Gul, Melike Kevser; Demirci, Esra

The COVID-19 pandemic, which has entered our lives unexpectedly and rapidly and has been continuing for more than 1 year, seriously affects mental health as well as physical health. Still, restrictions have been continued in many countries due to the occurrence of new mutations, the lack of adequate vaccination, and the high number of cases and deaths. Although the disease progresses with milder symptoms in children and adolescents, their physical activity has been restricted during the pandemic to prevent the spread of disease, especially with the closure of schools. Children and adolescents continues to develop in physically, cognitive and emotionally, thus the effects of the pandemic can be devastating. Because of the effects of pandemic and fear of COVİD-19, depression, anxiety and PTSD have been observed more, on the other hand, screen time has increased with the closure of schools and increase of time spent at home, maybe it will be a predictive factor for behavioral addictions. At the same time, some behavioral problems have been observed and increased in children and adolescents especially with neurodevelopmental disorders. Children with special needs have become more sensitive to the effects of the pandemic due to disruption of special education pro-cesses. The pandemic, which is not yet clear when it will end, will continue to affect mental health of both children, adolescents and adults in the coming years not only now.

Calikoglu, Elif Oksan; Salcan, Sara; Akcay, Hilal Betul; Gumus, Ali; Aydin, Ozlem Dilara

Objectives: We aimed to determine the knowledge and attitudes of intensive. Methods: The population of this descriptive cross-sectional study was composed of 92 nurses working in three intensive-care units in Erzurum province center. Participation rate was 80.4% (n=74). Descriptive statistics were presented as mean +/- standard deviation, percentages, and frequency distributions. The Chi-Square test was used for bivariate comparisons, and p<0.05 was considered as statistically significant. Results: The mean age of the nurses participating in the study was 28.8 +/- 5.93 years The majority (73%, n=54) stated that religious beliefs did not prohibit organ donation, and 98.6% (n=73) admitted that organ donation in Turkey was not enough. Of the participants, 68.9% (n=51) were ready to receive organ transplantation in case of need. Those who accepted to receive organs were also ready to donate. Conclusion: Despite the relatively positive attitudes towards organ donation, action on getting donation cards is lacking, which suggests more vigorous actions concerning donation campaigns and educations is needed.

Koc, Ural; Eken, Huseyin

Introduction: Recent studies have not only reported that non-alcoholic fatty liver disease may be associated with cholecystectomy but also emphasized that cholecystectomy may be a risk factor for the accumulation of fat in the liver. In light of this information in the literature, in the present study, we compared the sonographic fatty infiltration grades of patients who had undergone cholecystectomy using laboratory findings obtained before and after the operation. Objective: Fifty-nine cases whose almost complete laboratory and sonographic data were available were included in the study. Patients were divided into three groups according to the preoperative period and postoperative follow-up periods as 3 months and 6-12 months. Results: In both groups, there was a statistically significant difference between the preoperative and postoperative steatosis and ultrasound (US) fatty infiltration grades (p<0.001). However, there were no statistically significant differences between the preoperative and two postoperative follow-up periods of US fatty liver grades alteration (p=0.650). The hepatic steatosis index had a significant correlation with steatosis and US fatty infiltration grades (Spearman's correlation rho=0.319 and rho=0.361, respectively, p<0.001). Conclusion: Cholecystectomy may lead to an increase in the level of fatty infiltration of the liver in the follow-up sonography, which may occur over a certain period of time through adaptive processes. Early postoperative US imaging for the purpose of hepatosteatosis follow-up is not necessary.

Ayazoglu, Tulin Akarsu; Gun, Yavuz; Onk, Didem

Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the effects of postoperative and preemptive epidural analgesia combined with total intravenous anesthesia (TIVA) on the incidence of postoperative delirium (POD) in patients undergoing major abdominal surgery for >= 4 h. Methods: In this prospective randomized study, after evaluating 158 patients, 110 patients who were more than 50 years old were divided as follows: Group A, which received postoperative epidural analgesia (n=57), and Group B, which received preemptive epidural analgesia (n=54) combined with TIVA. Before and after surgery, delirium was diagnosed using the Mini-Mental State Examination, Confusion Assessment Method, and writing test. Risk factors for delirium were determined. Results: The overall incidence of delirium was 8.1% (9/110). POD was seen in five patients in Group A and four patients in Group B. The mean age of patients diagnosed with POD was 67.3 +/- 4.1 years, and this was greater than that of the remaining study patients (p=0.001). The average time until the onset of delirium was 2.2 +/- 0.8 days, and the mean duration of delirium was 6.3 +/- 4.2 days; however, there were no significant differences when comparing Group A patients with Group B patients in terms of these parameters (p>0.05). Significant risk factors for the development of delirium were old age, previous history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, male sex, being single, and excess smoking (p<0.001). Conclusion: Older patients showed POD within the first 3 days after undergoing major abdominal surgery. The incidence of delirium was not different between the patients who received postoperative epidural analgesia and those who received preemptive epidural analgesia combined with TIVA.