Profile and Motivations of Registered Whole-Body Donors in Turkey: Istanbul University Experience     

İlke Ali Gürses  Ahmet Ertaş  Başak Gürtekin  Osman Coşkun  Mehmet Üzel  Özcan Gayretli  Mehmet Selman Demirci 《Anatomical sciences education》2019,12(4):370-385

Little is known regarding the profiles of whole body donors in Muslim majority countries where donation is scarce. Therefore, this study aims to profile registered donors in Turkey by means of a survey. The explored data could be used to improve ongoing campaign efforts and ethical practices such as commemoration services. Registered donors of the donation programs at the two faculties of medicine of Istanbul University were compared with the national population and a cluster analysis was performed to reveal any concealed sub-groups. Data from 188 respondents were analyzed. The majority of registered donors were married (42%), male (65.4%), aged over 50 years (76%), held a tertiary education degree (49.7%), and were irreligious (58.5%). Cluster analysis revealed two groups with significantly different educational levels, marital statuses, and religious choices. Regarding whether their bodies could be used for education or research, the majority (64.5%) of the respondents left the decision to the anatomy department. Similarly, 73.8% approved indefinite use of their organs, body parts and/or skeletons. The respondents were also willing to share their medical history (94.2%) and personal information (81.6%) if needed. Motivational themes for body donation including usefulness, impermanence, religion, awareness, and kinship were devised after a thematic analysis. Among the respondents, 56.5% were registered organ donors and 63.3% were frequent blood donors. The results of this study provide data that may help revising informed consent forms, developing and implementing thanksgiving ceremonies, and selecting additional targets for supporting body donation campaign activities such as organ and blood donation units.  相似文献   

Neural embedding-based indices for semantic search     

Fatemeh Lashkari  Ebrahim Bagheri  Ali A. Ghorbani 《Information processing & management》2019,56(3):733-755

Traditional information retrieval techniques that primarily rely on keyword-based linking of the query and document spaces face challenges such as the vocabulary mismatch problem where relevant documents to a given query might not be retrieved simply due to the use of different terminology for describing the same concepts. As such, semantic search techniques aim to address such limitations of keyword-based retrieval models by incorporating semantic information from standard knowledge bases such as Freebase and DBpedia. The literature has already shown that while the sole consideration of semantic information might not lead to improved retrieval performance over keyword-based search, their consideration enables the retrieval of a set of relevant documents that cannot be retrieved by keyword-based methods. As such, building indices that store and provide access to semantic information during the retrieval process is important. While the process for building and querying keyword-based indices is quite well understood, the incorporation of semantic information within search indices is still an open challenge. Existing work have proposed to build one unified index encompassing both textual and semantic information or to build separate yet integrated indices for each information type but they face limitations such as increased query process time. In this paper, we propose to use neural embeddings-based representations of term, semantic entity, semantic type and documents within the same embedding space to facilitate the development of a unified search index that would consist of these four information types. We perform experiments on standard and widely used document collections including Clueweb09-B and Robust04 to evaluate our proposed indexing strategy from both effectiveness and efficiency perspectives. Based on our experiments, we find that when neural embeddings are used to build inverted indices; hence relaxing the requirement to explicitly observe the posting list key in the indexed document: (a) retrieval efficiency will increase compared to a standard inverted index, hence reduces the index size and query processing time, and (b) while retrieval efficiency, which is the main objective of an efficient indexing mechanism improves using our proposed method, retrieval effectiveness also retains competitive performance compared to the baseline in terms of retrieving a reasonable number of relevant documents from the indexed corpus.  相似文献   

Towards a Model of Intercultural Communicative Competence in Iranian EFL Context: Testing the Role of International Posture,Ideal L2 Self,L2 Self-Confidence,and Metacognitive Strategies     

Ali Asghar Ghasemi  Hooshang Yazdani  Majid Amerian 《Journal of Intercultural Communication Research》2020,49(1):41-60

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to present a model of intercultural communicative competence (ICC) by incorporating international posture, motivational disposition (ideal L2 self), second language (L2) self-confidence, and metacognitive learning strategies. To this end, 150 Iranian L2 learners, selected through convenience sampling procedure, took part in the research. The findings of structural equation modelling revealed that the proposed model showed adequate fit to the data, implying that the model is appropriate in Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) context. Also, the results indicated that learners with a high level of international posture are more likely to bridge the gap between their present and ideal selves. This was, additionally, argued that internationally oriented and ideally motivated learners become confident of their abilities to get engaged in interaction with L2 target communities. Furthermore, metacognitive learning strategies were found to be directly associated with ICC, implicating that the learners who continuously reflect on their learning and evaluate their performances are more prone to have a higher level of ICC. Finally, suggestions were offered for language teachers and policy-makers to inspire their learners to be more competent in communication with people of other cultures and languages.  相似文献   

The Japanese education system with special emphasis on higher education     

Ali M. El-Agraa  Akira Ichii 《Higher Education》1985,14(1):1-16

The purpose of this article is to provide a brief analysis of the Japanese educational system and to give a somewhat detailed discussion of Japanese higher education. Its main conclusions are: although the bulk of higher education is catered for privately, the prestige institutions tend to be public ones; the character of the system as a whole seems to reflect Japanese society very clearly indeed since it supports high growth industries, reinforces the traditionally accepted distinction between the sexes, and determines both the structure of wages and salaries in general and its sex variance in particular; and that there are very serious problems currently confronting Japanese educationalists - these relate to the official inspection of textbooks, the emergence of anti-teacher violence within schools and the reduction in the size of the public subsidy to private education.The authors are extremely grateful for helpful comments and suggestions from Margaret B. Sutherland, Professor of Education, University of Leeds and Dr. Penny Francks, specialist on modern Japanese history at the Department of Chinese Studies, University of Leeds. However, the usual disclaimer applies.Ali M. El-Agraa is a Senior Lecturer in Economics, School of Economic Studies, University of Leeds, England and is the Visiting Professor in charge of International Economics and Middle Eastern Studies, Graduate School of International Relations, International University of Japan, Niigata for the period September 1984–August 1985. Akira Ichii is Professor of Economics, University of Chuo in Tokyo and is currently (April 1982–March 1984) a Visiting Fellow in the School of Economic Studies, University of Leeds.  相似文献   

Healthcare career intervention with youth in a predominantly Latinx rural community: a pilot study of a creative approach     

Garrison  Yunkyoung  Ali  Saba Rasheed  Lin  Ching-Lan Rosaline  Kim  Ji Youn Cindy  Heshmati  Sara 《International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance》2021,21(3):589-606

International Journal for Educational and Vocational Guidance - The present study discusses a pilot intervention for youth in a predominantly Latinx rural community in the U.S. The intervention...  相似文献   

Pursuing higher education: adaptation challenges and coping strategies of rural students at urban universities in Bangladesh     

Ali  Shoukot  Sarker  Md Fouad Hossain  Islam  M. Saiful  Islam  Md Kabirul  Al Mahmud  Rafi 《Tertiary Education and Management》2021,27(2):91-106

Tertiary Education and Management - This study examines how students from rural areas in Bangladesh face particular challenges in adapting to university dormitories in urban areas. There has been...  相似文献   

The effects of function-based communication intervention for a student with emotional disturbance in a general education setting     

Celal Perihan  Ali Bicer 《Journal of Research in Special Educational Needs》2021,21(2):63-72

Research has shown that most children with emotional disturbance (ED) are struggling to use communication skills and they may tend to use inappropriate behaviours as a form of communication to disclose their needs. A function-based communication intervention might be an effective approach to decrease inappropriate behaviours of children with ED. The purpose of this single-case multiple baseline reversal design (ABAB) study was to examine the effectiveness of the function-based communication intervention for on-task and disruptive behaviours of an 8-year-old student with ED. Functional behavioural assessment (FBA) was conducted and based on the findings of FBA, a colour-coded communication system, was implemented during reading and math classes. The findings indicated that function-based communication intervention was effective in increasing on-task as well as decreasing disruptive behaviours. Furthermore, the function-based communication intervention improved communication between the teacher and the student that resulted in decreasing disruptive behaviours in a general classroom setting. The generalisability of the findings due to the limited number of participants was an important limitation for this study. Future directions, as well as implications for practices, are discussed.  相似文献   

Biochemistry of Nitric Oxide     

Habib S  Ali A 《Indian journal of clinical biochemistry : IJCB》2011,26(1):3-17

Nitric oxide (NO) a free radical having both cytoprotective as well as tumor promoting agent is formed from l-arginine by converting it to l-citrulline via nitric oxide synthase enzymes. The reaction product of nitric oxide with superoxide generates potent oxidizing agent, peroxynitrite which is the main mediator of tissue and cellular injury. Peroxynitrite is reactive towards many biomolecules which includes amino acids, nucleic acid bases; metal containing compounds, etc. NO metabolites may play a key role in mediating many of the genotoxic/carcinogenic effects as DNA damage, protein or lipid modification, etc. The basic reactions of nitric oxide can be divided as direct effect of the radical where it alone plays a role in either damaging or protecting the cell milieu and an indirect effect in which the byproducts of nitric oxide formed by convergence of two independent radical generating pathways play the role in biological reactions which mainly involve oxidative and nitrosative stress. Nitric oxide is also capable of directly interacting with mitochondria through inhibition of respiration or by permeability transition. Reaction of nitric oxide with metal ions include its direct interaction with the metals or with oxo complexes thereby reducing them to lower valent state. Excessive production of nitric oxide can be studied by inhibiting the synthetic pathway of nitric oxide using both selective or specific nitric oxide synthase inhibitor or non-selective nitric oxide synthase inhibitor with respect to isoforms of nitric oxide.  相似文献   

Hypoglycemic, hypolipidemic and antioxidant properties of combination ofCurcumin fromCurcuma longa, Linn, and partially purified product fromAbroma augusta, Linn. in streptozotocin induced diabetes     

Halim Eshrat M. Ali Hussain 《Indian journal of clinical biochemistry : IJCB》2002,17(2):33-43

Dietary spice components ofCurcuma longa andAbroma augusta have been screened for their protective effect against reactive oxygen species induced lipid peroxidation. They have been found to be efficient antioxidant when administered in combination. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of oral administration (300mg/Kg) of the aqueous extract of turmeric whose active ingredient isCurcumin andAbromine powder as a hypoglycemic agent mixed with diet. The effect of this aqueous extract on blood glucose, lipid peroxidation (LPO) and the antioxidant defense system in rat tissues like liver, lung, kidney and brain was studied for 8 weeks in streptozotocin induced diabetic rats. The administration of an aqueous extract of turmeric and abromine powder resulted in a significant reduction in blood glucose and an increase in total haemoglobin. The aqueous extract also resulted in decreased free radical formation in the tissues studied. The decrease in thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) and increase in reduced glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) clearly showed the antioxidant property of the mixture. It is suggested that these changes initially counteract the oxidative stress in diabetes however, a gradual decrease in the antioxidative process may be one of the factors which results in chronic diabetes. These results indicate that the mixture of the two plants have shown antidiabetic activity and also reduced oxidative stress in diabetes. A combination ofAbroma augusta and Curcuma longa also restored the other general parameters in diabetic animals. The results were statistically analyzed and indicated that combination of herbal extracts showed better efficacy as compared to individual herbal plant extracts used.  相似文献   

Thyroid hormones status during pregnancy in normal Iranian women     

Nosratollah Zarghami  Mohammad Rohbani-Noubar  Ali Khosrowbeygi 《Indian journal of clinical biochemistry : IJCB》2005,20(2):182-185

Pregnancy is associated with significant, but reversible changes in thyroid function studies, which are among the most profound seen as a result of a normal physiologic state. The present study was carried out to find out alterations in thyroid function tests in each trimester in normal pregnant women as compared to non-pregnant women in Tabriz-Iran. A case-control study designed with 229 normal pregnant women that randomly selected from the first (64 samples), the second (92 samples), and the third (73 samples) trimesters and 250 randomly selected non-pregnant healthy female controls. Age range in both groups was 16–40 years. Thyroid function tests carried out by measuring serum levels of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), free and total thyroxin (FT₄, TT₄), and free and total triiodothyronine (FT₃, TT₃) by commercially available radio immunoassay kits. We found that mean TT₄ increased progressively during pregnancy. Our study showed increasing in serum levels of TT₃ in the second trimester and then declining during the third trimester compared with non-pregnant women. We showed that FT₄ strongly decreased during the third trimester. Free T₃ showed declining in the second and third trimesters. Mean TSH did not show significant difference in each trimester compared with non-pregnant women. The thyroid function tests in pregnancy should be interpreted against gestational age-related reference intervals to avoid mis-interpretation of thyroid function during pregnancy.  相似文献