The Effectiveness of the Responsive Teaching Parent-mediated Developmental Intervention Programme in Turkey: A pilot study

The case study was conducted to examine the feasibility of an early intervention curriculum called Responsive Teaching with two five-year-old children from Turkey who had significant developmental delays. This study determined whether Turkish mothers might be successful in learning to become more responsive to their children, and whether this would result in significant improvements in their children’s development. Both dyads received 28 individual parent–child intervention sessions which were conducted over a four-month period of time. Pre-, mid-, and post-assessments indicated improvements in the mothers’ responsiveness to their children and the children’s levels of engagement with their parents. There were also improvements in the children’s language and personal social development. Mothers reported that Responsive Teaching helped them learn to interact more effectively with their children and that this resulted in longer and more enjoyable interactions with them. Results from this investigation are discussed in terms of their implications for providing developmental services to preschool-aged children with disabilities in Turkey.     

Abnormal gel flotation in a patient with apperant pneumonia diagnosis: a case report

Introduction:

Serum blood collection tubes with separator gel are widely used by many laboratories for chemistry analyses. We describe a case of a primary blood collection tube filled with blood sample and a floating separator gel.

Materials and methods:

The blood sample was collected from a 51 years old female in intensive care unit with the diagnosis of pneumonia into a BD Vacutainer SST tube (Becton Dickinson, NJ, USA) containing serum separator gel and conveyed to the core laboratory of Marmara University Hospital within 30 minutes from collection. Sample was immediately centrifuged at room temperature at 1500 × g for 10 minutes.

Results:

The analyses revealed a highly increased total protein concentration of 145 g/L (reference interval 64–83 g/L). The nephelometric analyses showed an elevated serum IgG concentration of 108 g/L (reference interval 6.5–16 g/L) and IgG lambda monoclonal band was determined by serum immunofixation electrophoresis.

Conclusion:

Limitation of the separator gel tubes in patients with a high plasma density and its possible effects on test results and laboratory costs should be remembered. The clinical diagnosis stated in the information system should also reveal known comorbid conditions besides the apparent admission reason. This information would avoid resampling, additional testing, and communication efforts with the clinicians.     

Relationship satisfaction among Turkish and British adults

We tested three theories (adult attachment, autonomy/relatedness, and gender roles) to understand relationship satisfaction among 150 British and 170 Turkish adults, all involved in romantic relationships. Avoidance, relatedness, autonomy–relatedness, and masculinity mediated the relationship between culture and romantic relationship satisfaction. Additionally, as anticipated, Turkish participants scored lower on relationship satisfaction and autonomy whereas British participants scored lower on avoidance and relatedness. Contrary to expectation, gender role differences (differences between masculinity and femininity) in the United Kingdom were not significantly smaller than in Turkey. It is concluded that adult attachment provides a useful framework for understanding country-level differences.     

Effect of animated and interactive video variations on learners' motivation in distance Education

Education and Information Technologies - One of the objectives of this research is to develop and validate the Instructional Material Motivation Scale for Single-Use (IMMS-SU) instrument in the...     

Drainage after total thyroidectomy or lobectomy for benign thyroidal disorders

Objective: This prospective randomized clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the necessity of drainage after total thyroidectomy or lobectomy for benign thyroidal disorders. Methods: A total of 116 patients who underwent total thyroidectomy or lobectomy for benign thyroidal disorders were randomly allocated to be drained or not. Operative and postoperative outcomes including operating time, postoperative pain assessed by visual analogue scale (VAS), total amount of intramuscular analgesic administration, hospital stay, complications, necessity for re-operation and satisfaction of patients were all assessed. Results: The mean operating time was similar between two groups (the drained and non-drained groups). The mean VAS score was found to be significantly low in the non-drained group patients in postoperative day (POD) 0 and POD 1. The mean amount of intramuscular analgesic requirement was significantly less in the non-drained group. One case of hematoma, two cases of seroma and three cases of transient hypoparathyroidism occurred in the non-drained group, whereas one case of hematoma, two cases of seroma, two cases of wound infections and two cases of transient hypoparathyroidism occurred in the drained group. No patient needed re-operation for any complication. The mean hospital stay was significantly shorter and the satisfaction of patients was superior in the non-drained group. Conclusion: These findings suggest that postoperative complications cannot be prevented by using drains after total thyroidectomy or lobectomy for benign thyroid disorders. Furthermore, the use of drains may increase postoperative pain and the analgesic requirement, and prolong the hospital stay. In the light of these findings, the routine use of drains might not be necessary after thyroid surgery for benign disorders.     

Assessment of Disabled Students in Higher Education: Current public policy issues

Although there are over 68,000 disabled students in higher education programmes in the UK, a laissez-faire policy has been adapted regarding the provision of assessment services for these students, with a result that there have been no statutory duties for these programmes not to discriminate against them. With the introduction of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Act (2001) amending Part IV of the Disability Discrimination Act (1995), it would be timely to consider assessment related issues and benefits from the experiences of the US higher education programmes and educational testing agencies in this area since the mid-1970s. This paper argues that it is the academic achievement of disabled students that should be measured by the assessment services, not their disabilities. Without the provision of reasonable assessment adjustments, as the research shows, it is inevitable that disabilities of disabled students would be measured not their academic achievements, contrary to the main argument put forward by Sharp and Earle (2000) among others. The paper argues for a historical role for the educators and administrators of higher education programmes in eliminating discrimination against disabled students in provision of assessment services at every stage of their studies in the long run.     

The response of total testing process in clinical laboratory medicine to COVID-19 pandemic

IntroductionFollowing a pandemic, laboratory medicine is vulnerable to laboratory errors due to the stressful and high workloads. We aimed to examine how laboratory errors may arise from factors, e.g., flexible working order, staff displacement, changes in the number of tests, and samples will reflect on the total test process (TTP) during the pandemic period.Materials and methodsIn 12 months, 6 months before and during the pandemic, laboratory errors were assessed via quality indicators (QIs) related to TTP phases. QIs were grouped as pre-, intra- and postanalytical. The results of QIs were expressed in defect percentages and sigma, evaluated with 3 levels of performance quality: 25^th, 50^th and 75^th percentile values.ResultsWhen the pre- and during pandemic periods were compared, the sigma value of the samples not received was significantly lower in pre-pandemic group than during pandemic group (4.7σ vs. 5.4σ, P = 0.003). The sigma values of samples transported inappropriately and haemolysed samples were significantly higher in pre-pandemic period than during pandemic (5.0σ vs. 4.9σ, 4.3σ vs. 4.1σ; P = 0.046 and P = 0.044, respectively). Sigma value of tests with inappropriate IQC performances was lower during pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic period (3.3σ vs. 3.2σ, P = 0.081). Sigma value of the reports delivered outside the specified time was higher during pandemic than pre-pandemic period (3.0σ vs. 3.1σ, P = 0.030).ConclusionIn all TTP phases, some quality indicators improved while others regressed during the pandemic period. It was observed that preanalytical phase was affected more by the pandemic.     

An international collaborative investigation of beginning seventh grade students' understandings of scientific inquiry: Establishing a baseline

Although understandings of scientific inquiry (as opposed to conducting inquiry) are included in science education reform documents around the world, little is known about what students have learned about inquiry during their elementary school years. This is partially due to the lack of any assessment instrument to measure understandings about scientific inquiry. However, a valid and reliable assessment has recently been developed and published, Views About Scientific Inquiry (VASI; Lederman et al. [2014], Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 51, 65–83). The purpose of this large-scale international project was to collect the first baseline data on what beginning middle school students have learned about scientific inquiry during their elementary school years. Eighteen countries/regions spanning six continents including 2,634 students participated in the study. The participating countries/regions were: Australia, Brazil, Chile, Egypt, England, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Mainland China, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, and the United States. In many countries, science is not formally taught until middle school, which is the rationale for choosing seventh grade students for this investigation. This baseline data will simultaneously provide information on what, if anything, students learn about inquiry in elementary school, as well as their beginning knowledge as they enter secondary school. It is important to note that collecting data from all of the approximately 200 countries globally was not humanly possible, and it was also not possible to collect data from every region of each country. The results overwhelmingly show that students around the world at the beginning of grade seven have very little understandings about scientific inquiry. Some countries do show reasonable understandings in certain aspects but the overall picture of understandings of scientific inquiry is not what is hoped for after completing 6 years of elementary education in any country.     

Student Participation in Higher Education Institutions in Turkey

After the 2001 meeting of the European Ministers of Education held in Prague, higher education institutions in Turkey took serious actions in order to implement the goals of the Bologna Declaration (1999). Arrangements made for the democratization of universities and student participation in the decision‐making process formed one of the predominant actions. The formal point of these arrangements – aimed at student involvement in the university governance process via Student Councils and their representatives, was prescribed by law and forced universities to comply with the process. The present research provides information about the legal arrangements in higher education institutions concerning student involvement in the university decision‐making process and the obstacles met within the course of application. In addition, it presents the findings of an empirical study related to student representation and involvement in governance through the agency of the Student Councils.