Experiences of Nurses Providing Care to Individuals in Earthquake-Affected Areas of Eastern Turkey: A Phenomenological Study.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to examine the experiences of nurses who provide care to individuals in earthquake-affected areas of eastern Turkey. DESIGN: A phenomenological design from qualitative research methods was utilized in this study. METHODS: The study was conducted between May 29, 2023, and August 15, 2023, with 11 nurses working in the western region of Turkey's provinces through one-on-one semi-structured interviews. The interviews were conducted online and recorded on video. Content analysis was performed using the MAXQDA software package. FINDINGS: Themes and sub-themes were identified from the expressions of nurses in line with research findings. Accordingly, 5 themes were determined for nurses providing care to individuals in the earthquake. zone: "challenges they face,""emotions they felt,""coping methods,""knowledge and skills"and "effects of earthquake". CONCLUSION: The results obtained from this study demonstrated that nurses experienced difficulties due to environmental (hygiene, cold weather, shelter) and work-related (lack of coordination, psychosocial issues) conditions during the earthquake event. While providing care to individuals in earthquake-affected areas of eastern Turkey, nurses reported feelings of sadness, inadequacy, anxiety, and fear. They employed coping methods such as talking to family/friends, attempting not to dwell on thoughts, and turning to religious practices to manage these negative emotions. Nurses emphasized the necessity of having professional knowledge and crisis management skills to care for individuals during the earthquake period. In accordance with the findings of the research, it is recommended that nurses are provided with realistic training through simulations and drills in disaster management, as well as psychological support interventions.

Spatial responses of soil carbon stocks, total nitrogen, and microbial indices to post-wildfire in the Mediterranean red pine forest.

Wildfire is a key ecological event that alters vegetation and soil quality attributes including biochemical attributes at spatial scale. This knowledge can provide insights into the development of better rehabilitation or restoration strategies that depend on the ecological dynamics of vegetation, fungi, and animals. The present study aimed to understand the causes and consequences of spatial variability of soil organic carbon, microbial biomass C concentrations, and soil quality indices as impacted by wildfire in a red pine forest. This study was conducted using kriging and inverse distance neighborhood similarity (IDW) interpolations methods. The carbon stocks were significantly (P = 0.002) higher in burned areas compared to those of unburned areas by 255% whereas microbial biomass carbon and microbial respiration were significantly (P < 0.0001 and P = 0.02) lower in burned areas by 66% and 90%, The Pearson's correlation analysis showed that carbon stocks were positively correlated with pH (0.61), total nitrogen (0.60) and ash quantity (0.41), but negatively correlated with microbial biomass carbon (-0.46) and nitrogen (-0.61), and microbial respiration (-0.48). The IDW interpolation method better-predicted pH, bulk density, and microbial biomass carbon and nitrogen compared to kriging interpolation, whereas the kriging interpolation method was better than IDW interpolation for the other studied soil properties. We concluded that pH, EC, SOC, C/N, MR, MBC/SOC, and MBC/MBN can be reliable indicators to monitor the effect of wildfire on forest soils. The wildfire event increased soil carbon stocks, TN, pH, and qCO2, but decreased MBC and MBN.

Mitigation of lead (Pb) toxicity in rice cultivated with either ground water or wastewater by application of acidified carbon.

Toxicity induced by a high concentration of lead (Pb) can significantly decrease plant's growth, gas exchange, and yield attributes. It can also causes cancer in humans. The use of organic amendments, especially biochar, can alleviate Pb toxicity in different crops. The application of biochar can decrease the uptake of Pb by plant roots. However, the high pH of thermo-pyrolyzed biochar makes it an unfit amendment for high pH soils. As Pb is an acute toxin and its uptake in rice is a major issue, the current experiment was conducted to explore the efficacy of chemically produced acidified carbon (AC) to mitigate Pb toxicity in rice. Lead was introduced in concentrations of 0, 15, and 30 mg kg-1 soil in combination with 0, 0.5, and 1% AC, underground water (GW) and wastewater (WW) in rice plants. The addition of 1% AC significantly improved the plant height (52 and 7%), spike length (66 and 50%), 1000 grains weight (144 and 71%) compared to 0% AC under GW and WW irrigation, respectively at 30 mg Pb kg-1 soil (30 Pb) toxicity. Similar improvements in the photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate and stomatal conductance also validated the effectiveness of 1% AC over 0% AC. A significant decrease in electrolyte leakage and plant Pb concentration by application of 0.5 and 1% AC validates the effectiveness of these treatments for mitigating 30 Pb toxicity in rice compared to 0% AC under GW or WW irrigation. In conclusion, 1% AC is an effective amendment in alleviating Pb toxicity in rice irrigated with GW or WW at 30 Pb.

Seasonal Variations in Litter Layers' Characteristics Control Microbial Respiration and Microbial Carbon Utilization Under Mature Pine, Cedar, and Beech Forest Stands in the Eastern Mediterranean Karstic Ecosystems.

The forest floor is hotspot of several functions integral to the stability of forest ecosystems. However, seasonal variations in litter decomposition rate contribute to biochemical and structural heterogeneity in the forest floor carbon (C) and nutrient cycling. We investigated the influence of seasonal variations in litter layers' micro-climate (temperature and moisture content) and chemical characteristics such as pH, electrical conductivity (EC), total organic C (TOC), total nitrogen (TN), and C/N ratio on microbial respiration, biomass, and C use efficiency under mature (> 80 years stage age) pine, beech, and cedar forests in eastern Mediterranean Karstic ecosystems. In contrast to significantly higher microbial respiration in fall, winter, and spring under pine, beech, and cedar forests, the significantly lowest microbial biomass C (MBC) and microbial biomass N (MBN) were observed in winter under each forest. Microbial C use efficiency, measured as the metabolic quotient (qCO2 = CO2/MBC), varied strongly between forest stands and seasons but was generally higher in winter. The significant positive correlations between litter layer and microbial biomass C/N ratios, under beech and cedar forests, suggested strong CN stoichiometric coupling and microbial adaptation to substrate resource stoichiometry. qCO2 correlated significantly negatively with litter layers' temperature, positively with moisture content and EC. However, qCO2 had significant negative relationships with pH in pine and beech forests but significant positive under cedar forest. qCO2 showed significant positive relationships with C/N ratios under all forests but much stronger in beech and cedar forests suggesting higher C respired per unit MBC with an increase in C/N ratio. Despite variations between forest species, the highest MBC/TOC and MBN/TN ratios in fall indicated greater C and N incorporation into microbial biomass. Changes in MBC/MBN ratios under pine (9.62-10.6), beech (8.63-15.6), and cedar (7.32-16.2) forests indicated the shift in microbial communities as fungi have a higher C/N ratio than bacteria. Stepwise regression analysis further revealed that microbial respiration and biomass were controlled differently by litter layer characteristics in each forest. This study suggested that qCO2 independently or with other microbial indices can show litter layers' controls on organic matter turnover in Karst ecosystems and, taking into account the strong seasonal variations, can enhance the predictive potential of decomposition models.

Color Doppler ultrasonography in occlusive diseases of the brachiocephalic and proximal subclavian arteries.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the capability of color Doppler ultrasonography (CDU) in showing the brachiocephalic and proximal subclavian arteries and to determine the accuracy of CDU for diagnosis of occlusive diseases of those arteries. METHODS: Two groups of patients were examined. The first group was examined with CDU to determine whether the brachiocephalic and subclavian artery origins could be seen. The second group, including patients with occlusive arterial disease, was examined with CDU before digital subtraction angiography (DSA). Results of CDU and DSA were compared. RESULTS: In the first group, the origins of 42 (84%) of 50 brachiocephalic arteries, 48 (96%) of 50 right subclavian arteries, and 25 (50%) of 50 left subclavian arteries could be displayed by CDU. In the second group, 8 (89%) of 9 lesions on the right and 23 (96%) of 24 lesions on the left were diagnosed correctly. Color Doppler ultrasonography had sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy values of 88%, 94%, 78%, 97%, and 94%, respectively, for detecting major stenosis and 100%, 98%, 94%, 100%, and 99% for detecting occlusion. Agreement between the CDU and DSA findings was substantial for stenosis (kappa = 0.78) and almost perfect for occlusion (kappa = 0.96). CONCLUSIONS: The percentage of proximal left subclavian arteries shown on CDU was considerably lower compared with the right subclavian and brachiocephalic arteries. However, there was no significant difference between the two sides in diagnosing occlusive arterial diseases. With CDU, occlusion can be diagnosed more accurately than stenosis.