Effect of cigarette smoking on sexual functions,psychological factors,and disease activity in male patients with ankylosing spondylitis

Objective: This study aims to investigate the effect of smoking on sexual functions in AS patients.

Patients and methods: A total of 67 male AS patients with a median age of 34 years (range: 18–57) reporting sexual activity at least for the past 4 weeks period were included. Patients were divided into smokers (Group 1, n?=?47) and non-smokers (Group 2, n?=?20). Fagerström test for nicotine dependence, smoking history, exhaled carbon monoxide test were recorded for smoking AS patients. Visual analogue scale (VAS), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Metrology Index (BASMI), Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI), Ankylosing Spondylitis Quality of Life (ASQoL), International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were filled for both groups.

Results: There was no significant difference between smokers and non-smokers in all evaluation parameters. BASMI scores were significantly lower in the mild dependency subgroup as compared to those with moderate or severe dependency (p?=?.005 and p?=?.007, respectively). Total IIEF score and IIEF categories correlated significantly with BASDAI, BASFI, BASMI, ASQoL, pain, fatigue, and cumulative smoking. BDI showed an inverse correlation with the IIEF score and IIEF category (p?r?=?–0.520, p?r?=?–0.508, respectively).

Conclusions: Sexual function in AS patients is associated with the pain, fatigue, disease activity, functional status, quality of life, depression as well as the cumulative exposure to smoking, and that sexual functions tend to decline with increasing degree of cigarette dependency.     

Unaddressed problems and research perspectives in scheduling blood collection from donors

Many optimisation problems arise in managing the Blood Donation (BD) supply chain. Most of them have been addressed in the literature, while other problems, e.g. donation scheduling, have not been sufficiently addressed so far. However, blood collection from donors may have a disruptive impact on the entire BD supply chain if not properly managed. For example, scheduling donation appointments based on some system metrics may improve the flow of blood units through the BD supply chain and increase the quality of service perceived by donors. In this short communication, we present the donation scheduling problem and highlight the lack of work in the literature that deals with this problem. Then, we analyse the impact of an unbalanced flow of blood units on the BD system and the benefits that may derive from a suitable appointment scheduling. Finally, we propose suggestions for future research in BD collection scheduling that may improve the BD process.     

Globalization and Its Countermovement: Marxian Contention or Polanyian Resistance?

This article surveys the scholarship on the countermovement against the diffusion of capitalism and market economy in the Global South. We identify two streams of analysis in the literature. On the one hand, scholars observe contentious politics instances where the spread of capitalist production relations enables the associational capacity and bargaining power of social classes. On the other hand, there are voluminous studies on contentious politics in the Global South where groups such as peasants, shopkeepers, and urban poor resist the intensification of the market economy. We use Beverly Silver's distinction between Marx‐type and Polanyi‐type protests, which focuses on how globalization makes and unmakes social groups, to unpack the heterogeneity of the impacts and experiences of globalization. We argue that although Silver's distinction is of great analytical value, there are strong warrants for separating the effects of the market economy from capitalism in studying contentious politics against globalization. Such an analytical strategy (i) expands the scope of the distinction between Marxian and Polanyian contention to social groups other than the working class and (ii) emphasizes that the roots of these struggles lie in the interconnected diffusion of capitalism and market economy.     

More than Subversion: Four Strategies for the Dominated

This article asks what strategies are available to dominated actors in fields of cultural production. Using archival and biographical materials on Ottoman/Turkish women intellectuals, we show that they effectively used, depending on their social and cultural capital and their past practices, at least four strategies. Apart from the well-theorized strategy of subversion, they could also deploy acquiescence, collaboration, and defiance. These four strategies, we argue, constitute a two-dimensional space defined by loyalty vs. resistance on one hand and the overtness vs. covertness of loyalty or resistance on the other. While much of this space is best understood in terms of reciprocal social exchange, the assumptions of exchange break down in the case of overt resistance, showing that strategy goes beyond negotiation and that the understanding of power as always-already implicated with resistance has limits.     

Coming out within transnational families: intimate confessions under Western eyes*

This article is about ‘coming out’ and the process of disclosure of queer migrants within their transnational families. Despite debates about the decreasing relevance of coming out in contemporary western societies, we argue that the process of coming out continues to be a central mode of belonging and identity construction for queers in the context of transnational migration. Interviews with migrants from Poland, Russia and Turkey in Germany on their coming out experiences show that people rely on a variety of boundaries, i.e. gender, class and ethnicity, to construct a desired way of life. Theoretically, these insights indicate the need to reframe post-structuralist theories on power, most prominently advanced by Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault, from an intersectional perspective. The findings in this paper pinpoint to the challenges of transnational social life queer migrants are confronted with through empirical illustrations of perceptions of differences and ambiguities between immigration and emigration contexts. Furthermore, we advocate that sexuality is a crucial dimension of migration processes determining self-definition in relation to people and places, which makes their stories of coming out always also stories of ‘coming home’.     

New Shrinkage Parameters for the Liu-type Logistic Estimators

The binary logistic regression is a widely used statistical method when the dependent variable has two categories. In most of the situations of logistic regression, independent variables are collinear which is called the multicollinearity problem. It is known that multicollinearity affects the variance of maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) negatively. Therefore, this article introduces new shrinkage parameters for the Liu-type estimators in the Liu (2003) in the logistic regression model defined by Huang (2012) in order to decrease the variance and overcome the problem of multicollinearity. A Monte Carlo study is designed to show the goodness of the proposed estimators over MLE in the sense of mean squared error (MSE) and mean absolute error (MAE). Moreover, a real data case is given to demonstrate the advantages of the new shrinkage parameters.     

Mediation Role of Dyadic Coping on Parenting Stress and Relational Resilience in Couples

This study aims to explore the mediating role of dyadic coping between relational resilience and parenting stress on married couples. The study participants comprised 229 married couples with at least one child and who have had a major life event. The relational resilience scale, parenting stress inventory, dyadic coping scale and personal information, and life events forms were used to collect data for this study. Data were analyzed with the actor–partner interdependence mediation model. The results revealed that dyadic coping actor–partner effects did not mediate between relational resilience and parenting stress. The results were discussed in relation to the social-ecological model and relevant literature. Based on the current findings, recommendations and implications for further research and practice were also proposed.     

Economic Adversity and Voter Turnout: Evidence from Turkish Parliamentary Elections

Social Indicators Research - This paper investigates the relationship between economic adversity and voter participation in Turkish parliamentary elections. We employ a dynamic model of voter...     

Knowledge and opinions of families regarding games—Toy selection for 6 to 12 year old children (the case of Northern Cyprus)

Games and toys are irreplaceable basic needs of children of almost every age. They are also some of the most significant traces of culture. Some of our games and toys lost their original functions, and it is not remembered why they were functionally significant in Turkish Cypriot culture. Families and cultural identity also play a major role regarding different factors leading to changes in toy selection. The purpose of this study is to explore the knowledge and opinions of families regarding games and, in particular, toy selection for 6–12 year old children of Turkish Cypriot families. A survey was administered to 100 households in North Cyprus, and was used as a data collection tool. It was found that the most important factors in the selection of children’s games and toys were (1) the economic opportunities, and (2) children’s desires for toys after seeing them with their friends. A considerable number of families in Northern Cyprus see game-toy selection as important in a child’s social, psychomotor, mental, and cultural construction. Families, especially those living with difficulties, indicated that they cannot afford enough time to encourage playing traditional games. Although new versions of traditional games and toys are being developed and used, it is seen that educated and high-income families are more conscious about the importance of having information about them than others.