A Qualitative Study on Mental Health Services in Primary Care in Türkiye.

Objective: Mental health services are a neglected problem within primary care. Quality mental health service delivery at the primary level hinges on identifying and addressing related questions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the issues and solution proposals regarding service delivery based on the experiences of primary care workers in managing mental illnesses.

Emotional State Evaluation of Retinitis Pigmentosa Patients with the Beck Depression Inventory.

Objectives: To evaluate the incidence and severity of depression in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

Materials And Methods: The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was administered to 74 patients with RP and 60 healthy controls. Biomicroscopic anterior segment and fundus examination, visual field, optical coherence tomography, and full-field electroretinography tests were performed in all cases.

The influence of alexithymia on disease activity and quality of life in patients with axial spondyloarthritis: A cross-sectional study.

Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of alexithymia and its influence on disease activity, quality of life, and clinical outcomes in axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) patients.

Patients And Methods: This cross-sectional study included 110 (59 men and 51 women) consecutive axSpA patients who agreed to participate at our rheumatology outpatient clinic. Patient demographics, pain, disease activity measures, functionality, quality of life, alexithymia, psychological status, neuropathic pain, and fibromyalgia were evaluated.

Metabolic Effects of Antidepressant Treatment.

Introduction: This study aimed to investigate body measurements, glucose-insulin metabolism, and lipid profile in patients with anxiety and depressive symptoms and also the effects of antidepressant drugs on these metabolic parameters.

Methods: The study included 40 outpatients and 32 healthy controls. The patients received antidepressant treatment (sertraline, escitalopram, fluoxetine, and venlafaxine) for 8 weeks.

Default mode network activity and neuropsychological profile in male children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and conduct disorder.

It is known that patients with Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and Conduct disorder (CD) commonly shows greater symptom severity than those with ADHD alone and worse outcomes. This study researches whether Default mode network (DMN) is altered in adolescents with ADHD + CD, relative to ADHD alone and controls or not. Ten medication-naïve boys with ADHD + CD, ten medication-naïve boys with ADHD and 10-age-matched typically developing (TD) controls underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans in the resting state and neuropsychological tasks such as the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stroop Test TBAG Form (STP), Auditory Verbal learning Test (AVLT), Visual Auditory Digit Span B (VADS B) were applied to all the subjects included.

Relationship between orexin A and childhood maltreatment in female patients with depression and anxiety.

Childhood maltreatment leads to neuroendocrine changes, which may be associated with an increased vulnerability for psychopathology, such as depression and anxiety in later life. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and orexin A levels in patients with depression and anxiety. The study consisted of 27 female outpatients who presented with depressive and/or anxiety symptoms, and 27 healthy female controls.

Assessment of Psychopathology and Quality of Life in Children and Adolescents With Migraine.

Aim: The aims of this study were to investigate comorbid psychiatric disorders and to identify anxiety and depression levels and quality of life in children and adolescents with migraine; and to assess their relationship with migraine.

Method: 35 patients aged 9-16 years were followed in our neurology clinic and their parents were included into the study. 35 age- and sex-matched patients were employed as the control group.

Effect on long-term survival of psychiatric disorder, inflammation, malnutrition, and radiotherapy-related toxicity in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer.

Purpose: To evaluate the effects on the long-term survival of psychiatric disorders, inflammation, malnutrition, and radiotherapy (RT)-related toxicity in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer.

Methods: Included were 47 patients who received RT for non-metastatic locally advanced head and neck cancer. The diagnosis of psychiatric disorder was made by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental disorders (4th edn) (DSM-IV) criteria.

The association between depression, weight loss and leptin/ghrelin levels in male patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiotherapy.

Objective: This study investigated the relationship between weight loss, depression and anxiety, and appetite hormones, leptin and ghrelin levels in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC), as well as the effect of radiotherapy and antidepressant treatment on weight and these hormones.

Methods: Forty male patients with HNC and twenty physically and mentally healthy male controls were recruited for the study. Psychiatric status was evaluated with clinical interview and psychometric tests.

Serum ghrelin and leptin levels in patients with depression and the effects of treatment.

Objective: Ghrelin and leptin, appetite-regulating hormones, play a role in mood regulation. Current data about the relation between leptin/ghrelin and depression are still controversial. This study aimed to investigate serum leptin and ghrelin levels in patients with depression and the effects of treatment on these levels.

Association of gingival crevicular fluid cortisol/dehydroepiandrosterone levels with periodontal status.

Background: The aim of the present study is to examine whether anxiety and depression scale scores change with regard to clinical periodontal status and to investigate the association between the levels of stress-related hormones in gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) and extent/severity of periodontal disease.

Methods: One hundred twenty participants who fulfilled the study inclusion criteria were chosen. Patients with chronic periodontitis (CP) and those with healthy periodontal tissues/mild gingivitis were included.

Hippocampal volumes and cognitive functions in adult alcoholic patients with adolescent-onset.

This study investigated hippocampal volumes and cognitive functions in adult alcoholic patients with adolescent- or late-onset alcohol use. Twenty-one male alcohol dependent inpatients and 13 healthy male controls were enrolled in this study. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging to measure hippocampal volumes and neuropsychological tests were performed in week 4 of abstinence in the patients and controls.

Oxidative stress in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate oxidative stress in ADHD children.

Design And Methods: Levels of oxidant parameters malondialdehyde (MDA), 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHDG), advanced oxidation protein products (AOPP) and antioxidant parameters paraoxonase (PON1) and thiol levels were measured in thirty children with ADHD (27 boys, 3 girls) who were firstly diagnosed according to DSM-IV and thirty healthy children (18 boys, 12 girls) aged 6-12 years.

Results: The levels of the oxidant parameters MDA and 8-OHDG were statistically significantly lower in ADHD children compared to the controls.

Manic episode associated with mega cisterna magna.

Mega cisterna magna is a part of "Dandy-Walker Complex" and it is characterized by the enlargement of the cisterna magna, morphologically intact vermis and cerebellar hemispheres. We report a case of manic attack in a 23-year-old man with mega cisterna magna. The patient was treated with quetiapine 1,000 mg/day and sodium valproate 1,500 mg/day and the symptoms were ameliorated within 2.

Ultrasonically determined thyroid volume and thyroid functions in lithium-naïve and lithium-treated patients with bipolar disorder: a cross-sectional and longitudinal study.

Objective: This study investigated thyroid volume, hormone levels and antibodies in long-term lithium-treated and lithium-naïve bipolar patients, some of whom underwent prospective follow-up evaluations.

Methods: Fourteen lithium-naïve patients, 13 long-term lithium-treated patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder and 12 healthy controls were included. Seven lithium-naïve patients were followed-up during their lithium receiving period (range 6-9 months).

The effects of galantamine hydrobromide treatment on dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate and cortisol levels in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Objective: Mental fatigue, cognitive disorders, and sleep disturbances seen in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) may be attributed to cholinergic deficit. A functional deficiency of cholinergic neurotransmission may cause the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis hypoactivity seen in CFS. Therefore, we investigated the alterations in stress hormones such as cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) in CFS patients before and after 4-week administration of galantamine hydrobromide, a selective acetylcholinesterase inhibitor, and aimed to investigate whether there are any relationships between the probable hormonal changes and cholinergic treatment.

Serum oxytocin levels in patients with depression and the effects of gender and antidepressant treatment.

Abnormalities in the neurohypophyseal system have been reported in depression. This study aimed to investigate serum oxytocin levels in patients with depression and the effects of gender and antidepressant treatment on these levels. Serum oxytocin levels were measured before and after treatment with antidepressant drugs or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in 40 inpatients (30 women, 10 men) who met the DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder (n=29) or bipolar affective disorder depressive episode (n=11), and in 32 healthy controls (20 women, 12 men).

[Acute and chronic effects of electroconvulsive therapy on neuroactive steroids in patients with major depressive disorder].

Objective: Baseline serum levels of neuroactive steroids such as dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS), 17-hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP), testosterone, and cortisol were measured, and the acute and long-term effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) on these hormones and the effect of gender on alterations in steroid hormones were investigated in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

Methods: The study included 25 inpatients (11 male, 14 female) diagnosed with MDD that responded to ECT, and 37 healthy controls (17 male, 20 female). Serum levels of cortisol, DHEAS, 17-OHP, and testosterone were measured 2 days before and 10 min after the first ECT, and 3 days after the last ECT in the patients.

Poststroke depressive symptoms and their relationship with quality of life, functional status, and severity of stroke.

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between depressive symptoms in 6 months after stroke and the quality of life (QOL), clinical and socio-demographical characteristics, functional status, and severity of stroke.

Methods: Ninety consecutive stroke patients who attended the neurology outpatient clinic at Erciyes University, Kayseri, Turkey from March 2004 to March 2005 were evaluated for the study. Seventy outpatients who had a stroke 6 months previously were included in the study.

The effects of electroconvulsive therapy on GABAergic function in major depressive patients.

Objectives: It has been proposed that major depression is associated with a dysfunction of the gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) system. This study was planned to investigate whether there are any alterations in GABAergic activities in major depressive patients and, if there are, whether electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has any effect on these changes.

Methods: Twenty-five depressed inpatients who responded to a course of ECT and 23 healthy subjects were included in the study.

Growth hormone response to the GABA-B agonist baclofen in 3-week abstinent alcoholics.

Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) dysfunction is a known feature of alcoholism. We investigated GABA-B receptor activity in 3-week abstinent alcoholics using the growth hormone (GH) response to baclofen, a GABA-B receptor agonist. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between GABA-B receptor activity and alcohol withdrawal.

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activity, dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate and their relationships with aggression in early and late alcohol withdrawal.

The study aims at investigating the relationship between hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis alterations and aggression level in alcoholic patients during early and late alcohol withdrawal. Serum levels of basal cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEAS) were measured three times, and cortisol and DHEAS response to dexamethasone twice during the early and late withdrawal periods in alcohol dependent males (n=30) and once in healthy control males (n=20). Abnormal cortisol non-suppression response to dexamethasone in dexamethasone suppression test (DST) was observed in some proportion of the patients in early withdrawal, which normalized in late withdrawal.

Thyroid function in early and late alcohol withdrawal: relationship with aggression, family history, and onset age of alcoholism.

Aims: Thyroid dysfunction is a known finding in alcoholism. Most studies have reported the reduction in peripheral thyroid hormones in acute withdrawal and long-term abstinence periods of alcohol dependence. The aim of the present study was to investigate the alterations of free thyroid hormones in early and late withdrawal and their association with aggression, age of onset, and family history of alcoholism.

Cerebellar syndrome in a patient with pneumonia under lithium treatment: A case report.

We report the case of a 31-year-old man with bipolar disorder who was on a combination therapy of lithium, lamotrigine and escitalopram. Serum lithium level was within therapeutic range. Cerebellar symptoms such as dysarthria, ataxia, and dyskinesia developed in the patient following the pneumonia.

[Is there any alteration in bone mineral density in patients with depression?].

Objective: Depression is associated with some alterations in behavior and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis function that may be risk factors for decreased bone mineral density (BMD). There is considerable inconsistency as to whether depressed patients really have decreased BMD or not. Decreased BMD has been reported in patients suffering from major depression in some studies, but not in some others.