Background Although interventions on child development target supporting mothers' relationships with their children, little is known about maternal knowledge of child development in developing countries. The purpose of this study was to determine maternal knowledge about child development in Turkey. Methods The Caregiver Knowledge of Child Development Inventory (CKCDI) developed for this study consisted of questions on when children begin to demonstrate developmental skills and when caregivers should provide opportunities for developmental stimulation. Results In total, 1200 mothers of children aged Յ3 years chosen by random population-based sampling were administered the CKCDI in their homes. Of the 1055 mothers with complete data (88%), 64% had at most secondary school education and 11% were employed. The median CKCDI questionnaire score was 19 (highest possible score 40). Mothers believed that most developmental skills and activities should occur at later than normative ages and most mothers did not know that sight (52%), vocalization (79%), social smiling (59%) and overall brain development (68%) begins in the early months of life. In a linear regression model with CKCDI score as the dependent and age of child, number of children, maternal and paternal age and education as the independent variables, higher maternal education and lower number of children were found to be independent predictors of higher CKCDI scores (P < 0.001). Conclusions These results illustrate the degree to which caregivers from Turkey may be lacking information on early childhood development and that caregiver knowledge needs to be further investigated so that culture-specific and effective interventions can be planned.

Endemic goiter is an important public health problem in Turkey. Legislation for mandatory iodization of household salt was passed in July 1999. Current study is aimed at ascertaining the goiter prevalence and iodine nutrition in school-age children (SAC) living in known endemic areas of Turkey. Sonographic thyroid volumes (STV) and urinary iodine concentrations (UIC) of 5,948 SAC from 20 cities were measured between 1997-1999. STV of 31.8% of the SAC examined stayed above the upper-normal limits for the same age and gender recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO). Goiter prevalence ranged between 5 to 56% and median UIC ranged between 14 to 78 microg/l, indicating severe to moderate iodine deficiency (ID) in 14 and mild ID in 6 of the cities surveyed. Neither of the cities was found to have sufficient median UIC levels. The current study shows that endemic goiter is an important public health problem and iodine nutrition is inadequate nationwide. It also provides reliable scientific evidence and shows the need for a controlled and effective iodine supplementation program nationwide. Mandatory iodization of household salt seems to be the essential measure taken for the moment, additional measures may be needed in the near future.

Aims:  Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder manifesting with heterogeneous symptom clusters and clinical presentations. The deficit syndrome is the condition defined by the existence of primarily negative symptoms, and patients with the deficit syndrome differ from non‐deficit patients on measures of brain structure and function. In the current study, by using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), we investigated the frontotemporal connectivity that is hypothesized to differ between deficit and non‐deficit schizophrenia. Methods:  Twenty‐nine patients and 17 healthy controls were included in the study. The patients had deficit (n = 11) or non‐deficit (n = 18) schizophrenia and they were evaluated clinically with the Schedule for Deficit Syndrome (SDS) and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Diffusion‐based images were obtained with a 1.5T Siemens Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine and analyses were carried out with Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Brain Library Software – Diffusion tool box software. Results:  The fractional anisotropy values in the left uncinate fasciculus of schizophrenia patients with the deficit syndrome were lower than those of non‐deficit patients and the controls. There were no differences between non‐deficit schizophrenia patients and controls. Conclusion:  These findings provide evidence of left uncinate fasciculus damage resulting in disrupted communication between orbitofrontal prefrontal areas and temporal areas in deficit schizophrenia patients.

Hemoglobinopathies are a very important health problem in Turkey. To date many studies have been performed but there has been no national hemoglobinopathy control program (HCP). After the Turkish National Hemoglobinopathy Council (TNHC) was created all centers, foundations, and associations were combined into one organization controlled by the Ministry of Health (MOH). The MOH and the TNHC have started to register the results of the screening of 377,339 healthy subjects from 16 different cities and the recorded average frequency of the β-thalassemia trait was 4.3%. The highest prevalence of theβ-thalassemia trait (13.1%) was found in the Antalya region and of the HbS trait (10%) in the Çukurova region. Next, written regulations for the Fight against Hereditary Blood Disease were published especially for preventing and treating hemoglobinopathies. The MOH and the TNHC selected 33 provinces situated in the Thrace, Marmara, Aegean, Mediterranean and South Eastern regions with a high birth prevalence of severe hemoglobinopathies. The hemoglobinopathy scientific committee was set up, a guidebook was published and a national HCP was started in these high-risk provinces.

In this study, we aimed to classify MR images for recognizing Alzheimer Disease (AD) in a group of patients who were recently diagnosed by clinical history and neuropsychiatric exams by using non-biased machine-learning techniques. T1 weighted MRI scans of 31 patients with probable AD and 31 age- and gender-matched cognitively normal elderly were analyzed with voxel-based morphometry and classified by support vector machine (SVM), a machine learning technique. SVM could differentiate patients from controls with accuracy of 74% (sensitivity: 70% and specificity: 77%) when the whole brain was included the analyses. The classification accuracy was increased to 79% (sensitivity: 65 % and specificity: 93%) when the analyses restricted to hippocampus. Our results showed that SVM is a promising tool for diagnosis of AD, but needed to be improved.

Covid-19 pandemisinde sağlık çalışanlarında anksiyete, stres, tükenmişliğin gözlendiği bildirilmektedir. Bu çalışmada pandemi hastanesi ilan edilen üçüncü basamak bir üniversite hastanesinde sağlık çalışanlarıyla birlikte yardımcı personelde anksiyete, tükenmişlik düzeyleri ve tükenmişlikle ilişkili risk faktörlerinin belirlenmesi amaçlanmıştır.Yöntem: Hastanemizdeki çalışanlara ulaştırılmış olan anket formunu, Hastane Anksiyete Depresyon (HAD) Ölçeği ve Maslach Tükenmişlik Ölçeğini 15-30 Nisan 2020 tarihleri arasında doldurmuş olan 683 kişi çalışmaya alınmıştır.Bulgular: Çalışmamızda stres, depresyon ve anksiyete düzeyleri hemşirelerde diğer gruplara göre istatistiksel açıdan anlamlı düzeyde yüksek bulunmuştur. Tükenmişlik açısından bakıldığında, asistanlarda ve hemşirelerde duygusal tükenme, duyarsızlaşma puanları diğer gruplara göre daha yüksek, kişisel başarı puanları daha düşük bulunmuştur. Ön saflarda (Covid-19 birimleri) çalışıyor olmak tükenmişlik, anksiyete, stres, depresyon düzeylerini etkilemezken, bekar olmak, çocuk sahibi olmak, evinden ayrı yaşamak tükenmişlik düzeylerini etkilemiştir. Tüm örneklemde duygusal tükenmişliği en fazla arttıran risk etmenleri HAD Ölçeği anksiyete ve depresyon için belirlenmiş kesme puanına göre anksiyete bozukluğu (OR:7,19) ve depresyon (OR: 3,43); duyarsızlaşma riskini en fazla arttıran risk etmeni ise anksiyete bozukluğu olmuştur. Hemşirelerde yoğun çalışma saatlerinden şikayet edenlerde etmeyenlere göre duyarsızlaşma riski 2,7 kat daha fazladır. Tüm grupta iş ve aileden alınan sosyal desteğin duyarsızlaşma açısından koruyucu olduğu bulunmuştur.Sonuç: Covid-19 pandemisinde sağlık çalışanlarının iyilik hali olumsuz etkilenmiştir. Depresyon ve anksiyete varlığı tükenmişlik gelişimi riskini arttırmıştır. Sosyal desteğin tükenme açısından koruyucu olduğu söylenebilir. Bu nedenle sağlık çalışanlarının ruh sağlığının korunması ve tükenmemeleri için etkin psikososyal, örgütsel müdahalelerin acilen hayata geçirilmesi büyük önem taşımaktadır.

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Object: The aim of this study, is to present the process and results of OSCE in Psychiatric Association of Turkey Board Exam-PATBE. Methods: Six stationed OSCE, in which Standardized Patient-SP took role on five stations, were used as an exam method. These stations were planned for assessing the skills of taking history, psychiatric examination, differential diagnosis, making treatment plans and informing the patient. On the sixth station, the examinees are asked to write a forensic psychiatric report. Phases of OSCE were: preparing the blueprint, preparing the SPs' scenario for each station, preparing the examinee's instructions, preparing the observer's instructions and the evaluation guide, SP education, training of observers, pilot implementation, implementation and evaluation of results. The examinees are expected to achieve at least 30% success in each station and 50% success in all stations. Results: 116 examinees participated the exam between 2006-2016 and 91.4% succeeded in the OSCE exam. In feedback forms, examinees stated that the exam is moderately difficult; yet, the content of the exam is in line with the scope of their specialty training and is suitable for evaluating an expert. Discussion: Positive feedbacks from the examinees indicated the efficiency of the exam. The preparation, implementation and evaluation of results of OSCE require considerable time and manpower. OSCE can be used as a valuable test method for psychiatric board certification.