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The childhood of a person is shaped as per the conditions of his/her community. However, the childhood in our technology-based era is highly overwhelmed by the ubiquitous communication devices. As a pioneering type, television achieves in grabbing children's attention by using its multi-coloured and animated world. What is more, cartoons provide the children a great load of new ideas, allowing them to enrich their dream world as well as to improve their vocabulary and learn new games. These developments are then turned to permanent behaviours. This being the case, it becomes inevitable that these habits reflect the cultural and moral values of the countries depicted in cartoons. This, in turn, makes the children absorb the linguistic and behavioural traditions of those cultures. The present study delves into two well-known cartoons, one being Turkish, called "Pepee" and the other Canadian, called "Caillou", with a view to investigating the ways they present their cultural values. The ways of presentation were assessed using content analysis, and also the differentiating cultural elements were identified.

IntroductionThe polymyxin group of polypeptide antibiotics is among the first antibiotics, discovered in the 1940s, with significant activity against gram-negative bacteria. Both polymyxin E (colistin) and polymyxin B were used clinically. Following reports on nephrotoxicity and neurotoxicity in the 1970s, other antibiotics were used instead of them. In the last decade, this group was reconsidered as a therapeutic option for multidrug-resistant/extremely drug-resistant gram-negative (MDR/XDR-GN) bacterial infections and particularly for the carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter species (1,2).After its reintroduction in medical practice in the last 5 years, studies focused on the effectiveness and the side effects of colistin, especially nephrotoxicity. Nephrotoxicity after intravenous colistin treatment was observed at rates of 6%-58% in recent studies. Rates of 10%-27% and 58% were found in patients with basal normal and abnormal renal functions, respectively (3,4).The difference in the nephrotoxicity rates was explained by various definitions of acute kidney injury. Some studies used RIFLE criteria (risk, injury, failure, loss, and endstage kidney disease), while some used the threshold of failure or creatinine level of more than 2 mg/dL. Risk factors for nephrotoxicity were older age, preexisting renal insufficiency, hypoalbuminemia, hyperbilirubinemia, and concomitant use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, calcineurin inhibitors, or other nephrotoxic agents like vancomycin (1,5,6).In this study, the efficiency against nosocomial MDR/ XDR-GN bacterial infections and risk of nephrotoxicity with intravenous colistin treatment were investigated. Materials and methods Study designThis retrospective study includes the records of patients treated with intravenous colistin between January 2011 and February 2013 in Celal Bayar University Hospital in Background/aim: Colistin is used as a salvage therapy for multidrug-resistant and extremely drug-resistant gram-negative bacterial infections. Our aim was to evaluate colistin efficiency and toxicity in the treatment of these resistant gram-negative bacterial infections. Materials and methods:This is a retrospective study carried out in a tertiary care hospital during 2011-2013. Study data were collected from the medical records and consultations of the infectious diseases clinic. Results:The study group included 158 patients with nosocomial infections and 136 (86.1%) of them were hospitalized in the ICU. Respiratory tract infections were the most commonly observed ones (n = 103, 65.2%). The most frequently isolated microorganism was Acinetobacter baumannii (72.2%). A total of 98 (62.0%) patients had clinical cure. There was no statistically significant difference between monotherapy (n = 3/6, 50.0%) and combination therapies (n = 95/152, 62.5%) according to clinical response. Underlying ultimately fatal disease, previous renal disease, and total parenteral nutrition were independent risk factors for poor clinical response. Nephrotoxicity developed in 80 (50.6%) patients...

The communication faculties in Turkey have become growingly popular over the last years. Meanwhile, there has been a parallel growth in the number of faculties and graduates. This being the case, a common concern has emerged to question the qualifications of incumbent instructors along with the quality of the education they provide. The present study aims to investigate the problems underlying the communication education through an academic perspective. This study tends to be a unique analysis in that it not only refers to previous studies but also brings together the common views of the academicians delivering communication education. Moreover, the study comes up with several solution proposals, deriving from the academic perspectives on these problems.

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