Birsen Altay

The problems encountered by midwives during breast self-examination training

UNLABELLED The second leading cause of cancer death in Turkey, breast cancer accounts for 24% of female cancers, with a crude incidence rate of 7.2 per 100,000 women in 1999. It was determined that breast self-examination (BSE) is carried out effectively if it is taught by a physician or a midwife/nurse. MATERIALS AND METHODS This descriptive study was performed in 16 health centers found in the city center of Samsun between 01.09.2006 and 30.12.2006. A total of 124 midwives work in the health centers found in the city center of Samsun. It tried to cover the total population rather than sampling part of it. However, 11 midwives, where there was error detected in their data coding paper, and who did not accept to join the study, were excluded from the study. A total of 103 midwives (response rate=83.06%) were included in the study group. The data were collected using a questionnaire form and a problem definition list prepared according to the literature. Descriptive statistics and chi-square tests were used to evaluate the data. RESULTS While 90.3% of the midwives stated that they performed BSE, it was seen that 82.6% of the midwives performed BSE irregularly. While 97.1% of the midwives considered BSE as important, 78.6% of them stated that they had had on-the-job training about BSE. About 82.5% of the midwives stated that they educated women about BSE and 75.7% of them said that they did not feel as sufficient themselves for BSE training. The midwives stated that the most frequent problems encountered were that the women were not willing to apply BSE (43.7%), the women were not able to distinguish the masses from normal breast tissue (48.5%), the women did not feel confident in detecting the masses (49.5%) and the women were not willing to think about cancer (41.7%). CONCLUSION This study shows that multiple reasons are affecting womens BSE practices, which midwives should address when delivering their training sessions.

Breast and Cervical Cancer Knowledge and Awareness among University Students

BACKGROUND Breast and cervical cancers are the most common types of cancer in women worldwide. Previous studies in Asia have shown that related knowledge and awareness is low among female university students. The goal of this study was to assess breast and cervical cancer knowledge, practices, and awareness among female university students in Samsun,Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS This research was a cross-sectional survey of female university students using a self-administered. questionnaire to investigate participant awareness and knowledge of breast and cervical cancer. A total of 301 female university students participated. Descriptive statistics and chi square tests were used for data analysis. RESULTS The mean age of the participants in this study was 22.0 ± 5.91 years. Regarding family history, 89.7 % of the students had no known familial history of breast cancer. Students (65.4%) had knowledge about breast self examination and 52.2 % of them had performed breast self examinationm while 55.1% of them had knowledge about prevention of cervical cancer. CONCLUSIONS Although the results are preliminary, the study points to an insufficient knowledge of university students in Samsun about breast and cervical cancer.

Huzurevinde yasayan yaslılarda özbakım gücü ve yasam doyumu arasındaki ilişki

Osteoporoz ve romatizmal hastaliklar gozun tum tabakalarini etkileyen bulgular ile karsimiza cikmaktadir. Eriskin ve Juvenil Romatoid Artrit, Sjogren Sendromu, Ankilozan Spondilit siklikla goz bulgulari ile beraberlik gosteren romatizmal hastaliklardir. Goz bulgulari siklikla sistemik hastaligin semptomlarina onculuk etmektedirler. Bu hastaliklarda en sik olarak uveit, iridosiklit, vitritis, keratit, sklerit, anterior iskemik optik noropati ve retinal vaskulit gibi okuler inflamasyon bulgulari gorulmektedir. Okuler inflamasyon hastaligin kendisinden kaynaklanabilecegi gibi bu hastaliklarin tedavisinde kullanilan ilaclara bagli olarak da karsimiza cikabilmektedir. Bu calismada osteoporoz ve en sik goz bulgusu izlenen romatizmal hastaliklarin okuler bulgulari literatur esliginde arastirildi.Mirizzi syndrome is an unusual complication of gallstone disease and occurs in approximately 1% of these patients. Some cases can not be identified preoperatively, despite modern imaging techniques. Today, treatment of Mirizzi syndrome is surgical. If Mirizzi syndrome is present, the risk of bile duct injury increases, particularly during laparoscopic surgery. Therefore, preoperative or intraoperative diagnosis is important. Here, we presented a 29 year-old woman with obstructive jaundice who diagnosed as cholelithiasis and choledocholithiasis. Preoperative endoscopic retrograde cholangiography relieved the common bile duct stone but cound not diagnosed the Mirizzi syndrome preoperatively. During laparoscopy, the diagnosis of Mirizzi syndrome was suspected early and the procedure was converted to open cholecystectomy and T-tube to common bile duct. There was no bile duct injury and postoperative course was uneventful.Lenfomalarda akciger tutulumu primer ve sekonder olmak uzere iki sekilde gorulmektedir. Lenfoma hucreleri, akcigerin degisik bolgelerini, yogun bicimde infiltre edebilmektedir. 57 yasinda erkek hastanin 6 aydir devam eden gogus agrisi, boyunda sislik, halsizlik, oksuruk ve balgam yakinmalari mevcuttu. Hasta, hepatosplenomegali, son bir ayda kilo kaybi, ates ve boynunun sol yaninda buyuyen agrili sislik nedeniyle klinigimize yatirildi. Fizik muayenede, boyunda agrili lenfadenopati saptandi. Solunum sistemi muayenesinde sagda solunum seslerinin siddetinde azalma, yer yer krepitan raller mevcuttu. PA akciger grafisinde sag parahiler bolgede non homojen yaygin infiltrasyon saptandi. Toraks tomografisinde ise sag akcigerde santralde hava bronkogrami izlenen konsolide alan, periferde noduler ve retikulonoduler, sol akciger alt lop posterobazal segmentte ve sol akciger ust lop apikoposterior segmentte birkac adet noduler lezyon, paratrakeal lenf bezi ve lokalize alveoler diffuz infiltrasyonlar saptandi. Servikal lenf nodunu histolojik incelenmesinde yuksek grade buyuk hucreli Non-Hodgkin lenfoma tanisi kondu. Hasta 6 siklus CEOP kuru aldi. Kemoterapi tamamlandiktan sonra yapilan incelemelerde daha once varolan akciger lezyonlarinin tumunun kayboldugu goruldu. Bu vaka sistemik non-Hodgkin lenfoma seyri sirasinda akcigeri tutulumu gelisen ve tek basina kemoterapi ile uzun sureli remisyona giren bir nadir olgudur.In this study, we are presenting the results of cytogenetic analysis and molecular cytogenetic analysis (FISH) of the couple and their family, who were referred to our genetic diagnostic laboratory and had bad obstetrics history. We found a normal karyotype (46,XY) in male, and A de novo complex chromosome rearrangement found in a phenotypically normal female was characterized by G-bands, FISH with probes. Her chromosome structure was 46,XX,der(18;22)(18pterrp11.1::22p11.1rqter) del(18)(:p11.1rqter). To determine the parental origin of translocation, we examined the individuals of the family, and we found that the translocation was de novo. We concluded that this carrier family might be due to the unbalanced distribution of translocation, during gamete formation and prenatal diagnosis recommended for their future pregnancies.

Attitude and practice of family planning methods among Roma women living in northern Turkey

Objective This study aims to investigate the attitude and practice of family planning (FP) methods among Roma women living in northern Turkey. Methods A total of 120 Roma women living in northern Turkey participated in this descriptive study. Data were collected using a questionnaire. The scale of FP attitude was used. Results The mean age of participants was 28.9 ± 1.8. Among the participants, 37.5% (45/120) were primary school graduates, 70.8% (85/120) were unemployed, 73.4% (88/120) were in a consensual marriage and 94.2% (113/120) had children. The majority or 85.8% (103/120) of the participants stated that they used FP methods. Intrauterine device (57.4%, 69/120) and withdrawal method (22.3%, 27/120) were the most frequently used FP methods. Conclusions The rates at which Roma women use FP were high. Their attitudes towards FP tended to be negative and the methods used were primarily related to females.