Determination of oxidative stress levels and some antioxidant enzyme activities in prostate cancer

In this study, the antioxidant enzyme activities such as (SOD, GSH, and CAT) and malondialdehyde (MDA) level which is the end product of lipid peroxidation, were determined from the serum samples taken from patients diagnosed with prostate cancer Van Yuzuncu Y?l University Medical Faculty of Educational Research and Training Hospital and ?stanbul Bagcilar Education Research Hospital. The SOD, GSH, and CAT activity of patient groups was found significantly lower than the healthy control group in patients with prostate cancer (p?相似文献   

Parental Support for Basic Psychological Needs and Happiness: The Importance of Sense of Uniqueness

Past empirical research relying on self-determination theory (SDT) has consistently shown that parental support of basic psychological needs (BPN) is associated with adolescent happiness. Yet, the specific mechanisms accounting for this link are still undetermined. The present study aimed to address this gap in the literature by testing a theoretical model proposing that adolescents’ satisfaction of BPN in life and sense of uniqueness mediate the association of parental support for BPN and happiness. The analyses relied on structural equation modeling and bootstrapping procedures and found support for the model. The theoretical implications of the model for SDT and applied considerations to improve the well-being of adolescents are discussed. Also, suggestions for future research that could further improve our understanding of the dynamic interplay between BPN, sense of uniqueness and happiness are presented.     

Run statistics in a sequence of arbitrarily dependent binary trials

Let {Z _i } _i≥1 be an arbitrary sequence of trials with two possible outcomes either success (1) or failure (0). General expressions for the exact distributions of runs, both success and failure, in Z ₁, . . . , Z _n are presented. Our method is based on the use of joint distribution of success and failure run lengths and unifies the results on distribution of runs. As a special case of our results we obtain the distributions of runs for various binary sequences. As illustrated in the paper the results enable us to derive the distribution of runs for binary trials arising in urn models.     

Organizational wisdom practices and firm product innovation

Review of Managerial Science - The manner in which organizational wisdom-related variables or practices (e.g., reasoning, intuition, virtue, prudence, and aesthetics) are related to firm product...     

The Role of Progress Factors Explaining Inefficiencies in Transition Countries

This paper examines whether progress in transition has a significant effect on the economic efficiency for 24 transition countries from 1990 to 2006. It uses nine progress factors to analyze the role of the progress factors to explain inefficiencies. It also questions the effect of the transition countries that recently joined the European Union on efficiency. The results suggest that the average efficiency scores for EU-N10 are much higher than the average efficiency scores for SEE/CIS. The scores increase over time for both groups of transition countries. Reforms also contribute to efficiency in general.     

Humbling Turkishness: Undoing the Strategies of Exclusion and Inclusion of Turkish Modernity

Kurds make up about a fifth of Turkey's population. Turkey has taken steps – albeit slowly and reluctantly – towards increased recognition of Kurdish cultural and linguistic rights. However, within Turkey there is also a steeply rising tide of Turkish nationalism, prejudice and intolerance towards Kurds, and increasing anti-Kurdish sentiment. This article brings studies of Kurdishness and Turkishness into a single conversation and traces the relationship between Turkish modernity, Orientalized Kurdishness and the construction of Turkishness as the efendi (master) identity. It does this by drawing attention to “strategies of exclusion and inclusion” in the construction of official Turkish history, and relates these to the way in which the tense borders between Kurds and Turks are maintained and currently reproduced. It also presents a normative argument in favour of “humbling Turkishness” and “solidarity trading zones”.     

A Decision Support Tool for Predicting Patients at Risk of Readmission: A Comparison of Classification Trees,Logistic Regression,Generalized Additive Models,and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines

The number of emergency (or unplanned) readmissions in the United Kingdom National Health Service (NHS) has been rising for many years. This trend, which is possibly related to poor patient care, places financial pressures on hospitals and on national healthcare budgets. As a result, clinicians and key decision makers (e.g., managers and commissioners) are interested in predicting patients at high risk of readmission. Logistic regression is the most popular method of predicting patient‐specific probabilities. However, these studies have produced conflicting results with poor prediction accuracies. We compared the predictive accuracy of logistic regression with that of regression trees for predicting emergency readmissions within 45 days after been discharged from hospital. We also examined the predictive ability of two other types of data‐driven models: generalized additive models (GAMs) and multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS). We used data on 963 patients readmitted to hospitals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma. We used repeated split‐sample validation: the data were divided into derivation and validation samples. Predictive models were estimated using the derivation sample and the predictive accuracy of the resultant model was assessed using a number of performance measures, such as area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve in the validation sample. This process was repeated 1,000 times—the initial data set was divided into derivation and validation samples 1,000 times, and the predictive accuracy of each method was assessed each time. The mean ROC curve area for the regression tree models in the 1,000 derivation samples was .928, while the mean ROC curve area of a logistic regression model was .924. Our study shows that logistic regression model and regression trees had performance comparable to that of more flexible, data‐driven models such as GAMs and MARS. Given that the models have produced excellent predictive accuracies, this could be a valuable decision support tool for clinicians (healthcare managers, policy makers, etc.) for informed decision making in the management of diseases, which ultimately contributes to improved measures for hospital performance management.     

Factors causing occurrence of artificial dif: A simulation study for dichotomous data

ABSTRACT

In modern test theory, differential item functioning (DIF) appears where respondents from two different groups have the same ability but different probability to respond to an item correctly. If some items favouring one group lead to the appearance of DIF in any other item favouring the other group, this type of problem is called artificial differential item functioning (A-DIF). The purpose of this paper is to deal with the effect of different factors causing A-DIF under the Rasch theoretical model for dichotomous responses. A simulation study was conducted to explore how various factors affect real DIF and simultaneous A-DIF expected proportion including total sample size, percentage of individuals in focal and reference groups, percentage of items exhibiting real DIF and DIF magnitude for two item sets including 10 and 20 items. It is concluded that DIF magnitude is the most essential factor while evaluating A-DIF for each item set. This is followed by percent of items exhibiting real-DIF.     

Organizational emotional capability,product and process innovation,and firm performance: An empirical analysis

The concept of emotional capability is one of the competencies that a firm has which is vital for the daily life of the organization. However, the effect of emotional capability, involving the dynamics of encouragement, displaying freedom, playfulness, experiencing, reconciliation, and identification constructs on the firm innovativeness (i.e., product and process) is interestingly missing in the technology and innovation management (TIM) literature. In this study, by investigating 163 Turkish firms, the dynamics of encouragement and experiencing were found to have a positive association with both firm product and process innovativeness; and the dynamics of displaying freedom have a positive relationship with firm process innovativeness. We also demonstrate that the impact of emotional capability constructs on firm innovativeness is contingent upon environmental uncertainty. Specifically, we find that the influence of the dynamics of encouragement on firm product innovation increases with increased rate of environmental uncertainty. Interestingly, the relationship between the dynamics of experiencing and product innovation across low, medium, and high levels of environmental uncertainty is an ∩-shaped. And, the relationship between the dynamics of displaying freedom and product innovation across low, medium, and high levels of environmental uncertainty is a U-shaped. In addition, we show that a firm's emotional capability influences its financial and market performance via firm innovativeness. We discuss the theoretical and managerial implications of the study's findings.