• Title/Summary/Keyword: Mediterranean

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Strategic Issue in Higher Education Marketing: How University Students' Perceive Higher Education Services

  • Nadiri, Halil
    • International Journal of Quality Innovation
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    • v.7 no.2
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    • pp.125-140
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    • 2006
  • One of the most important service industries that emerged in the last decade is "Higher Education". The most of the higher education institutes involve in marketing efforts to build up a good image, to improve the level of satisfaction of students and the stakeholders, to gain competitive advantage with respect to competitors and as well as to increase their market share. Within this intense competition universities should identify and meet the expectations of students to attract more and to retain the existing students. This study is to gain more insights into the dimensions of satisfaction of the university students and factors that affecting their judgments. SSI educational experience questionnaire is used to identify the importance and performance perceptions of students' in Eastern Mediterranean University among different dimensions and also study find out the difference between importance and performance scores of eleven educational experience dimensions. Results show that "Academic Advising", "Instruction Effectiveness", "Recruitment and Financial Aid" and "Student Centeredness" was very important to students. Study also provides managerial implications as well.

Development of a knowledge-based medical expert system to infer supportive treatment suggestions for pediatric patients

  • Ertugrul, Duygu Celik;Ulusoy, Ali Hakan
    • ETRI Journal
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    • v.41 no.4
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    • pp.515-527
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    • 2019
  • This paper discusses the design, implementation, and potential use of an ontology-based mobile pediatric consultation and monitoring system, which is a smart healthcare expert system for pediatric patients. The proposed system provides remote consultation and monitoring of pediatric patients during their illness at places distant from medical service areas. The system not only shares instant medical data with a pediatrician but also examines the data as a smart medical assistant to detect any emergency situation. In addition, it uses an inference engine to infer instant suggestions for performing certain initial medical treatment steps when necessary. The applied methodologies and main technical contributions have three aspects: (a) pediatric consultation and monitoring ontology, (b) semantic Web rule knowledge base, and (c) inference engine. Two case studies with real pediatric patients are provided and discussed. The reported results of the applied case studies are promising, and they demonstrate the applicability, effectiveness, and efficiency of the proposed approach.

Risk Factors of Breast Cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean Region: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

  • Namiranian, Nasim;Moradi-Lakeh, Maziar;Razavi-Ratki, Seid Kazem;Doayie, Mahdyie;Nojomi, Marzieh
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.15 no.21
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    • pp.9535-9541
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    • 2014
  • Background: Identifying risk factors of breast cancer is a key point for preventive strategies to reduce the incidence. The aim of current study was to determine most important risk factors for breast cancer in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) using a systematic review. Materials and Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science till August 24, 2012 and the reference lists of all included studies were searched. Analytic studies which had reported odds ratios (OR), relative risk (RR) or required data to calculate them were included. A total of 343 studies were critically appraised and finally 30 studies were meta-analyzed. Heterogeneity between the studies was assessed by $I^2$ and Cochran's Q. Egger's test was used to assess publication bias. Results: Twenty five casecontrol studies, one nested case-control and four cohort studies were included. The largest ORs were obtained for history of no live birth (2.25; 95%CI: 1.58-3.18), body mass index (BMI) more than 30 (2.21; 95%CI: 1.71-2.36), age at first pregnancy more than 30 years old (1.52; 95%CI: 1.30-1.77) and meat consumption more than three times per week (1.39; 95%CI: 1.03-1.87). The other important predictors were higher education and smoking as risk factors, physical activity and ovulatory stimulating medication as protective factors. Conclusions: The most important predictors of breast cancer in EMR were history of no live birth, BMI more than 30, age at first pregnancy more than 30 years old, physical inactivity and smoking. Almost all these risk factors are consistent with known risk factors for this cancer in other parts of the world.

Endoscopic Findings of Children with Familial Mediterranean Fever

  • Sag, Elif;Demir, Ferhat;Saygin, Ismail;Kalyoncu, Mukaddes;Cakir, Murat
    • Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology & Nutrition
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    • v.21 no.4
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    • pp.271-277
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    • 2018
  • Purpose: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an auto inflammatory disease characterized by periodic fever, synovitis and serositis. Patients may be admitted to gastroenterology units due to gastrointestinal symptoms. In this study; we aimed to analyze endoscopic findings and diagnostic utility of endoscopic procedure in children with FMF. Methods: Patient with FMF that was performed endoscopy for the gastrointestinal symptoms were included to the study (39 of 164 patients, 53 procedure). A control group was randomly designed as age and gender matched four endoscopic procedures per one endoscopic procedure of patients with FMF (n=212). Results: No different was found between the patients and control group in esophagogastroscopy findings. However, the diagnosis of gastrointestinal pathology was made by esophagogastroscopy in 46.2% patients. Colonoscopic examination revealed that the frequency of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was higher in undiagnosed patients compared to both the control group (50.0% vs. 6.9%, p<0.05, odds ratio [OR]:13.4 and 95% confidence inteval [95% CI]: 2.1-84.3) and the patients under colchicine treatment (50.0% vs. 8.3%, p<0.05, OR: 11 and 95% CI: 0.8-147.8). Colonoscopic procedure that was made after the diagnosis was found to provide contribution by 16.7% in determining the etiology of the additional symptoms. Conclusion: Patients with FMF may be admitted to pediatric gastroenterology outpatient clinic prior to diagnosis or during the follow-up period. The frequency of IBD is high in undiagnosed patients with FMF. Endoscopic procedures may be helpful in these patients for the diagnosis accompanying mucosal lesions.

Comparing Role of Two Chemotherapy Regimens, CMF and Anthracycline-Based, on Breast Cancer Survival in the Eastern Mediterranean Region and Asia by Multivariate Mixed Effects Models: a Meta-Analysis

  • Ghanbari, Saeed;Ayatollahi, Seyyed Mohammad Taghi;Zare, Najaf
    • Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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    • v.16 no.14
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    • pp.5655-5661
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    • 2015
  • Purpose: To assess the role of two adjuvant chemotherapy regimens, anthracycline-based and CMF on disease free survival and overall survival breast cancer patients by meta-analysis approach in Eastern Mediterranean and Asian countries to determine which is more effective and evaluate the appropriateness and efficiency of two different proposed statistical models. Materials and Methods: Survival curves were digitized and the survival proportions and times were extracted and modeled to appropriate covariates by two multivariate mixed effects models. Studies which reported disease free survival and overall survival curves for anthracycline-based or CMF as adjuvant chemotherapy that were published in English in the Eastern Mediterranean region and Asia were included in this systematic review. The two transformations of survival probabilities (Ln (-Ln(S)) and Ln(S/ (1-S))) as dependent variables were modeled by a multivariate mixed model to same covariates in order to have precise estimations with high power and appropriate interpretation of covariate effects. The analysis was carried out with SAS Proc MIXED and STATA software. Results: A total of 32 studies from the published literature were analysed, covering 4,092 patients who received anthracycline-based and 2,501 treated with CMF for the disease free survival and in order to analyze the overall survival, 13 studies reported the overall survival curves in which 2,050 cases were treated with anthracycline-based and 1,282 with CMF regimens. Conclusions: The findings illustrated that the model with dependent variable Ln (-Ln(S)) had more precise estimations of the covariate effects and showed significant difference between the effects of two adjuvant chemotherapy regimens. Anthracycline-based treatment gave better disease free survival and overall survival. As an IPD meta-analysis in the Italy the results of Angelo et al in 2011 also confirmed that anthracycline-based regimens were more effective for survival of breast cancer patients. The findings of Zare et al 2012 on disease free survival curves in Asia also provided similar evidence.

Development of the anti-cancer food scoring system 2.0: Validation and nutritional analyses of quantitative anti-cancer food scoring model

  • Hong, Yeo-Jin;Kim, Jeongseon;Lee, Hye Yoon;Rim, Chai Hong
    • Nutrition Research and Practice
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    • v.14 no.1
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    • pp.32-44
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    • 2020
  • BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: We have previously designed the anti-cancer food scoring model (ACFS) 1.0, an evidence-based quantitative tool analyzing the anti-cancer or carcinogenic potential of diets. Analysis was performed using simple quantitative indexes divided into 6 categories (S, A, B, C, D, and E). In this study, we applied this scoring model to wider recipes and evaluated its nutritional relevance. MATERIALS/METHODS: National or known regional databases were searched for recipes from 6 categories: Korean out-dining, Korean home-dining, Western, Chinese, Mediterranean, and vegetarian. These recipes were scored using the ACFS formula and the nutrition profiles were analyzed. RESULTS: Eighty-eight international recipes were analyzed. All S-graded recipes were from vegetarian or Mediterranean categories. The median code values of each category were B (Korean home-dining), C (Korean out-dining), B (Chinese), A (Mediterranean), S (vegetarian), and D (Western). The following profiles were correlated (P < 0.05) with ACFS grades in the univariate trend analysis: total calories, total fat, animal fat, animal protein, total protein, vitamin D, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B12, pantothenic acid, sodium, animal iron, zinc, selenium, and cholesterol (negative trends), and carbohydrate rate, fiber, water-soluble fiber, vitamin K, vitamin C, and plant calcium (positive trends). Multivariate analysis revealed that animal fat, animal iron, and niacin (negative trends) and animal protein, fiber, and vitamin C (positive trends) were statistically significant. Pantothenic acid and sodium showed non-significant negative trends (P < 0.1), and vitamin B12 showed a non-significant positive trend. CONCLUSION: This study provided a nutritional basis and extended the utility of ACFS, which is a bridgehead for future cancer-preventive clinical trials using ACFS.

Detection of Viruses Infecting Stone Fruits in Western Mediterranean Region of Turkey

  • Yardimci, Bayram Cevik Nejla;Culal-Klllc, Handan
    • The Plant Pathology Journal
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    • v.27 no.1
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    • pp.44-52
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    • 2011
  • Field surveys were conducted in 45 stone fruit orchards in seven districts of Isparta Province located in western Mediterranean region of Turkey important for stone fruit production. Leaf samples were collected from 175 trees showing virus-like symptoms. These samples were first tested by ELISA for five different RNA viruses including Apple mosaic ilarvirus (ApMV), Prunus necrotic ringspot ilarvirus (PNRSV), Prune dwarf ilarvirus (PDV), Plum pox potyvirus (PPV), Apple chlorotic leafspot trichovirus (ACLSV). While no ApMV and PPV infection was found, 46, 24 and 16 samples were tested positive for PDV, ACLSV and PNRSV, respectively, in ELISA showing about 45% of symptomatic trees in the region were infected with at least one of these viruses. In addition, it was found that nine sweet cherry trees were mixed infected with two or three of these viruses and PDV with an infection rate of 26.3% was the most widespread virus in symptomatic trees in western Mediterranean region. Thirty samples were selected and tested by a multiplex RT-PCR (mRT-PCR) for simultaneous detection of these viruses. While PPV was not detected, more than half of the tested 20 samples were individually or mixed infected with ApMV, ACLSV, PNRSV and PDV. The mRT-PCR results were confirmed by detection of these viruses individually in some of the field samples using RT-PCR with primes specific to each virus. Comparison of ELSA and mRT-PCR results of 30 samples showed that numbers of infected and mixed infected samples as well as infection and mixed infection rates were significantly higher in RT-PCR (20 and 66.7%) than in ELISA (14 and 46.7%). The results confirm that mRT-PCR is more sensitive than ELISA.

A Taxonomical Study on the Shell Morphology of Blue Mussel, Mytilus edulis galloprovincialis Lamarck in Korea and Japan (한국산 및 일본산 진주담치의 패각형태에서 본 분류학적 고찰)

  • YOO Myong-Suk
    • Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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    • v.25 no.3
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    • pp.165-170
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    • 1992
  • The internal shell morphology of the blue mussel, which were collected from Korea and Japan were studied. The range of the mean ratio between anterior adductor muscle scars to shell height in each locality were between 62.47 in Yongdok to 54.17 in Uichang. These values were very similar to that of M galloprouincialis in Mediterranean than that of M edulis in Europe. And the range of the mean ratio between hinge plate length to shell height were between 61.31 in Jukbyon to 56.15 in Otuschi. Also these values were similar to that of M. galloprovincialis in Mediterranean. Based on the mean ratio between anterior adductor muscle scars and hinge plate length to shell height, it was suggested that the Korean and Japanese blue mussel is certainly identical to the Mediterranean species, Mytilus galloprovincialis.

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