Objective: This study aims to examine knowledge and attitudes towards Complementary and Alternative Medicine among medical students in Turkey, and find out whether they want to be trained in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out between October and December 2010 among medical students. Data were collected from a total of seven medical schools. Findings: The study included 943 medical students. The most well known methods among the students were herbal treatment (81.2%), acupuncture (80.8%), hypnosis (78.8%), body-based practices including massage (77%) and meditation (65.2%), respectively. Acupuncture, aromatherapy, herbal treatment and meditation were better known among female participants compared to males (p < 0.05). Females and first year students, generally had more positive attitudes. A larger proportion of female students compared to male students reported that a doctor should be knowledgeable about CAM (p = 0.001), and this knowledge would be helpful in their future professional lives (p = 0.015). Positive attitudes towards and willingness to receive training declined as the number of years spent in the faculty of medicine increased.Conclusions: Majority of the medical students were familiar with the CAM methods widely used in Turkey, while most of them had positive attitudes towards CAM as well as willingness to receive training on the subject, and they were likely to recommend CAM methods to their patients in their future professional lives. With its gradual scientific development and increasing popularity, there appears a need for a coordinated policy in integrating CAM into the medical curriculum, by taking expectations of and feedback from medical students into consideration in setting educational standards.

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Introduction: The purpose of this study was to investigate the reliability of the Turkish version of the KIDMED, which assesses adherence to the Mediterranean diet among children and adolescents, and investigate the relationship between Turkish KIDMED scores and anthropometric measurements. Methods: This research was conducted in a public secondary school in Istanbul in 2018. In the first stage of the study, KIDMED was translated into Turkish and a test-retest method was used for reliability research. Then, the relationship between the anthropometric measurements of Turkish adolescents and KIDMED scores was evaluated in a descriptive and cross-sectional manner. In order to evaluate the test-retest reliability of the Turkish version of KIDMED, it was applied to 36 students (18 M, 18 K; mean age 11 ± 0.69 y) at the beginning and two weeks after and determined the "intraclass correlation coefficient" and "internal consistency". After determining the reliability, the index was applied to 504 students (49.2% M, 50.8% F; 11.66 ± 0.84 years of age) and the relationship between the KIDMED scores and the anthropometric measurements (BMI and waist circumference) was evaluated. Results: No statistical difference was found between the test-retest scores of KIDMED applied two weeks apart (5.6±2.1; 5.8±2.3 p=0.6) and the intraclass correlation coefficient was found to be 0.750 (p&lt;0.001). Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was found to be 0.857. A weak but negative correlation was found between the KIDMED scores and BMI and waist circumference values (r=-0.117; p=0.008; r=-0.112; p=0.012, respectively). Conclusion: This is the first study investigating the test-retest reliability of the Turkish KIDMED. Turkish KIDMED can be used in Turkish adolescents to assess the Mediterranean style of eating.

Summary:Purpose: This study was planned to investigate the baroreflex responses (BRs) in kindled rats during seizure-free period to put forward new data on cardiac autonomic changes in epilepsy.Methods: Male Wistar rats were randomized into shamoperated (SO) and kindled groups where stimulation and recording electrodes were implanted stereotaxically into the basolateral amygdala and the cortex, respectively. For kindling process, rats were stimulated twice daily at their afterdischarge threshold current and accepted as being kindled after 10 grade 5 seizures. Six to 8 weeks after the establishment of the kindled state, mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR) were evaluated. BR was defined as the ratio of HR response to changes in MAP induced by i.v. nitroprusside (10, 25 µg/kg) or i.v. phenylephrine (10, 25 µg/kg). The sympathetic or parasympathetic component of the BR was evaluated in rats pretreated with atropine or atenolol where phenylephrine or nitroprusside was administered at 25 µg/kg.Results: Basal MAP and HR values were found to be similar in SO and kindled rats. Phenylephrine increased MAP more in the kindled group (p < 0.05), but the HR decreased similarly in both groups. Nitroprusside decreased MAP at similar rates, but the increase in HR was higher in the kindled rats (p < 0.05). BRs to phenylephrine and nitroprusside were abolished after pretreatment with atenolol and atropine, whereas phenylephrineand nitroprusside-induced changes in MAP remained unchanged in both groups.Conclusions: These results may indicate that amygdaloid kindling affects BRs in long-term seizure-free periods. Key Words: SUDEP-Baroreflex responses-KindlingEpilepsy-Autonomic dysfunction.The mortality rate is 2 to 3 times higher in the people with epilepsy than in the general population (1). Moreover, increased risk of sudden death occurs in 7.5-17 % of all deaths among patients with epilepsy (2). Although the mechanisms underlying sudden unexplained deaths in epilepsy patients (SUDEPs) have not been clearly established, seizure-related arrhythmias, cardiorespiratory pathology, and autonomic dysfunction have been suggested as the causes of SUDEP (3-6). Several experimental seizure and epileptogenesis models have been used to examine the physiopathologic mechanisms responsible for SUDEP (7-9).Kindling, an experimental model of temporal lobe epilepsy, is performed by daily application of short trains of high-frequency electrical pulses that induce initially focal but subsequently generalized convulsive seizures (10). It is characterized by the increase of electrographic afterdischarge duration and behavioral complexity produced by the repeated low-density electrical stimulation of several brain areas, mainly the limbic system. In previous studies, immediate effects of kindled seizures on cardiovascular function have shown a seizure-associated increase in blood pressure and bradycardia with a variety of arrhythmias during the seizures in unanesthetized and freely moving rats (10,11). Furthermore, seizure-induced cardiovasc...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to determine the mental health status and risk factors for the mental health of first-year university students on a health sciences campus. Design/methodology/approach This is a descriptive study. The research was conducted with first-year students in the health sciences, dentistry and medical faculties of a state university (n = 770). The data were collected with a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Risk Behavior of Young Adults Survey, the Bergen Insomnia Scale, General Health Questionnaire-28 and the Mental Health Improvement Scale. Body mass ındex was calculated. Findings Among the students, 53.7% experienced feelings of hopelessness in the last year and 1% had attempted suicide. The percentage of students found to be at risk in terms of mental health was 41.9%; 39.4% reported that they suffered from insomnia. It was found that those who had been subjected to bullying, felt hopelessness, had suicidal thoughts, planned to commit suicide and students who experienced sleeping problems were more at risk in terms of psychological issues (p < 0.01). Insomnia (β: 3.341) and smoking (β: 2.226) were identified as the strongest risk factors for mental health in first-year health sciences students (p < 0.005). Practical implications The results of the research offer an opportunity to get to know the characteristics of first-year university students who are at risk for mental health. It offers the opportunity to closely monitor and protect the mental health of students starting from the first grade. Originality/value In this study, it was determined that approximately half of the first-year university students were in the risk group in terms of mental health. Female gender, having a chronic illness, smoking a day or more in the past 30 days, not doing any physical activity, having a weak BMI, being bullied in the past 12 months, being cyberbullied in the past 12 months and having insomnia have been identified as risk factors that negatively affect mental health.