Low skeletal muscle mass index is associated with function and nutritional status in residents in a Turkish nursing home

Introduction: To determine the prevalence of low muscle mass (LMM) and the relationship between LMM with functional and nutritional status as defined using the LMM evaluation method of European Working Group on Sarcopenia in Older People (EWGSOP) criteria among male residents in a nursing home.

Methods: Male residents aged?>60 years of a nursing home located in Turkey were included in our study. Their body mass index (BMI) kg/m², skeletal muscle mass (SMM-kg) and skeletal muscle mass index (SMMI-kg/m²) were calculated. The participants were regarded as having low SMMI if they had SMMI?<9.2?kg/m² according to our population specific cut-off point. Functional status was evaluated with Katz activities of daily living (ADL) and Lawton Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL). Nutritional assessment was performed using the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA). The number of drugs taken and chronic diseases were recorded.

Results: One hundred fifty-seven male residents were enrolled into the study. Their mean age was 73.1?±?6.7 years with mean ADL score of 8.9?±?2.0 and IADL score of 8.7?±?4.6. One hundred twelve (71%) residents were aged?>70 years. Thirty-five men (23%) had low SMMI in group aged?>60 years, and twenty-eight subjects (25%) in the group aged?>70 years. MNA scores were significantly lower in residents with low SMMI compared with having normal SMMI (17.1?±?3.4 versus 19.6?±?2.5, p?=?0.005). BMI was significantly lower in the residents with low SMMI compared with normal SMMI (19.6?±?2.7 versus 27.1?±?4.1, p70 years (8.1?±?2.6 versus 9.1?±?1.6, p?=?0.014). In regression analyses, the only factor associated with better functional status was the lower age (p?=?0.04) while the only factor associated with better nutrition was higher SMMI (p?=?0.01).

Conclusions: Low SMMI detected by LMM evaluation method of EWGSOP criteria is prevalent among male nursing home residents. There is association of low SMMI with nutritional status and probably with functional status within the nursing home setting using the EWGSOP criteria with Turkish normative reference cut-off value.     

Export, Import and Economic Growth: The Case of Transition Economies

This study analyses the relationships between export, import and economic growth for the 13 transition economies. Empirical results show that there is a unidirectional causality from economic growth to export. Empirical findings show that the growth-led export hypothesis is valid in those countries and growth is rather shaped by increase in import demand.

The role of emotions during the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt in light of repertoires

ABSTRACT

This article examines the role of emotions during the Arab Spring in Tunisia and Egypt in the context of collective level emotions in mobilizations. Emotions are understood as a catalyst whose mechanism of action is performed through repertories. This article seeks to answer how emotions, having a triggering role, are performed through repertoires while accelerating mobilization against authoritarian orders, creating the intersection of individual and collective level emotions in public spheres of Tunisia and Egypt, and thus affecting the transnational diffusion of emotions. The significant reason to address emotions is to explain what stimulated the Arab Spring and how it spread over the region starting from Tunisia and Egypt. This article synthesizes two literatures: International Relations (IR) and social movements studies in light of emotions and components of repertoires which are as follows: collective action, collective identity, symbolic politics, network society and information politics.     

Gender Inequalities in Academic Innovation and Enterprise: A Bourdieuian Analysis

This paper demonstrates that engagement in innovation and enterprise activity in SET departments within three UK universities is, in part, gendered. A Bourdieuian approach is adopted to identify underlying structures and practices that have causal powers to generate gender‐based inequalities. Drawing on empirical research with 52 participants, this study reveals gendered science enterprise experiences, characterized by a field that is considered strong in shaping the habitus and presenting stark options to women in pursuit of their careers. It demonstrates the multilayered nature of the fields that shape gendered experiences and resultant inequalities by taking into account individual dispositions of academics and their habitus, including their science enterprise experience and the wider commercial field beyond the university, and generates a number of implications for practice and policy.     

The combined dynamically weighted modified maximum likelihood estimators of the location and scale parameters

In this study, two new types of estimators of the location and scale parameters are proposed having high efficiency and robustness; the dynamically weighted modified maximum likelihood (DWMML) and the combined dynamically weighted modified maximum likelihood (CDWMML) estimators. Three pairs of the DWMML and two pairs of the CDWMML estimators of the location and scale parameters are produced, namely, the DWMML1, the DWMML2 and the DWMML3, and the CDWMML1 and the CDWMML2 estimators, respectively. Based on the simulation results, the DWMML1 estimators of the location and scale parameters are almost fully efficient (under normality) and robust at the same time. The DWMML3 estimators are asymptotically fully efficient and more robust than the M-estimators. The DWMML2 estimators are a compromise between efficiency and robustness. The CDWMML1 and CDWMML2 estimators are jointly very efficient and robust. Particularly, the CDWMML1 and CDWMML2 estimators of the scale parameter are superior compared to the other estimators of the scale parameter.     

Fingerprinting and Biopolitical Police Surveillance in Turkey

This paper problematises the 2007 amendments to Article 5 of the Police Powers and Duties Law (PPDL) in Turkey that categorises all citizens as ‘potential suspects’ through fingerprinting technology. The amended article requires everyone to submit fingerprint samples when applying for certain official documents such as driver's licences, passports, and ID cards. Consequently, the result has been dramatic: the police have so far proactively recorded more than 60 million people's fingerprints in the process of issuing these documents. Yet, there has been no research into this phenomenon. This paper suggests that this sort of biometric police surveillance is not a recent development, rather part of a long tradition within policing ‘Turkish’ national interests. Following Foucault's genealogical methodology, the paper argues that the governability of a large heterogeneous population across a vast territory has always demanded biometric policing technologies, addressing biopolitical proximity between the capacity building of modern security apparatus and identifying the unknown masses. Studying the historical data comparatively reveals that fingerprinting first started with recording exceptional groups such as criminals and convicts in Europe, while from the late Ottoman Empire to modern Turkey, large sections of the population have always persistently been targeted by police regulations.     

RCEV heteroscedasticity test based on the studentized residuals

All the usual heteroscedasticity tests in the statistics and econometrics literature are based on raw residuals. Although the raw residuals are heteroscedastic, studentized residuals can still be homoscedastic. In this study, the version of Çelik’s RCEV heteroscedasticity test which is based on studentized residuals is introduced.     

Correcting double outward box distributed residuals by WCEV

Double outward box distributed residuals are another type of non monotonic heteroscedasticity that severely violates homoscedasticity assumption. In this study Çelik's (2015 Çelik, R. (2015). Stabilizing heteroscedasticity for butterfly-distributed residuals by the weighting absolute centered external variable. J. Appl. Stat. 42(4):705–721.[Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) WCEV is applied to double outward box distributed residuals to provide homoscedasticity for simple and multiple regression models.     

The Levels of Cortisol,Oxidative Stress,and DNA Damage in the Victims of Childhood Sexual Abuse: A Preliminary Study

In this study we aimed to investigate serum cortisol, oxidative stress, and DNA damage in children who are sexual abuse victims. The study included 38 children who sustained child sexual abuse and 38 age- and gender-matched children who did not have a history of trauma. Cortisol levels reflecting the status of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, anti-oxidant enzymes glutathione peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, natural anti-oxidant coenzyme Q, and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine as the indicator of DNA damage were analyzed in serum samples using the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay method. Cortisol levels were significantly higher in the child sexual abuse group compared to the control group. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of oxidative stress and DNA damage. Cortisol and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine levels decreased as the time elapsed since the sexual abuse increased. Coenzyme Q level was lower in victims who sustained multiple assaults than in the victims of a single assault. Cortisol and superoxide dismutase levels were lower in the victims of familial sexual abuse. Decreases in cortisol and 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine levels as time elapsed may be an adaptation to the toxic effects of high cortisol levels over a prolonged period of time. Child sexual abuse did not result in oxidative stress and DNA damage; however, some features of sexual abuse raised the level of oxidative stress.     

The relationship between vitamin D level and erectile dysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Recent studies have suggested that a relationship could exist between 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] deficiency and erectile dysfunction (ED). The present study evaluated the relationship between 25(OH)D levels and ED in male patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). The study included 98 patients with type 2?DM aged between 18–80 years. The International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) Questionnaire was administered. The patients were divided into three groups according to IIEF-5 scoring: IIEF-5 score between 5–10, severe ED; IIEF-5 score between 11–20, moderate ED; IIEF-5 score between 21–25, no ED. Biochemical parameters, 25(OH)D and hormonal analysis tests were obtained in all patients. All parameters were compared between these three groups. Of 98 patients included in the study, 32 had severe ED, 45 had moderate ED and 21 had no ED. The mean age was 55.12?±?9.39 years and the mean 25(OH)D level was 13.69?±?8.15?ng/ml. When the three groups were compared, 25(OH)D levels were significantly lower in patients with the IIEF-5 score between 5–10 (p?=?0.020). There was a moderate positive relationship between IIEF-5 score and 25(OH)D level (r?=?0.21, p?=?0.038). The patients with severe ED have considerably lower 25(OH)D levels.