The purpose of this study is to evaluate the attitudes of healthcare professionals toward the COVID −19 vaccine, which has been introduced to healthcare professionals at the beginning of 2021 and give information to them on the disease and vaccine. This cross-sectional analytical study has been performed by conducting an online survey to the healthcare professionals who work at the healthcare institutions in the province of Samsun in Turkey between December 2020 and January 2021. In addition to sixteen questions about the demographic characteristics, the “Attitudes towards the COVID −19 vaccine” scale has been used. MANOVA test and Spearman rho correlation coefficient were used in analytical examinations. A total of 1426 healthcare professional have been reached. 64.3% of participants were female, 44.1% were nurse/midwife and 66.6% were public employees. Regarding the questions in the sub-dimension of positive attitude, the rate of response of “I agree/I strongly agree” was between 40.6% and 54.6%. Positive attitude mean values differ according to gender, age, institution, presence of children, smoking status, being a relative who died due to COVID −19, and profession (respectively p < .001, p < .001, p < .001, p < .001, p = .002, p = .019, p < .001). It has been observed that positive and negative attitudes toward COVID −19 vaccination are almost equally distributed and some demographic factors affect the attitude. The opinions of healthcare professionals on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine, which are the main elements of the vaccination effort, may affect the public perception of vaccination.

Article: Palivizumab prophylaxis, respiratory syncytial virus and subsequent development of asthma - Minerva Pediatrica 2018 June;70(3):252-9 - Minerva Medica - Journals

Apitherapy is the use of honey bee products for health and it has been used for similar purposes for a very long time by the public. These products have examples of healing affecting whole body systems. The approach and education of apitherapy in medical schools are inadequate. In this study, the level of knowledge and opinions about apitherapy were investigated in junior and senior students at the medical faculty. A questionnaire about the knowledge and opinions on apitherapy was applied to the students who were determined by randomization in term 1 (n = 100) and 6 (n = 100). Gender distribution within and between terms was almost equal. Apitherapy was the second most commonly known method of complementary medicine in term 1 (55%) and the sixth in term 6 (49%). Honey was the most commonly experienced product in both terms, (1: 69% and 6: 64%) and term 1 students tried all products more often except for propolis. The vast majority of students in both terms did not know the action mechanisms of bee pollen, propolis and bee poison. This study demonstrated that knowledge and experience of apitherapy among the future’s doctors were limited. Placing apitherapy in the curriculum and increasing the number of apitherapist teaching members will increase their tendency to use apitherapy.

Monocytes secrete pro-inflammatory and pro-oxidant cytokines as part of inflammatory reactions. High-density lipoproteins have anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. This study investigated the potential use of the monocyte-to-high-density lipoprotein ratio in the follow-up of major depressive disorder. The study group was composed of patients with newly diagnosed or preexisting major depressive disorder who applied to a psychiatric clinic and did not receive antidepressant treatment in the last 2 weeks. These patients were tested for the monocyte-to-high-density lipoprotein ratio in the psychiatric outpatient clinic both in the first interview and at their follow-up at 2 months. The control group, on the other hand, consisted of subjects who presented to the checkup clinic without any complaints. The study included a total of 98 individuals aged between 18 and 62 years, including 66 women and 32 men. The proportion of women in the study group was higher than that in the control group (P = .002). Patients in the study group had higher first high-density lipoprotein levels than healthy controls (P = .026). Beck’s Depression Inventory scores of the study group decreased significantly from the first to the second interview (P < .001). There was no significant correlation between the percentage of change in Beck’s Depression Inventory scores and the percentage of change in the monocyte-to-high-density lipoprotein ratio (P = .271). The high-density lipoprotein levels in healthy controls were not higher than those in the group with major depressive disorder; monocyte levels did not differ between the groups and the monocyte-to-high-density lipoprotein ratio was not superior to Beck’s Depression Inventory and could not be used in prognosis.