Turkey started the accession process with European Union (EU) in 2005. One of the main topics of EU Turkey negotiations was the economic convergence of Turkey to EU norms. This study devises and uses ...Panel Index Numbers (PIN) analysis to evaluate the performance and convergence prospects of Turkish economy in the face of EU-15 economies. As evaluation areas, we have selected two main macroeconomic indicators as GDP and Export. Our results have shown that, for both indicators, Turkish economy outperforms rest of the EU-15 economies, a point that should be valuable in the process of accession.
To evaluate the possible role of ureteral wall thickness (UWT) assessment in the prediction of the success for stent placement in cases with obstructing ureteric stones. 227 adult patients with a ...single unilateral obstructing ureteral stone requiring internal ureteral stent placement were included. In addition to stone size, the ureteric wall thickness at the impacted stone site and the degree of hydronephrosis were also assigned on CT images. Patients were divided into two subgroups: Group 1: patients in whom internal ureteral stent could not be passed beyond the stone and Group 2: patients in whom an internal ureteral stent was passed successfully. The possible relationship between the UWT values and the success of stent placement, degree of hydronephrosis were comparatively evaluated. The majority of the stones were located in the proximal ureter in Group 1 and the degree of hydronephrosis was also higher in these cases. Moreover, while the mean value of UWT calculated on CT images was 4.3 ± 0.9 mm in Group 1, this value was noted to be 2.5 ± 0.8 mm in cases of group 2. A cutoff UWT value of 3.35 mm was highly predictive for the stent insertion and cases with higher values required additional procedures or percutaneous nephrostomy tube placement. UWT value calculated at the obstructing stone site was found to be predictive enough for the likelihood of internal ureteral stent passage with high sensitivity and specificity. This evaluation may enable the urologist to make the best decision for urinary diversion in such cases.
The purpose of this study is to collect information on the bacterial resistance to antibiotics of bacteria isolated from urine cultures of patients treated for upper urinary tract calculi. Data of ...patients with urinary tract infection and urolithiasis were retrospectively reviewed to collect information on age, gender, stone size, location, hydronephrosis, procedure of stone removal and antibiotic treatment, identification and susceptibility of pathogens, symptoms, and infectious complications. A total of 912 patients from 11 centers in 7 countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, North Macedonia, Spain, and Turkey) were studied. Mean age was 54 ± 16 years and M/F ratio 322/590. Out of 946 microbial isolates, the most common were
E. coli
, Gram-positive, KES group (
Klebsiella
, Enterobacter,
Serratia
),
Proteus
spp., and
P. aeruginosa
. Carbapenems, piperacillin/tazobactam and amikacin showed low resistance rates to
E. coli
(2.5%, 7%, and 3.6%) and
Proteus
spp. (7.7%, 16%, and 7.4%), but higher rates were observed with
Klebsiella
spp.,
P. aeruginosa
, and Gram-positive. Fosfomycin had resistance rates less than 10% to
E. coli
, 23% to KES group, and 19% to Gram-positive. Amoxicillin/clavulanate, cephalosporins, quinolones, and TMP/SMX showed high resistance rates to most bacterial strains. High rates of antibiotic resistance were observed in patients candidate to stone treatment from South-Eastern Europe. The empirical use of antibiotics with low resistance rates should be reserved to the most serious cases to avoid the increase of multidrug resistant bacteria. Basing on our results, carbapenems, piperacillin/tazobactam, and amikacin may be a possible option for empiric treatment of urinary stone patients showing systemic symptoms.
In this study, the characterization and growth kinetics of chromium carbide layer coated on AISI D3 cold-work tool steel by pack method thermo-reactive diffusion process in solid medium were carried ...out. Coatings were performed by using ferro-chromium powder as Cr source at 950, 1 000, 1 050 and 1 100 °C for 2 and 4 h. The carbide layers were evaluated based on microstructure, thickness, hardness, energy dispersive X-ray facility and X-ray diffraction analysis. Chromium carbide layer thickness on the coated specimens has been in the 4.2–17 μm range depending on treatment time and temperature. Growth kinetics of the carbide layers were analyzed by measuring the depth of carbide layer as a function of temperature and time. The activation energy was estimated to be 180.13 kJ/mol. The microhardness values of the coating layers are range of 1 200–1 600 HV. Ball rotating micro-abrasion technique was used to carry out wear tests on the thin coating layers.
To determine the prevalence of dissociative disorders among inpatients with alcohol or drug dependency.
The Dissociative Experiences Scale was used to screen 215 consecutive inpatients admitted to ...the dependency treatment center of a large mental hospital over a 1-year period (March 1, 2003, to March 31, 2004). Patients who had scores of 30.0 or above were compared with patients who scored below 10.0 on the scale. The patients in both groups were then evaluated using the Dissociative Disorders Interview Schedule and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Dissociative Disorders. The interviewers were blind to the Dissociative Experiences Scale scores.
Of the patients, 36.7% had a Dissociative Experiences Scale score of 30.0 or above. The prevalence of DSM-IV dissociative disorders was 17.2% (N = 37). On average, 64.9% of these patients' dissociative experiences had started 3.6 years (SD = 2.9; range, 1.0-11.0 years) before onset of the substance use. Patients with dissociative disorders were younger, and the mean duration of their remission periods was shorter. Dissociative disorder patients tended to use more than 1 substance, and drugs were used more frequently than alcohol in this group. The frequency of borderline personality disorder, somatization disorder, history of suicide attempt, and childhood abuse and neglect occurred more frequently in the dissociative disorder group than in the nondissociative disorder group. History of suicide attempt (p = .005), female sex (p = .050), and childhood emotional abuse (p = .010) were significant predictors of a dissociative disorder diagnosis. Significantly more patients with dissociative disorders stopped their treatment prematurely (p < .001).
Impact of dissociative disorders on development and treatment of substance dependency requires further study.
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