SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: The objective of the present study was to verify the indication of common mental disorder and changes in healthy lifestyle among individuals affected by coronavirus disease, as well as to evaluate if changes in healthy lifestyle are predictors of common mental disorder. METHODS: This descriptive, cross-sectional study employed an exploratory approach and quantitative methodology, using the Self-Reporting Questionnaire to assess the indication of common mental disorder and questions regarding healthy lifestyle during the pandemic. RESULTS: A total of 280 individuals affected by coronavirus disease, aged 18 years and above, participated in the study. The average indication for common mental disorder was 5.0±5.34. The average age was characterized by adults (41.24±14.03 years), with the majority being women (57.9%), White (51.4%), and those in stable relationships (55.7%). Worsening sleep quality (β==6.327; p<0.001) was the main predictor of common mental disorder, followed by female gender (β==2.814; p<0.001) and worsening dietary habits (β==2.227; p<0.012). CONCLUSION: These factors should be considered in the assessment of individuals affected by coronavirus disease to provide comprehensive care.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: Autoimmune hepatitis is a rare inflammatory disease of the liver that is characterized by elevated liver enzymes. The hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet score, which is derived from hemoglobin, serum albumin, circulating lymphocyte count, and platelet count, is also associated with inflammatory conditions. The aim was to examine the hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet score of patients with autoimmune hepatitis and to compare it to that of healthy individuals in this retrospective analysis. METHODS: Subjects diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis were enrolled in the study, and healthy individuals were enrolled as controls. Moreover, autoimmune hepatitis subjects were grouped into mild or moderate/advanced fibrosis. Furthermore, aspartate to platelet ratio index, Fibrosis-4, and hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet scores of the autoimmune hepatitis patients and controls were compared. In addition, the hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet score of the autoimmune hepatitis patients with mild fibrosis is compared to that of those with moderate/advanced fibrosis. RESULTS: The mean hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet score of the autoimmune hepatitis patients was 44.2±14.5 while this value was 76.8±15.5 in control subjects. The hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet score was significantly reduced in autoimmune hepatitis patients than healthy controls (p<0.001). The hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet score was significantly and negatively correlated with C-reactive protein, aspartate, alanine transaminase, gamma glutamyl transferase, aspartate to platelet ratio index, and Fibrosis-4 values. A hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet score that was lower than 52.3 had 83% sensitivity and 73% specificity in predicting autoimmune hepatitis. The sensitivity and specificity of the hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet score were higher than the Fibrosis-4 score in predicting moderate/advanced fibrosis in autoimmune hepatitis. CONCLUSION: We suggest that the hemoglobin, albumin, lymphocyte, and platelet score be used as an additional noninvasive diagnostic tool for autoimmune hepatitis and to predict moderate/advanced liver fibrosis in patients with autoimmune hepatitis.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify the best method to replace cystatin C in the evaluation of glomerular filtration in the elderly. METHODS: Individuals over 60 years of age from a primary care center were studied. Blood was collected to determine creatinine and cystatin C and 24-h urine. Three methods were compared to determine glomerular filtration: Creatinine clearance, Cocroft-Gault, modification of diet in renal disease, and Collaboration Epidemiology of Chronic Kidney Disease based on creatinine, considering as a reference the determination of glomerular filtration using the cystatin-based Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equation. The statistical methods used were linear regression, Bland-Altman curve, and receiver operating characteristic. RESULTS: A total of 180 elderly people were evaluated, but 14 patients were lost from the sample, resulting in a total of 166 patients. The average age of patients was 66.9±6.1 years, and 69.8% were females. Regarding the number of patients eligible for the study, there were 12 black, 108 brown, and 46 white, 42.77% hypertensive, and 38.3% diabetic. Glomerular filtration was less than 60 mL/min in 22.28% of patients. Regarding the evaluation of the different equations, the correlation coefficient was lower for creatinine clearance and progressively higher for Cocroft-Gault, modification of diet in renal disease, and Collaboration Epidemiology of Chronic Kidney Disease based on creatinine. The Bland-Altman diagram and the receiver operating characteristic curve showed similar performance to the correlation coefficient for the different equations evaluated. CONCLUSION: Collaboration Epidemiology of Chronic Kidney Disease based on creatinine presented the best performance. Creatinine debug had the worst performance, which reinforces the idea that 24-h urine collection is unnecessary in these patients.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine older individuals’ rational drug use behavior, their knowledge of rational drug use, and the factors affecting it. METHODS: This study was conducted cross-sectionally with 440 patients aged 65 years who received inpatient treatment in internal medicine and surgery clinics between October 2021 and November 2022 using a Rational Drug Use Scale and rational drug use behavior questions. RESULTS: The findings showed that the mean age of older adults was 72.56±5.84 years, and 51.8% were men. It was determined that 79.1% of the older adults did not check their expiration date before using the medicines, and 85.9% of them retained the remaining medicines after treatment. Results indicated that 77.3% of older adults knew less about rational drug use. Additionally, a significant difference was observed between older adults’ marital status, educational status, possession of outdated drugs at home, self-use of antibiotics without examination, and mean score on the Rational Drug Use Scale (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: The results showed that the rational drug use knowledge level of older adults was low and that there were differences in the knowledge levels of rational drug use according to certain behaviors and factors.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to elucidate fibrosis in patients who visited our outpatient clinic with complaints such as abdominal pain and dyspepsia and who had fatty liver by ultrasound imaging. METHODS: A total of 119 patients who were admitted to the gastroenterology outpatient clinic of our institution with incidentally detected hepatosteatosis on ultrasound imaging were included in the study. Patients with hepatosteatosis were examined for fibrosis with the FibroScan-502-touch (Echosens, Paris, France) elastic tissue ultrasonography device. The effects of these parameters on hepatosteatosis and possible fibrosis degree were investigated. RESULTS: No fibrosis was detected in 75 (63.02%) patients with hepatosteatosis on ultrasound imaging, 20 (10.05%) F1, 22 (18.48%) F2, 1 (0.8%) F3, and 0.1 (0.8%) F4. Accordingly, as the degree of steatosis increases in patients with incidentally detected hepatosteatosis, the degree and frequency of fibrosis increase with statistical significance (p<0.05). A statistically significant difference was found between the alanine transaminase increase and the hepatosteatosis degree (p=0.028). The median value of gamma-glutamyltransferase was 15 U/L in S0, 18.5 U/L in S1, 22 U/L in S2, and 26 U/L in S3 (p<0.047). CONCLUSION: To date, no research exists on fibrosis in patients with incidental hepatosteatosis. The outcomes of this study elaborated that patients with hepatosteatosis in the community could be detected at least at an early stage by following up and diagnosing them with serum markers before they progress to end-stage fibrosis.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: Knee osteoarthritis is a common and disabling disease. We aimed to examine the effect of low-level laser therapy in addition to routine physical therapy modalities (transcutaneous electrical stimulation, superficial heating modality of infrared, ultrasound, and exercise) on the functional status and pain in knee osteoarthritis. METHODS: Patients with knee osteoarthritis (n=71) who underwent physical therapy (transcutaneous electrical stimulation, infrared, ultrasound, exercise therapy, and low-level laser therapy) were retrospectively screened. Patients who received low-level laser therapy on acupuncture points, transcutaneous electrical stimulation, infrared, ultrasound, and exercise were included in the low-level laser therapy (+) (n=35), and patients who received only transcutaneous electrical stimulation, ultrasound, infrared, and exercise were included in the low-level laser therapy (–) group (n=36). The Visual Analog Scale for activity pain, Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale, and walking and stair climbing tests were used before and after treatment obtained from patient files. RESULTS: The post-treatment Visual Analog Scale activity score and walking and stair climbing test results were statistically significantly lower in the low-level laser therapy (+) group than in the low-level laser therapy (–) group. There was no significant difference in post-treatment Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale scores between the two groups. In both groups, the Visual Analog Scale activity, Lysholm Knee Scoring Scale, and walking and stair climbing test scores statistically significantly decreased after treatment. CONCLUSION: Knee osteoarthritis increases with aging and creates significant functional limitations. low-level laser therapy with routine physiotherapy contributed to the improvement in the pain and functional status of the patients with knee osteoarthritis. Low-level laser therapy can be recommended in osteoarthritis treatment guidelines with the support of further studies, which is an easy-to-apply, effective, and reliable method.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to determine the effect of cranberry extract used in patients with single urinary tract infections. METHODS: Patients with simple-type urinary tract infections were divided into two groups. Treatment with fosfomycin or cranberry tablet was started. On days 1, 3, and 7 of the treatment, whether there was a decrease in the complaints was evaluated with a Likert-type scale. The recovery status of urinary tract infections and the well-being of patients were compared via antibiotic and cranberry groups. RESULTS: After the treatment, the leukocyte levels of the cranberry users were at the same level as those of the other group, and the rate of well-being and the portion of patients that reported to be “very well” on days 3 and 7 in the cranberry group was significantly higher compared with the fosfomycin group (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Considering the results of this study, it was determined that the patient's complaints decreased from day 3 and their well-being increased with the use of cranberry only. Specifically, on day 7, the well-being of the cranberry group was higher than that of the fosfomycin group. For this reason, cranberry is a favorable alternative to antibiotics in uncomplicated and simple urinary tract infections.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: Isotretinoin is the only medication against all the factors involved in acne vulgaris pathogenesis. The aim of our study was to verify whether patients with acne vulgaris receiving isotretinoin therapy exhibit elevated anger levels and to observe the correlation between age, temperament traits, and anger. METHODS: The study group comprised a sum of 100 cases, involving 50 individuals with acne vulgaris-required high-dose retinol therapy and 50 controls who did not start any medication. RESULTS: Our study showed that anger levels increased with drug use. A positive correlation between cyclothymic temperament, the anxiety-related behavior subdimension, and the introvert and passive-aggressive subdimension of interpersonal anger reactions has been recognized. In addition, a positive one was observed between hyperthymic temperament and the introvert subdimension, which is one of the anger-related thoughts and interpersonal anger reactions. CONCLUSION: This study elucidates anger dimensions such as anger-related thoughts, behaviors, and reactions in individuals who received retinol treatment for acne vulgaris. In addition to anger and its dimensions, temperament was also investigated. Although several studies have investigated the relationship between acne vulgaris and psychiatric symptoms, to the best of our knowledge, no research has been reported in the English-language literature regarding the relationship between anger dimensions and temperament after retinol treatment that might make our study an original and valuable contribution to the literature.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: The growing availability of devices for mobile learning has created new opportunities for teaching. With the development of smartphone apps based on audience response systems, there is a possibility to quickly assess student knowledge. The education of health professionals, including medical students, is an essential strategy for tuberculosis control. In the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, audience response systems are very useful as online assessment tools. The aim of this study was to use the audience response systems Socrative to assess medical students during a class on tuberculosis. METHODS: This is a quasi-experimental before-and-after study, with pre- and post-tests carried out through the Socrative app, respectively, before and after a lecture on tuberculosis for medical students. Also, a cross-sectional study was carried out after the course to evaluate the participant's satisfaction through an electronic, structured questionnaire with a Likert-type scale. RESULTS: A total of 126 students were included in the study. The overall mean pre- and post-test scores were 5.98±1.59 and 8.37±1.36, respectively, with a statistically significant difference (p<0.0001). Almost all students were totally satisfied with the use of Socrative on pre- and post-tests. CONCLUSION: This study describes how the use of Socrative in a tuberculosis class was well received by students. In addition, the baseline knowledge on tuberculosis was low in some topics, with some improvement after the lecture. These findings emphasize the need to further improve the students’ knowledge on tuberculosis and help instructors customize the lecture based on the gaps identified in the Socrative assessment.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the postpartum hemorrhage, perineal integrity, and breastfeeding results of mothers who underwent oxytocin induction in the first stage of labor in the early postpartum period. METHODS: This single-center observational case–control study was conducted in the obstetric unit of a public hospital in Istanbul. The study sampling included 44 pregnant women who received oxytocin induction (case group) and 44 pregnant women who did not receive oxytocin (control group). The Personal Information Form, LATCH Breastfeeding Assessment Tool, Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale, Redness, Edema, Ecchymosis, Discharge, and Approximation Scale, and Postpartum Hemorrhage Collection Bag were used in data collection, and pad follow-up was carried out. RESULTS: The amount of hemorrhage in the first 24 h of the postpartum period and the mean Redness, Edema, Ecchymosis, Discharge, and Approximation Scale score were significantly higher in the case group. While 47.7% of the oxytocin-induced women had 1st or 2nd, and 11.4% had 3rd or 4th degrees of lacerations, 20.5% of the control group had 1st or 2nd, and 2.3% had 3rd or 4th degrees of lacerations. There was no significant difference between the mean scores of the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale and LATCH Breastfeeding Assessment Tool in both groups. CONCLUSION: According to the study findings, it was determined that oxytocin induction administered in the first stage of labor increased hemorrhage and perineal trauma in the early postpartum period but did not affect the results of breastfeeding. Clinical Trial Registration Number: NCT04441125.

SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the results and efficiency of two real-time polymerase chain reaction procedures for detecting human papillomavirus utilizing urine samples. METHODS: This study comprised 151 patients who had previously tested positive for human papillomavirus in their cervical samples. Two different commercial real-time polymerase chain reaction techniques were used for identification and genotyping human papillomavirus in urine specimens. The urine samples of 151 patients were evaluated via the Roche Cobas test, and the urine samples of 91 patients were also evaluated via the Qiagen test. RESULTS: The overall consistency of urine and cervical swab specimens for the identification of human papillomavirus in Roche Cobas and Qiagen tests were 44.8 and 44%, respectively. The rates of positive human papillomavirus results from urine samples were 57 and 70.3%, respectively. The overall concordance among Roche Cobas and Qiagen tests utilizing urine samples for human papillomavirus type 16/18 was 84.3% with a kappa value of 0.675, and for other high-risk-human papillomavirus, it was 75.60% with a kappa value of 0.535. Roche Cobas showed high concordance with Qiagen test. CONCLUSION: human papillomavirus positivity was not detected in all urine samples. It is still inappropriate to recommend the use of urine liquid biopsy for the accurate and reliable detection of human papillomavirus. Due to the lack of a standardized tool, the utilization of urine samples as a screening human papillomavirus test remains a challenge.