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Aim: To investigate if there is an association between the blood groups of convalescent plasma (CP) donors and Severe acute respiratory syndrome Coronavirus-2 infection risk. Methods: Blood groups of 30605 CP donors were compared with 1316676 Turkish Red Crescent (TRC) whole blood donors. Software data of TRC for the period between 07 April 2020 and 11 December 2020 was analyzed as a retrospective cohort study. Results: Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection risks were higher in A (46.1% vs. 41.6%, p=0.001), AB (8.3% vs. 7.6%, p=0.001), Rh (+) (89.2% vs. 87.5%, p=0.001), A Rh (+) (41.1% vs. 36.6%, p=0.001) and AB Rh (+) (7.4% vs. 6.6%, p=0.001) groups;they were lower in O (29.8% vs. 34.4%, p=0.001), B (15.9% vs. 16.4%, p=0.008), Rh (-) (10.8% vs. 12.5%, p=0.001), B Rh (-) (1.7% vs. 2.0%, p=0.001), O Rh (+) (26.6% vs. 29.9%, p=0.001) and O Rh (-) (3.2% vs. 4.5%, p=0.001) groups. Conclusions: There might be an increased COVID-19 risk in A, AB, Rh (+) and A Rh (+) and AB Rh (+) groups as well as a decreased risk in O, B, Rh (-) and O Rh (+), O Rh (-) and B Rh (-) groups.

Background: The objective of this study is to evaluate the status of the Syrian refugees (SR) in Turkey in terms of using the National Health System (NHS) between 2011 and 2017. Methods: The study is a descriptive and cross-sectional epidemiological research ORACLE SQL Developer program was used for data analysis, and frequency analyzes regarding the person, place, and time characteristics of the health services that SR received between 2011 and 2017 were presented. Results: The SRs benefited from NHS hospital services approximately 35 million times (34,973,029). Approximately 40% of the SRs that benefited from the NHS are under the age of 18. The proportion of those under 5 y old is 15.8%; 55.8% of the SRs that benefited from the NHS are women. The utilization status of the SRs from the NHS by region is as follows: 33.4% Mediterranean Region, 29.2% Southeastern Anatolia Region, and 19.0% Marmara Region. The types of health institutions that the SRs used are as follows: 44.0% state hospitals, 15.0% family medicine centers, and 13.3% training and research hospitals. A total of 16,009,524 cases were intervened as part of EMS. Conclusion: Syrian refugees in Turkey comprehensively benefited from primary, secondary, and tertiary health services free of charge between 2011 and 2017 in Turkey. It is seen that they have access to private and high-cost health services, such as air ambulance, cancer treatment, and dental treatment.

Aim: The cooperation and coordination of the emergency department, which welcomes patients during the management of disasters such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic with the other clinics in a hospital, facilitates the former’s work. In this research, we studied our hospital’s emergency department management during the COVID-19 pandemic and the outcomes of such management. Material and Method: In this study, the process followed by patients who visited the tertiary emergency department between March 1, 2020, and April 30, 2020, the preparations made in the emergency department in response to the COVID-19 pandemic via management of confirmed and suspected cases, and the COVID-19 preliminary triage system and its outcomes were evaluated. The statistical significance level was accepted as p < 0.05. Results: An increase in the total arrival rate (from 50.1% to 66.8%; p < 0.01) was identified in March 2020 compared to March 2019, and a decrease in the total arrival rate was identified in April 2020 (from 49.9% to 33.2%; p < 0.01) compared to April 2019. Admission to all clinics was identified as having decreased 1.35 times and the number of consultations for infectious diseases identified as having increased 3.81 times in April 2020 compared to March 2020. A total of 89.2% of the computed tomography chest scans requested from the emergency department between March 21, 2020, and April 30, 2020, were due to suspected COVID-19. A preliminary triage center was set up outside the emergency department to isolate these patients. Approximately 66.6% of the suspected COVID-19 patients in March 2020 and 91% in April 2020 were discharged for home isolation and followed up with. Arrivals at the emergency department decreased by 66.7% (p < 0.01) during the curfews in April but increased by 142.9% on the first day after the curfews (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Pandemics are unforeseen circumstances that deeply influence the operations of both emergency departments and the entire hospital. Emergency departments require a multidisciplinary management system to make and implement decisions quickly via cooperation and coordination with other clinics in the hospital during the management of disasters like the COVID-19 pandemic., Amaç: COVID-19 pandemisi gibi afetlerin yönetiminde hastaları ilk karşılayan acil servislerin hastanedeki diğer kliniklerle olan iş birliği ve koordinasyonu acil servislerin işleyişini kolaylaştırmaktadır. Çalışmamızda COVID-19 salgınındaki acil servis yönetimimizi ve bunun sonuçlarını araştırdık.Gereç ve Yöntemler: Bu çalışmada 1 Mart 2020 ile 30 Nisan 2020 tarihleri arasındaki 3.basamak bir acil servise başvuran hastaların süreci ve bu süreçteki Covid-19 tanılı ve şüpheli vakaların yönetimi ile acil servisteki Covid-19 pandemisine cevap için yapılan hazırlıklar ve Covid-19 ön triyaj sistemi ve sonuçları değerlendirildi. İstatistik anlamlılık düzeyi olarak p

The present study investigates the seroconversion time course of the IgG antibody against SARS-CoV-2 and ascertains whether its levels change according to the patient's ABO blood group.A total of 36,003-convalescent plasma (CP) donations of 12,315 Turkish Red Crescent CP donors were analyzed. The ABO blood group of the CP donors was determined by Gel Centrifugation; and IgG was measured using the Euroimmun anti-SARS-CoV-2 ELISA. The differences in the distributions of mean IgG ratios among the different ABO blood groups were analyzed with One-Way ANOVA and Independent Samples T-test.Among the CP donors, 98.4% were male. An antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 was noted-although in a few CP donors- on the 244th day, and a significant association between the ABO blood groups and the mean IgG ratios was noted (p: 0.001). The highest (mean±SD) antibody level was observed in the AB blood group (39.5±15.7), followed by the B (37.9±11.5) and the A blood groups (36.6±10.7), while the lowest value was recorded in the O blood group (34.4±11.5). Significant differences between all paired groups were noted in pairwise comparisons. The Rh (-) blood group (37.4±13.6) had a significantly higher antibody level than the Rh (+) blood group (36.3±11.2) (p: 0.005).An antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 was noted in a CP donor on the 244th day. The average IgG ratios were higher in the CP donors with the AB blood group, but lower in the O blood group. These results may be considered a valuable indication of the effectiveness of CP therapy used for the treatment of COVID-19 patients with clinically relevant blood types.SARS-CoV-2’ye karşı IgG antikorunun zamansal seyrini ve ABO kan grubuna göre düzeyinin değişip değişmediğini belirlemeye çalıştık.Türk Kızılay’ın 12315 konvalesan plazma (KP) bağışçısının 36003 KP bağışını inceledik. KP bağışçılarının ABO kan grubu, Gel Centrifugation yoluyla belirlendi. IgG, Euroimmun anti-SARS-CoV-2 ELISA kullanılarak ölçüldü. Ortalama IgG oran dağılımındaki farklılıklar, One Way ANOVA ve Independent Sample T testleri kullanılarak ABO kan grubuna göre incelendi.KP bağışçılarının %98,4’ü erkeklerden oluşmaktadır. KP bağışçılarında SARS-CoV-2’ye antikor yanıtının -birkaç kişiyle sınırlı olmakla birlikte- yaklaşık 244. günde görüldüğünü saptadık. ABO kan grupları ile ortalama IgG oranları arasında anlamlı bir ilişki saptadık (p:0.001). En yüksek antikor seviyesi (mean±SD) AB kan grubunda gözlenirken (39,5±15,7), onu B kan grubu (37,9±11,5), sonra A kan grubu (36,6±10,7) izlerken, en düşük O kan grubunda (34,4±11,5) idi. Yine ikili grup karşılaştırmasında da tüm ikili gruplar arasında anlamlı farklılıklar vardı. Rh (-) kan grubunda (37,4±13,6); Rh (+) kan grubuna (36,3±11,2) göre anlamlı düzeyde daha yüksek antikor seviyesi mevcuttu (p:0,005).SARS-CoV-2’ye antikor yanıtının yaklaşık 244. günde görüldüğünü saptadık. Kan grubu AB olan KP bağışçılarında ortalama IgG oranları daha yüksek iken; O grubunda daha düşüktü. Klinik olarak ilgili kan grubuna sahip COVID-19 hastalarının tedavisinde kullanılacak olan KP tedavisinin etkinliğinde bu sonuçlar değerli olabilir.

Introduction: Passive antibody therapy has been used to immunize vulnerable people against infectious agents. In this study, we aim to investigate the efficacy of convalescent plasma (CP) in the treatment of severe and critically ill patients diagnosed with COVID-19. Method: The data of severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients who received anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody-containing CP along with the antiviral treatment (n = 888) and an age-gender, comorbidity, and other COVID-19 treatments matched severe or critically ill COVID-19 patients at 1:1 ratio (n = 888) were analyzed retrospectively. Results: Duration in the intensive care unit (ICU), the rate of mechanical ventilation (MV) support and vasopressor support were lower in CP group compared with the control group (p = 0.001, p = 0.02, p = 0.001, respectively). The case fatality rate (CFR) was 24.7 % in the CP group, and it was 27.7 % in the control group. Administration of CP 20 days after the COVID-19 diagnosis or COVID-19 related symptoms were associated with a higher rate of MV support compared with the first 3 interval groups (?5 days, 6-10 days, 11-15 days) (p=0.001). Conclusion: CP therapy seems to be effective for a better course of COVID-19 in severe and critically ill patients.

Our aims were to evaluate and to report the experiences of the surgical team of Doctors Worldwide (DWW) Turkey during their medical activities in Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia. In the context of a continuous program carried out between March 2012 and June 2013, 12 squads of the DWW Turkey Surgical Team visited Al-Shifa Hospital and performed surgical interventions in Mogadishu, Somalia. Outcomes obtained as results of all surgical practices, including the demographic data of the patients, the types of anesthesiological procedures, and the types of surgical interventions performed, were recorded and analyzed. Seven hundred eight surgical interventions were performed in 252 (35.6%) female and 456 (64.4%) male patients. Four hundred fifty-five (64.3%) cases were operated under general anesthesia. On the other hand, 164 (23.1%) patients were operated under spinal anesthesia, whereas 89 (12.6%) patients received local anesthesia. The most common first five preoperative diagnoses were inguinal hernia, cleft lip, goiter, cleft palate, and hydrocele. We conclude that, as an efficacious modality of treatment, surgery should be considered as one of the most important priorities when conducting humanitarian aid programs.

More than half of the 2.7 million registered Syrian refugees in Turkey are under 18 years of age. This study investigates prevalence of psychopathology and associated risk factors in refugee children in Turkey. Of a total of 218 children aged 9–15 years, 56.2% lost someone important to them, 55.1% saw dead or wounded people, 70.4% witnessed explosions or gun battles, 42.5% witnessed people being tortured and 25.6% personally experienced cruelty/torture during war. Prevalence of PTSD was 18.3% and that of anxiety-related disorders were as high as 69.0%. Death of an important person (p = .032) and male gender (p = .040) were associated with PTSD; whilst exposure to cruelty or torture (p = .014) and increasing duration of refuge (p = .042) were significantly associated with development of anxiety disorders. Findings of the present study reveals existence of the expected but unspoken mental health needs among the Syrian children in Turkey.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate an innovative, protocol-based, group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) program delivered by trained teachers to reduce emotional distress and improve psychological functioning among the war-traumatized Syrian refugee students living in Istanbul. Methods: A total of 32 participants, aged between 10 and 15 years (mean = 12.41, SD = 1.68) and mostly females (m/f = 12/20) were randomly selected from a sample of 113 refugee students based on their trauma-related psychopathology as reflected in the Child Post-Traumatic Stress -Reaction Index (CPTS-RI) total score. The treatment program was implemented by the teachers trained by the study team to deliver a weekly, eight-session, protocol-based intervention in school setting. The degree of the fidelity to the original program was tested via video-recordings and subsequent analyses of the sessions. Effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated by a pre-test/post-test comparison using the CPTS-RI, Spence Children's Anxiety Scale (SCAS), and Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results: All participants were accompanied minors. A significant proportion of them had either witnessed or been personally exposed to traumatic events. Statistically significant reduction in post-intervention evaluation was observed in the SCAS total score (t = 3.73, p = 0.001); CPTS-RI total score (t = 2.72, p = 0.011) and in the intrusive (t = 3.88, p = 0.001) and arousal (t = 2.60, p = 0.015) symptoms of the post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In line with improvement in emotional problems as revealed in the anxiety and PTSD scales, the SDQ subcategory of the emotional problems was the only symptom area that showed a significant improvement (t = 2.85, p = 0.008). No significant change was seen in the SDQ subcategories of conduct (t = 1.01, p = 0.32), hyperactivity (t = 1.30, p = 0.20), peer problems (t =.66, p = 0.51), or in prosocial behavior (t = 2.15, p = 0.039). A significant proportion of the participants did no longer meet the diagnostic threshold for anxiety (p = 0.001) and PTSD (p = 0.021) after completion of the intervention. However, the post-intervention SDQ subcategories and the total SDQ score showed no significant difference as compared with the pre-intervention group. Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first interventional study reporting promising results from a school-based, teacher-led and culturally sensitive psychological intervention program for refugee children in Turkey. Such protocol-based interventions need to be examined in controlled designs and larger samples so that a well-established intervention can be created and disseminated to provide the psychosocial support for this vulnerable and traumatized population.

Aim: Our aim was to evaluate, and report the experiences of the volunteer surgical team of DoctorsWorldwide (DWW) Turkey during their medical activites in Uganda.Materials and Methods: A surgical camp was organized by DWW Turkey between 3-8 February2015 in the Butambala and Kampala districts of Uganda. The surgical camp, in addition to othersurgeries, was intended to conduct herniorrhaphies for all forms of abdominal wall hernias.Outcomes obtained as results of all surgical practices, including the demographic data of thepatients, the types of anaesthesiological, and surgical procedures performed were recorded,and analyzed.Results: Surgical interventions were carried out under either general, spinal, or local anesthesiain a total of 115 patients with the diagnosis of inguinal hernia in 80 (69.57%), umbilical hernia in15 (13.04%), and epigastric hernia in 9 (7.82%) cases. Additionally, operations were performedfor hydrocele in 11 (9.57%) cases. Postoperative minor complications were met in 10 (8.70%)patients, and no postoperative mortality took place at the end of all operations.Discussion and Conclusion: DWW Turkey Surgical Team conclude that, as an efficacious modalityof treatment, surgery should be considered as one of the most important priorities whenconducting humanitarian health aid programs., Amaç: Yeryüzü Doktorları Türkiye’nin gönüllü cerrahi ekibinin Uganda’daki faaliyetleri ile ilgilideneyimlerini değerlendirerek bildirmeyi amaçladık.Gereç ve Yöntemler: Yeryüzü Doktorları Türkiye tarafından 3-8 Şubat 2015 tarihleri arasındaUganda’nın Butambala ve Kampala bölgelerinde cerrahi kamp düzenlendi. Bu kampın amacı,diğer cerrahilere ek olarak, tüm karın duvarı fıtık tipleri için fıtık tamirlerinin gerçekleştirilmesiydi.Hastaların demografik verileri ile uygulanan anestezi ve cerrahi prosedürlerin tipleri kayıt edilerekincelendi.Bulgular: Toplam 115 cerrahi hastasında operasyonlar genel, spinal ya da lokal anestezi ile yapıldı.Bunlardan 80’i (%69,57) kasık fıtığı, 15’i (%13,04) göbek fıtığı ve 9’u (%7,82) epigastrik fıtıktanısı almıştı. Ek olarak hidrosel tanısı ile 11 (%9,57) olgu ameliyat edildi. On (%8,70) hastadapostoperatif minör komplikasyonlar gözlenirken, ameliyatların sonunda postoperatif mortalitegelişmedi.Tartışma ve Sonuç: Yeryüzü Doktorları; etkin bir tedavi modalitesi olarak cerrahinin, insani sağlıkyardımı programlarının düzenlenmesi sırasındaki planlamalarda en önemli önceliklerden birinioluşturması gerektiği kanısındadırlar.

OBJECTIVE: In Africa, there is critical shortage of surgeons. Majority of the surgeons work in urban centers, and almost none of them is working in the rural areas. This study documents surgical interventions performed in Guinea-Bissau by Doctors Worldwide Turkey. METHODS: A group of surgeons from the Doctors Worldwide Turkey performed various surgical interventions in the Simao Mendes, Gabu and Bafata community hospitals. Demographics, surgical methods, anesthesia tech niques and complications were recorded. RESULTS: Sixty- four procedures were undertaken between 5–16 February 2010 and 6–11 May 2011. The patient population consisted of 47 male (82.5%) and 10 female (17.5%) patients with a mean age of 44.5 (range: 6–81) years. Five emergency cases were observed. Hartmann’s procedure for rectal carcinoma; modified radical mastectomy for breast carcinoma; 2 right total thyroidectomies, 1 bilateral subtotal thyroidectomy; 2 incisional hernia repairs with mesh, 1 breast lumpectomy, 3 mass excisions, 2 keloidectomies, and various techniques of hernia repair for 35 inguinal hernias (4 bilateral, 3 strangulated and 2 coexisting with hydrocele), Winkelmann’s procedure for 5 hydroceles (1 bilateral), and unilateral orchiectomy for 1 bilateral hydrocele were recorded. Six teen patients received general (23.5%), 23 spinal (33.8%), 7 epidural (10.3%), 15 local (22.1%), and 7 ketamine (10.3%) anesthesia. There was no mortality. CONCLUSION: Surgical diseases, majority of which are hernias threaten public health in underdeveloped regions of Africa. Blitz surgery may be an efficient temporary solution.