Investigation of an alternative education module in raising middle school student's awareness of acute stroke.

INTRODUCTION: Public knowledge and recognition of stroke and prompt calls to ambulance services when stroke is suspected are vital to the survival of stroke patients and to minimize their disability. In this study, our aim was to investigate the effectiveness of an online education session to increase middle school (11-14-year-old) students' awareness of stroke. METHODS: An interactive education session was organized for students using the online education portal of a local middle school. The effectiveness of this intervention was measured using knowledge measurement tests before, immediately after, and three months after the session. The compliance of the data with the normal distribution was checked with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The McNemar chi-square analysis was used to compare the distribution of correct and incorrect answers among the tests, and one-way analysis of variance was conducted to compare the mean values of correct answers. RESULTS: The students' stroke knowledge levels were found to be higher in both tests applied after the educational session and all the questions compared to the baseline evaluation. Stroke awareness was also determined to be higher among the students living with a family member aged over 65 years. CONCLUSIONS: Online interactive education can increase students' awareness of stroke. Such programs can be included in the education curriculum of schools. Public awareness of vital diseases should continue even in extraordinary situations, such as pandemics.

Analysis of Research Productivity of Neurosurgical Residents in Turkey and Publication Rates of Theses.

AIM: To analyze the resident's contribution toward research productivity and the publication rates of theses conducted in neurosurgery departments across Turkey. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A retrospective bibliometric analysis was conducted using databases of Council of Higher Education Thesis Center (TC), Scopus, and Journal Citation Reports. Neurosurgeons who uploaded their graduation thesis to the TC database between the years 2000 and 2017 were considered. Each neurosurgeon was individually searched for in the Scopus database regarding their publication production. Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were employed for statistical analysis. RESULTS: We identified 709 neurosurgeons, and 269 (37.9%) of them published their theses in indexed journals. The average interval between the publication year of the thesis and the year of the neurosurgery training completion was 3.8 ± 2.7 years. Neurosurgeons who published their theses in the first two-year period after graduation had published their theses in significantly higher impact factor journals than those who published theirs between 3?5 years (p=0.015) and more than 5 years after graduation (p < 0.001). We identified 8 (1.1%) and 347 (49%) neurosurgeons who had pre-residency and intra-residency publications, respectively. Neurosurgeons who published an intra-residency article had a significantly higher overall publication counts compared with those who did not (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: The ratio of publication of theses in the field of neurosurgery is higher than the ratios previously indicated for various studies. We have provided new benchmarks for individual academic productivity during and after the residency.

Evaluation of olfactory and gustatory changes in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

PURPOSE: The temporal lobe plays an important role in the perception of odors. Another important anatomical structure involved in the perception of smell is the olfactory bulb. The relationship between olfactory bulb volume (OBV) and olfactory function is unclear, however. In our study, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between OBV and olfactory function in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). METHOD: Forty-eight patients with MTLE who were managed in the Cerrahpasa Medical Faculty Neurology Department's epilepsy outpatient clinic were recruited for the study. Tests with Sniffin' Sticks and Taste Strips were performed and OBV measured in all patients. Two control groups were recruited, one for the Sniffin' Sticks and Taste Strip tests and one for OBV measurement. RESULTS: In the smell tests; the threshold, discrimination and identification scores were significantly lower in the MTLE group than in the control group. The mean taste test scores did not differ significantly between the MTLE and control groups. In the MTLE group, the mean right OBV was 40.2 ± 12.54 and the left OBV was 39.3 ± 10.54, both of which were significantly lower those in the control group. The mean OBVs of patients with hyposmia were significantly smaller bilaterally than the OBVs of those with normosmia. There was no correlation between the gustatory scores and OBV. CONCLUSIONS: Olfactory function was significantly impaired in patients with MTLE compared with healthy controls in all domains, namely threshold, discrimination, and identification. In addition, olfactory bulbus volume was smaller in patients with olfactory dysfunction.