Medicine Faculty Students' Perspective on Cadaver and Organ Donation in the COVID-19 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 is an important pandemic that affects the whole world. Another branch of the wreckage its devastating effects on the health care system is organ and cadaver donations. This article aimed to raise awareness about cadaver and organ donation during the COVID-19 period, with the support of student opinions. METHODS: Twelve opinions about cadaver and organ donation during the COVID-19 pandemic were presented to the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year students at the Kafkas University Faculty of Medicine. The answers were compared between male and female students using the χ2 test. RESULTS: It is seen that the data obtained about cadaver and organ donation are important. In addition, the storage conditions of cadavers and organs, the risk of disease transmission, and the risk of contamination are discussed with striking data. CONCLUSIONS: It is understood from the obtained data that awareness about cadaver and organ donation is always on the agenda. In particular, conferences and meetings should be held frequently to keep medicine faculty students informed. The handling of COVID-19 has also given a significant impetus to the research throughout.

A retrospective study on the pathologies in patients with coccydynia-lumbosacralgia and their treatment.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to arrange the treatment according to the etiology following the differential diagnosis in patients who had presented to the Orthopedics and Traumatology and General Surgery outpatient departments, and to emphasize the post-treatment success. METHOD: The charts of 156 patients who had presented to the Orthopedics and Traumatology, General Surgery Departments of the Kafkas University Faculty of Medicine between July 2012 and June 2021 were retrospectively reviewed after permission was obtained from the ethics committee in this study. The demographic findings and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) results for those with a symptom of pain as detected during the physical examination were recorded from the patient charts. RESULTS: A total of 156 patients who had presented with traumatic and non-traumatic conditions to the Orthopedics Clinic complaining of pain, burning, sensitivity, discharge and hyperemia at the coccyx region were included in the study. The reason for the lumbosacralgia was found to be traumatic as in heavy lifting or working physically difficult jobs in 62 of the 95 patients (65.26%) who presented with lumbosacralgia and pain referred to the coccyx. The mean VAS was 7.37 before treatment and 2.32 following conservative treatment. There was a history of falling on the coccyx region in 8 of the 14 patients with traumatic isolated coccydynia. The pre-treatment mean VAS was 8.64 in the patients with a diagnosis of coccydynia while the post-treatment mean VAS was 0 in 8 patients with full recovery, 4.33 in 3 patients with partial recovery, and 9.66 in 3 patients with no recovery. The pre-treatment mean VAS was 7.58 in the 29 patients with thrombosed hemorrhoids, decreasing to 0 after treatment. The pre-treatment mean VAS was 4.16 in the 18 patients with a pilonidal sinus, again decreasing to 0 after treatment. CONCLUSION: Possible underlying etiological factors should be taken into account when making a diagnosis in patients with coccydynia and the treatment should be determined in a multidisciplinary manner.

Medical Students' Views on Cadaver and Organ Donation.

BACKGROUND: Organ and cadaver donation are 2 important issues that contribute to the future of medicine. Organ donation is a miraculous gift and enables the donor to continue to "live" in others. Cadavers are usually part of medical students' first encounters with clinical work and play a very important role in medical education. The attitudes of medical students toward both organ and cadaver donation were evaluated in the current study. METHODS: Sixteen phrases about cadaver and organ donation were presented to the fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-year students of the Kafkas University Faculty of Medicine. The answers were compared between male and female students using the χ2 test. RESULTS: There was a significant difference between the answers of the male and female students only to the first item (P = .043). Very important data were also obtained from the answers given to the other items in the study. Although many students, both male and female, agreed with the item "I would donate my organs," the rate of agreement with "I would donate my body as a cadaver" was low for both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained from the study regarding organ and cadaver donation awareness are significant. It is extremely important to deal with the reluctance regarding this matter, starting from the medical students, to inform society in the appropriate manner.

The Knowledge of Nursing Students About Organ Donation and the Effect of the Relevant Training on Their Knowledge.

BACKGROUND: The positive attitude of nursing students toward organ donation will affect the number of transplantations to be performed in the future. This study was conducted to determine the knowledge of the students studying at Kafkas University Faculty of Health Sciences Nursing Department on organ donation and the effect of the relevant training on their knowledge. METHOD: This study with a pretest-post-test design was completed with 352 nursing department students in the 2016-2017 academic year. A total of 45 minutes of structured training was provided to the students by a physician who was trained and experienced on organ transplantation. A pretest and post-test form was used to evaluate the knowledge of the students before and after the training, respectively. Data were analyzed by evaluating the numbers, percentages, and significance of the difference between 2 percentages in the SPSS 20 software. RESULTS: The mean age of the students was 21.25 ± 1.89 years; 52% were male, 31.8% were first-year students. We found that a relative of 6.5% of the students was waiting for an organ and the ethnic identity did not affect the decision of organ donation in 69.9%. When asked about who could be organ donors, 71.9% of the students answered as cadaver and living donors where blood and tissues were found to be a match, 33.5% as the first-degree relatives of the patient, and 18.5% as cadaver donors. Head trauma-related brain death was the most common answer to "In which case can organs be taken?" at 75.9%. The percentage of students stating that the donor can donate his or her organs in accordance with the law while he or she is healthy and that organ donation can be made with the consent of the family after death was 67.9%. We found that the students' wish to donate their organs and their knowledge on where and how to make an organ donation and how to get official approval increased significantly as a result of this training in addition to the number of those who had no reservations regarding brain death. CONCLUSION: We recommend providing nursing students regular training on organ donation with various training methods and conducting further studies on the subject.

Investigation of the effects of Achillea millefolium extract in diabetic rats with second-degree burns.

Our aim was to investigate the effects of Achillea millefolium on wound healing in second-degree burns formed in diabetic rats. This study was conducted at the Kafkas University Experimental Research Center. 20 Sprague Dawley rats were divided into 2 groups. Group I (n=10 rats) was the Control group and contained the diabetic rats with burn injury. Group II (n=10 rats) was the group where burn injury was created and Achillea millefolium was administered to diabetic rats. The backs of the rats were shaved so as to include 30% of the body area. A 10% lanolin extract was administered for 14 days after the burn injury was created. Tissue was obtained from the burn area of the rats sacrificed. No significant difference was found in Group II in terms of the severity of the dermatitis and inflammatory cell reactions when compared to Group I. No significant difference was observed between FGFR1immunoreactivity in the epidermis and dermis in Group I. While FGFR1immunoreactivity in 3 rats in Group II was similar to Group I, strong immunore activity that was more prominent in the epidermis was found in 7 rats in Group II. We believe that Achillea millefolium contributes to wound healing in burn injury due to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Myofibroblastoma.

Myofibroblastoma of the breast is a rare benign mesenchymal tumor. We report a 61-year-old male case who presented to the orthopedic clinic with right shoulder pain. The physical and clinical examination was normal and he was referred to our clinic. Excision was performed and there were no postoperative complications.

The comparison of the effects of ellagic acid and diclofenac sodium on intra-abdominal adhesion: an in vivo study in the rat model.

Peritoneal adhesions are seen frequently after abdominal surgery and can cause serious complications. We aimed to evaluate the effects of the oral use of diclofenac sodium and ellagic acid on formation of postoperative adhesions in rats Studies have shown that agents with anti-inflammatory properties and antioxidant substances can prevent adhesion by decreasing oxidative stress. We compared and evaluated the effects of ellagic acid that has strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory diclofenac sodium on peritoneal adhesion development in our experimental study. Laparotomy was performed with a midline incision under general anesthesia and an adhesion model was created on the antimesenteric side of the cecum in Groups I, II, and III. Group I received 85 mg/kg ellagic acid and Group II, 50 mg/kg diclofenac sodium through the nasogastric catheter while Group III received no medication. Only laparotomy was performed in Group IV. The rats were sacrificed at the end of the 14th day. Following macroscopic scoring, tissue samples were removed and subjected to biochemical and histopathologic evaluation. The degree of adhesion and the malondialdehyde level were decreased (P < 0.05), and glutathione level increased (P < 0.05) in Group I compared to Group II and Group III. The effects of ellagic acid on the prevention of peritoneal adhesion were found to be stronger than diclofenac sodium. This can be explained by the fact that ellagic acid is a strong antioxidant and decreases oxidative stress with anti-inflammatory and anti-angiogenic effects.