[First Episode Psychosis: Relationship of Symptoms, Initial Treatment and Clinical Response]. / Ilk Psikoz Atagi: Belirtiler, Tedavi Baslangici ve Klinik Yanit Iliskisi.

OBJECTIVE: It was aimed to explore the relationship of clinical psychopathology and treatment response with "duration of untreated psychosis" (DUP) and "duration of untreated illness"(DUI) in 15-20 years old (mean age: 17,34 ± 1.69) inpatients in Turkey. METHOD: Mood disorders with psyhotic features were grouped as affective psychoses (18 patients, mean age: 17,28 ± 1,75); schizophrenia, schiozophreniform disorder and other psychotic disorders were grouped as non-affective psychoses (25 patients, mean age: 17,38 ± 1,68). 43 patiens (11 females, 32 males) were evaluated for acute treatment response with Positive and Negative Scale-PANSS and Clinical Global Impressions Scale-CGI. RESULTS: Mean DUP was determined as 6,5 ± 12,4 weeks, mean DUI was determined as 37,8 ± 49,8 weeks. For the affective psychosis (AP) group; mean DUP was 1,9 ± 1,2 weeks, mean DUI was 24,6 ± 37,1 weeks, for the non-affective psychosis (NAP) group; mean DUP was 9,8 ± 15,5 weeks, mean DUI was 47,3 ± 55,9 weeks. Treatment response was better for the non-affective psychosis group and for the patients who had earlier access to treatment. Shorter DUP and DUI was related with better PANSS negative symptom severity at the time of the discharge. CONCLUSION: Better treatment response related with shorter DUP and DUI reveals the significance of early treatment for the disease prognosis.

The relationship between the presence of ADHD and certain candidate gene polymorphisms in a Turkish sample.

Due to the high heritability of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), parents of children with ADHD appear to represent a good sample group for investigating the genetics of the disorder. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between ADHD and six polymorphisms in five candidate genes [5-HT2A (rs6311), NET1 (rs2242447), COMT (rs4818), NTF3 (rs6332), SNAP-25 (rs3746544) and (rs1051312)]. We included 228 parents of children diagnosed with ADHD and 109 healthy parents as the control group. The polymorphisms were genotyped using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assays and analyzed using the chi-square test and the multinomial logit model. SNAP-25 (rs3746544) polymorphism was associated with loading for ADHD, while 5-HT2A (rs6311) and NET1 (rs2242447) polymorphisms were associated with ADHD. On the other hand, there was no significant association between the SNAP-25 (rs1051312), NTF3 (rs6332), or COMT (rs4818) gene polymorphisms and ADHD. In addition, we found that even if variation in the SNAP-25 gene alone does not affect the phenotype, it may nevertheless lead to the emergence of a clinical ADHD picture in the presence of other genetic factors. Our findings suggest that a combination of NET1 (rs2242447) and SNAP-25 (rs3746544) is a risk factor for ADHD. Problems associated with the noradrenergic and serotonergic systems and SNAP-25 may play a role, both alone and in interaction with one another, in the pathophysiological mechanisms of ADHD.

Do defense styles of ego relate to volumes of orbito-frontal cortex in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder?

OBJECTIVE: Although the importance of orbito-frontal cortex (OFC) is established in the pathogenesis of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), no study have evaluated its relation to the traditional psychodynamic perspective. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between the defense styles consisting of mature, immature and neurotic defenses and OFC volumes of patients with OCD. METHODS: Subjects were selected among those of our previous study, and so eighteen patients with OCD and same number of healthy controls were took into the study. The patients and controls had underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In addition, the Defense Style Questionnaire-40 was administered to obtain defense styles of patients and controls. RESULTS: No significant relationship was found between the right OFC volumes of both the patient and control groups and their scores of mature, neurotic, or immature defense mechanisms. As for the left OFC volumes, the only significant relationship for the scores of immature defense mechanism was found in the patient group. CONCLUSION: The results of the present study indicated that there was no significant relationship between OFC volumes of the patient group and their scores of mature, neurotic, or immature defense mechanisms, except a significant relation with the scores of immature defense mechanisms.