Physical activity, anxiety, depression, and coping in Turkish men and women during the first wave of COVID-19.

A need exists to better understand the relationships between COVID-19, coping behaviors, physical activity and stress, and COVID-19's impact on way of life. A cross-sectional study design was used to examine adult physical activity, hope, depression, anxiety, and coping status by gender during the COVID-19 pandemic, and to determine the impact of these variables on the coping process. The study also examined the effect of gender on the relation between physical activity and dependent variables. A global survey instrument was used in this study, including 1,400 Turkish adults. This study identified significant gender-based differences regarding physical activity, hope, depression, anxiety, and coping status of adults, although no significant gender-based difference was found regarding hope scores. Furthermore, physical activity directly influenced coping (ß = 0.10), hope (ß = 0.12), and anxiety (ß = -0.08). Hope directly and positively influenced coping (ß = 0.45) and directly and negatively influenced anxiety (ß = -0.25) and depression (ß = -0.28). Moreover, gender did not directly affect physical activity, but it was associated with decreased coping and increased depression and anxiety. Finally, gender had no effect on the relation between physical activity and hope, coping, depression, and anxiety (p > 0.01). These outcomes support the critical importance of physical activity and hope when coping with COVID-19 regardless of gender.

Bisphenol derivatives in cord blood and association between thyroid hormones and potential exposure sources.

Endocrine-disrupting environmental chemicals are a public health concern, particularly fetal exposure to Bisphenol derivatives. This study aimed to assess fetal exposure to Bisphenol derivatives (BPA, BPF, and BPS) by measuring their levels in cord blood and investigating their association with plastic material used in daily life as well as cord blood TSH and free L-thyroxine (fT4) levels. In this descriptive study, a questionnaire with a face-to-face interview was administered before birth, and cord blood samples were taken immediately after delivery. The mean levels of BPA, BPF, TSH, and fT4 were measured as 10.69 ± 2.39 ng/ml, 3.80 ± 0.58 ng/ml; 2.36 ± 0.23 µIU/ml, and 14.18 ± 0.53 pg/ml, respectively, in a total of 104 cord blood samples. All BPS levels remained below the detection limit. Linear regression analysis revealed a positive association between birth weight and cord blood BPA concentration (ß = 0.26; p = 0.02). Further research on maternal exposure during the fetal and neonatal period is critical for public health.

Correlation Between Daily PM10, Nitrogen Dioxide, and Ozone Measurements with the Stringency Index in 15 Different Districts of a Big Metropolis.

OBJECTIVE: Studies have investigated the effects of lockdowns on air quality around the world and found that fine particulate matter and nitrogen dioxide concentrations decreased due to reduced human activity, while ozone concentrations increased. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the correlation between daily stringency index values of our country and daily PM10, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone measurements in different districts of Istanbul between March 1, 2020, and February 28, 2022. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Ministry of Environment and Urbanization and National Air Quality Monitoring Network data on Istanbul air quality monitoring stations were used. The analysis included 15 stations that can monitor at least 75% of the days in a year. PM10, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone were the main pollutants analyzed. RESULTS: There was negative correlation between daily PM10 measurements and daily stringency index values in 3 stations; there was positive correlation in 6 stations. Between daily stringency index values and daily nitrogen dioxide measurements, there was a negative correlation in 3 stations and a positive correlation in 1 station. The daily measurements of 1 station showed a negative correlation with the daily values of stringency index for both PM10 and nitrogen dioxide. In 1 station, while PM10 measures were negatively correlated with stringency index, nitrogen dioxide measurements were positively correlated. CONCLUSION: This study showed that pandemic limitations could not improve Istanbul's air quality everywhere. For adequate evaluation of impact of the limitations on air quality, it may be more relevant to study the socioeconomic infrastructure of each living area, the sociospatial inequality, industrial employment, the number of households, the density of employee class, and so on with all influencing factors that could have contributed to these various changes.

Changing of risk factors related to diarrhoea among children aged under 5 within ten years in Turkey.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to determine the risk factors of childhood diarrhoea in Turkey throughout Turkey Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) 1998 and 2008 data. METHODS: This study is a further analysis of the database of children under 5 years of age from the Turkey Demographic and Health Survey. Binomial logistic regression and Chi square analysis were used by weighted data of Turkey Demographic and Health Surveys. RESULTS: In 1998 DHS there were 3,459 and in 2008 DHS 3,463 children under 5 years of age. Diarrhoea prevalence was 30.1% and 18.3%, respectively. Multivariate analysis revealed that household wealth status index, region, mother's education, mother's age (15-19 age), age (under 2 years of age), and sex (male) of the child were the risk factors for 1998 DHS. In 2008 significant risk factors were geographic region, education of the mother and father, breastfeeding status of the child (still being breastfed), mother's age (20-29 age group), and age of child (under 2 years of age). CONCLUSIONS: As a result, patterns of the risk factors of diarrhoea has changed from 1998 to 2008 DHS in Turkey. However, impact of factors related with socioeconomic environment such as region and mother's education persisted.

Environmental consciousness of students from secondary and high schools in Bodrum, Turkey.

In this study, it is aimed to determine environmental awareness of secondary and high school students in Bodrum, Turkey. This cross-sectional designed study was conducted on 381 students from secondary school and 335 high school students between 5th and 12th grades in Bodrum. In order to assess the environmental consciousness level, a questionnaire form consisting 58 questions and 17 statements for evaluation of environmental consciousness was developed by researchers. t test was used for the difference between the distribution of percentages and the difference between the averages of environmental consciousness level. The top three environmental health issues that were determined as "very harmful" were "smoking, air pollution resulting from power plants and being in a smoking area" for secondary school students and "smoking, air pollution resulting from power plants and ozone depletion" for high school students. Both in secondary and high school students, the mean environmental consciousness level of female students was higher than that of male students. The mean environmental consciousness level was 12.4 ± 2.7 for secondary school students and 12.1 ± 3.1 for high school students. There was a need of training activities of both the teachers and the students to improve the environmental awareness of the secondary and high school students.

Assessment of Some Public Hospitals in Turkey Regarding Anaesthetist, Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Equipment.

OBJECTIVE: Every year, 230 million patients undergo major general surgery with anaesthesia worldwide, and 7 million resulted with major complications. Monitorisation and equipment has a great role in increasing patient safety and safe surgery during anaesthesia. METHODS: Turkey is divided into 12 Eurostut-NUTS regions and 26 subregions statistically. Totally, 303 hospitals that are included in these regions were enrolled in this descriptive trial. The hospitals were contacted by telephone between October 2012 and August 2013. Data collecting forms were e-mailed to any of the anaesthetists or anaesthesia technicians of the hospital and they were requested to fill the forms and forward them to one of the investigators. RESULTS: Data were obtained from 221 of 303 hospitals (73%). Twenty-three hospitals were tertiary (university and education and research), 21 were city and 177 were county hospitals. No anaesthetist, operating rooms or intensive care units were available in 114 of the county hospitals. Anaesthetists were responsible for 61% of these active working theatres. Electrocardiogram, heart rate, non-invasive blood pressure and saturation could be monitored in 97% of them. End-tidal carbon dioxide could be monitored in 91% of at least one operating room in these hospitals. However, if the subject became to end-tidal carbon dioxide monitoring in every room, this ratio decreased to 63%. Defibrillators were absent in 6% of these rooms. Adult intensive care units were available in 33% of the hospitals and paediatric intensive care units were available in 32.4%; the responsibility of these intensive care units were carried out by anaesthetists at a 91.4% ratio. End-tidal carbon dioxide could be monitored in 54% of these units; invasive monitorisation could be applied in 68.4% if needed. CONCLUSION: It was observed that hospitals have different standards according to their infrastructures of anaesthesia and intensive care unit equipment. We think that the elimination of these differences is an important step with respect to increasing patient safety and enhancement of the service quality in hospitals.

Road traffic-related injury among the 0-17 age group in Turkey.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to examine the extent of death and injuries among the 0-17 years of age group recorded in the official road traffic injury statistics. METHODS: This is a record-based study covering a 5-year-period (2003-2007) using the annual records of national road traffic injury statistics in Turkey. RESULTS: The 0-17 age group accounted for 10.9% of deaths and 20.1% of injuries over the 5-year-period that served as the scope of the study. It was found out that 53.5% of deaths and 70.7% of injuries occurred in residential areas. The occurrence of death among pedestrians in residential areas is notable. Injuries showed a similar tendency. CONCLUSION: According to the 5-year period statistics examined in this study, road traffic-related deaths and injuries are a public health problem, and necessitate the development of programs and policies aimed at their prevention.

Traffic accidents resulting in death and injury on an international road passing through a city in Kocaeli, Turkey.

Deaths and injuries linked to traffic accidents are important public health issues. In this descriptive study, the accidents resulting in death and injury between 2000 and 2004 on the city portion of the D-100 were compared with those on the other roads within the city. The D-100 had a fatality risk approximately 2 times higher than that of the other roads within the city. The percentage of trucks of the total vehicles involved in accidents that occurred on the D-100 resulting in death and injury was 14.87% in 2002, 13.18% in 2003, and 9.88% in 2004. The main proposals of this study are to limit the use of the D-100's city portion to city traffic, and prevent heavy cargo vehicles from using the road as a transit route.

The volumetric differences of the fronto-temporal region in young offspring of schizophrenic patients.

The aim of this study is to examine the volumetric differences of the fronto-temporal region in the offspring of schizophrenic patients in comparison to normal. Twenty-six offspring of chronic schizophrenic patients aged between 8 and 15 years and 23 control children were matched with respect to cranial MRI. Chronic schizophrenic patients were reevaluated with SCID-I to confirm their diagnosis. Parents of children in the control group completed SCL-90-R and were evaluated by clinical interview to exclude any psychotic disorder. The diagnoses of psychiatric disorders in all of the children were established by DSM-IV-based clinical interviews with children and parents. They underwent IQ evaluation by WISC-R and evaluated with cranial MRI. Hippocampus, thalamus, amygdala, corpus callosum, frontal, and temporal lobe volumes were measured and compared by using MANCOVA. After covarying whole brain volume, age and gender, statistically significant decrease in the measurements of corpus callosum and hippocampi, and a non-significant trend toward smaller temporal lobes were observed in the high-risk children. The structure of hippocampal formation and corpus callosum were impaired in the children of the schizophrenic patients which suggests a neurodevelopmental abnormality in subjects with genetic high risk for schizophrenia.