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. In the study group, 1041 and 459 cases were diagnosed as definite and highly probable cases, respectively. There were 993 PCR-positive cases (66.2%). Among all cases, 1144 (76.3%) were diagnosed with non-severe pneumonia, whereas 212 (14.1%) had severe pneumonia. Death occurred in 67 patients, corresponding to a mortality rate of 4.5% (95% CI:3.5-5.6). The univariate analysis demonstrated that various factors, including male sex, age ≥65 years and the presence of dyspnea or confusion, malignity, chronic obstructive lung disease, interstitial lung disease, immunosuppressive conditions, severe pneumonia, multiorgan dysfunction, and sepsis, were positively associated with mortality. Favipiravir, hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin were not associated with survival. Following multivariate analysis, male sex, severe pneumonia, multiorgan dysfunction, malignancy, sepsis and interstitial lung diseases were found to be independent risk factors for mortality. Among the biomarkers, procalcitonin levels on the 3 rd -5 th days of admission showed the strongest associations with mortality (OR: 6.18; 1.6-23.93). This study demonstrated that the mortality rate in hospitalized patients in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic was a serious threat and that those patients with male sex, severe pneumonia, multiorgan dysfunction, malignancy, sepsis and interstitial lung diseases were at increased risk of mortality; therefore, such patients should be closely monitored.

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The objective of the study was to make a comparison among the two countries according to the level of sufficiency of educational resources and to determine the accuracy level at which variables related to educational resources can classify the schools on the basis of countries. Relational survey model was used. The sample group of the study was comprised of 186 schools from Turkey and 174 schools from Singapore for a total of 360 schools. Descriptive analyses and chi-square statistics were used to put forth whether there are differences with regard to the items. Logistic regression analysis was used to make an accurate classification of the schools according to their countries. Statistically significant differences between Turkish and Singapore schools were attained as a result of the chi-square analyses in all variables including lack of educational material, inadequate or poor quality educational material, lack of physical infrastructure and inadequate or poor quality physical infrastructure variables. A total of four variables included in the study explain about 60 % of the variance of Turkish and Singapore schools in having adequate educational resources. The equation obtained from analysis shows that lack of educational material is more important than lack of physical infrastructure. This alone puts forth that school success is related more to the quality of educational material than to physical inadequacies. As a result of the logistic regression with these variables, it was determined that the equation classifies 82% of the total number of 360 schools accurately. As a general conclusion of the study, it was observed with regard to its contributions to the model acquired via logistic regression.

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The aim of this study is to identify the distributed leadership levels in public secondary schools (under the Ministry of National Education) and explore the in-school factors affecting distributed leadership practices based on teachers' opinions. The research is designed based on a mixed approach. In the quantitative dimension, the sample group consists of 736 teachers from 27 different secondary schools in the Gaziantep Province. In the qualitative dimension, the focus group is composed of 24 participant teachers. The Distributed Leadership Scale was used to identify distributed leadership levels of schools. In the qualitative dimension, a semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers was applied as the evaluation instrument. According to teachers' opinions, the rarest subdimension of distributed leadership at schools is the ‚common goals‛, while the most frequently seen is the ‚cooperation and trust‛ subdimension. The findings obtained through interviews show that risk-taking, managerial support, learning culture, accountability relations, communication, professional development, facilitating role of the administration and the organizational culture are positive factors that support distributed leadership, while absence of these factors poses a barrier to management activities.

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