Association between sarcopenia and erectile dysfunction in males with type II diabetes mellitus

Background: The prevalence rates for both sarcopenia and erectile dysfunction (ED) gradually increase in middle-aged and elderly diabetic male population and they impair physical functioning, sexual functioning, and quality of life. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the sarcopenia in patients with diabetic ED.

Methods: The study included 98 male patients with type II diabetes mellitus (DM) aged 18–80?years. Blood chemistry and hormone levels were obtained. The International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) questionnaire was administered to the patients. The patients were divided into three groups according to the IIEF-5 score; a score of 5–10 points indicated severe ED, a score of 11–20 indicated moderate ED, and a score of 21–25 points indicated no ED. The muscle mass, handgrip strength, timed up and go test, upper mid-arm circumference, calf circumference, and body mass index were obtained. The statistical analysis was performed using MedCalc Statistical Software version 12.7.7. All parameters were compared between the three groups.

Results: Of 98 patients included in the study, 84 patients had severe sarcopenia, 13 had moderate sarcopenia, while only one patient had normal muscle mass. The mean age was 56.59?±?11.46?years. When patients were divided into three groups according to IIEF-5 score, 38 had severe ED, 39 had moderate ED, and 21 had no ED. There was a significant difference between the three groups in terms of handgrip strength, timed up and go test scores, upper mid-arm circumference, and calf circumference (p?Conclusions: Although muscle mass remains unchanged, muscle strength and physical performance decrease in diabetic ED patients. Diabetic patients with severe and moderate ED have lower muscle strength and physical performance.     

Modernity as Masquerade: Representations of Modernity and Identity in Turkish Humour Magazines

This article aims at an alternative analysis of Turkish “modernity” by analysing the representations in a popular humour magazine. This study departs from the idea that representations in “low” discourses in Turkey can provide us with a text other than those of the official-dominant discourses in order to see how the certainty and positivity attributed to the modern identity in the dominant ideology is elaborated, demystified, and subverted as well as contained. Essentially, in the magazine, one of the main sources of humour derives from the clash of two main identities, between those who are modern, civil, urban, and effeminate and those who are traditional, uncivil, rural, and super-masculine. In the modern urban space, the modern and traditional become a stake in the power struggles between groups. This struggle operates through tastes, styles, and the body, which are at the same time means of identity construction as well as marks of identity. This duality and the concomitant dualities have come to structure all significatory practices to such an extent that everything gets symbolically overloaded by these series of dualities. In this struggle, the essence and appearance duality is the main framework within which Turkey's modernity and identity are represented. “Modernity” is signified as a masquerade, a play of appearances and a stake in the power struggles among groups rather than as a measure of progress. Bodies, sexuality, and masculinity become the nodal points of the expression of identity struggles, not only of social groups but also of the Turkish nation.     

The impact of labor shortage on the employee commitment

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the impact of the shortage of labor on individuals’ workplace attitudes, strangely their commitment. It is beneficial for organizations to develop their management strategies in view of employees’ loyalty attitudes. As a conceptual paper, the article contains a theoretical deduction. The characteristics of the labor market (macro level), the organizational needs and responses (meso level), and the set of the employees’ commitment (micro level) are linked to a theoretical process. According to our results, the average levels of the different dimensions of employee commitment will be changed in the future. The levels of continuance commitment and professional commitment will be higher, while the levels of deliberate commitment and affective commitment will be lower in the employee commitment profiles. By increasing continuance commitment and professional commitment, the toolkit of the HR strategy needs to be transformed to make it more relevant external motivation tools and training-development solutions. Meanwhile, it is important to note that the interactions among the employees will be less frequent and they will have less affection for their workplace. Labor shortage transforms individuals’ workplace attitudes. Understanding of employees’ decisions to maintain their organizational membership is supported by the relationships found in this research.     

Mystification as an Artistic Strategy in Milan Kundera's Work

ABSTRACT

Using close reading of Kundera's texts, Jan ?ulík argues that many arguments in Milan Kundera's literary works are deliberate provocations. Kundera's approach is undoubtedly related to post-modernism, although he used his mystification techniques long before the arrival of postmodernism, as early as in the Stalinist 1950s when he published fake quotes from Lenin in official Stalinist publications. In Jan ?ulík's view, it is the purpose of Milan Kundera's systematic use of false facts, distortions and disrupted logic to warn his readers against against the unreliability of words and human communication. Kundera seems to argue that the world in its complexity is basically unknowable and the only thing that is left for us is, in despair, in our ignorace of what is going on around us, to carry out pranks.     

Loneliness and Life Satisfaction in Turkish Early Adolescents: The Mediating Role of Self Esteem and Social Support

This study aimed to measure whether self-esteem and social support are mediators in the relationship between loneliness and life satisfaction. The study includes early teenagers from the 6th, 7th and 8th grades aged between 11 and 15 (M = 13.31, SD = 1.09). The study group consisted of 431 secondary school students from large and medium sized cities in Turkey, of which 196 (44.5 %) were girls and 235 (54.5 %) were boys. The study examined students’ responses to life satisfaction, loneliness, self-esteem and social support scales. Data were separated into parcels of instruments within the framework of structural equation modeling. It was determined that both self-esteem and social support were partial mediators between loneliness and life satisfaction. These results are discussed within the scope of the literature.     

"I was a dark horse in the eyes of her family": the relationship of cohabiting female couples and their families in Hungary

This article focuses on the relationship of female couples with their parents, siblings, and other relatives by exploring various patterns of coming out and family attitudes. After reviewing existing literature in this field, the article explores the extent to which my interviewees are out to their family, the reasons for and the possible complications about staying in the closet. Next the parents' reactions are discussed, which range from complete rejection through not admitting the truth to themselves to acceptance. Parents find it difficult to come out about their daughter to their immediate environment, as they fear prejudice and being blamed for her sexual orientation. This can also lead to conflict and alienation between parents and daughter. Accepting a person's sexual orientation and relationship, however, is only the first step toward her full integration into the family. Full inclusion in the family is only present when the person's same-sex partner is treated as kin to the same extent as an opposite-sex partner would be. This is demonstrated in a variety of ways, such as the names used (especially by the couple's children) and the system of obligations and favors constituting a formative element of kinship. There might be conflicts, however, when the two partners have different backgrounds and thus different expectations of family relations.