In this study, we compared the levels of alexithymia in healthy individuals with OCD patients and investigated whether there is a significant difference between them. Furthermore, some of the sociodemographic characteristics of the subjects were also examined to determine whether they had an effect on OCD and alexithymia levels. 40 volunteer OCD patients, 25 of whom were women and 15 men, aged 18-45 years, who were diagnosed at the NP Feneryolu Medical Center of Üsküdar University, Istanbul, and who were randomly selected and living in Istanbul, 40 volunteer healthy individuals, 25 of whom are women and 15 of whom are men and whose ages are between 18 and 45, are attended to this study. Participants were first informed about the privacy of work and personal information. “Sociodemographic Data Form, Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale and Symptom List (Y-BOCS)” were applied to all 80 participants in order to collect the data obtained in the study. The data obtained from these scales were subjected to statistical analysis with the SSPS v.21 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) program. The normality distribution of continuous variables was evaluated according to the occurrence of Skewness-Kurtosis values in the range of -1.5 and +1.5. An independent sample t-test was conducted to compare the scores of healthy controls and OCD patients. Independent sample Mann Whintey U test was performed among the groups in terms of demographic variables. Correlation values between the scores obtained from the scales were analyzed by Pearson correlation analysis because the scores were normally distributed. According to the results of this study; a significant difference was found between the levels of alexithymia of healthy individu als and OCD patients. The levels of alexithymia in OCD patients were significantly higher than those of healthy individuals. Apart from this, there was a significant positive correlation between the difficulty describing feelings scores of OCD patients and the their difficulty identifying feelings scores of the TAS-20 subscales. In addition, a number of suggestions have been added in order to make contribution to the literature of this research which is also included in similar studies. 

In this study, it was aimed to investigate the effects of highbush cranberry ( Viburnum opulus , GILA) fruit extract on blood glucose levels and kidney tissue homogenates of diabetes-modeled rats by injection of Streptozotocin (STZ). Blood glucose levels of rats were measured in tail blood using a glucose meter. Glucose determination was done 48 hours after STZ injection. For this, 32 Wistar albino rats were employed. The rats were divided into 4 groups; Control, STZ, STZ+GILA, and GILA with containing 8 animals each. After 12 weeks, they were sacrificed. During the study periods, blood glucose levels were measured periodically and kidney tissue parameters were measured in their homogenates after sacrificing the rats. The measured parameters were Glutathion (GSH), Malondialdehyde (MDA), and Total Antioxidant Status (TAS). The results obtained from the study were analyzed by using SPSS for Windows software, and p<0.05 was assigned as statistically significant value. The findings of the study showed that GILA consumption could help diabetic people to prevent possible nephropathy due to its potent antioxidant features. 

We aimed to determine the genotype and allele distributions of the serotonin transporter protein gene (SLC6A4) promoter L/S polymorphism in volleyball players and compare it with the previous studies in the literature in this study. For this purpose, 21 volleyball players participated in our study. Genotyping was performed by PCR after DNAs were isolated from buccal cells. The literature review has been done in Google Scholar and PUBMED databases with the keywords and combinations of “sports, athletes, genetics, SLC6A4, sports genetics, polymorphism”. In our cohort, LL, LS and SS genotypes were found in numbers and percentages as 10 (48%), 7 (33%) and 4 (19%), respectively. The respective L and S allele count numbers and percentages were 27 (64%) and 15 (36%). 9 different studies matched our criteria and compared with our findings with literature review. As a result, the low percentage of SS genotype in terms of genotype distribution was common with the previous studies and our findings. The S allele percentage was higher than our results just in one research. Recent studies have shown that the “S” allele is associated with anxiety. Our study was the first report to show that the LL genotype and L allele in volleyball players are higher than the SS genotype and S allele.

The exposition of Aflatoxin B1 (AFB) in aggression-intruding behavior in Wistar rat were assessed. Rodents in the experimental group (Group A, n= 6) were orally infused with AFB diluted in dimethylsulfoxide administered 0.3mg/kg/day on days 1 12. Controls received distilled water similarly on days 1-12 days (Group B). For the observation, an intruder was introduced into the cage containing the residents who are experimental rats treated with Aflatoxin and rats in the control treated with distilled water. Records of observations of territorial aggressive behaviours exhibited by the experimental and control rats towards the inntruder were recorded. Each rat was given 3 trials of 5 minutes each. The study utilized the Randomized Blocked TwoWay ANOVA (factors time line × treatment) followed by a post-hoc analysis using Bonferroni correction to analyse the data and Statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results demonstrated that exposure to Aflatoxin significantly influenced aggressive behaviour among Wistar rats F (1,322) = 29.89, p < 0.001, η2= .09. Aflatoxin-treated animals significantly exhibited more aggressive behaviour than animals treated with distilled water (Bonferonni= 4.04, p<.001). Exposure time to Aflatoxin interacted with treatment to significantly influence aggressive behaviour among Wistar rats F (1,322) = 3.26, p < 0.001, η2= .10. Mean comparison reveals that there was no significant difference in aggressive behaviour of Aflatoxin treated and the distilled water treated rats from day 1-7. However, significant differences was observed from the 8th day onward to the 12th day. Aggressive behaviour increased by 10% as the chronic exposure increase more than seven days. It was concluded that aflatoxin induced toxicity in rodents influenced aggression as it exacerbates neuro-cognitive decline and brain bio-chemicals distortions leading to aggression behavior. 

Familial liability or susceptibility has been shown to increase the risk for psychotic disorders, however, little is known about familial liability (FL) among patients with major psychiatric disorders in Nigeria. This study aimed to determine the rate of FL and factors influencing the age of onset among patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorders. This was a cross-sectional survey of patients with either diagnosis of bipolar disorder or schizophrenia based on ICD-10 criteria. Data were collected through a pretested socio-demographic questionnaire, incorporating age, duration of illness, the onset of illness, and family history (FH) of mental illness. Data were presented as tables, charts and bivariate analysis was performed to determine the relationship between variables. The level of significance was set at P < 0.05.  Of the 235 participants, 66 (28.1%) had a FH of mental illness. The age of onset ranges from 12-70years with a mean of 30.1years (SD=11.1years) and majority 85 (36.2%), were within the age group 30-39 years and had developed the illness before the age of 30years (54.5%). The males were twice more likely to developed mental illness before the age of 30 compared with their female counterparts [OR=2.42, (CI = 1.40-4.25), (p=0.013)], likewise, the singles compared with the ever-married  [OR=4.24, (CI=2.45-7.34), (p=0.000)]. Although nearly a third of the participants had a FL to mental illness, there was no association between age of onset and FH of mental illness. However, the males and the singles were more likely to have developed mental illness at an earlier age compared with their counterparts. 

The aim of the study was to investigate and compare anxiety sensitivity measurements and panic-agoraphobic spectrum symptoms in patients diagnosed with panic disorder and in their first degree relatives. Eighty patients who were on followup or recently diagnosed as panic disorder in a university faculty of medicine psychiatry department and their first degree relatives (80 siblings) were included after clinical evaluation. The patients were assessed with socio-demographic information form, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-1), Anxiety Sensitivity Index (ASI), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Panic-Agoraphobic Scale (PAS) and Lifetime Panic-Agoraphobic Spectrum Self Report (PAS-SR lifetime); and their siblings were assessed with socio-demographic information form, SCID-1, ASI, STAI, BDI, and PAS-SR lifetime. According to the results of the study, it was determined that the ASI scores of the patients were statistically significantly higher than the scores of their siblings (p<0.01). In addition, patients scored significantly higher on the PAS-SR lifetime scale than siblings (p<0.01). Inclusion of BDI scores in covariant analysis has made no change in the difference among study groups in level of anxiety sensitivity and degree of panic agoraphobic spectrum. As a conclusion, in this study, it was found that anxiety sensitivity and spectrum symptoms, which are two variables investigated as endophenotypic features in the first degree relatives in the panic disorder, differ from the patient group in terms of severity and frequency.

The identification of facial expressions’ is essential part of the communication and differ across cultures. In this study, the aim is to develop an emotion identification test with facial expressions of Turkish people and test the reliability and validity. As stimuli, 7 photos of fundamental face expressions’ were taken in 64 Turkish citizens between 18-60 ages. 72 participants with same age range completed the Empathy Scale, Facial Emotion Identification Test and the test that prepared for the current study called “Emotion Identification Test from Facial Expressions of Healthy Individuals in Turkish Society” to test the validity and reliability and repeated 15 days later. The Wilcoxon, Mann Whitney U, Pearson Correlation tests are used to determine the differences between scales. The findings are evaluated in the range of 95% reliability level and %5 (p<0,05) relevance level. The correlation level of the Emotion Identification Test from Facial Expressions of Healthy Individuals in Turkish Society test-retest was found as r=0.58. According to results, women more accurately recognize the disgust face expressions in the newly developed test than men do. Moreover, the scared, shocked and happy facial expressions and total scores were different between the Facial Emotion Identification Test and new test. Current study is the first study about developing a facial expression test in Turkish population that validates psychometric properties comparing with other social cognitive scales. We believe that this test will a good alternative in research fields of neurology and psychiatry conducted with Turkish populations.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between attachment styles of parents and attachment anxiety and separation anxiety of preschool children and to evaluate the relationship between these variables and demographic variables. The population of the study was determined as children between 4-6 years of age and their mothers, and the sample consists of 30 children and their mothers between 4-6 years of age who continue their education in the kindergarten in İstanbul. In order to collect the data of the research; “Informed Consent Form”, “Demographic Information Form”, “Adult Separation Anxiety Scale” and “ Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised” were given and “Attachment Story Completion Test’’ was administered by the researcher to measure the attachment styles of the children. SPSS 16 program was used for statistical analysis. During the analysis of the study, t-test was used to evaluate the relationship between variables, Pearson correlation was used for the variables that were normal distribution and Spearman’s correlation was used when the data were not suitable for the normal distribution. According to the results of the study, no significant relationship was found between the attachment styles of the children and the parent’s attachment style and separation anxiety. It was found that there was no significant relationship between age, gender, educational status of mothers, working status of mothers and attachment styles distribution according to caregivers in the 0-2 age group. There was no significant relationship between the total score obtained from the Adult Separation Anxiety Scale and the total score and the subscale of avoidance attachment criteria. In other words, research findings show that there is no significant relationship between separation anxiety and the avoidant attachment style of mothers. However, it was found that there was a relationship between separation anxiety of mothers obtained from Adult Separation Anxiety Scale total score and anxious attachment criteria of mothers with Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised subscales. The limited number of samples and the mothers who completed the scales were among the limitations of this study. It is recommended to increase the sample size and include both parents by applying the scales.

Working memory, a cognitive construct, which is essential to perform complex cognitive tasks, is negatively associated with trait anxiety. However the exact mechanism underlying this relationship is not clear yet. In this study we aimed at investigating the relationship between working memory and anxiety considering the role of resting state frontal theta/beta ratio, a neuromarker which has been associated with attentional control. Fifty-six university students (Mage = 21, SD = 2; 7 males) participated in the study voluntarily. Participants filled in trait anxiety and attentional control scales. Then resting state EEG was recorded. Afterwards, participants completed dual n back task to assess working memory performance. Our results showed no relationship between theta/beta ratio, trait anxiety and working memory performance. Furthermore, trait anxiety and attentional control scores were also not associated with dual-n-back performance. Results are suggestive of critical evaluation of existing literature and utilizing different cognitive tasks or EEG markers in the future. Also, in addition to trait anxiety the role of state anxiety can also be investigated within this context.

Alzheimer’s Disease is a neurodegenerative disorder characterised by a progressive memory loss. However, it is not clear whether flashbulb memories- a subgroup of autobiographical memories with an emotional component- are influenced to the same extent in Alzheimer’s Disease. In this study, we investigated flashbulb memory performances of 29 early stage Alzheimer’s Disease patients as compared to healthy young controls. In addition, we measured the verbal memory performance of patients by using Verbal Memory Processes Test. Results showed that although the patient group displayed a significant impairment in verbal memory encoding, their flashbulb memory performance was not significantly different from healthy young controls. In conclusion, our study supports the notion that flashbulb memories can have a special neural network and suggests that flashbulb memories are preserved in early stage Alzheimer’s Disease.