Background: To investigate gender differences in scientometric indices among faculty members in d... more Background: To investigate gender differences in scientometric indices among faculty members in dental schools across Iran. This included overall data and speciality-specific data.Methods: The publication profiles of academic staff in all dental schools were examined using the Iranian Scientometric Information Database (ISID, http://isid.research.ac.ir). Variables analysed were working field, academic degree, total number of papers, papers per year, total number of citations, percentage of self-citation, h-index, g-index, citations per paper, gender, university type, number of years publishing, proportion of international papers, first-author papers, and corresponding-author papers. Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric tests were used to analyse the relationship between background characteristics and scientometric indicators. The extracted data were analysed using R v4.0.1.Results: The database included 1850 faculty members, of which about 60% (1104 of 1850) were women. Men...
The world is currently witnessing the greatest refugee crisis of all times. 1 According to the Un... more The world is currently witnessing the greatest refugee crisis of all times. 1 According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, the current number of forcibly displaced people is 65.6 million worldwide, including refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people and stateless persons [1]. These people live in a political limbo with very limited access to resources to meet their basic needs such as housing, healthcare, sanitation, education, and employment. Among all these problems, however, health has a special status. Literature shows that refugees have a higher rate of mortality and morbidity compared to the host community in country of asylum. They are faced with a greater risk of psychological problems, and communicable and chronic diseases. Many studies show that refugees have a higher rate of morbidity and mortality because of the situation in their country of origin and also conditions in their country of asylum, such as overcrowded refugee camps, poor sanitation and under-nourishment. In addition, they encounter barriers to access to healthcare services in host countries [2]. These barriers include language and cultural differences, discrimination from the public and from some health professionals, mistrust and financial constraints [3]. Recently the attention of the international community on refugees has increased significantly due to tragic instances such as the heartbreaking picture of a young boy drowned at the shores of the Aegean Sea or the devastating photos of women, children and elderly in inhumane conditions. However, this attention was not sufficient to solve the basic problems such as the limitations of international law to define the legal status of refugees. The governments of host countries continue not to include refugees in their national policies due to the fact that they do not reside in their country and consider them as temporary guests. The lack of formal citizenship and national bonds, still constitute the leading factors that limit the responsiveness of the national governments and international community to the Correspondence to: A. M. Ozgumus; P. E. Ekmekci. Author Contributions The article basically depends on a literature. The literature review was done by the first author, Ms. Ozgumus, with the guidance of Dr. Ekmekci. Data and statistics which may be referred are gathered by Ms. Ozgumus and Dr. Ekmekci. Then, the first version was drafted by Ms. Ozgumus and reviewed by Dr. Ekmekci, so that the ideas in the article was developed further. After that the article was reviewed and finalized by both authors. Conflict of interest We hereby indicate that there is no conflict of interest. Ethical Approval All authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript and agree with its submission to the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. The study does not involve any human subject. Therefore, no institutional review board approval is needed. 1 We use the term "refugee" for all people who run away from their home countries due to political unrest, war, infringement of human rights, regardless of their legal status, such as refugee, asylum seeker, stateless or person under temporary protection.
Aims: The aim of this study was to determine if there are discrepancies among various agency-appr... more Aims: The aim of this study was to determine if there are discrepancies among various agency-approved labels for the same active ingredient and where the labels approved by the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (TMMDA) stand regarding the inclusion of PGx and discuss these ethical implications. Background: The efficacy and safety of drugs can be improved by rational prescription and personalization of medicine for each patient. Pharmacogenomics information (PGx) in Drug Labels (DL) is one of the important tools for the personalization of medications because genetic differences may affect both drug efficacy and safety. Providing adequate PGx to patients has ethical implications. Objective: The study aims to evaluate PGx in the DLs approved by TMMDA and other national agencies provided by the Pharmacogenomics Knowledgebase. Methods: DL annotations from the Pharmacogenomics Knowledgebase and DLs approved by the TMMDA were analyzed according to information and action levels, ...
The particular dynamics of public health emergencies urge scientists and Ethics Committee (EC) me... more The particular dynamics of public health emergencies urge scientists and Ethics Committee (EC) members to change and adapt their operating procedures to function effectively. Despite having previous pandemic experiences, ethics committees were unprepared to adapt to COVID-19 pandemic challenges. This survey aims to learn and thoroughly discuss the most salient issues for ECs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicate that the main problems faced by ECs were lack of/insufficient regulations, lack of data/experience/knowledge, sloppy review, poor research design, and poor adaptation to quarantine measures. Coping with factors that threaten the autonomy and independence of ECs, the ethical dilemma regarding maximizing common good versus protecting the rights and well-being of study participants, comprehending the change in the context of vulnerable populations, and redefining the role of ECs to strengthen trust in science and vaccine confidence were outstanding issues.
Personhood and Artificial Intelligence Defining personhood is one of the core issues of bioethics... more Personhood and Artificial Intelligence Defining personhood is one of the core issues of bioethics. Being a person entitles humans with rights and responsibilities. It also provides a higher moral value among other beings. Improvements in medical sciences have been urging scholars to scrutinize and redefine the concept of personhood. Beginning and end of life issues constitute the main areas of discussion in the context of personhood since determining when the embryo or foetus becomes a person changes the description of the act of aborting it or deciding withdrawal of lifesustaining treatment would have different ethical and legal implications depending on how personhood is defined. For example, if the embryo is considered a person since the time of conception, then abortion becomes an act of homicide. On the other hand, if the embryo is considered a person only after birth, then the act of abortion would be equivalent to removing any tissue from the body in ethical terms. Likewise, medical interventions related to end-of-life have been another area for ethical discussions about personhood. The ethical appropriateness of conducting euthanasia for persons who have lost all cognitive abilities such as being in a persistent vegetative state or withdrawing treatment from an end stage cancer patient due to futility and letting the patient die are among the frequent instances in which the concept of personhood is discussed. These discussions aim to define which qualia are required to consider an entity-embryo, a foetus of a human being-a person. Some scholars reject the acceptability of this question and state that being a member of human species is sufficient to be considered a person. In this respect, any member of human species has the same ethical value and, are entitled to the rights of a person. This perspective makes all of the above medical interventions ethically controversial since it conceptualizes euthanasia and abortion as murder. If we acknowledge an embryo as a person, then we should not kill it for its life is of the same value as its mothers. Likewise, we should not produce or dispose of any embryos in the laboratories for research purposes. It would not be acceptable to dispose of leftover embryos after accomplishing successful in vitro fertilization.
In this section, we will begin by defining the historical evaluation of the ethics of technology.... more In this section, we will begin by defining the historical evaluation of the ethics of technology. Then we will discuss if contemporary perspectives in philosophy and ethics of technology comply with AI technology.
When we discuss the ethical issues about artificial intelligence (AI), we focus on its human-like... more When we discuss the ethical issues about artificial intelligence (AI), we focus on its human-like abilities. The human-like abilities categorize under two main headings: doing and thinking.
Variations of the term has been defined since ＂Health Literacy＂ (HL) definition first introduced ... more Variations of the term has been defined since ＂Health Literacy＂ (HL) definition first introduced by WHO's Health Promotion Glossary in 1998, including ＂occupational health literacy＂, which is the degree to which workers have the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand OHS information and services to make appropriate health decisions in the workplace. With the hypothesis that inadequate HL may contribute to low uptake or less adherence to OHS-trainings, we evaluated the HL levels of workers with HLSEU- Q47 survey and its relevance for issues such as medication- and healthcare-use habits. We evaluated medication-use habits by the frequency (0=never – 4=always) of the following behaviors: using medications ＂without doctors' prescription/advice,＂ ＂in accordance with doctors' advice,＂ ＂based on advice from family or friends,＂ ＂according to personal knowledge,＂ ＂consulting a pharmacist,＂ ＂searching the internet,＂ ＂checking expiry date of medications,＂ and ＂adv...
Football, one of the sports with roots in history, has been associated with violence and tragedy ... more Football, one of the sports with roots in history, has been associated with violence and tragedy in various countries. Several studies have tried to understand the nature and structure of hooliganism and its common cross-national characteristics, severity, and causes. Although existing literature suggests a variety of strategies to prevent violence in football, it is widely accepted that there must be grassroots movements and self-awareness, besides these measures,to reduce cases of aggressionin football. This study, whichwas awardedthe Fair Play prize in 2014 by the Turkish Olympic Committee, focuses on training fans using the peer education methodology. The young fans of Besiktas Football Club implemented a peer education program and conducted an online survey to assess itseffectiveness and understand the participants’ perceptions and reflections regarding the causes of and methods to preventfootball hooliganism.The results suggest that the training program was effective and that ...
Turkish Journal of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation, 2021
Objective: Ethical problems related to the field of anaesthesia and reanimation are generally add... more Objective: Ethical problems related to the field of anaesthesia and reanimation are generally addressed within the scope of reanimation and intensive care medicine by overseeing the particular issues of medical ethics in the practice of anaesthesia. The existing literature shows that a very limited number of studies are found on this issue. This research aims to address this gap in the academic literature and to discuss ethical approaches to these problems. Methods: A search was conducted to compile key themes of ethical problems. These were combined with similar themes in the limited existing literature. Next, a questionnaire consisting of 20 multiple choice and open-ended questions and two Likert scales were developed. The answers to the questionnaire were collected on-line after 2 months. Results: The survey was conducted with 226 participants. 82.79% of the participants received ethics training only before graduation, and 95.40% stated that ethics training is required during their residency training. 67.80% of participants think that informed consent forms are sufficient in terms of content and readability, but 89.90% note that such forms are not read by patients. In the preoperative period, communication with patients, interaction with surgical teams, long working hours and high workload, problems in informing patients, lack of institutional support in malpractice cases, lack of authority, responsibility and rights of anaesthesiologists are the most important ethical and legal issues in the field. Conclusion: There are complex ethical issues in the field of anaesthesiology that should be discussed with in the frame of deficiencies in training, ethical reasoning for patient autonomy, informed consent, paternalism and professional satisfaction to shed light on potential solutions.
The aim of this paper is to reflect the situation of health legislation alignment in Turkey in it... more The aim of this paper is to reflect the situation of health legislation alignment in Turkey in its accession process to the European Union and Customs Union Agreement, and to discuss the the EU's health priorities of in parallel with the Turkish ones. The health legislation alignment processes consist of three titles which are: European Union alignment process, the harmonization done in the framework of membership to Council of Europe, and the obligations under the Customs Union Agreement. Significant human resources are required for the adoption of the legislations which make ethically imperative the discussion of whether there is a harmony among the priorities of both parities. Unless this harmony and paralellisim is shown, the human resources appointed for the adoption of health legislation process would not prove their efficiency and effectiveness. In this article, the Customs Union and formal negotiations for full EU membership are included in the phrase "the alignment...
The particular dynamics of public health emergencies urge scientists and Ethics Committee (EC) me... more The particular dynamics of public health emergencies urge scientists and Ethics Committee (EC) members to change and adapt their operating procedures to function effectively. Despite having previous pandemic experiences, ethics committees were unprepared to adapt to COVID-19 pandemic challenges. This survey aims to learn and thoroughly discuss the most salient issues for ECs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicate that the main problems faced by ECs were lack of/insufficient regulations, lack of data/experience/knowledge, sloppy review, poor research design, and poor adaptation to quarantine measures. Coping with factors that threaten the autonomy and independence of ECs, the ethical dilemma regarding maximizing common good versus protecting the rights and well-being of study participants, comprehending the change in the context of vulnerable populations, and redefining the role of ECs to strengthen trust in science and vaccine confidence were outstanding issues.
Background: To investigate gender differences in scientometric indices among faculty members in d... more Background: To investigate gender differences in scientometric indices among faculty members in dental schools across Iran. This included overall data and speciality-specific data.Methods: The publication profiles of academic staff in all dental schools were examined using the Iranian Scientometric Information Database (ISID, http://isid.research.ac.ir). Variables analysed were working field, academic degree, total number of papers, papers per year, total number of citations, percentage of self-citation, h-index, g-index, citations per paper, gender, university type, number of years publishing, proportion of international papers, first-author papers, and corresponding-author papers. Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric tests were used to analyse the relationship between background characteristics and scientometric indicators. The extracted data were analysed using R v4.0.1.Results: The database included 1850 faculty members, of which about 60% (1104 of 1850) were women. Men...
The world is currently witnessing the greatest refugee crisis of all times. 1 According to the Un... more The world is currently witnessing the greatest refugee crisis of all times. 1 According to the United Nations Refugee Agency, the current number of forcibly displaced people is 65.6 million worldwide, including refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people and stateless persons [1]. These people live in a political limbo with very limited access to resources to meet their basic needs such as housing, healthcare, sanitation, education, and employment. Among all these problems, however, health has a special status. Literature shows that refugees have a higher rate of mortality and morbidity compared to the host community in country of asylum. They are faced with a greater risk of psychological problems, and communicable and chronic diseases. Many studies show that refugees have a higher rate of morbidity and mortality because of the situation in their country of origin and also conditions in their country of asylum, such as overcrowded refugee camps, poor sanitation and under-nourishment. In addition, they encounter barriers to access to healthcare services in host countries [2]. These barriers include language and cultural differences, discrimination from the public and from some health professionals, mistrust and financial constraints [3]. Recently the attention of the international community on refugees has increased significantly due to tragic instances such as the heartbreaking picture of a young boy drowned at the shores of the Aegean Sea or the devastating photos of women, children and elderly in inhumane conditions. However, this attention was not sufficient to solve the basic problems such as the limitations of international law to define the legal status of refugees. The governments of host countries continue not to include refugees in their national policies due to the fact that they do not reside in their country and consider them as temporary guests. The lack of formal citizenship and national bonds, still constitute the leading factors that limit the responsiveness of the national governments and international community to the Correspondence to: A. M. Ozgumus; P. E. Ekmekci. Author Contributions The article basically depends on a literature. The literature review was done by the first author, Ms. Ozgumus, with the guidance of Dr. Ekmekci. Data and statistics which may be referred are gathered by Ms. Ozgumus and Dr. Ekmekci. Then, the first version was drafted by Ms. Ozgumus and reviewed by Dr. Ekmekci, so that the ideas in the article was developed further. After that the article was reviewed and finalized by both authors. Conflict of interest We hereby indicate that there is no conflict of interest. Ethical Approval All authors have reviewed and approved the manuscript and agree with its submission to the Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. The study does not involve any human subject. Therefore, no institutional review board approval is needed. 1 We use the term "refugee" for all people who run away from their home countries due to political unrest, war, infringement of human rights, regardless of their legal status, such as refugee, asylum seeker, stateless or person under temporary protection.
Aims: The aim of this study was to determine if there are discrepancies among various agency-appr... more Aims: The aim of this study was to determine if there are discrepancies among various agency-approved labels for the same active ingredient and where the labels approved by the Turkish Medicines and Medical Devices Agency (TMMDA) stand regarding the inclusion of PGx and discuss these ethical implications. Background: The efficacy and safety of drugs can be improved by rational prescription and personalization of medicine for each patient. Pharmacogenomics information (PGx) in Drug Labels (DL) is one of the important tools for the personalization of medications because genetic differences may affect both drug efficacy and safety. Providing adequate PGx to patients has ethical implications. Objective: The study aims to evaluate PGx in the DLs approved by TMMDA and other national agencies provided by the Pharmacogenomics Knowledgebase. Methods: DL annotations from the Pharmacogenomics Knowledgebase and DLs approved by the TMMDA were analyzed according to information and action levels, ...
The particular dynamics of public health emergencies urge scientists and Ethics Committee (EC) me... more The particular dynamics of public health emergencies urge scientists and Ethics Committee (EC) members to change and adapt their operating procedures to function effectively. Despite having previous pandemic experiences, ethics committees were unprepared to adapt to COVID-19 pandemic challenges. This survey aims to learn and thoroughly discuss the most salient issues for ECs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicate that the main problems faced by ECs were lack of/insufficient regulations, lack of data/experience/knowledge, sloppy review, poor research design, and poor adaptation to quarantine measures. Coping with factors that threaten the autonomy and independence of ECs, the ethical dilemma regarding maximizing common good versus protecting the rights and well-being of study participants, comprehending the change in the context of vulnerable populations, and redefining the role of ECs to strengthen trust in science and vaccine confidence were outstanding issues.
Personhood and Artificial Intelligence Defining personhood is one of the core issues of bioethics... more Personhood and Artificial Intelligence Defining personhood is one of the core issues of bioethics. Being a person entitles humans with rights and responsibilities. It also provides a higher moral value among other beings. Improvements in medical sciences have been urging scholars to scrutinize and redefine the concept of personhood. Beginning and end of life issues constitute the main areas of discussion in the context of personhood since determining when the embryo or foetus becomes a person changes the description of the act of aborting it or deciding withdrawal of lifesustaining treatment would have different ethical and legal implications depending on how personhood is defined. For example, if the embryo is considered a person since the time of conception, then abortion becomes an act of homicide. On the other hand, if the embryo is considered a person only after birth, then the act of abortion would be equivalent to removing any tissue from the body in ethical terms. Likewise, medical interventions related to end-of-life have been another area for ethical discussions about personhood. The ethical appropriateness of conducting euthanasia for persons who have lost all cognitive abilities such as being in a persistent vegetative state or withdrawing treatment from an end stage cancer patient due to futility and letting the patient die are among the frequent instances in which the concept of personhood is discussed. These discussions aim to define which qualia are required to consider an entity-embryo, a foetus of a human being-a person. Some scholars reject the acceptability of this question and state that being a member of human species is sufficient to be considered a person. In this respect, any member of human species has the same ethical value and, are entitled to the rights of a person. This perspective makes all of the above medical interventions ethically controversial since it conceptualizes euthanasia and abortion as murder. If we acknowledge an embryo as a person, then we should not kill it for its life is of the same value as its mothers. Likewise, we should not produce or dispose of any embryos in the laboratories for research purposes. It would not be acceptable to dispose of leftover embryos after accomplishing successful in vitro fertilization.
In this section, we will begin by defining the historical evaluation of the ethics of technology.... more In this section, we will begin by defining the historical evaluation of the ethics of technology. Then we will discuss if contemporary perspectives in philosophy and ethics of technology comply with AI technology.
When we discuss the ethical issues about artificial intelligence (AI), we focus on its human-like... more When we discuss the ethical issues about artificial intelligence (AI), we focus on its human-like abilities. The human-like abilities categorize under two main headings: doing and thinking.
Variations of the term has been defined since ＂Health Literacy＂ (HL) definition first introduced ... more Variations of the term has been defined since ＂Health Literacy＂ (HL) definition first introduced by WHO's Health Promotion Glossary in 1998, including ＂occupational health literacy＂, which is the degree to which workers have the capacity to obtain, communicate, process, and understand OHS information and services to make appropriate health decisions in the workplace. With the hypothesis that inadequate HL may contribute to low uptake or less adherence to OHS-trainings, we evaluated the HL levels of workers with HLSEU- Q47 survey and its relevance for issues such as medication- and healthcare-use habits. We evaluated medication-use habits by the frequency (0=never – 4=always) of the following behaviors: using medications ＂without doctors' prescription/advice,＂ ＂in accordance with doctors' advice,＂ ＂based on advice from family or friends,＂ ＂according to personal knowledge,＂ ＂consulting a pharmacist,＂ ＂searching the internet,＂ ＂checking expiry date of medications,＂ and ＂adv...
Football, one of the sports with roots in history, has been associated with violence and tragedy ... more Football, one of the sports with roots in history, has been associated with violence and tragedy in various countries. Several studies have tried to understand the nature and structure of hooliganism and its common cross-national characteristics, severity, and causes. Although existing literature suggests a variety of strategies to prevent violence in football, it is widely accepted that there must be grassroots movements and self-awareness, besides these measures,to reduce cases of aggressionin football. This study, whichwas awardedthe Fair Play prize in 2014 by the Turkish Olympic Committee, focuses on training fans using the peer education methodology. The young fans of Besiktas Football Club implemented a peer education program and conducted an online survey to assess itseffectiveness and understand the participants’ perceptions and reflections regarding the causes of and methods to preventfootball hooliganism.The results suggest that the training program was effective and that ...
Turkish Journal of Anaesthesiology and Reanimation, 2021
Objective: Ethical problems related to the field of anaesthesia and reanimation are generally add... more Objective: Ethical problems related to the field of anaesthesia and reanimation are generally addressed within the scope of reanimation and intensive care medicine by overseeing the particular issues of medical ethics in the practice of anaesthesia. The existing literature shows that a very limited number of studies are found on this issue. This research aims to address this gap in the academic literature and to discuss ethical approaches to these problems. Methods: A search was conducted to compile key themes of ethical problems. These were combined with similar themes in the limited existing literature. Next, a questionnaire consisting of 20 multiple choice and open-ended questions and two Likert scales were developed. The answers to the questionnaire were collected on-line after 2 months. Results: The survey was conducted with 226 participants. 82.79% of the participants received ethics training only before graduation, and 95.40% stated that ethics training is required during their residency training. 67.80% of participants think that informed consent forms are sufficient in terms of content and readability, but 89.90% note that such forms are not read by patients. In the preoperative period, communication with patients, interaction with surgical teams, long working hours and high workload, problems in informing patients, lack of institutional support in malpractice cases, lack of authority, responsibility and rights of anaesthesiologists are the most important ethical and legal issues in the field. Conclusion: There are complex ethical issues in the field of anaesthesiology that should be discussed with in the frame of deficiencies in training, ethical reasoning for patient autonomy, informed consent, paternalism and professional satisfaction to shed light on potential solutions.
The aim of this paper is to reflect the situation of health legislation alignment in Turkey in it... more The aim of this paper is to reflect the situation of health legislation alignment in Turkey in its accession process to the European Union and Customs Union Agreement, and to discuss the the EU's health priorities of in parallel with the Turkish ones. The health legislation alignment processes consist of three titles which are: European Union alignment process, the harmonization done in the framework of membership to Council of Europe, and the obligations under the Customs Union Agreement. Significant human resources are required for the adoption of the legislations which make ethically imperative the discussion of whether there is a harmony among the priorities of both parities. Unless this harmony and paralellisim is shown, the human resources appointed for the adoption of health legislation process would not prove their efficiency and effectiveness. In this article, the Customs Union and formal negotiations for full EU membership are included in the phrase "the alignment...
The particular dynamics of public health emergencies urge scientists and Ethics Committee (EC) me... more The particular dynamics of public health emergencies urge scientists and Ethics Committee (EC) members to change and adapt their operating procedures to function effectively. Despite having previous pandemic experiences, ethics committees were unprepared to adapt to COVID-19 pandemic challenges. This survey aims to learn and thoroughly discuss the most salient issues for ECs during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results indicate that the main problems faced by ECs were lack of/insufficient regulations, lack of data/experience/knowledge, sloppy review, poor research design, and poor adaptation to quarantine measures. Coping with factors that threaten the autonomy and independence of ECs, the ethical dilemma regarding maximizing common good versus protecting the rights and well-being of study participants, comprehending the change in the context of vulnerable populations, and redefining the role of ECs to strengthen trust in science and vaccine confidence were outstanding issues.
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