Volume 11, Issue 1

No abstract available

Considerable progress has been made in the treatment of schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders ever since the discovery of chlorpromazine in the early 1950s and the subsequent discovery of the group of tricyclic chemical compounds including clozapine. On the spectrum of the contemporary pharmacological treatments for schizophrenia, atypical antipsychotic agents render a significant portion. Clozapine continues to play a pivotal role in the treatment of psychotic disorders, despite the emergence of new anti­psychotic agents on the market. Among patients with schizophrenia, suicide is the main cause of death. Factors associated with suicide in patients with schizophrenia include previous suicide attempts, inadequate antipsychotic medication, non-compliance, substance abuse and non-response to antipsychotic medication. Clozapine reduces suicidal behavior in patients with schizophrenia. Clozapine has been shown to have a substantial effect on attempted suicide and completed suicide. The mode of action of clozapine in preventing suicide is not known. The various hypotheses proposed include its effects on neurotransmitters, on serum lipid levels, its antidepressant effects or the increased contact with healthcare workers during visits for blood monitoring.

This research is a descriptive study, with a view to identify the factors affecting the quality of life (QOL) of adolescent cancer survivors. The sample included 90 adolescents (13–18 years old) with cancer who had completed their treatment in two university and two state hospitals. A questionnaire which included the Turkish version of the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™ 4.0 (PedsQL™) was used as a data collection tool. For evaluation of the data, numerical and proportional distribution, independent double group t-test, Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U-test were used. In the study, 43.3% of the adolescents were female. Mean age was 15.98±1.60 years. First diagnostic age was 11.18±3.80 years. The difference between the mean adolescent physical health summary score, emotional functioning, social functioning, school functioning and the mean total scale scores was not found to be significant by sex, the mothers’ educational levels, mothers’ employment status and fathers’ employment status (p>0.05). A significant difference was observed between mean psychosocial health summary score and adolescents’ treatment and diagnosis (p<0.05). In conclusion, it was determined that the QOL of the adolescents was effected in the post-treatment period. It is strongly advised that necessary nursing interventions should be planned and applied to increase the QOL of the adolescents who have completed their treatment.

The aim of this study was to determine the nutritional status of economically disadvantaged 7- to 18-year-old children with mild or moderate intellectual disability in Turkey. The research was conducted in Izmir. Children with mild or moderate intellectual disability with poor socioeconomic status and their families who applied to the Counseling Research Center between May 15, 2010 and June 15, 2010 constituted the sample. The sample consisted of 70 families. The data were collected by filling out questionnaires through face-to-face interviews, and height and weight measurements were also taken. Body mass index (BMI) was calculated. BMI percentile values were determined according to the curves used for Turkish children. Of the children, 70% (n=49) had normal weight, 5.7% (n=4) were underweight, 17.1% (n=12) were overweight, and 7.1% (n=5) were obese. Of the children, 61.4% consumed milk and milk products, 2.9% meat products, 34.3% eggs, 58.6% dry legumes, 61.4% vegetables, 62.9% fruits, 98.6% bread and cereal food group, 100% oil, and 11.4% oil seeds every day. A total of 42.9% (n=30) of the mothers stated that they use foods as a reward. In this study, we found that children did not consume enough animal protein sources, such as meat, fish, and chicken. Multifaceted studies should be undertaken to prevent obesity in children with intellectual disabilities. Planning social aids to the nutrition of economically disadvantaged children may be beneficial for the health of those children.

The cybernetic revolution changed the way individuals suffering from depression look for and receive help. Many have begun turning towards online communities for help in understanding and dealing with symptoms. This article aims to examine the contents and characteristics of the discussions on depression in dedicated online communities and to explore the potential benefits these communities offer people with depression. For that purpose, quantitative content analysis of a full year’s data from 25 leading online communities was performed, using a novel computerized system, the Forum Monitoring System. The overall database included 149,216 messages. Results indicated that there was an increase in the daily activity level during the winter. Content analysis identified nine main subjects discussed in the communities, including (in descending order) ‘symptoms’, ‘relationships’, ‘coping’, ‘life’, ‘formal care’, ‘medications’, ‘causes’, ‘suicide’, and ‘work’. The overall tone was rather balanced. Findings indicated that online depression communities serve as a sphere for knowledge exchange, sharing the experience of living with depression, and getting inspiration for coping. Involvement in these communities seems to inspire and empower participants by enhancing better understanding of their condition and by encouraging them to fight depression. Therefore, it is suggested that the communities can complement formal care. Participating in these communities could be regarded as a coping technique, and more fragile depressed people should be encouraged to visit them and participate.

Background: According to literature, the assessment of executive functions (EFs) is helpful not only for the diagnosis of brain diseases and of their possible progression over time, but also for describing the ability of an individual to develop and coordinate an adaptive response to the environment. The limited development of EFs has been described in individuals with intellectual disabilities of different ages and aetiology. The aim of the study was to evaluate the usefulness of Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), a well-known brief battery, for a first assessment of executive functioning in young and adult individuals with intellectual disabilities. Methods: One hundred and twenty-two young and adult individuals with mild to severe intellectual disability completed the FAB, which included six executive tasks, pertaining to three different domains. Their ages ranged from 18 to 50 years. Results: FAB scores were significantly decreased in the study participants. The analyses showed that both main domains and specific executive tasks were differently affected in their levels of functioning in terms of age, aetiology and severity of intellectual disability. Conclusions: The FAB can provide screening information on executive functioning in intellectual disabilities and can help trace dys-executive profiles in adults.

We quantified spatial and temporal properties of the prevalence of the Chinese handicapped population based on two national sampling surveys. The surveys were conducted in 1987 and 2006, respectively. We applied Moran’s I and Geary’s c to measure spatial autocorrelation of provincial prevalence of the Chinese handicapped population. The pairwise t-test was used to compare the dynamic changes of the prevalence. Moran’s I and Geary’s c indicated that the spatial autocorrelation of the prevalence of the Chinese handicapped population was not significant and we then used the pairwise t-test to statistically quantify the temporal changes of the prevalence. The pairwise t-test showed that the prevalence of the Chinese handicapped population has increased significantly from the first sampling survey in 1987 to the second survey in 2006. The Chinese population has been aging rapidly in recent decades, which has resulted in a significant increase of the prevalence of the handicapped population. However, age-adjusted prevalence of the handicapped population was actually decreased, which indicated an overall improvement of the health of the Chinese population.

Background: The evolving awareness of learning disabilities (LDs) has been accompanied by a change in legislation, resulting in greater access to higher education by individuals with LDs, a group previously excluded from such educational options. The present study explored the accommodations granted in 2010 to students identified as having LDs at the Ariel University Center, based on a proposed typology of LD accommodations. We explored possible connections between claims for LD accommodations and demographic data such as accommodation type, country of birth, gender, faculty, and academic status. Methods: The study population included 9021 students at the Ariel University Center of Samaria in 2010. The sample population comprises two groups: students diagnosed with LDs (n=941, 10.4%) and undiagnosed students (n=8080, 89.6%). Results: Findings indicated a statistically significant correlation between faculty and LD accommodations. Of all accommodations, a time extension on exams was the most common. Conclusions: We conclude that differences in the prevalence of LD accommodations may be traced to differences in students’ needs for such support. Based on the current ease with which accommodations are awarded, the potential implications of such accommodations for the entire student body, and the potential discrimination against non-diagnosed students, institutions should tighten institutional criteria for awarding accommodations to students diagnosed with LDs and should make the award of passive accommodations conditional upon student participation in active accommodations. Finally, a follow-up study is proposed to explore the associations between the type of accommodations granted to students and students’ academic achievements.

Although challenging behavior is widely studied, the impact of deinstitutionalization on such behavior remains unclear. This study explored whether institutional downsizing had an effect on injury to self and others among adults with intellectual disability during deinstitutionalization in Ontario (Canada). Longitudinal analyses were conducted using data collected on all persons residing in institutions (n=1012) with the interRAI Intellectual Disability instrument. Approximately 29% engaged in injury to self, 20% in injury to others, and 36% displayed both. Improvements in rates of injury to self and to others were seen over the course of deinstitutionalization, although not in all subtypes of behaviors. Living in the community alone is not sufficient to change challenging behavior; training is needed in institutions to reduce challenging behaviors to improve the person’s overall quality of life and facilitate the transition to the community.

Chinese secondary school students in Shanghai (n=3022) responded to measures of perceived parent-child relational qualities (parental trust of the child, child’s trust of parents, child’s readiness to communicate with parents, and child’s satisfaction with parental control), parental behavioral control (including indicators of knowledge, expectation, monitoring, discipline, and demandingness), and parental psychological control. Results showed that parental trust of the child and child’s trust of parents were positively related to child’s readiness to communicate with the parents and satisfaction with parental control. Parental-child relational qualities were positively related to different aspects of behavioral control but negatively related to psychological control. Relative to measures of parental behavioral control measures, parental psychological control was a stronger predictor of parent-child relational qualities.

The goal of our research is to provide a defined conceptual and measurement model for examining the contribution of Daily Life Activity (DLA) to the health and well-being of older adults. Although a growing body of research examines the contribution of everyday activities to health outcomes, there is little consistency among these studies concerning what activities will be assessed or how they are measured. At present, no single conceptual basis for everyday activities exists in the literature. Structural equation modeling was used to examine engagement in everyday activities for the purpose of empirically testing a model for DLA. The final measurement model for DLA is specified as a second order factor model with nine indicator variables, three first order latent variables representing different activity types (productive activity, social network based activity, and leisure activity), and 1 s order variable representing overall DLA. The resulting model points toward the formulation and refinement of a model for other researchers to use in the conceptualization and measurement of DLA.

The Office of the Medical Director of the Ministry of Social Affairs in Israel is responsible for the medical service in residential care centers for persons with intellectual disability (ID). A standard annual questionnaire was developed during 1997–1998, and the first national survey study was conducted in 1998. The present paper presents the findings of the 2009 national survey, for which the following information was gathered via questionnaires: age, gender, and level of ID of persons served at the residential care center in question, status of the population served, functional profile, nursing, medical, and allied professional staff, number of annual examinations, preventive medicine aspects, medications, number of annual cases of infectious disease, annual unintentional injuries, number of deaths, number of hospitalizations, internal residential center hospitalization, ambulatory out-patient use, use of outside laboratory examinations, and dental care. In 2009, 7067 persons were served in nine government, 41 private, and 13 public centers. The average number of persons served per center was 112.17 (range 21–324). The survey in 2009 showed that 78% of the population with ID in residential care in Israel was between the ages of 20 and 60 years old, 45% with severe or profound ID, 41% with moderate, and 13% with mild ID. In total, 25% were nursing patients, 19% were confined to a wheelchair, 33% had epilepsy, 87% were found to be receiving medication daily for chronic illness, and 54% received psychotropic medication for psychiatric illness.

Compulsive buying and compulsive hoarding have been associated with pathological collecting. Although compulsive buyers are trapped into the buying process itself, compulsive hoarders suffer from the inability to discard the purchased items. We report a case of pathological collecting in a 53-year-old male also suffering from alcohol dependence and obsessive-compulsive personality features. His addictive pattern of collecting combined features of compulsive buying disorder with the obsessive accumulation of acquisitions. He chose only high-value, exclusive items. His treatment that included psychopharmacological treatment with sertraline and topiramate and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy was successful. Pathological collecting can be conceptualized both as a behavioral addiction and as a subtype of hoarding compulsive buying disorder with preference for the acquisition and the inability to discard high-value items.

Septo-optic dysplasia is a rare congenital syndrome first described in 1941 by Reeves, which is diagnosed clinically by two or more features of the following classical triad: 1) optic nerve hypoplasia, 2) pituitary hormone abnormalities, and 3) midline brain defects, including agenesis of the septum pellucidum and/or corpus callosum. Our intent with this case report is to highlight the spectrum of clinical characteristics of septo-optic dysplasia and the significance of early recognition and intervention.

No abstract available