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BACKGROUND: Violence against pre-hospital emergency health workers is a growing problem worldwide and negatively impacts the effectiveness of emergency services. The social distancing, isolation and quarantine measures that have been employed to reduce the spread of COVID-19 have also had economic and psychosocial effects. Therefore, it is important to explore how the negative repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic have influenced these violent incidents that interfere with the work of emergency medical services (EMS). OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate how violence against EMS workers has been impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: This study takes an interpretive social science approach, using the qualitative method of in-depth semi-structured interviewing. Audio of the interviews was recorded with the interviewee’s consent. Sound recordings were transcribed and their content was categorised into themes. Categorised texts were then evaluated using descriptive analysis. RESULTS: Participants reported that, during the COVID-19 pandemic, they encountered more violence than usual on EMS assignments to non-emergency situations, though a sense of gratitude towards health workers at the beginning of the pandemic and positives attitudes towards health workers also contributed to reduced violence towards them. The data indicate that workplace violence among EMS employees has increased as the problems caused by the pandemic have intensified, suggesting that additional measures need to be taken to protect them. CONCLUSION: In parallel with an increase in social violence during the COVID-19 pandemic, violence against EMS workers also increased in prevalence. A multidimensional approach should now be taken to determine how violence against EMS employees will be affected by risks such as the intergenerational transmission of social violence, a psychosocial repercussion of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially considering the increasing workplace violence among EMS employees.

Does the news media exacerbate or reduce misinformation problems? Although some news media deliberately try to counter misinformation, it has been suggested that they might also inadvertently, and sometimes purposefully, amplify it. We conducted a two-wave panel survey in Brazil, India, and the UK ( N = 4732) to investigate the effect of news and digital platform use on awareness of and belief in COVID-19 misinformation over time (January to February 2022). We find little support for the idea that the news exacerbates misinformation problems. News use broadened people's awareness of false claims but did not increase belief in false claims—in some cases, news use actually weakened false belief acquisition, depending on access mode (online or offline) and outlet type. In line with previous research, we also find that news use strengthens political knowledge gain over time, again depending on outlets used. The effect of digital platforms was inconsistent across countries, and in most cases not significant—though some, like Twitter, were associated with positive outcomes while others were associated with negative outcomes. Overall, our findings challenge the notion that news media, by reporting on false and misleading claims, ultimately leave the public more misinformed, and support the idea that news helps people become more informed and, in some cases, more resilient to misinformation.

© 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.Background: The widespread use of digital devices causes adolescents to spend long periods of time in front of the screen. Aims: This study aimed to analyze the impacts of digital game addiction on the musculoskeletal system of secondary school children in Kayseri. Patients and Methods: A total of 1000 healthy children have been included. A questionnaire, which has been prepared by the researchers and questions children's socio-demographic knowledge, sport habits, durations of study, types of digital tools they use to play games, using positions and durations of use, has been applied to the children. A visual analog scale was used to assess pain intensity. Game addiction has been evaluated through Computer Game Addiction Scale for Children. Results: Between computer and phone use and neck pain, a significant correlation has been found (P < 0.05). Between game addiction and wrist, back and low back pain, a significant correlation has been detected. While males use more computer, tablet and are more addicted to games, the scores of head, wrist and back pain in females have been found out to be significantly high. Conclusions: As they cause musculoskeletal problems, the higher the time children consume in front of digital devices and the more they use it in wrong posture; the more the complaints about pain are.

Why do people utter offensive or challenging statements? One reason might be displaying one’s dominance: if no one calls out the speaker of a challenging statement, it might because the audience is afraid to challenge the speaker. In two experiments (N = 635), participants read vignettes in which a speaker uttered either a statement about a mundane topic, or an offensive statement. The statement was either challenging (it clashed with the audience’s prior views) or unchallenging (it agreed with the audience’s prior views), and the audience either accepted or rejected the statement after it was uttered. Speakers who uttered challenging statements the audience nonetheless accepted were deemed more dominant and more likely to be the boss of the audience members.

Objective: The TURKMI registry is designed to provide insight into the characteristics, management from symptom onset to hospital discharge, and outcome of patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) in Turkey. We report the baseline and clinical characteristics of the TURKMI population. Methods: The TURKMI study is a nation-wide registry that was conducted in 50 centers capable of percutaneous coronary intervention selected from each EuroStat NUTS region in Turkey according to population sampling weight, prioritized by the number of hospitals in each region. All consecutive patients with acute MI admitted to coronary care units within 48 hours of symptom onset were prospectively enrolled during a predefined 2-week period between November 1, 2018 and November 16, 2018. Results: A total of 1930 consecutive patients (mean age, 62.0 +/- 13.2 years; 26.1% female) with a diagnosis of acute MI were prospectively enrolled. More than half of the patients were diagnosed with non-ST elevation MI (61.9%), and 38.1% were diagnosed with ST elevation MI. Coronary angiography was performed in 93.7% and, percutaneous coronary intervention was performed in 73.2% of the study population. Fibrinolytic therapy was administered to 13 patients (0.018%). Aspirin was prescribed in 99.3% of the patients, and 94% were on dual antiplatelet therapy at the time of discharge. Beta blockers were prescribed in 85.0%, anti-lipid drugs in 96.3%, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors in 58.4%, and angiotensin receptor blockers in 7.9%. Comparison with European countries revealed that TURKMI patients experienced MI at younger ages compared with patients in France, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. The most prevalent risk factors in the TURKMI population were hypercholesterolemia (60.2%), hypertension (49.5%), smoking (48.8%), and diabetes (37.9%). Conclusion: The nation-wide TURKMI registry revealed that hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, and smoking were the most prevalent risk factors. TURKMI patients were younger compared with patients in European Countries. The TURKMI registry also confirmed that current treatment guidelines are largely adopted into clinical cardiology practice in Turkey in terms of antiplatelet, anti-ischemic, and anti-lipid therapy., Turkish Society of Cardiology; Astra-Zeneca CompanyAstraZeneca, TURKMI is an investigator-initiated study sponsored by the Turkish Society of Cardiology that receives major funding from Astra-Zeneca Company for this project.

Social media like Facebook are harshly criticized for the propagation of health misinformation. Yet, little research has provided in-depth analysis of real-world data to measure the scale of the phenomenon. This article examines an emblematic case of online health misinformation: the Facebook page Santé + Mag, which generates five times more interactions than the combination of the five best-established French media outlets. Based on the literature on cultural evolution, we hypothesized that its huge success can hardly be explained by the misleading nature of its content (H1) but rather by its diffusion of posts containing cognitive attractors that tap into evolved cognitive preferences, such as information related to sexuality, social relations, threat, disgust or negative emotions (H2-6). Drawing from media studies findings, suggesting that Facebook is primarily used to connect with friends and family, we hypothesized that the popularity of Santé + Mag could be driven by Internet users’ desire to strengthen their relationships by sharing phatic posts (i.e. statements with no practical information aiming at engaging or maintaining social interactions such as “hello”) (H7).To test these hypotheses, we examined 500 posts, along with their 6.5 million interactions and tracked the presence of misleading health contents, psychological attractors, and phatic posts. Our analyses showed that most posts were related to social relations, that only a quarter consisted of health misinformation, and that despite their emphasis on threat, they were negative predictors of interactions. Phatic posts, composed of short sentences such as “Sister I love you”, were the strongest predictor of interactions, followed by posts with a positive emotional valence. Sexual contents negatively predicted interactions and other cognitive attractors such as disgust, threat or negative emotional valence did not predict interactions. These results strengthen the idea that Facebook is first and foremost a social network used by people to foster their social relations, not to spread online misinformation. We encourage researchers working on disinformation to conduct finer-grained analysis of online contents and to adopt interdisciplinary approach to study the phatic dimension of communication, together with positive contents, to better understand the cultural evolution dynamics of social media.

Background: To help adapt cardiovascular disease risk prediction approaches to low-income and middle-income countries, WHO has convened an effort to develop, evaluate, and illustrate revised risk models. Here, we report the derivation, validation, and illustration of the revised WHO cardiovascular disease risk prediction charts that have been adapted to the circumstances of 21 global regions. Methods: In this model revision initiative, we derived 10-year risk prediction models for fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular disease (ie, myocardial infarction and stroke) using individual participant data from the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration. Models included information on age, smoking status, systolic blood pressure, history of diabetes, and total cholesterol. For derivation, we included participants aged 40–80 years without a known baseline history of cardiovascular disease, who were followed up until the first myocardial infarction, fatal coronary heart disease, or stroke event. We recalibrated models using age-specific and sex-specific incidences and risk factor values available from 21 global regions. For external validation, we analysed individual participant data from studies distinct from those used in model derivation. We illustrated models by analysing data on a further 123 743 individuals from surveys in 79 countries collected with the WHO STEPwise Approach to Surveillance. Findings: Our risk model derivation involved 376 177 individuals from 85 cohorts, and 19 333 incident cardiovascular events recorded during 10 years of follow-up. The derived risk prediction models discriminated well in external validation cohorts (19 cohorts, 1 096 061 individuals, 25 950 cardiovascular disease events), with Harrell's C indices ranging from 0·685 (95% CI 0·629–0·741) to 0·833 (0·783–0·882). For a given risk factor profile, we found substantial variation across global regions in the estimated 10-year predicted risk. For example, estimated cardiovascular disease risk for a 60-year-old male smoker without diabetes and with systolic blood pressure of 140 mm Hg and total cholesterol of 5 mmol/L ranged from 11% in Andean Latin America to 30% in central Asia. When applied to data from 79 countries (mostly low-income and middle-income countries), the proportion of individuals aged 40–64 years estimated to be at greater than 20% risk ranged from less than 1% in Uganda to more than 16% in Egypt. Interpretation: We have derived, calibrated, and validated new WHO risk prediction models to estimate cardiovascular disease risk in 21 Global Burden of Disease regions. The widespread use of these models could enhance the accuracy, practicability, and sustainability of efforts to reduce the burden of cardiovascular disease worldwide. Funding: World Health Organization, British Heart Foundation (BHF), BHF Cambridge Centre for Research Excellence, UK Medical Research Council, and National Institute for Health Research. The WHO CVD Risk Chart Working Group, for complete list of authors see http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(19)30318-3

Aims: This study aims to review the influence of gender-specific differences and patient demographics on cardiac device and pacing mode selection over a 10- year period. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed patients who underwent first implantation of the cardiac device between January 1, 2006 and June 31, 2016. Results: During the study period, 704 patients underwent first cardiac device implantation. Number of patients undergoing pacemaker was 452 and number of patients undergoing implantable cardioverter defibrillator/cardiac resynchronization therapy and defibrillator (ICD/CRT-D) was 252. Patients undergoing pacemaker were 49.9% female with mean age 72.36+11.1. The most common indication was atrioventricular block (AVB) (84%) in both genders. The most frequently used pacing modes were VVI (70.8%), but over a 10-year period pacemaker selection shifted from VVI to DDD pacemakers. Patients undergoing ICD/CRT-D were 19.7% female with mean age 62.5+10.8. The most common indications for ICD/ CRT-D was ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICMP) (55.0%). The rate of male patients was higher in patients who have received device therapy for dilated cardiomyopathy (DCMP) or ICMP, whereas the rate of female patients was higher in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCMP) patients. The most common used implanted system was VVI-ICD (60.6%). Conclusions: The present study demonstrated that there was no significant difference between female and male patients in pacing mode selection, mostly VVI pacing mode was chosen; however, over a 10-year period pacemaker selection shifted from VVI to DDD pacemakers. Female patients had less ICD/ CRT-D implantation than male patients.Keywords: Implantable cardioverter defibrillator, gender difference, pacemaker

PubMed ID: 30516526, Objective: It has been reported that women receive fewer preventive recommendations regarding pharmacological treatment, lifestyle modifications, and cardiac rehabilitation compared with men who have a similar risk profile. This study was an investigation of the impact of gender on cardiovascular risk profile and secondary prevention measures for coronary artery disease (CAD) in the Turkish population. Methods: Statistical analyses were based on the European Action on Secondary and Primary Prevention through Intervention to Reduce Events (EUROASPIRE)-IV cross-sectional survey data obtained from 17 centers in Turkey. Male and female patients, aged 18 to 80 years, who were hospitalized for a first or recurrent coronary event (coronary artery bypass graft, percutaneous coronary intervention, acute myocardial infarction, or acute myocardial ischemia) were eligible. Results: A total of 88 (19.7%) females and 358 males (80.3%) were included. At the time of the index event, the females were significantly older (p=0.003) and had received less formal education (p0.05). Conclusion: Achievement of ideal body weight, fasting blood glucose and blood pressure targets was lower in women despite similar reported medication use. This highlights the importance of the implementation of lifestyle measures and adherence to medications in women. © 2018 Turkish Society of Cardiology., Istanbul Üniversitesi, The EUROASPIRE-IV Turkey study was unconditionally supported by AstraZeneca BioPharmaceuti-cal Company, Istanbul, Turkey.

Thematisch befasst sich die vorliegende Dissertation mit zwei benachbarten Gebieten der Finanzmathematik. Im ersten Teil entwickeln wir ein analytisch nachvollziehbares Zinsstrukturmodell in reduzierter Form f��r ausfallgef��hrdete Anleihen. Unser Modell ber��cksichtigt sowohl empirisch stilisierte Fakten (negative momentane Korrelation zwischen Kreditspread und risikofreiem Zinssatz) als auch mathematische und ��konomische Erfordernisse (Ausfallintensit��t und risikofreier Zinssatz sind nicht-negativ), um ein besseres Verst��ndnis der Kreditund Zinsm��rkte zu erm��glichen. In den verbleibenden Teilen analysieren wir optimale Handelsstrategien f��r Finanzmarktmodelle, bei welchen den Aktienkursen bestimmte Abh��ngigkeitsstrukturen auferlegt werden, f��r die nicht alle Modellparameter direkt beobachtbar sind. In diesem Zusammenhang analysieren wir dynamische Portfoliooptimierungsprobleme unter Teilinformationen, die sich auf den Paarhandel (Teil II) bzw. einen Gro��investor (Teil III) beziehen, der die Marktstimmung beeinflussen kann., This dissertation deals thematically with two neighboring areas of financial mathematics. In Part I we consider a tractable defaultable term-structure model in a reduced-form setting that takes care of empirical stylized facts (negative instantaneous correlation between credit spread and risk-free rate) coherent with the mathematical and economical facts (non-negative intensity and risk-free rate) with an aim towards in better understanding of the dependence structure between credit and interest rate markets. In the remaining parts, we want to analyze optimal trading portfolios with specific dependence structures imposed on the stock prices with the view that not every model parameters are directly observable. In that respect, we analyze dynamic portfolio optimization problems under partial information related to a pairs trading in Part II and a market model with a large investor who can affect market sentiments in Part III.

Kazim Serhan Özcan, Damirbek Osmonov, Servet Altay, Cevdet Dönmez, Ersin Yildirim, Ceyhan Türkkan, Baris Güngör, Ahmet Ekmekçi, Ahmet Taha Alper, Kadir Gürkan, İzzet ErdinlerDepartment of Cardiology, Siyami Ersek Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery Center, Istanbul, TurkeyAims: To evaluate the complication rate differences between elderly and younger patients who receive a permanent pacemaker implantation.Methods: We reviewed all cases admitted to our institution between January 2008 and June 2009 with symptomatic bradyarrhythmia for whom a permanent pacemaker was implanted. Beginning in June 2009, we prospectively collected data from all patients with the same diagnosis and procedure. The frequency of complications due to the pacemaker implantation procedure was evaluated and compared between young (

We determine the price of digital double barrier options with an arbitrary number of barrier periods in the Black-Scholes model. This means that the barriers are active during some time intervals, but are switched off in between. As an application, we calculate the value of a structure floor for structured notes whose individual coupons are digital double barrier options. This value can also be approximated by the price of a corridor put.

An 11-year-old boy with mild hemophilia A was admitted to our hospital because of focal convulsions, Magnetic resonance imaging showed an old occipital infarct. Protein C, S, antithrombin ill, anticardiolipin antibodies and fibrinogen were normal. Heterozygosity for factor V Leiden mutation was detected, We suggest that factor V Leiden mutation should be studied in hemophiliacs with thrombosis. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.