length and diameter, N, P, K, Ca, Mg and Fe contents of the lettuce plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]