Objective: We aimed to investigate the knowledge of medical students about COVID-19, the effects of the traumatic situation they experienced, the stress they perceived and the factors affecting them. In addition, we aimed to learn the thoughts of the students about the virus due to the uncertainties. Methods: The study was carried out online between April 30, May 5, 2020 with a questionnaire prepared with googleforms. For the study, all students studying at the Faculty of Medicine of Istanbul Yeni Yüzyıl University were called through class representatives and WhatsApp class groups. The questionnaire included sociodemographic information, knowledge and sources of information about the disease, to agreement degree the proposition whether covid 19 is produced as a biological weapon. The Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Impact of Events Scale-Revised (IES-R) were applied. Results: The total number of participants was 275 students. No student was infected with COVID-19 at the time of the survey. The presence of chronic disease in the participants was found to be a factor that increased anxiety (p = 0.01). Majority of participants (60.40%) stated that they agree with COVID-19 is a biological weapon. The mean scores of women ‘s total PSS and IES-R were higher than men. It was found that the families of the students had a lower monthly income than the minimum monthly wage is increasing the anxiety about getting COVID-19 infection and perceived stress. One-third of the students reported that sleep and appetite were impaired than the before pandemic. The announcements and website of Ministry of Health and the social media was the main source of information of the participants. Conclusions: It was found that medical students were highly worried about being infected with COVID-19. The scores obtained from the pre-clinic students’ anxiety to become infected with COVID-19, PSS and IES-R total scores were found to be significantly higher than their clinical students. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.6.2985 How to cite this:Torun F, Torun SD. The psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on medical students in Turkey. Pak J Med Sci. 2020;36(6):---------. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.36.6.2985 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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We explored the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its relation to demographic characteristics and other risk factors for developing PTSD in a large sample (N = 910) of earthquake survivors living in tent city. Twenty-five percent of the sample met DSM-IV criteria for PTSD assessed with the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Self Test (PTSD-S). Peritraumatic factors explained the most variance when the risk factors were grouped as demographics, pretraumatic, peritraumatic, and posttraumatic. The study emphasized that PTSD among the earthquake victims was as prevalent in Turkey as after disasters in other developing countries but higher than usually found after disasters in developed countries, and there was a relation between some factors-mostly peritraumatic-and PTSD.

BackgroundBoth the health care workers (HCWs) and children are target groups for pandemic influenza vaccination. The coverage of the target populations is an important determinant for impact of mass vaccination. The objective of this study is to determine the attitudes of HCWs as parents, toward vaccinating their children with pandemic influenza A/H1N1 vaccine.MethodsA cross-sectional questionnaire survey was conducted with health care workers (HCWs) in a public hospital during December 2009 in Istanbul. All persons employed in the hospital with or without a health-care occupation are accepted as HCW. The HCWs who are parents of children 6 months to 18 years of age were included in the study. Pearson's chi-square test and logistic regression analysis was applied for the statistical analyses.ResultsA total of 389 HCWs who were parents of children aged 6 months-18 years participated study. Among all participants 27.0% (n = 105) reported that themselves had been vaccinated against pandemic influenza A/H1N1. Two third (66.1%) of the parents answered that they will not vaccinate their children, 21.1% already vaccinated and 12.9% were still undecided. Concern about side effect was most reported reason among who had been not vaccinated their children and among undecided parents. The second reason for refusing the pandemic vaccine was concerns efficacy of the vaccine. Media was the only source of information about pandemic influenza in nearly one third of HCWs. Agreement with vaccine safety, self receipt of pandemic influenza A/H1N1 vaccine, and trust in Ministry of Health were found to be associated with the positive attitude toward vaccinating their children against pandemic influenza A/H1N1.ConclusionsPersuading parents to accept a new vaccine seems not be easy even if they are HCWs. In order to overcome the barriers among HCWs related to pandemic vaccines, determination of their misinformation, attitudes and behaviors regarding the pandemic influenza vaccination is necessary. Efforts for orienting the HCWs to use evidence based scientific sources, rather than the media for information should be considered by the authorities.

Anterior cervical discectomy with or without fusion has been commonly used for cervical disc disease since the description by Smith and Robinson in 1958. In this report, surgical technique, advantages, and disadvantages of the posterior approach, known as the posterior keyhole laminotomy-foraminotomy, are reviewed and motion versus fusion surgery discussed. Between 1996 and 2004, the keyhole laminotomy-foraminotomy was performed on 84 patients suffering from lateral cervical soft disc herniation or osteophytes. All the procedures were performed under the surgical microscope. A high-speed drill was used for drilling the bone. In 49 patients (58%), soft disc herniation was removed, while in 35 patients (42%) there were osteophytes. Successful relief of radiculopathy symptoms was achieved in 80 patients (96%). In 4 patients the symptoms recurred. One patient (1.2%) developed kyphosis. The only complication observed intraoperatively was a partial root injury in one patient (1.2%). Mean hospitalization time was 48 hours. The posterior approach is particularly appropriate in patients whose root compression is located posterolaterally. Advantages of this surgery are minimal lamina resection, good visualization of the nerve root, postoperative early mobilization and minimal hospitalization. Microsurgery enables us to both preserve the motion of operated segment and avoid cervical instability.

Malignant mesotheliomas are neoplasms that arise from mesothelial cells and cause intractable pain in the chest wall, usually located unilaterally. This local pain can be well controlled by computerized tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous cordotomy (PC). One hundred and fifty-three patients suffering from intractable pain due to malignancy were treated with CT-guided cordotomy between 1988 and 2001. Seventy of the 153 patients had pulmonary malignancy. Among these, 40 had bronchogenic carcinoma, 11 had Pancoast tumors and the remaining 19 had mesothelioma. The latter 19 cases with malignant mesothelioma suffering from unilateral pain were treated with CT-guided PC. In 18 cases, pain was controlled totally and, in one, partial pain control was obtained. Selective pain control was obtained in 15 cases, in whom narcotic drugs were discontinued postoperatively. Post-cordotomy dysesthesia was noted in only one case, and no complication or mortality was observed. In the treatment of intractable pain, CT-guided cordotomy is a perfect method in selected cases with malignancy. This is the most effective and suitable treatment modality for local pain due to malignant mesothelioma.

Men's belief in sexual myths and factors effecting these myths Objective: Sexual myths are often exaggerated, incorrect and unscientific ideas on sexuality that people believe to be true. The aim of this study is to determine the acceptance rate of common sexual myths and related factors among men. Method: Data was collected from 167 voluntary males (18-67 years). A structured interview including sociodemographic characteristics and sexual myth questionnaire investigating 30 common sexual myths was carried out with the participants. Result: There are numerous myths regarding sexuality in our study population. It was found that marital status, educational level, region lived until adolescence (sub-district and village or province and district), first source for sexual information and result of the first sexual relationship influence rates of belief for sexual myths. Conclusion: High levels of belief in sexual myths among males in our study group can be interpreted as a result of inadequate sexual education in the society. We believe that further larger scale population studies might be beneficial for planning sexual education in our society.

Amaç: Cinsel mitler, kişilerin cinsel konularda doğru olduğunu düşündükleri, çoğu zaman abartılı, yanlış, bilimsel değeri bulunmayan inanışlardır. Bu araştırmanın amacı, erkeklerde sık görülen cinsel mitlere inanma yaygın-lığının ve cinsel mitlere inanmayı etkileyen değişkenlerin belirlenmesidir. Yöntem: Araştırmaya 167 erkek katılmıştır. Verilerin ilk bölümü sosyodemografik özellikler ve cinsel öykü ile ilgili soruları, ikinci bölümü ise 30 soruluk Cinsel Mit Değerlendirme Formunu içeren anket formunu kapsamaktadır. Bulgular: Cinsel mitlere inanma yaygındır. Medeni durum, eğitim düzeyi, ergenlik öncesi yaşanılan bölge, ilk cinsel bilgi kaynağı ve ilk cinsel ilişki sonucunun cinsel mitlere inanmayı etkilediği saptanmıştır. Sonuçlar: Bulgularımıza dayanarak, erkeklerde de cinsel mitlere inanmanın yüksek düzeylerde olmasını, toplumda var olan cinsellikle ilgili bilgilerin eksikliği ya da yanlışlığı ile açıklayabiliriz. Daha fazla katılımcı ile daha genellenebilir çalışmaların yapılması, toplum tabanlı cinsel eğitimlerin planlaması için yol gösterici olacaktır. Anahtar kelimeler: Cinsellik, mitler, cinsel bilgi ABSTRACT Men's belief in sexual myths and factors effecting these mythsObjective: Sexual myths are often exaggerated, incorrect and unscientific ideas on sexuality that people believe to be true. The aim of this study is to determine the acceptance rate of common sexual myths and related factors among men. Method: Data was collected from 167 voluntary males (18-67 years). A structured interview including sociodemographic characteristics and sexual myth questionnaire investigating 30 common sexual myths was carried out with the participants. Result: There are numerous myths regarding sexuality in our study population. It was found that marital status, educational level, region lived until adolescence (sub-district and village or province and district), first source for sexual information and result of the first sexual relationship influence rates of belief for sexual myths. Conclusion: High levels of belief in sexual myths among males in our study group can be interpreted as a result of inadequate sexual education in the society. We believe that further larger scale population studies might be beneficial for planning sexual education in our society.