Risk Medicine and Transhumanism.

New developments in bioinformatics, artificial intelligence, and nano-biotechnologies will radically change the practice of medicine to be exhibited in the coming years. One approach that has the potential to carry this changing medical practice into a superhuman age and that has been dominating medical literature in recent years is the risk approach. This article aims to address the issue beyond the dichotomy of good or evil without wrapping the practice of medicine exhibited throughout the human body and history in the sacrament of holiness and falling into the traps of bioconservatism and solutionism.

Will plain packaging of cigarettes achieve the expected? Perceptions among medical students.

Introduction: Plain packaging is one of the critical strategies in eliminating the promotion of tobacco products. Evidence indicates that plain packaging decreases the attractiveness of tobacco products and enhances the effectiveness of health warnings. This study aimed to explore the perceptions of undergraduate medical students of plain packaging and new pictorial warnings before they came into use in Turkey.

The association of antiviral drugs with COVID-19 morbidity: The retrospective analysis of a nationwide COVID-19 cohort.

Background And Objectives: Although several repurposed antiviral drugs have been used for the treatment of COVID-19, only a few such as remdesivir and molnupiravir have shown promising effects. The objectives of our study were to investigate the association of repurposed antiviral drugs with COVID-19 morbidity.

Methods: Patients admitted to 26 different hospitals located in 16 different provinces between March 11-July 18, 2020, were enrolled.

Turkish Thoracic Society's Statement Report on Electronic Cigarettes and Heated Tobacco Products.

Tobacco addiction, which causes the death of more than 8.5 million people in the world every year, is a preventable global public health problem. There are 1.

Clinical Predictors of Response to Tocilizumab: A Retrospective Multicenter Study.

Objective: A substantial number of patients with coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) demonstrate severe infection. Cytokine storm is an underlying condition that worsens clinical outcomes. As an interleukin-6 receptor antagonist, tocilizumab is a promising treatment option for COVID-19.

COVID-19 Outbreak in İstanbul.

Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated that the social determinants of health play a fundamental role in the course of the pandemic. This article aims to reveal the class dynamics of the COVID-19 epidemic in İstanbul, Turkey.

Material And Methods: Spatial analysis and geographic information system data provided by İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality for March and April 2020 were used.

The predictors of COVID-19 mortality in a nationwide cohort of Turkish patients.

The COVID-19-related death rate varies between countries and is affected by various risk factors. This multicenter registry study was designed to evaluate the mortality rate and the related risk factors in Turkey. We retrospectively evaluated 1500 adults with COVID-19 from 26 centers who were hospitalized between March 11 and July 31, 2020.

COVID-19 Pandemic Threatening Prison Population.

The prison population is one of the high-risk groups for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Apart from being in disadvantageous settings of "social distancing," people in prisons are frequently elderly and with multiple comorbidities as a reflection of discriminatory punitive policies worldwide. Although the universal human rights principles ensure that prisoners, like everyone else, live their lives in a healthy environment and access qualified healthcare when they are sick, without being discriminated, the prison conditions make it difficult to comply with these principles.

COVID-19 Pandemic and the Global Perspective of Turkish Thoracic Society.

It has been more than 3 months now since the first case of COVID-19 was reported in Turkey. Globally, the number of confirmed cases and deaths reached 9,653,048 and 491,128 respectively, as reported by 216 countries by June 27, 2020. Turkey had 1,396 new cases, 194,511 total cases, and 5,065 deaths by the same date.

Association between pulmonologists' tobacco use and their effort in promoting smoking cessation in Turkey: a cross-sectional study.

Background: A strategy to reduce the number of smoking-related deaths is to encourage the involvement of health-care professionals in tobacco-use prevention activities and cessation counseling. Previous studies have shown that physicians' smoking status affects their efforts to provide smoking cessation counseling. This study investigates the association between pulmonologists' tobacco use and their efforts in promoting smoking cessation during their routine clinical practices in Turkey.

Ethical Issues in Tuberculosis Control.

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global public health problem as also defined by the World Health Organization (WHO). On the other hand, the incidence of TB worldwide decreases at a lower rate than the intended targets, and it is seen that the targets set for 2015 will not be achieved at the global level. According to the WHO, failure to achieve the targets in TB control results from "resource constraints", "conflict and instability" and "generalized human immunodeficiency virus epidemics".

[The frequency of performing smoking cessation outpatient clinic in chest disease specialists who are members of Turkish Thoracic Society and factors affecting this performance].

Introduction: Although helping patients to stop smoking is a good clinical practice that has to be carried out by physicians everywhere and in every area, it is known that carrying out this help systematically in accordance to a programme in smoking cessation outpatient clinics significantly improves the chance of success.

Materials And Methods: The study is a cross-sectional survey performed among chest disease specialists who are members of Turkish Thoracic Society (TTS), between June 2010 and February 2011. As independent variables relevant to status of performing/not performing Smoking Cessation Outpatient Clinic (SCOC); sex, age (younger or older than 40), being graduated before or after 1996, being or not being in a consultant position, work place (Hospital of Ministry of Health/private hospital/university hospital), having or not having an education for smoking cessation help and being or not being member of a City Tobacco Control Committee (CTCC) were investigated.

Obstructive sleep apnea is prevalent in patients with pulmonary embolism.

Purpose: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome causes systemic consequences due to hypoxia and endothelial dysfunction. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether OSA is more common in subjects with pulmonary embolism (PE).

Methods: This prospective study was conducted between November 2009 and December 2010 in the Department of Pulmonary Medicine of Gaziantep University.

Acute respiratory distress syndrome and hepatotoxicity associated with single dose nitrofurantoin use.

Nitrofurantoin is a synthetic nitrofuran compound. It is generally used in urinary tract infections, either alone or in combination with other antibiotics. A number of adverse effects may develop in different body systems during nitrofurantoin treatment; however, concomitant pulmonary and hepatotoxicity are rare.

CT findings related to exposure to polyvinyl chloride.

Background: Although some adverse health effects of exposure to polyvinyl chloride (PVC) are well known, there is limited evidence of its effects on the respiratory system.

Aims: To assess the pulmonary effects of exposure to PVC with high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT).

Methods: Workers and administrative staff of two PVC production plants completed questionnaires and went through pulmonary function testing and HRCT.

Churg-Strauss syndrome related to montelukast.

A young male with complaints of cough, dyspnea and hemoptysis was admitted. He was using fluticasone propionate and salmeterol for two years for his asthma. Leukotriene receptor antagonist was prescribed two weeks prior to his admission and no reduction of his inhaled steroid therapy was performed.

Factors influencing compliance with continuous positive airway pressure ventilation in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Introduction: Positive pressure ventilation is considered first line therapy in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome however compliance is limited by various factors. We aimed to investigate possible factors influencing compliance.

Materials And Methods: One hundred and forty patients were prescribed positive pressure ventilation for obstructive sleep apnea during June 2006-June 2008.

Gender differences with respect to psychiatric comorbidity in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.

Objectives: Psychiatric disorders are common in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS); however, interrelating factors influencing psychiatric comorbidity (PC) in OSAS are unclear. The aim of this study is to investigate gender related differences with PC in OSAS.

Methods: Data of patients diagnosed as OSAS in University of Gaziantep from January 2006 to January 2010 were retrospectively evaluated.

Combined transbronchial needle aspiration and PET/CT for mediastinal staging of lung cancer.

In this study, we aimed to evaluate the performance of transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) combined with positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for the staging of lung cancer. Twenty-five patients having lymphadenopathies greater than 1 cm on thorax CT and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) ≥ 2.5 on PET/CT were included in this prospective study performed between March 2006 and March 2008.

[Pulmonary manifestations of polyvinyl chloride exposure].

There is currently no national data on the effects of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) exposure on pulmonary function. In this study we recruited workers and administrative staff from two PVC plants between July 2008 and July 2009. A questionnaire, pulmonary function tests, carbon monoxide diffusion capacity, and peak flows were recorded.