Background: The purpose of the study was to compare the knowledge scores of medical students in Problem-based Learning and traditional curriculum on public health topics.

Both warm-up periods have positive effects on knee proprioception and balance. The 10-minute warm-up exercise improved proprioception by a greater amount than the 5 minutes warm-up exercise.

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It is difficult to distinguish between the effects of age and physical activity level in the functional fitness level of older adults. The objective of this study was to determine the effects of age and physical activity level on some functional fitness parameters in community-dwelling older adults.Two hundred twenty-nine elderly (111 female; 118 male) aged between 65-87 years living in the Balçova municipality region were divided into two groups: the young elderly (65-69 years old) and the elderly (70 years old or over). The "seven-day physical activity recall questionnaire" was used to estimate physical activity level (PAL). The functional fitness evaluation included the body mass index (BMI), the lower body strength (LBS), the dynamic balance, and the aerobic endurance. The young elderly were significantly worse with regard to BMI and significantly better with regard to LBS, dynamic balance, and aerobic endurance than the elderly; in contrast, PAL did not affect any of the functional fitness parameters. The young elderly showed worse BMI than the elderly when the age groups were less active. The young elderly showed better LBS and dynamic balance than the elderly when the age groups were more active. The young elderly showed significantly better aerobic endurance than the elderly in both the less and more active age groups. This study confirms that age affects functional fitness, whereas PAL generally does not. However, being more active is advantageous for the young elderly with regard to BMI, LBS, and dynamic balance.

Environmental tobacco smoke is an important public health problem. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of passive smoking on lower respiratory tract infections (LRTIs) in children aged 2-12 years. A case-control study was conducted on matched-pair design. One-hundred and fifty children with LRTIs and 150 healthy children were included in the study. Data were collected through questionnaire and urine samples for the determination of cotinine levels, and were analysed by McNemar chi-square, paired t-test and Pearson correlation tests. The prevalence of parental self-reported, indoor smoking was 71.3% in children with LRTI and 72.0% in healthy children. Employing 30 ng mg(-1), the cut-off level of urinary cotinine/creatinine as commonly accepted, 87.3% of the children with LRTIs and 84.7% of healthy children were found to be passive smokers (p = 0.61, odds ratio (OR) = 0.93; confidence interval (CI) = 0.34-2.53). If 60 ng mg(-1) of urinary cotinine/creatinine was accepted as a cut-off level, it was observed that the rates of passive smoking were 76.7% and 50.7%, respectively (p = 0.000, OR = 4.72; 95% CI = 2.62-8.52). Dose-dependent exposure to environmental tobacco smoke was found to be associated with the incidence of LRTI.