Social anxiety level in Turkish adolescents.

Social phobia is a mental disorder characterized by extreme and consistent fear of meeting new people, scrutiny in a variety of performance and/or interactional situations. The aim of this study was to investigate the level of self-reported social anxiety in a community sample of Turkish adolescents and the relationship between social anxiety and some sociodemographic parameters. This study was a school-based cross-sectional study. Students in grades 6-8 (aged 10-16) from 12 schools in Kocaeli/Turkey were screened by the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A). The correlations of sociodemographic parameters with the SAS-A scores were examined. Data from a sample of 1,713 students (865 boys 50.4% and 848 girls 49.5%) were analyzed. A significant gender difference in the SAS-A points was found. Boys reported higher SAS-A total and subscale scores (except social avoidance and distress-general subscale score) than did girls. A significant negative correlation was found between socioeconomic status and social anxiety level. SAS-A scores were higher in those with a low socioeconomic level, and who were going to rural schools. The result of this study showed that social phobic symptoms among Turkish adolescents were more severe in boys. Some factors such as low socioeconomic level, and going to a rural school had impact on the SAS-A scores. As the impairment in the school-domain was reported to be quite high, professionals and teachers need to recognize social anxiety in adolescents, so that help can be offered to overcome the difficulties social phobia causes.

[Prospective evaluation of the risk factors, etiology and the antimicrobial susceptibilities of the isolates in nosocomial bacteremic patients]. / Nozokomiyal bakteriyemili hastalarda risk faktörleri, etiyoloji ve izole edilen etkenlerin antibiyotik duyarliliklarinin prospektif olarak degerlendirilmesi.

This study was aimed to assess the frequency, risk factors and etiology of bacteremia and antimicrobial susceptibilities of strains isolated from adult bacteremic patients hospitalized in Kocaeli University Hospital, Turkey during a 12-month period. Blood specimens obtained from a total of 2602 patients after at least 48 hours of hospitalization, were cultured in aerobic BACTEC 9120 and BACTEC 9050 (Becton-Dickinson, USA) automatized systems, and the identification and antibiotic susceptibilities of bacteria were performed by VITEK 1 (bioMerieux, France) system. Blood cultures of a total of 385 (14.7%) patients yielded bacterial growth; the contamination rate being 9.1% (238/2602) and nosocomial bacteria rate being 5.6% (147/2602). The distribution of the 147 (81 female, 67 male) bacteremic patients were as follows: 45% internal ward, 28% surgical ward and 27% intensive care unit. A total of 148 patients (81 female, 67 male) with no growth in their blood cultures were randomly chosen as the control group. The pathogens isolated from nosocomial bacteremias revealed 101 gram-positive bacteria (68.7%), 39 gram- negative bacilli (26.5%) and seven Candida species (4.7%). The most frequent gram-positive bacteria were staphylococci 84/101; 83.1%) and gram-negative bacteria were E. coli (14/39; 35.8%). Coagulase negative staphylococci (CNS) were isolated from 79% of the cultures evaluated as contaminants. Methicillin resistance was determined in 61.6% of S. aureus and 68.1% of CNS. Extended spectrum beta-lactamases were detected in 64% of E. coli, 62% of Pseudomonas spp., 47% of Klebsiella spp. and 24% of Acinetobacter spp. and resistance rates to ceftazidime and beta-lactam/beta-lactamase inhibitor combinations in these strains were 39-67%. The most effective drug group was found to be carbapenems with 3-26% resistance rates. The evalution of risk factors between patient and control groups revealed that mechanical ventilation (p < 0.05) and interventional catheters (except for intravenous catheters) (p < 0.05) were the most frequent sources of bacteremias. The most frequent focus of infection were the lungs (29.9%), followed by abdominal and catheter originated infections (23.8% each). The high rate of antibiotic resistance determined in the nosocomial bacterial isolates in our hospital indicated that antibiotic use policies in our setting should be taken under control. The high rate of contamination in blood cultures emphasize that more attention should paid for continous education about collection of blood culture specimens.