HOW VULNERABLE ARE HIGH-INCOME COUNTRIES TO THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC? AN MCDM APPROACH

This paper tries to determine the most vulnerable points of high–income countries during the Covid-19 pandemic in an MCDM setting. For this aim, we use the entropy method to obtain criteria weights and the PIV method for the comparisons. We employ a wide range of criteria that account for political, demographic, capacity, and Covid-19 indicators including vaccination. Our sample consists of 40 HICs. The results reveal that countries with less equitable healthcare systems and with more vaccine hesitancy are more vulnerable to Covid-19. Hospital bed capacity, a strict government policy, and a lower percentage of the population who smoke add to the success of countries in this combat. We compare our findings with SAW and MAUT techniques as well and obtain very similar rankings. Therefore, we conclude that the PIV method can be used for national performance evaluations with a reduced rank reversal problem and computational simplicity. © 2022 by the authors.

ASSESSING COUNTRY PERFORMANCES during the COVID-19 PANDEMIC: A STANDARD DEVIATION BASED RANGE of VALUE METHOD

In this paper, we compare the pandemic management performance of 22 countries that belong to the middle-high income class based on criteria including the pandemic data, population characteristics, and health system capacity. The management of the COVID-19 pandemic requires considering many and often conflicting aspects at the same time which necessitates an MCDM approach. We use a standard deviation (SDV) based range of value (ROV) method which coincides with the black-box nature of the disease. The weights obtained from the SDV method reveal that the number of COVID-19 deaths, current health expenditure, and deaths due to cardiovascular diseases are the most important criteria. The ROV method indicates that most Asian countries are ranked in higher positions due to their strong healthcare systems and quick implementation of social distancing rules. The lowest performances belong to Bulgaria, Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. They have experienced an elevated number of deaths due to having an elderly population and inefficient usage of healthcare resources. We also show that extreme poverty is an important determinant of country performance. In countries where poverty is higher, as the case with Indonesia, implementing the social distancing rules becomes almost impossible which affects the overall country performance significantly. © 2021 by the authors. Submitted for possible open access publication under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Detection of incidental findings on chest CT scans in patients with suspected covid-19 pneumonia

This study aimed to evaluate the chest Computed Tomography (CT) scans of COVID-19 suspected patients in the first period of the pandemic, to reveal the frequency of parenchymal-extraparenchymal incidental findings (IFs). Our single-center retrospective observational study was initiated with the approval of the ethics committee. Chest CT records taken during March-August 2020 due to the suspicion of COVID-19 pneumonia were scanned using the imaging archive of our center. The study was conducted with 1540 patients with non-contrast chest CT without prior CT imaging to detect IFs. Histopathological results and clinical-radiological follow-up data of the patients were scanned from medical records. Of the 1540 patients in our study, 902 (58.57%) were male and 638 (41.43%) were female, with a mean age of 41.96±17.08 (5-92) years. While 248 (16.1%) patients had a typical appearance for COVID-19 pneumonia on thorax CT, no findings were found in 1180 (76.6%) patients. Except for COVID-19 pneumonia, parenchymal IFs(primary malignant lung lesions, metastatic lesions, benign pathologies) were detected in 73 patients (4.74%) and extraparenchymal IFs(lymphadenopathy, breast lesions, thyroid nodule, bone, liver and kidney lesions…) in 280 patients (18.8%). Our study showed that the number of patients without any findings in terms of COVID-19 pneumonia on CT scans is high. It is understood that CT scans for pneumonia are unnecessary due to radiation exposure and should be used when clinically necessary. However, due to the ability of CT to detect incidental findings, it is also important to define IFs oth er than pneumonia in patients who underwent chest CT examination during the pandemic.

COVID-19 Measures Adopted Under the Provisional Article 13 of the Turkish Commercial Code for the Protection of the Equity of Stock Corporations

Several legal amendments regarding the economic life in Turkey have been made to prevent the negative impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The Provisional Article 13 of the Turkish Commercial Code (TCC) has been adopted due to the precautionary principle. This regulation aims to keep the equity of stock corporations within the company during this epidemic. The provision aims to ensure the continuity of the stock corporations in our country by overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic with minimum damage. According to the provision, for a certain period of time, the corporations can only distribute their net profits for the fiscal year of 2019 up to 25%, cannot subject the previous years' dividends and distributable reserves to distribution, and cannot give authority to their governing bodies to distribute advance dividend. The enforcement date of the provision has initiated new discussions in Turkish law about the validity and execution of general assembly resolutions. This study examines the principle of capital maintenance and possible problems regarding the outcome of the general assembly resolution about distribution after determining the basic concepts, scope, and execution area of the TCC's Provisional Article 13.

Is there a relation between computed tomography findings and electrocardiography findings in COVID-19?

OBJECTIVE: COVID-19 can cause lung damage and may present with pneumonia in patients. In the present study, the correlation between the severity of pneumonia and electrocardiography parameters of COVID-19 were examined. METHODS: A total of 93 COVID-19 patients and a control group consisting of 62 volunteers were studied. Computed thorax tomography evaluation was performed;each lung was divided into three zones. For each affected zone, scores were given. The main computed thorax tomography patterns were described in line with the terms defined by the Fleischner Society and peer reviewed literature on viral pneumonia. We compared Computed thorax tomography of patients with corrected QT (QTc) and P wave dispersion (Pd) time. RESULTS: There is a significant difference between the patient and control groups in terms of QTc values (413.5+/-28.8 msec vs. 395.6+/-16.7 msec p<0.001). Likewise, the Pd value of the patient group is statistically significantly higher than that of the control group (50.0+/-9.6 ms computed thorax tomography ec vs. 41.3+/-5.8 msec p<0.001). In the patient group, a reverse correlation was detected between computed thorax tomography score and Pd value according to partial correlation coefficient analysis (correlation coefficient: -0.232, p=0.027). In the patient group, the correlation between computed thorax tomography score and QTc value was similarly determined according to partial correlation coefficient analysis (Correlation coefficient:0.224, p=0.017). CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 prolongs QTc and P wave dispersion values;and as the severity of pneumonia increases, QTc value increases. However, whereas the severity of pneumonia increases, P wave dispersion value decreases.