Developmental dyscalculia is a specific learning difficulty which reflects deficits in arithmetical skills. The cause behind this disorder is not known. Recent studies provide evidence in favor of believing that the disorder is somehow tied with specific brain regions’ roles. These regions include the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), the angular gyrus (ANG) and the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) in developmental dyscalculia. The present study investigates the role of these regions in adults with developmental dyscalculia. Brain images were collected from 10 participants with developmental dyscalculia and 10 control participants using fMRI while conducting number comparison, multiplication and subtraction tasks. The results revealed the activation of the intraparietal sulcus during number comparison and the activation of both the angular gyrus, the supramarginal gyrus, and the intraparietal sulcus during calculation tasks. These results suggest that the IPS activation was not less than the developmental dyscalculia group than in the control group when conducting the number comparison task; and that there were activation in the ANG, SMG and IPS regions of the brain in participants’ brains during both the multiplication and subtraction tasks.

Sufi meditation is a spiritual form of physically active meditation in which performers (Semazens) whirl without losing conscious awareness and while internally focusing on reaching an ecstatic state, thus requiring substantial motor and cognitive control and monitoring. Studies have argued that the experience of the meditator may affect the strength of the brain activations because more experienced meditators may need less cognitive effort to reach the ecstatic state. Despite this, our knowledge about the associations between emotional states of the meditators and activated brain areas during meditation remains unknown. With this in mind, fourteen male Semazens were recruited for this study. All Semazens performed Sema meditation under the scanner using imagined whirling techniques. An active control condition was used to explore brain areas specific to Sema meditation. Measures of affective states and psychiatric symptoms were also collected. Statistical parametric maps were created to compare the meditation vs. control conditions. Accordingly, Sema meditation specifically evoked activations in left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and left orbitofrontal areas. Activations in ACC were negatively correlated with the positive affect of the Semazens suggesting that less cognitive effort required to reach the meditative state in Semazens was associated with more positive affect. Despite previous studies highlighting the experience of the meditators as a predictor of brain activation, we found that affective state may also be an important factor that may facilitate emotion regulation and cognitive monitoring in the brain. Our findings may also be applicable to the effects of meditation on psychological and emotional wellbeing.

Aim: Several reports have shown environmental neuron toxins such as aluminium to accumulate in the brain, potentially triggering neurodegenerative disorders. Adansonia digitata (Baobab) has been reported to possess beneficial properties. This study, assessed the neuroprotective properties of aqueous fruit pulp extract of Adansonia digitata (AEAD) on aluminum chloride (AlCl3) – induced memory dysfunctions and hippocampal changes in Wistar rats. The neuroprotective effects of AEAD were assessed with the Morris water maze for learning and memory, oxidative stress biomarkers glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and Malondialdehyde (MDA), and histopathological changes on the hippocampal CA3 region using histological techniques. Materials and Methods: Thirty male Wistar rats (110 and 150 g) were divided into six groups at random (n=5). The Control group, the animals in Group 1 received 2 ml/ kg distilled water. Group 2 received 100 mg/kg of AlCl3. Ascorbic acid at a dose of 595 mg/kg was given to Group 3. 100 mg/kg AlCl3 and different concentrations of the AEAD (500 mg/kg and 1500 mg/kg, respectively) were given to groups 4 and 5. Group 6 received 595 mg/kg of ascorbic acid and 100 mg/kg of AlCl3. Results: The latency time spent to locate the escape platform in the Morris water maze test was observed with remarkable (P<0.05) improvement in the AEAD treatments compared with the AlCl3- treated group. There was a notable increase in MDA levels and a reduction in SOD and GSH activities in the AlCl3-treated group in relation to the AEAD-treated groups. Histopathological examination of the CA3 hippocampal region treated with AlCl3 revealed neurodegenerative changes, whereas, administration of AEAD ameliorated AlCl3-induced neuronal damages in rats at doses 500mg/kg and 1500mg/kg when compared with the AlCl3-treated group. Conclusion: Aqueous fruit pulp extract of Adansonia digitata demonstrated a possible neuroprotection against aluminium chloride-induced memory deficit and CA3 hippocampal neurotoxicity.

Aim: Lack of sleep has been linked in studies to increased beta-amyloid levels, oxidative stress, and memory impairments. Furthermore, sleep is known to help clear toxins that accumulate in the brain. This study investigated the restorative potentials of recovery sleep on total sleep deprivationinduced memory impairment, oxidative stress, stress response and changes in beta amyloid plaques in the hippocampus of adult male Wistar rats. Materials and Methods: Twenty-four male Wistar rats weighing between 150 and 200 g were divided into four groups. Group I remained in their home cages, while Groups II, III, and IV underwent sleep deprivation for 5 days. Groups III and IV then had recovery periods of 7 and 21 days, respectively. Spatial learning and memory was measured using the Novel Object Recognition test. The rats were euthanized with ketamine, oxidative stress was analyzed using hippocampal tissue homogenate and beta-amyloid plaques in the CA1 and CA3 regions using Congo red stain. Results: Comparing the sleep-deprived group to the sleep-recovered group, the discrimination ratio increased significantly (p < 0.0001). Sleep recovery also decreased levels of glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and malonaldehyde (MDA) and corticosterone (p < 0.01). Additionally, extracellular amyloid-beta expression in the CA1 and CA3 regions of the sleep recovery groups was significantly reduced (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.01). Conclusion: Recovery sleep was found to improve memory and decrease beta amyloid expression and oxidative stress in the CA1 and CA3 areas of the hippocampus. 

Aim: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) involves complex alterations in brain structure that persist across the lifespan. While structural brain alterations are known in children, the persistence of these neuroanatomical differences into adulthood remains less understood. This study examines the neuroanatomical basis of ASD in adulthood, specifically investigating how cortical thickness (CT) and structural similarity networks (SSN) are organized within the social brain network. Materials and Methods: T1-weighted MRI data were obtained for 24 adults with ASD and 24 neurotypical (NT) controls (ages 18–30) from the OpenNeuro dataset (ds002522). Image preprocessing was performed using the recon-all pipeline in FreeSurfer. We investigated CT and SSN at both: (1) the whole-brain, and (2) a hypothesis-driven level targeting 14 specific social brain network regions. CT was assessed using vertex-wise surface-based morphometry, while SSN were constructed using the Morphometric INverse Divergence (MIND) method. MIND quantifies morphological similarities based on the divergence of regional distributions for thickness, volume, surface area, mean curvature, and sulcal depth. Results: The SSN analysis revealed significantly increased nodal connectivity strength in the ASD group within the right posterior insula (pFDR=0.04) and the orbital part of the right inferior frontal gyrus (pFDR = 0.04). ROI-based CT comparisons and whole-brain SSN analyses showed no significant group differences. Conclusion: Our findings reveal a neuroanatomical signature in adults with ASD, characterized by localized structural hyper-connectivity within the inferior frontal gyrus and the insula. These results highlight that adult ASD is defined by persistent structural anomalies, manifesting as atypically high structural similarity within key social brain nodes rather than widespread, global network disruptions.

Aim: Few studies have investigated the effect of tic disorder (TD) co-occurring with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) on smoking, alcohol use disorders (AUD) and substance use disorders (SUD). The present study aimed to investigate whether the presence of TD in adults with OCD is associated with differences in AUD/SUD, smoking, and adult-life variables including education, unemployment, marital status, and suicide attempts. Materials and Methods: In this cross-sectional observational study, we examined 559 adults with OCD, with or without TD, in terms of smoking, alcohol and substance use disorders (AUD/SUD) and adult-life variables including education, unemployment, marital status and suicide attempts (SA). Results: Fifty-four patients (9.66%) had current or past TD. Individuals with and without TD had similar prevalence of AUD/SUD and smoking and similar severity of OCD, anxiety and depressive symptoms. OCD+TD group was characterized by earlier OCD onset, male predominance, and low marriage prevalence. Educational attainment, unemployment rate and history of SA did not show any difference. Conclusion: TD accompanying OCD in adults does not worsen OCD severity, predisposition to harmful substances, educational attainment, unemployment rate or history of SA, although it appears to influence marital status.

Aim: Hypnosis is treated as a state of mind. An individual depending on his/her social and psychological features follows suggestions and applies the requirements concerning time and space. With the advancement in brain-imagining techniques, viewing neuropsychological features of hypnosis has become a possibility. This article investigates the neuropsychological properties of hypnosis. The present study examines the electrophysiological features of the hypnotic minds of healthy individuals. This study aims to detect whether there is a change in and, if yes, in what region of suggestible individuals' minds during hypnosis. Materials and Methods: In this study, 34 highly suggestive individuals were selected out of 150 healthy individuals and were subjected to multidimensional Iowa suggestibility scale inventory and electroencephalogram (EEG). Due to technical problems during EEG, 24 data could be used cleanly. Using a correlational design, 34 healthy, suggestive individuals between the ages of 18–55 were included in the study. These participants have gone through an EEG procedure using the oddball paradigm. EEG and oddball were administered to 17 participants with and without hypnosis. Seventeen participants were administered without and with hypnosis. Twenty-four participants whose data was clear were included in the analyses. Results: When the groups were compared, it was seen that there was no significant difference in P300, P200, and P100 activities. There was also no significant difference in N200 and N100 activities. Conclusions: In this study the authors administered oddball paradigm with hypnosis and without hypnosis. The authors do not report any differences between conditions in terms of enterprise resource plannings. Although there was no statistically significant difference in this experimental design, studies with new and different designs should be continued.

Aim: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a common psychiatric disorder that usually begins in adolescence. The fact that it is frequently seen together with other psychiatric disorders, its symptoms overlap with different mental illnesses, and the diagnosis is primarily based on clinical interviews and psychometric scales makes it difficult to diagnose obsessive-compulsive disorder. In this context, it is aimed to contribute to the objective diagnostic processes of OCD with biomarker and artificial intelligencesupported approaches. Materials and Methods: In this study, individuals diagnosed with OCD were classified from healthy individuals using two different hybrid deep learning models: Gated Recurrent Unit (GRU) and Transformer Encoder (TE) with one-dimensional convolutional neural networks (1DCNN), respectively. Results: In the 1DCNN-TE model, false negatives (11) and false positives (1) remain at low levels, while in the 1DCNN-GRU model, these values are 30 and 95, respectively. While the training and test accuracy of the 1DCNN-TE model is over 95%, the accuracy of the 1DCNN-GRU model has reached over 90%. While the training and test losses tend to decrease in both models, the fluctuations in the test loss are more pronounced in the 1DCNN-TE model. Conclusion: The results indicate that both deep learning models could classify OCD with high accuracy based on EEG signals and successfully learn discriminative features. However, the fluctuations observed in the test data and errors in detecting the control group have indicated limitations regarding the models’ generalizability and reliability on new data.

Aim: This study aimed to investigate mass psychogenic illness (MPI) across various institutional settings worldwide, identifying its triggering factors and symptom profiles. Additionally, it sought to analyze the organizational and psychosocial factors contributing to MPI outbreaks and to propose recommendations for their prevention. Method: The research was based on a dataset comprising peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2025, written in English and documenting MPI cases within specific institutional contexts. A systematic review was conducted using PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases. Employing qualitative content analysis, 14 case studies were evaluated through descriptive and thematic approaches, focusing on institutional categories, triggering factors and symptom profiles. Results: The analysis revealed that 85.7% (12/14) of MPI cases occurred in school settings, while 7.1% (1/14) was reported to occur in a hospital and 7.1% (1/14) in an office environment. In schools, emotional vulnerability among adolescents, academic stress, misinformation dissemination and group interactions emerged as primary triggers. In contrast, environmental perceptions and dramatic interventions were prominent in hospital and office cases. The most frequently reported physical symptoms included nausea, headaches and dizziness, while psychical symptoms such as anxiety and panic were less common. Notably, MPI cases were more prevalent among female students. Conclusion: MPI is predominantly observed in school environments, driven by stress, misinformation and social contagion. Being less frequent in adult-oriented settings, its presence reflects distinct dynamics rather than immunity. The study highlights the critical role of organizational culture and leadership in preventing MPI. Strengthening psychosocial support systems, implementing stress management and fostering transparent communication within institutions can mitigate MPI risks.

Aim: The glymphatic system is a recently discovered waste drainage system that facilitates the movement of cerebrospinal fluid through the brain’s perivascular spaces and aids in removing soluble proteins. The Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI-ALPS) index analysis is a modern method used to evaluate the movement of water molecules in these spaces by measuring the diffusion coefficient. This study aimed to examine glymphatic system function in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients compared to healthy controls (HC) using the DTI-ALPS method and to analyze its relationship with cognitive disorders. Methods:DTI data from 59 AD patients and 59 HC were obtained by downloading medical data from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) platform. Using DSI Studio software, the diffusivities of the DTI data were extracted, and DTI-ALPS indices were calculated. Correlation analysis evaluated the relationship between the DTI-ALPS index and clinical features. Results:The findings indicated that the DTI-ALPS index was significantly lower in AD patients compared to HC (p = 0.042). Furthermore, the DTI-ALPS index showed a significant correlation with the Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ) (r = -0.214, p = 0.020) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) (r = 0.225, p = 0.014). Conclusions:The study demonstrated that AD individuals have impaired glymphatic system function, as indicated by the DTIALPS index, which correlates with worse cognitive performance. These findings support early diagnosis methods for AD. A better understanding of glymphatic system function may provide new perspectives for monitoring AD progression.