Comparison of the Efficacy of Two Different Plane Blocks in Isolated Bypass Surgery: A Prospective Observational Study.

OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the effects of serratus anterior plane block (SPB) and its combination with transverse thoracic muscle plane block (TTPB) on analgesia, opioid consumption, incentive spirometry performance, and patient comfort. DESIGN: A prospective, observational study. SETTING: A university hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Adult patients scheduled for elective cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. INTERVENTIONS: Patients who received intravenous patient-controlled analgesia only were labeled as the control group. Patients who received additional SPB were labeled as the SPB group, and patients who received additional SPB and TTPB were labeled as the SPB+TTPB group. The visual analog scores for pain (VAS), time to first analgesic requirement, total tramadol requirement, incentive spirometry values, and patient comfort indices were recorded during the first 36 postoperative hours. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: From October 2020 to October 2021, data from 95 patients were analyzed. The VAS score was lower in the SPB+TTPB group at 0, 14, and 18 hours (p < 0.001, p = 0.028, p = 0.047, respectively). Time to first analgesic was longer in the SPB+TTPB group (8 hours v 0-2 hours, p = 0.001). Total tramadol consumption was similar among groups. Incentive spirometer performance was superior in the SPB+TTPB group (p < 0.001). The SPB group had similar success at 0, 14, and 18 hours. CONCLUSION: Although pain scores and opioid consumption were similar, the addition of TTPB to SPB improved pain scores during patient mobilization and incentive spirometry capacity.

Retrieval Practices Enhance Computational and Scientific Thinking Skills.

The notion of teaching experts' habits of mind (e.g., computational thinking and scientific thinking) to novices seems to have inspired many educators and researchers worldwide. In particular, a great deal of efforts has been invested in computational thinking (CT) and its manifestations in different fields. However, there remain some troubling spots in CT education as far as how to teach it at different levels of education. The same argument applies to teaching scientific thinking (ST) skills. A remedy has been suggested to narrow CT and ST skillsets down to core cognitive competencies so they can be introduced in early and middle grades and continue to be nurtured during secondary and post-secondary years. Neuroscientists suggest that the act of (computational) thinking is strongly linked to the acts of information storage/retrieval by our brain. Plus, years of research have shown that retrieval practices promote not only knowledge retention but also inductive reasoning and deductive reasoning. Not surprisingly, these reasoning skills are core elements of both CT and ST skillsets. This article will mesh the findings of a teacher professional development with the existing literature to lay a claim that retrieval practices enhance CT and ST skills. The study offered training to secondary school teachers (n = 275) who conducted classroom action research to measure the impact of retrieval practices on teaching and learning of STEM and CT concepts. We used a quasi-experimental research design with purposeful sampling and a sequential mixed-methods approach focusing on the impact of professional development on teacher outcomes and, in turn, on student outcomes. A survey of teacher participants showed that the majority (96%) of survey respondents (n = 232) reported a good understanding of retrieval strategies, and how relevant ideas can be implemented and tested in the classroom. A large number of action research (target-control) studies by teachers (n = 122) showed that students who learned STEM and CS concepts through retrieval practices consistently scored 5-30% higher than those using the usual blocked practice. In most cases, the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.05). While the study contributes to retrieval practices literature, those looking for best practices to teach core CT and ST skills should benefit from it the most. The study concludes with some recommendations for future research based on the limitations of its current findings.

HEV seroprevalence in blood donors in Turkey by two commercial total anti-HEV Ab ELISA kits.

Previous hepatitis E virus (HEV) seroprevalence studies in Turkey have shown high variabilities, leading to conflicting results. We aimed to re-evaluate HEV seroprevalence among blood donors in Turkey using the Wantai (Beijing, China) and the Dia.Pro (Milan, Italy) total anti-HEV antibody (Ab) enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits and compare their performances and to investigate the presence of HEV RNA in blood donors. Serum total anti-HEV antibodies were determined in a total of 2011 volunteer blood donor samples collected from different regions of Turkey (807 from Ankara, 243 from Kayseri, 284 from Izmir, 200 from Malatya, 200 from Kahramanmaras, and 277 from Van). HEV RNA was evaluated by a real-time polymerase chain reaction in a total of 272 anti-HEV seropositive samples. The country-wide HEV seroprevalence was calculated as 11.5% (Dia.Pro) and 12.2% (Wantai) with seropositivity rates of 12.0%-12.5% in Ankara, 7.4%-8.2% in Kayseri, 14.5%-15.5% in Malatya, 8.1%-8.8% in Izmir, 15.0%-16.0% in Kahramanmaras, and 12.6%-13.4% in Van by Dia.Pro and Wantai kits, respectively. The lowest detectable Ab concentrations were 0.16 and 0.14 units/mL WHO, for the Dia.Pro and the Wantai assays, respectively, showing no significant difference between assays. HEV RNA was not detected in any of the anti-HEV seropositive samples. Compared with previous studies, HEV was shown to have a higher overall seroprevalence in Turkey. Despite its limitation, the current study represents the most comprehensive HEV seroprevalence study in Turkey performed with two different commercial ELISA assays with high sensitivities so far. Further investigation is required to determine HEV genotypes in Turkey.

Phenotyping and genetic characterization of Salmonella enterica isolates from Turkey revealing arise of different features specific to geography.

192 Food samples (commonly consumed 8 food types), 355 animal samples (animal feces of bovine, ovine, goat and chicken) and 50 samples from clinical human cases in Sanliurfa city, Turkey in a year were collected to determine the Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica mosaic in Turkey. 161 Salmonella isolates represented 17 serotypes, 20 sequence types (STs) and 44 PFGE patterns (PTs). 3 serotypes, S. Enteritidis, S. Typhimurium and S. Kentucky, were recovered from three different hosts. The highest discriminatory power was obtained by PFGE (SID=0.945), followed by MLST (SID=0.902) and serotyping (SID=0.885) for all isolates. The prevalence of antimicrobial resistance genes (aadA1, aadA2, strA, strB, aphA1-Iab, blaTEM-1, blaPSE-1, tetA) was highly correlated with phenotypic profiles of aminoglycoside, ß-lactam and tetracycline groups (kappa >0.85). From our knowledge, this is the first study reporting spatial and temporal distribution of Salmonella species through phenotypic and genetic approaches over farm to fork chain in Turkey. Thus, our data provided further information for evolution, ecology and transmission of Salmonella in Turkey.