The results suggest that the Turkish scale has appropriate language, content, and construct validity. This scale can now be used to assess the symptom experience related to immunosuppressive therapy in Turkish organ transplant recipients.

This study investigated the predictors of chronic valvular disease in children with rheumatic carditis. The short- to mid-term follow-up records of 88 patients (mean age, 10.68 ± 2.5 years) with chronic rheumatic heart disease were reviewed. The mean follow-up period was 2.95 ± 1.4 years. Valvular involvement completely improved for 24 of the patients (27%) during the follow-up period. The multivariate logistic regression analysis found initial left ventricular dilation to be a significant independent risk factor associated with the persistence of either valvular involvement or mitral regurgitation. Furthermore, persistence of mitral regurgitation was found to be strongly correlated with cardiac murmur at admission. No significant correlation was detected between age, gender, severity of valvular involvements at initial evaluation, and chronic valvular disease. The majority of patients with rheumatic carditis had normal left ventricular systolic function. However, a significant proportion of patients had left ventricular dilation, reported in the medical literature to be associated with the severity of valve involvement. This study found no relation between initial severity of valve involvements and chronic valvular disease. For this reason, increased left ventricular end-diastolic diameter may be secondary to myocardial involvement independent of valvular regurgitation. The findings in this study also suggest that subclinic carditis had a better outcome than clinically evident carditis.

AIMThe aim of this study was to investigate the criteria for determining the cancer risk of the breast asymmetry by comparing breast volume asymmetry levels between healthy women and women with cancer.MATERIALS AND METHODSTwo hundred and one women with breast cancer (group 1) were compared with 446 healthy women (group 2) who had no pathologic findings in breast sonography and mammograpy repeated with one-year interval. Data were evaluated retrospectively. Each breast volume was measured twice by Grossman-Roudner Discs. The mean value has been recorded. The amounts of volume difference between two breasts (asymmetry value) and the rates of the volume difference to the breast volume of the smaller side (asymmetry ratio) were compared in both groups.RESULTSThere was a statistically significant difference between two groups with regard to average age and body mass index (P < 0.01). This significance was decreased but not disappeared, when the comparison was made within the 40–69 age group (P > 0.01). The rate of cases with asymmetry value over 50 mL was significantly higher in the cancer group (P = 0.029). Unfortunately, it disappeared in the 40–69 age group (P = 0.201). The breast volume asymmetry ratio over 20% was significantly higher in the cancer group both in all ages and in the 40–69 age group (P < 0.01). Odds ratio was 2.18 in the entire (all) series and 2.01 in the 40–69 age group. Moreover, there was no significant difference with regard to the rate of tumor location between the smaller or larger side of breast.CONCLUSIONOur data show that there is a positive correlation between breast asymmetry ratio over 20% and breast cancer risk. These results need to be confirmed by prospective randomized controlled trials.

Objective: To investigate the peripheral blood eosinophilia (PBE) in the acute stage of incomplete Kawasaki disease (iKD). Methods: Twenty-four patients with iKD (median age; 31.5 months, range; 7-88 months) and 25 with complete Kawasaki disease (cKD) (median age; 37 months, range; 9-140 months) were evaluated between 2004 and 2010 from İzmir Dr. Behçet Uz Children's Hospital records retrospectively. We determined the eosinophil counts and rates from the complete blood count in two study groups before the IVIG treatment and 30 febrile age-matched controls and 30 control cases with congenital heart disease (control Group 1 and 2 respectively). Kruskal-Wallis test was performed in detecting the differences of eosinophil rates and counts between four subgroups. Results: In iKD group, the mean value of eosinophil rates and median value of eosinophil counts were 4.39±2.5% and 377 cells/mm 3 , respectively, which did not significantly different with cKD group (mean eosinophil rates; 5.47±4.8% and median eosinophil counts 525 cells/mm 3 ) (p>0.05). The median values of eosinophil cell counts and mean value of eosinophil rates were 220 cell/mm 3 and 2.83±2.65% in the control group 1 and 165 cell/mm 3 and 1.63±1.43% in the control Group 2 respectively, which were statistically significant lower compared to both study groups (p< 0.001). Conclusion: The rate of PBE was found significantly higher in iKD patients compared to the controls. Since the diagnosis of iKD is difficult, unexplained eosinophilia may be helpful in the presence of suggestive clinical findings of KD. (Anadolu Kardiyol Derg 2012; 12: 160-4) Key words: Kawasaki disease, incomplete, eosinophilia 160 ÖZET Amaç: İnkomplet Kawasaki hastalığı'nın (iKD) akut evresinde periferik kan eozinofilisinin (PKE) araştırılması amaçlandı. Yöntemler: Yirmi dört iKD (ortanca yaş; 31.5 ay, yaş aralığı; 7-88 ay) ve 25 komplet Kawasaki Hastalığı (kKD) tanılı hasta (ortanca yaş; 37 ay, yaş aralığı; 9-140 ay), 2004-2010 yılları arasında İzmir Dr. Behçet Uz Çocuk Hastanesi kayıtlarından retrospektif olarak değerlendirildi. Çalışmaya yaş olarak çalışma grubu ile uyumlu, ateşi olan 30 vaka (kontrol 1) ile konjenital kalp hastalıklı 30 vaka (kontrol 2) kontrol grubu olarak dahil edildi ve kontrol, çalışma grupları eozinofil yüzdeleri ve eozinofil hücre sayıları açsısından IVIG tedavisi öncesinde karşılaştırıldı. Kontrol ve çalışma grupları arasındaki eozinofil farklılıklarını saptamada Kruskal-Wallis testi kullanıldı. Bulgular: İnkomplet Kawasaki hastalarında PKE görülme yüzdesi ve ortalama değeri sırasıyla %66.6 ve 377 hücre/mm 3 iken cKD grubunda ise sırasıyla; %60 ve 525 hücre/mm 3 idi ve iki grup arasında her iki değer açısından da anlamlı fark saptanmadı (p>0.05). Eozinofil hücre sayısının ortanca değeri ile eozinofili yüzdesinin ortalama değeri sırasıyla 1. kontrol grubunda 220 hücre/mm 3 ve %2.83±2.65 iken 2.kontrol grubunda ise 165 hücre/mm 3 ve %1.63±1.43 idi, ve bu değerler çalışma grubunda saptananlara göre istatistiksel anlamlı olarak düşüktü (p<0.001). Sonuç: Ko...

A AB BS S TTR RA AC CT T O Ob bj je ec ct ti iv ve e: : To evaluate the burnout and to determine the relationship demographic characteristics and burnout levels between physicians and nurses working in 3 different obstetrics/gynecology clinics. M Ma at te er ri ia al l a an nd d M Me et th ho od ds s: : This is an observational cross-sectional study and included in 47 physicians and 90 nurses. We used to quantitative survey to assess burnout levels using a Turkish version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory. R Re es su ul lt ts s: : Results showed that the women perceived lower personal sense of accomplishment compared to the men for physicians (p=0.013), and the single demonstrated lower personal sense of accomplishment compared to the married physicians (p=0.003). Two government hospitals created differences according to emotional exhaustion and depersonalization levels (p=0.046, p=0.034). The mean age of physicians was higher than that of nurses (p=0.036). The working hour per-day for nurses was higher than physicians (p=0.000). Physicians showed higher levels of burnout in emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and lower level of personal sense of accomplishment subscales compared to the nurses. However there was a statistical difference between nurses and physicians for depersonalization and personal sense of accomplishment subscales (p=0.000, p=0.013). Correlation analyses in physicians showed that age was significantly negatively correlated with depersonalization (p=0.006). Increasing age among nurses was found when the level of depersonalization subscale is decreasing like physicians (p=0.012). C Co on nc cl lu us si io on n: : The levels of burnout have been shown high in the obstetric gynecology physicians. The burnout syndrome was observed more in female gender, single ones, and younger age both of healthcare workers. Further researches should be evaluated the interrelationships among the burnout, job career satisfaction, and psychosocial health in the obstetric gynecologic physicians. K Ke ey y W Wo or rd ds s: : Burnout, professional; medical staff, hospital; nurses Ö ÖZ ZE ET T A Am ma aç ç: : Üç ayrı obstetrik/jinekoloji kliniğinde çalışan hemşire ve doktorlar arasında tükenmişlik seviyeleri ve demografik özellikler arasındaki ilişkileri değerlendirmektir. G Ge er re eç ç v ve e Y Yö ön nt te em ml le er r: : Kırk yedi doktor ve 90 hemşirenin dâhil edildiği kesitsel gözlemsel bir çalışmadır. Türkçe versiyonu olan Maslach Tükenmişlik Envanteri kullanılarak tükenmişlik seviyeleri kantitatif olarak ölçülmüştür. B Bu ul l--g gu ul la ar r: : Kadın cinsiyet ve bekâr olma, evli ve erkek cinsiyet ile karşılaştırıldığında daha düşük kişisel başarı skorlarının elde edildiğini sonuçlar da göstermiştir (p=0,013, p=0,003). İki kamu hastaneleri arasında emosyonel tükenmişlik ve depersonalizasyon puanları açısından fark saptandığı gösterilmiştir (p=0,046, p=0,034). Doktorların ortalama yaşı hemşirelere göre daha ileriydi (p=0,036). Günlük çalışma saatleri açısından ise hemşireler daha yoğun çalışmaktaydı (p=0,00...