Qualitative and Artificial Intelligence-Based Sentiment Analysis of Turkish Twitter Messages Related to Autism Spectrum Disorders.

BACKGROUND: The aim of our study was to conduct an emotional analysis of Turkish Twitter messages related to autism spectrum disorders (ASD). METHODS: An emotion analysis was performed using quantitative and qualitative analysis methods on Turkish Twitter messages shared between November 2021 and January 2022 that contained the words "autism" and "autistic." RESULTS: It was found that 81.5% of the 13,042 messages that constituted the sample of this study contained neutral emotions. The most frequently used words in Twitter messages were autism, a, universe, strong, patience, warriors, and happy. The qualitative analysis revealed three main themes. These themes were: "experiences," "informing society and awareness," and "humiliation." CONCLUSION: In this study, it was found that Turkish Twitter messages related to autism, which were analyzed using artificial intelligence-based emotion analysis, often contained neutral emotions. While the content of these messages, often shared by parents, was related to experiences, and the messages shared by pediatric psychiatrists and rehabilitation center employees were informative in nature, it was determined that the word "autism" was used to insult, which is outside of its medical meaning.

Factors associated with response to simple behavioral intervention in primary enuresis nocturna.

This 8-week longitudinal study examined predictors of response to simple behavioral intervention in primary enuresis nocturna (PEN). A total of 154 children, aged 8-18 years, diagnosed with PEN were evaluated. The results indicated that lack of constipation, milder enuresis severity, and higher bladder capacity are the primary predictors of good treatment response, and lower family dysfunction is the most robust familial predictor. Lack of constipation is the main predictor with unique variance in multiple regression. Specialists should be aware of conditions that hinder the success of simple behavioral intervention before implementing costly treatments. In treatment-refractory cases, it is important to examine each child for constipation. Family-centered approaches can be helpful if used in parallel with behavioral treatments.

Serum TNF- Related Weak Inducer of Apoptosis (TWEAK), TNF- Related Apoptosis-Inducing Ligand (TRAIL) Levels in Patients with Bipolar Depression, Major Depression and a Healthy Control Group.

BACKGROUND: A low-grade inflammation is presumed to be related to the etiopathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily members have roles in the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders because of the relationship with inflammation and neurogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate the serum TNF-related weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) and TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) levels in patients with bipolar depression (BD), MDD and a healthy control (HC) group to determine any differences between MDD and BD in terms of inflammation biomarkers. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: After a 12-hour overnight fast, 5 milliliter (mL) samples of fasting blood were obtained from the participants. The TWEAK and TRAIL plasma levels were calculated using ELISA kits. RESULTS: The TWEAK levels were found to be higher in the BD group than in the HC group (p=0.03). No statistically significant differences were determined between the BD vs MDD and MDD vs HC groups (p=0.17, p=0.37, respectively). There were no statistically significant differences between the three groups (BD vs HC; BD vs MDD; MDD vs HC) in terms of TRAIL levels (p=0.21). CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to have explored TWEAK levels in patients with BD. The higher TWEAK levels in BD than in the control group is compatible with the inflammation hypothesis of BD. Limitations of the study were the differences in medications of the patient groups and that it was a cross-sectional study. There is a need for further longitudinal studies with larger sample size and medication-free patients.

A comparison of inflammatory markers in manic and euthymic states of bipolar disorder.

OBJECTIVES: The number of studies investigating inflammatory biomarkers in bipolar disorder has increased significantly in recent years. The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and monocyte to lymphocyte ratio (MLR) are inexpensive and easy to obtain values used to measure the level of inflammation. This study compared the NLR, PLR, and MLR values in the manic and euthymic phases of the same patients. METHODS: Patients who met the inclusion criteria and were hospitalized due to bipolar affective disorder manic episodes at the Ondokuz Mayis University Faculty of Medicine inpatient psychiatry clinic between 01.01.2013 and 01.01.2019 were enrolled in the study. One hundred thirteen patients undergoing manic episodes were included. White blood cells, neutrophil, lymphocyte, platelet, and monocyte counts were retrospectively recorded from complete blood count data collected during the hospital stay, and NLR, PLR, and MLR values were calculated from these. RESULTS: Neutrophil, platelet, and monocyte counts, as well as NLR, PLR, and MLR values were higher in the manic episodes of bipolar disorder compared to the control group. Decreased neutrophil and lymphocyte counts, and decreased NLR, PLR, and MLR were observed in the remission period after-treatment of the manic bipolar disorder episodes. In the euthymic phase of bipolar disorder, however, platelet and monocyte counts and MLR were higher than in the control group. CONCLUSIONS: The study indicates that NLR and PLR may be used as state markers and that MLR may be used as a trait marker in bipolar disorder.

Factors affecting the anxiety levels of adolescents in home-quarantine during COVID-19 pandemic in Turkey.

BACKGROUND: The long-term closing of schools and home-quarantine during the COVID-19 pandemic cause negative effects on the physical and mental health of young people. Studies evaluating the mental health of adolescents during the pandemic are limited in the literature. AIM: In our study, it was aimed to determine the results of home-quarantine measures taken for adolescents during the pandemic and the affecting factors. METHOD: This study was conducted as an online cross-sectional self-report questionnaire and included children aged between 12 and 18 years. The data were obtained from the children of volunteer families via Facebook family groups, and Google Forms questionnaires sent by the child psychiatry clinic to their smartphones. Sociodemographic form, State-Trait anxiety scale, and UCLA loneliness survey were used as data collection tools. RESULTS: We examined the data of 745 adolescents. The average age of the study group was 16.83 ± 1.66 years, and 69.5% were females. It was determined that 88.2% of the adolescents followed the developments in the COVID-19 process and obtained most information from the television. State anxiety was related to "Former psychiatric referral" by 4.39-fold, "Having a COVID positive patient in the family or your surroundings" by 3.81-fold, and "The most common medium for obtaining COVID-related information" by 2.41-fold. CONCLUSIONS: Closure of schools and home-quarantine during pandemic causes anxiety and loneliness in young people. The identification of risky groups helps to properly support these individuals by various social connections, including healthcare professionals, families, and schools.

Does the Psychopathology of the Parents Predict the Developmental-Emotional Problems of the Toddlers?

INTRODUCTION: Parental psychopathology has been defined in respect of psychopathological development in early childhood. This study aimed to investigate the effects of parental psychopathologies on social and emotional problems in the age range of 1-3 years and to determine children at risk. METHODS: The study data were obtained from the 2009 Early Childhood Mental Health Profile taking population distribution into consideration with the properties representing Turkey. The primary caregiver of the child completed the Psychiatric Evaluation Form for 1-3 years, the Brief Infant-Toddler Social Emotional Assessment (BITSEA), the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ), and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) for themselves. Machine learning models used for prediction. The performance of prediction models was evaluated with the ten-fold cross-validation method. Area Under Curve (AUC) values were calculated with Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves to evaluate the performance of each model. RESULTS: The evaluation was made of the data of 2775 children, comprising 1507 (54.3%) males and 1268 (45.7%) females with a mean age of 26.19±9.11 months (range, 10-48 months). A total of 106 children were identified as at risk, as they were above the clinical cut-off point (1.5 standard deviations) of the BITSEA points and below the cut-off points of any one of the developmental areas of the ASQ. Modeling was applied to the data of these 106 children. The Support Vector Machines (SVM) model was selected for prediction with the automatically optimized highest AUC value. Weighting for the SVM algorithm showed mothers' BSI scores, fathers' education and health problems, duration of breastfeeding, unplanned pregnancy are significant for predicting BITSEA-problem scores in the model. CONCLUSION: To be able to understand the complex relationship with parental psychopathology and behavioral problems, machine learning methods were used successfully in this study. Further studies with more massive data sets, more extended follow-up periods, and stronger algorithms will be able to identify risk groups earlier and allow early interventions to be implemented.

The Role of Sociodemographic, Clinical and Neuropsychological Variables in Suicide Attempts in Depressed Adolescents.

INTRODUCTION: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between sociodemographic, clinical and neuropsychological variables and suicide attempts by comparing adolescents with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) with and without suicide attempt. METHOD: 30 adolescents with and without suicide attempt were included in this study. Sociodemographic and Clinical Data Form, Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children--Present and Lifetime Version (K-SADS-PL), The Children Depression Inventory (CDI), Beck Hopelessness Scale (BHS), Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS) and neuropsychological tests (Go/NoGo test, Stroop test Wisconsin Card Sorting Test) was applied to participants. RESULTS: Depressed adolescents with suicide attempt compared to adolescents without suicide attempt; motor and total impulsivity scores in BIS-11, commission errors in Go/NoGo test which measure motor inhibition, completion time and errors in Stroop 5 which measure interference inhibition and scores of perseveration in Winsconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) which measure cognitive inhibition were found to be higher. Family history of suicide attempt (OR: 5.87), commission errors (OR: 1.37), perseverative errors (OR: 1.09) ve total impulsivity (OR: 1.05) were remained in the logistic regression model. CONCLUSION: Results of this study suggested that family history of suicide attempt was the most important factor predicting suicide attempt in adolescents with depression. Other factors predicting suicide attempt were executive dysfunction and impulsivity.

The Relationship of Clinical Symptoms with Social Cognition in Children Diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Specific Learning Disorder or Autism Spectrum Disorder.

OBJECTIVE: One of the areas of social cognition is Theory of Mind (ToM) is defined as the capacity to interpret, infer and explain mental states underlying the behavior of others. When social cognition studies on neurodevelopmental disorders are examined, it can be seen that this skill has not been studied sufficiently in children with Specific Learning Disorder (SLD). METHODS: In this study, social cognition skills in children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), SLD or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) evaluated before puberty and compared with controls. To evaluate the ToM skills, the first and secondorder false belief tasks, the Hinting Task, the Faux Pas Test and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Task were used. RESULTS: We found that children with neurodevelopmental disorders as ADHD, ASD, and SLD had ToM deficits independent of intelligence and language development. There was a significant correlation between social cognition deficits and problems experienced in many areas such as social communication and interaction, attention, behavior, and learning. CONCLUSION: Social cognition is an important area of impairment in SLD and there is a strong relationship between clinical symptoms and impaired functionality.

Basal blood DHEA-S/cortisol levels predicts EMDR treatment response in adolescents with PTSD.

OBJECTIVE: In literature, recent evidence has shown that the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis can be dysregulated in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and HPA axis hormones may predict the psychotherapy treatment response in patients with PTSD. In this study, it was aimed to investigate changing cortisol and DHEA-S levels post-eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and the relationship between treatment response and basal cortisol, and DHEA-S levels before treatment. METHOD: The study group comprised 40 adolescents (age, 12-18 years) with PTSD. The PTSD symptoms were assessed using the Child Depression Inventory (CDI) and Child Post-traumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPSRI) and the blood cortisol and DHEA-S were measured with the chemiluminescence method before and after treatment. A maximum of six sessions of EMDR therapy were conducted by an EMDR level-1 trained child psychiatry resident. Treatment response was measured by the pre- to post-treatment decrease in self-reported and clinical PTSD severity. RESULTS: Pre- and post-treatment DHEA-S and cortisol levels did not show any statistically significant difference. Pre-treatment CDI scores were negatively correlated with pre-treatment DHEA-S levels (r: -0.39). ROC analysis demonstrated that the DHEA-S/cortisol ratio predicts treatment response at a medium level (AUC: 0.703, p: .030, sensitivity: 0.65, specificity: 0.86). CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggested that the DHEA-S/cortisol ratio may predict treatment response in adolescents with PTSD receiving EMDR therapy. The biochemical parameter of HPA-axis activity appears to be an important predictor of positive clinical response in adolescent PTSD patients, and could be used in clinical practice to predict PTSD treatment in the future.

Decreased dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate levels in adolescents with post-traumatic stress disorder after single sexual trauma.

BACKGROUND: Recent evidence shows that the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis can be dysregulated in chronic sexual abuse victims with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We hypothesized that PTSD in adolescents exposed to a single sexual trauma may function as a chronic stressor leading to HPA-axis dysregulation. AIMS: The objective of this study was to assess dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S) and cortisol levels in female adolescents |with single sexual trauma-related PTSD compared to healthy controls. METHOD: We assessed 20 female adolescent (age 12-18) single sexual trauma victims with PTSD from the Ondokuz Mayis University Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry between December 2013 and December 2014. PTSD symptoms were assessed using the Child Depression Inventory (CDI) and Child Posttraumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPSRI). Blood cortisol and DHEA-S were measured in 20 female adolescent sexual abuse victims with PTSD and 20 healthy adolescents after 12-h fasting using the chemiluminescence method. RESULTS: Compared to age-matched controls, female adolescent sexual abuse victims with PTSD had significantly lower DHEA-S levels (U = 70.00, Z = - 3.517, p = 0.01, r = 0.55). There was also a significant negative correlation between DHEA-S and CDI scores (Spearman r = - 0.522, p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Decreased DHEA-S levels and correlation with depressive symptoms are evidence for a dysregulated HPA-axis in female adolescent single sexual trauma victims with PTSD. Further research is now recommended with large patient groups in order to maximize generalizations.