The purpose of the current study was to identify latent profiles of COVID-19 fear, depression, anxiety, stress, mindfulness, and resilience among university students. A total of 506 university undergraduate and graduate students from various universities were recruited through online platforms in Turkey. Data were collected utilizing self-report scales and were analyzed utilizing latent profile analysis. Results indicated significant relationships among COVID-19 fear, depression, anxiety, stress, resilience, and mindfulness. A three-class solution was adapted to fit the current data. Findings revealed that 46% of the participants were classified into the high COVID-19 fear and medium psychological symptoms profile. Also, 38% of the participants were identified as low psychological symptoms and high mindfulness and resilience. Additionally, 16% of the participants were classified as high COVID-19 fear, psychological symptoms and low mindfulness and resilience. Female gender was positively associated with COVID-19 fear, depression, anxiety, and stress. Life satisfaction and social support were positively associated with the mindfulness and resilience, and were negatively related to COVID-19 fear, depression, anxiety, and stress.

Dyscalculia is a learning disability affecting the acquisition of arithmetical skills in children with normal intelligence and age-appropriate education. Two hypotheses attempt to explain the main cause of dyscalculia. The first hypothesis suggests that a problem with the core mechanisms of perceiving (non-symbolic) quantities is the cause of dyscalculia (core deficit hypothesis), while the alternative hypothesis suggests that dyscalculics have problems only with the processing of numerical symbols (access deficit hypothesis). In the present study, the symbolic and non-symbolic numerosity processing of typically developing children and children with dyscalculia were examined with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Control (n = 15, mean age: 11.26) and dyscalculia (n = 12, mean age: 11.25) groups were determined using a wide-scale screening process. Participants performed a quantity comparison paradigm in the fMRI with two number conditions (dot and symbol comparison) and two difficulty levels (0.5 and 0.7 ratio). The results showed that the bilateral intraparietal sulcus (IPS), left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and left fusiform gyrus (so-called “number form area”) were activated for number perception as well as bilateral occipital and supplementary motor areas. The task difficulty engaged bilateral insular cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, IPS, and DLPFC activation. The dyscalculia group showed more activation in the left orbitofrontal cortex, left medial prefrontal cortex, and right anterior cingulate cortex than the control group. The dyscalculia group showed left hippocampus activation specifically for the symbolic condition. Increased left hippocampal and left-lateralized frontal network activation suggest increased executive and memory-based compensation mechanisms during symbolic processing for dyscalculics. Overall, our findings support the access deficit hypothesis as a neural basis for dyscalculia.

It has been reported that young age of school onset has important effects on academic and behavioral outcomes. Although there are studies using multinational data, data from low and middle income countries are few. As part of a larger study about mathematics learning difficulties, the aim of the present study was to evaluate the age of school entry on mathematics ability and general ability in standard tests and emotional and behavioral problems reported by their teachers among 2058 third grade students in Ankara, second biggest and capital city of Turkey. Results indicated lower mathematics and general abilities and higher hyperactivity/impulsivity, inattention and emotional problems scores as well as less prosocial behavior in the youngest group of children. Effect sizes were largest for general ability and mathematics ability. Our data were largely consistent with previous studies from other countries, and extended the literature by providing data from a middle income country.

Developmental dyscalculia (DD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder specific to arithmetic learning even with normal intelligence and age-appropriate education. Difficulties often persist from childhood through adulthood. Underlying neurobiological mechanisms of DD, however, are poorly understood. This study aimed to identify possible structural connectivity alterations in DD. We evaluated 10 children with pure DD (11.3 plus-or-minus sign 0.7 years) and 16 typically developing (TD) peers (11.2 plus-or-minus sign 0.6 years) using diffusion tensor imaging. We first assessed white matter microstructure with tract-based spatial statistics. Then we used probabilistic tractography to evaluate tract lengths and probabilistic connectivity maps in specific regions. At whole brain level, we found no significant microstructural differences in white matter between children with DD and TD peers. Also, seed-based connectivity probabilities did not differ between groups. However, we did find significant differences in regions-of-interest tracts which had previously been related to math ability in children. The major findings of our study were reduced white matter coherence and shorter tract lengths of the left superior longitudinal/arcuate fasciculus and left anterior thalamic radiation in the DD group. Furthermore, lower white matter coherence and shorter pathways corresponded with the lower math performance as a result of the correlation analyses. These results from regional analyses indicate that learning, memory and language-related pathways in the left hemisphere might underlie DD. Keywords: Mathematical learning disability, diffusion tensor imaging, superior longitudinal fasciculus, anterior thalamic radiation, probabilistic tractography, tract-based spatial statistics

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