SUMMARY BACKGROUND Healthcare personnel are at risk of becoming infected while taking upper and/or lower respiratory tract specimens. Therefore, there is a need for sampling methods that do not risk infecting them. In this study, we aimed to compare the saliva and Oro-Nasopharyngeal Swab (ONS) sampling methods. METHODS Patients were divided into three groups. Group 1 included patients whose diagnosis of COVID-19 was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Group 2 included patients with COVID-19 compatible findings in lung computed tomography (CT), but with a negative PCR. Group 3 included patients who presented to the emergency department with COVID-19 compatible complaints but had normal CT. Saliva and ONS samples were taken on the third day of hospitalization in groups 1 and 2, whereas in group 3, they were taken at the time of admission to the hospital. RESULTS A total of 64 patients were included in the study. The average age was 51.04 ± 17.9 years, and 37 (57.8%) were male. SARS-CoV-2 was detected in 27 (42.2%) patients’ saliva samples. While the sensitivity and positive predictive value of saliva samples were 85.2%, specificity and negative predictive value were 89.2%. The value of kappa was in substantial agreement (0.744), and it was found statistically significant (<0.001). CONCLUSIONS Saliva samples can be used instead of ONS samples in detecting SARS-CoV-2. Investigating SARS-CoV-2 with saliva is cheaper, easier for the patient and overall, and, most importantly, it poses much less risk of SARS-CoV-2 contamination to healthcare personnel.

Objective: Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) is the most important treatment method that increases survival in advanced-stage ovarian cancer (OC) patients. However, complications after CRS are seen as a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Preoperative risk assessment of patients is of great importance. In recent years, inflammatory markers have been the subject of many studies evaluating malignancy and surgical outcomes. Ca125, Neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet–lymphocyte ratio (PLR), Monocyte–lymphocyte ratio (MLR), systemic inflammation index (SII), and systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI) stand out as prognostic and predictive tools in malignancies. This study aims to evaluate the preoperative inflammatory markers in patients who underwent CRS for advanced-stage epithelial ovarian cancer and to investigate the predictive power of postoperative complications. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study examines patients who underwent CRS due to advanced-stage epithelial OC at Sakarya University Training and Research Hospital between 2014 and 2023. Postoperative complications of the patients were graded according to the Clavien–Dindo classification (CDC); Ca125, NLR, PLR, SII, SIRI and MLR values were calculated using preoperative laboratory data, and the predictive values of inflammatory markers were analysed with ROC curves. Results: A significant relationship was found between complications with CDC ≥ 3 and NLR, PLR, MLR, SII, and SIRI. The AUC value of SII was calculated as 0.740 (p < 0.001), NLR as 0.719 (p = 0.001), PLR as 0.668 (p = 0.011), and SIRI as 0.651 (p = 0.022). SII stands out as the marker with the highest predictive power. SII is a strong marker in predicting postoperative complications, especially in advanced-stage OC patients. Conclusions: It was shown that preoperative inflammation markers may be an effective method for predicting postoperative complications in advanced-stage OC patients undergoing CRS. These findings may contribute to optimising surgical management and reducing complications. In future studies, these markers should be evaluated in groups with more patients, and their predictive power should be investigated.

Gıdalar NOVA gıda sınıflandırmasına göre dört alt kategoride sınıflandırılmaktadır. NOVA Kategori-4: Ultra işlenmiş gıdalar gazlı içecekleri, paketlenmiş tuzlu ve tatlı atıştırmalık ürünleri, yeniden yapılandırılan hayvansal ürünleri (salam, sosis, hazır kıyma ürünleri gibi), önceden hazırlanmış gıdaları, ön-pişirilmiş ve dondurulmuş gıdaları kapsamaktadır. Ultra-işlenmiş gıdaların lezzetlerinin güzel, kolay ulaşılabilir ve ucuz olmaları sebebi ile tüketimi ve bu sebeple sağlıksız beslenme ile morbidite ve mortaliteyi de arttırdığı gözlemlenmiştir. Bu sağlık problemlerine örnekler tip-2 diyabet, obezite, kardiyovasküler hastalıklar, gastrointestinal hastalıklar ve kanserdir. Literatürde yapılan çalışmalar kapsamında, mevcut derlemede ultra-işlenmiş gıdaları ve sağlık üzerindeki yaygın etkileri ortaya konmuştur. Güncel veriler doğrultusunda ultra işlenmiş gıda tüketimini ve sağlık üzerindeki etkilerini azaltabilmek için ulusal ve uluslararası düzeyde yeni beslenme politikaları ve kılavuzlarının geliştirilmesi önem arz etmektedir.

OBJECTIVE: Exercise is a nonpharmacological supportive therapy which has been specifically identified to reduce postoperative complications or adverse events of cancer or treatments. Although there are few studies combining resistance and aerobic exercise in cancer survivors, exercise programs are very rare in different places in the literature. This study aims to investigate the effects of mixedtype exercise in different venues on weight, body mass index, fatigue, and quality of life in cancer survivors. METHODS: This is a descriptive, intervention study. Participants were included in the study, and the exercise process was between January and November 2019. The exercise group consisted of 32 patients who had just completed their breast cancer treatment and did not have distant metastases, and they applied a mixed exercise program including resistance at home and aerobic exercise in the fitness center for 12 weeks. The patients with breast cancer in the control group (30 patients) did not receive any exercise program. RESULTS: Subjective feelings of fatigue and decrease in concentration, motivation, and physical activity significantly decreased after exercise (p<0.001, p<0.001, p=0.006, p=0.008, and p<0.001, respectively) in the study group. The results also showed that physical health, general health status, and emotional and social health status significantly increased with the exercise program (p<0.001, p<0.001, p=0.004, and p=0.003, respectively). CONCLUSION: Our results show that a mixed (fitness center and home) 12-week exercise program provides an improvement in general health and reduces the side effects of the treatments and fatigue in patients with breast cancer. For a good prognostic process after medical treatment, exercise can be recommended in every accessible area.

Epidemic and pandemic outbreak periods are as stressful for psychiatric symptoms as well as the physical symptoms of the epidemic disease and can trigger and aggravate psychiatric symptoms, especially anxiety. There is no scale specific to the outbreak period and which can be used in other outbreaks. In this study, it was planned to develop a scale to evaluate the anxiety associated with epidemic disease, especially during the epidemic period. In this study, a Likert type scale with 15 items was developed by our research team to evaluate outbreak disease anxiety, and the scale form created was transferred to online use and the reliability of validity was evaluated by obtaining the results of 311 participants in the online environment. The internal consistency of the scale was assessed with Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients. Split-half reliability was estimated using Spearman-Brown coefficients unequel length. Explanatory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis in AMOS, correlation analysis, and construct validity analysis (convergent validity and discriminant validity) were conducted. Beck Anxiety Inventory and Health Anxiety Inventory was used to evaluate concurrent and discriminant validity. The Cronbach Alpha coefficient calculated for the evaluation of the internal consistency (homogeneity) of the outbreak anxiety scale was determined as 0.94 and this value shows that the scale has high reliability. With the results of this study, the scale’s content validity and construct validity, discrimination, and criterion validity were evaluated and it was shown to have acceptable valid features in all. Outbreak anxiety scale is a valid and reliable tool to evaluate anxiety related with outbreak of epidemic and pandemic disease.

Araştırmada bir hastaneye başvuran nullipar gebelerin erken gebelik haftalarındaki doğum şekli tercihini ve bunu tercih etme nedenlerini, gebeliğin ilerlemesi ile tercih edilen doğum şeklinin değişip değişmediğini ve tercih edilen doğum şekilleriyle gerçekleşen doğum şekilleri arasında fark olup olmadığını belirlemek amaçlanmıştır. Kesitsel tipte tanımlayıcı olarak planlanan bu araştırmaya Sakarya Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi Kadın Doğum kampüsü gebe polikliniğine herhangi bir nedenle başvuran ve araştırmaya katılmayı kabul eden 18 yaş ve üstü 232 nullipar gebe dahil edilmiştir. Gebelerle üç görüşme yapılmış olup veriler bu görüşmelerde araştırmacı tarafından hazırlanan anket yardımıyla toplanmıştır. Birinci görüşmede sezaryen tercih etme oranı %5,6, ikinci görüşmede %8,5 olmasına ve doktorların da önerilerinin bu oranlara yakın olmasına rağmen gerçekleşen sezaryen oranı %44,3 gibi yüksek bir değerdir. Gerçekleşen doğum şekli, ilk görüşmede ve ikinci görüşmede tercih edilen doğum şekillerinden anlamlı bir şekilde farklıydı (p