Metin Hasde

Association between cigarette smoking and depressive symptoms among military medical students in Turkey

An association has been documented between two important health concerns, smoking and depression. A cross-sectional study was carried out to explore whether this relationship exists in a sample of Turkish military medical undergraduates. Of a total of 779 military medical undergraduates, 690 agreed to participate in the study. The students completed a self-administered questionnaire including the Turkish adaptation of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and gave a smoking history. It was determined that the smokers among medical students were 2.2 times more likely to have depressive symptoms than nonsmokers. This result extends the significant association between smoking and depressive symptoms in the literature to a sample of Turkish military medical undergraduates.

High nitrate intake impairs liver functions and morphology in rats; protective effects of α-tocopherol.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of high dose nitrate ingested in drinking water, on liver enzymes and histopathology, liver weight/body weight (lw/bw) ratio, serum and liver malondialdehyde (MDA) levels and osmotic fragility in Sprague-Dawley rats. These parameters were compared on 40 rats divided into four groups; control animals (group A) drank filtered tap water containing maximum 10mg/L nitrate while treatment groups drank 200mg/L (group B), 400mg/L (group C) and α-tocopherol plus 400mg/L (group D) nitrate containing water ad libitum for 60 days. As a result, lw/bw ratio increased significantly (p<0.05) among rats that consumed water with 400mg/L nitrate. Osmotic fragility increased significantly in treatment groups (p<0.05 versus control). Liver but not serum MDA levels increased in group C (p<0.05 versus control). Group A showed normal hepatic lobular architecture and histology. After nitrate administration, there was hepatocellular degeneration with increased intercellular space of the liver cells in groups B and C. Liver MDA, osmotic fragility and liver histology have returned to nearly normal in group D. These findings show clearly that high nitrate ingestion can cause pathological changes in liver histology and functions. Moreover, α-tocopherol can prevent these effects, possibly through antioxidant properties.

Establishing the use of melatonin as an adjuvant therapeutic against paraquat- induced lung toxicity in rats

It is well known that the intake of paraquat (PQ) causes severe tissue injury leading to numerous fatalities. Considering that the main target for PQ toxicity is the lung and involves the production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, transcription factors and inflammatory cytokines, it may be hypothesized that the combination of a potent antiinflammatory and antioxidant agent may counteract more of PQ’s effects than an antiinflammatory agent alone. For this purpose, combination of dexamethasone (Dex) and melatonin (Mel) was compared with Dex alone. A total of 40 male Wistar albino rats were divided into four groups as control, PQ, Dex only, and Dex plus Mel. The animals were given intraperitoneally a toxic dose of 19 mg/kg PQ dissolved in 1 ml saline. Control animals were injected with the same amount of saline only. A dose of 1 mg/kg Dex was administered 2 hrs after PQ administration. In the combination treatment group, 20 mg/kg Mel was given with Dex. All drugs were given every 12 hrs for a total of six doses. Five animals in PQ group and three animals in Dex only group died by the end of the study. No deaths occurred in the Dex+Mel group. Dex exerted improvements in several oxidative and antioxidative parameters. However, combination treatment provided beneficial effects against PQ toxicity far greater than Dex alone. This difference was also apparent when tissues were histologically compared. In conclusion, Mel exhibited strong additive beneficial effects with Dex and can be considered as a safe treatment modality against PQ toxicity.

How Medical Students Use the Computer and Internet at a Turkish Military Medical School

The aim of this study was to determine how medical students use the computer and World Wide Web at a Turkish military medical school and to discuss characteristics related to this computer use. The study was conducted in 2003 in the Department of Public Health at the Gulhane Military Medical School in Ankara, Turkey. A survey developed by the authors was distributed to 508 students, after pretest. Responses were analyzed statistically by using a computer. Most of the students (86.4%) could access a computer and the Internet and all of the computers that were used by students had Internet connections, and a small group (8.9%) had owned their own computers. One-half of the students use notes provided by attending stuff and textbooks as assistant resources for their studies. The most common usage of computers was connecting to the Internet (91.9%), and the most common use of the Internet was e-mail communication (81.6%). The most preferred site category for daily visit was newspaper sites (62.8%). Approximately 44.1% of students visited medical sites when they were surfing. Also, there was a negative correlation between school performance and the time spent for computer and Internet use (-0.056 and -0.034, respectively). It was observed that medical students used the computer and Internet essentially for nonmedical purposes. To encourage students to use the computer and Internet for medical purposes, tutors should use the computer and Internet during their teaching activities, and software companies should produce assistant applications for medical students. Also, medical schools should build interactive World Wide Web sites, e-mail groups, discussion boards, and study areas for medical students.

Effects of high nitrate intake in rats.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of administration of high dose nitrate in drinking water on weight gain, hematological parameters and osmotic fragility in rats. We compared these parameters in 40 rats divided into four groups (one control and three treatment groups). Control animals drank filtered tap water containing a maximum of 10 mg/l nitrate while the treatment groups drank 100 mg/l, 200 mg/l and 400 mg/l nitrate-containing water ad libitum for 60 days. Animals in the treatment groups gained less weight than the control group and the differences between the control and treatment groups were statistically significant (p < 0.05). At the concentration of 100 mg/l nitrate, platelet counts and hemoglobin levels were significantly increased compared with the control group (p < 0.05). At the concentration of 200 mg/l nitrate, erythrocyte counts, hemoglobin and hematocrit levels were significantly increased compared with the control group (p < 0.05). At the concentration of 400 mg/l nitrate, platelet counts were decreased significantly when compared with the first two treatment groups (p < 0.05). There were statistically significant differences in osmotic fragility ratios between treatment groups and the control group (p < 0.05). We concluded that high nitrate intake in drinking water decreases weight gain, affects hematological parameters by inducing bone marrow activity at low doses and inhibiting it at high doses, and increases erythrocyte osmotic fragility.

Relation between Machiavellianism and Job Satisfaction in a Sample of Turkish Physicians

Job satisfaction is affected by many factors. A consistent negative correlation between Machiavellianism and Job satisfaction was shown by many previous studies. To estimate this association in a sample of Turkish people, 361 physicians were selected among the total number of 5,959 working in Ankara City Center. A self-administered questionnaire including the Mach IV scale and Job Satisfaction scale developed by Kasapoğlu was applied to the subjects. Student t test and Pearson correlation were used for analysis. The correlation of –.25 between Job Satisfaction and Machiavellianism scores was significant and consistent with the mean scores on Job Satisfaction between the Machiavellian and Nonmachiavellian groups. Although the present association is small, the inverse value is consistent for Mach IV scale scores with job satisfaction in the literature.