Savant Syndrome: Clinical and Neuropsychological Features

Savant syndrome defines the people who have severe developmental and mental disabilities but also have extraordinary mental skills which are missing in many people. Although general mental capacity is under average mental level, savant has excessive knowledge about one or more domains. It is accepted that as many as one in 10 persons with autistic disorder have such remarkable abilities in varying degrees, although savant syndrome occurs in other developmental disabilities or in other types of central nervous system injury or disease as well. Males outnumber females by an approximate 6 : 1 ratio in savant syndrome. Savant skills are limited to five general categories. These are music, art, calender calculating, mathematics and mechanical or spatial skills. Savant skills can also be divided into three as savants who have splinter skills, talented savants and prodigious savants. A remarkable memory welds to the special abilities determined in savant syndrome. Savant syndrome can be congenital or it can be acquired. Most often savant skills emerge in childhood, superimposed on some underlying developmental disability present at birth. However, acquired savant skills can also appear, when none were previously present, in neurotypical individuals following brain injury or disease later in infancy, childhood or adult life. Savant skills don’t depend on only rote memory. It is approved that an enhanced or spared ability to represent and manipulate highly organised domain-specific information. Various theoretic models were defined to explain the neuropsychological profile in savant syndrome. Interest in savants has a long history, stretching back to the early 18th century; nevertheless, the savant syndrome remains as much a mystery now as it did when it was first described. Given that many questions about the existence and nature of savant talent remain unanswered, it seems likely that research efforts will continue unabated

Childhood-Onset Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

Childhood-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder affects 1%-2% of children and adolescents. While symptoms reported by children and behavioral therapies and pharmacological interventions administered to children are similar to those seen among individuals who develop obsessive compulsive disorder in adulthood, there are several differences with regards to sex ratios, comorbidity patterns, neuroimaging findings. Family and twin studies support the role of genetics in some forms of obsessive compulsive disorder. Prefrontal cortex, cingulate cortex, thalamus, nucleus caudatus, putamen and globus pallidus are the main brain areas affected in children with obsessive compulsive disorder. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI) are the treatment of choice for pharmacotherapy of obsessive compulsive disorder and exposure and response prevention are the most commonly applied behavioral therapy methods in obsessive compulsive disorder. Despite advances in the treatment of the disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder is still considered as a debilitating chronic disorder

Otizm Spektrum Bozukluğu Olan 6 Yaşından Küçük Erkekler Çocuklarda Serum S100B Düzeylerinin Değerlendirilmesi: Psikiyatrik ve Biyokimyasal Perspektif

Aim: Autism spectrum disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder. The S100 calcium binding protein B (S100B) is among the markers of astrocyte activation as well as brain damage. Herein, it was aimed to evaluate S100B levels to determine whether there is a relation with the severity of autism spectrum disorder and establish possible causes of different results among the studies in the literature from a psychiatric and biochemical perspective. Material and Methods: Twenty-five male children with autism spectrum disorder were included as the study group along with twenty-seven male children as the control group. The childhood autism rating scale and the autism behavior checklist were applied. Serum S100B protein levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: The mean serum S100B level was 1008.61±171.34 pg/mL in the study group and 1060.14±182.83 pg/mL in the control group, and no statistically significant difference was found between the groups (p=0.300). Based on the childhood autism rating scale scores, 60% (n=15) of the children with autism spectrum disorder had severe autism, whereas 40% (n=10) had mild-to-moderate autism. There was no significant difference in terms of the serum S100B levels between the groups of autism spectrum disorder severity (p=0.935) or according to the autistic regression status (p=0.667). Conclusion: For S100B to be accepted as a reliable biomarker for autism spectrum disorder, more studies considering some factors with larger samples should be performed. Moreover, to understand the effect of biochemical methodology on the results, further studies are suggested on this subject

Parental attitudes in children with persistent developmental stuttering: a case-control study

Background: Clinical experiences emphasize the possible role of parental attitudes and behaviours in shaping stuttering behaviors however, the number of studies in this area is still insufficient. Objective: Our aims were to compare parental attitudes in children with and without stuttering and to determine the effect of parental attitudes on stuttering severity. Methods: We used an age and gender matched case control design with 24 children with stuttering and 22 healthy school children. Demographic information form and Parental Attitude Research Instrument (PARI) were enrolled by the mothers. Results: According to our results; there was a statistically significant difference in parental attitudes of children with and without stuttering. Our results showed that excessive maternal control of the child and the expectations of obedience from the child more frequently observed in parents of the children with stuttering. Also there was a significant positive correlation with the severity of stuttering and excessive maternal control of the child, the expectations of obedience from the child and marital conflict. Discussion: In conclusion, there was an important difference in parental styles of study group and this difference was related to the severity of stuttering. Clinicans should address parental attitudes in this samples

Autism in Moebius Syndrome: Comorbidity or a Coincidental State?

Pervasive developmental disorders are neuropsychiatric disorders that start in early years of life, last lifelong, and characterized by delay and abnormality in social relationship, communication, behavior and cognitive development. Moebius syndrome is a clinical condition characterized by unilateral or bilateral eye-face palsy associated with muscle or bone malformations in the upper or lower limbs. Most accepted clinical criteria to characterize the sequence are the involvement of the VI and VII cranial nerves. Though some authors suggest a causal relationship between autism and some medical conditions, to draw such result is quite complicated and difficult. Case reports and articles draw attention to the comorbidity of autism in Moebius syndrome. Despite arguments favoring a strong relationship between autism and Moebius syndrome, some questions about this relationship are still left unanswered and controversial. There are some research findings suggesting higher prevalence of autism among patients with Moebius syndrome, however some others did not report an increase in autism prevalence in Moebius syndrome. Clinical features of Moebius syndrome comprise difficulties in making diagnosis of autism. Long term follow-up of larger number of cases are necessary to understand whether the presence of both autism and Moebius syndrome in a patient represents comorbidity or only a coincidental condition

The Relation Between Customer Empowerment And Perceivedmarketing Performance: An Implementation In Furnituresector

Günümüz pazar şartlarını geçmişten ayırt eden en önemli özelliklerden biri; tüketicilerin daha bilgili, bilinçli, sorgulayıcı, karşılaştırıcı olması ve kontrollü alışveriş yapma olanaklarına kavuşmuş olmasıdır. Bu olanaklar içerisinde; iletişim araçlarının ve kabiliyetlerinin artması, ürünleri satın alırken karşılaştırma yapma imkanlarının artması, bilgi arama ve paylaşma imkanlarının artması, tüketicilerin eğitim düzeyinin artması, tüketici bilincinin artması, firma ile iletişim kurma ve dolayısıyla firmadan bilgi alma ve firmaya bilgi sağlama imkanlarının artması, tüketiciyi koruma kuruluşlarının sayısının ve öneminin artması gibi gelişmeler gösterilebilir. Bu şartlar altında bu çalışmada, müşterinin bilgi, beceri ve kontrolünün desteklenerek güçlendirilmesinin işletmelerin başarısı için önemi incelenmektedir. Bu bağlamda öncelikle müşteri güçlendirme faaliyetleri ile müşterinin algıladığı pazarlama performansı değişkenleri arasındaki olası ilişkiler öncelikle teorik olarak incelenmektedir. Ardından, müşteri güçlendirme ile müşteri memnuniyeti, müşteri sadakati, çalışanlara güven, algılanan yenilik ve fiyata karşı duyarlılık gibi değişkenler arasındaki ilişkiler mobilya sektöründe mağazadan müşteriye kadar gerçekleştirilen bir zincir anket çalışması ile araştırılmaktadır. Sonuçta müşteri güçlendirmenin, müşteri bakımından performans değişkenleri ile yakından ilişkili olduğu görülmektedir.The main difference between past and today's market conditions is that customers are better informed, conscious, questioning, comparative and have the opportunity for more controlled shopping. In these facilities, increases in communication tools and capabilities, in comparing tools while purchasing, in information seeking and sharing possibilities, in education and consciousness levels of consumers, in opportunities of reaching the firm, taking information from and giving information to the firm and in the number and the importance of customer protection institutions are main developments. Under this framework, this study investigates the importance of customer empowerment in terms of success of firms which are supporting customer information, capability and control in purchasing. In this regard, relationships among customer empowerment activities and marketing performance variables are investigated theoretically. Then, relationships among customer empowerment and customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, reliability, perceived innovation and price sensitivity are pointed out with a survey which is conducted to customers of a leading furniture brand. As a conclusion, it is seen that customer empowerment is closely related with customer based marketing performance

Suicide in Children and Adolescents

Every year, almost one million people commit suicide worldwide which is approximately 1.5% of all deaths. Thus suicide is 10th leading cause of death globally and the third leading cause of death among children and adolescents ages 10 to 24 years. Little is known about the characteristics of successive attempts among individuals who survive the first suicide attempt. It is very important to identify risk factors that can be predictive of future suicide attempts. Subjects with one suicide attempt had an increased risk for a future attempt. Most children and adolescents with suicidal behavior have at least one psychiatric disorder with mood disorders being the most common. A thorough examination of risk factors, the impact of suicidal behavior on patients and on their families and communities, and recommended directions for future research are main focus of this review

Organizational factor that affect customer complaining propensity to firm

Satın alınan mal veya hizmetle ilgili müşteri sorunlarının firmaya ulaştırılan bölümünün çözüme kavuşturulması çabaları veya şikâyet yönetimi, önemli bir pazarlama stratejisi olarak ifade edilmektedir. Ancak müşterilerin çoğu yaşadıkları sorunları firmaya iletmek yerine sessiz kalma, firmayı terk ederek cezalandırma, çevresine olumsuz imaj yayma gibi davranışlar sergilemekte ve müşteri sorunlarının farkına varılması ve çözülmesi zorlaşmaktadır. Dolayısı ile müşteri problemlerinin çözülmesi şikâyetlerin doğrudan firmaya ulaştırması ile mümkün olduğu görülmektedir. Bu noktada firmanın rolünün ve yapabilecekleri faaliyetlerin belirlenmesi gerekmektedir. Bu çalışmanın temel amacı, müşterilerin şikâyetlerini firmaya iletme eğilimini etkileyen örgütsel faktörlerin belirlenmesidir. Bu doğrultuda şikâyet etme eğilimini etkileyen örgütsel faktörleri araştırmak amacıyla Kırıkkale Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi öğrencileri ile anket çalışması gerçekleştirilmiştir. Sonuç olarak daha önceki çalışmalardan farklı ve yeni bir bakış açısı ile kurum güvenilirliği, kurum çalışanından duyulan memnuniyet, algılanan şikâyet sisteminin özellikleri, firmanın telafi politikasının olumlu algılanma düzeyi gibi “örgütsel faktörlerin” şikâyet etme eğilimi ile ilişkili olduğu ileri sürülmekte ve saha araştırması ile desteklenmektedir.Complaint management and efforts to resolve customer problems that related to purchased goods or services are expressed as an important marketing strategy. But most of customer exhibit behaviors like remaining silent, leaving company to punish firm, spreading negative image rather than communicating problems to companies and thus recognizing and solving the customer problems becomes more difficult. Therefore, solving customer problems is possible by transferring complaints directly to firms. At this point, the role of company and activities can be done by firms must be determined. The main objective of this study is determining organizational factors that affect customer complaining propensity to firm. In this direction, a survey conducted with students of Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences of Kirikkale University to research organizational factors affect the tendency to complain. As a result, some organizational factors like corporate reliability, satisfaction from employee, perceived complaint system characteristics, perceived company‘s compensation policy, are associated with complaining propensity and supported by field research with a new and different perspective with respect to previous studies

Müşterinin firmaya şikâyet etme eğilimini etkileyen bireysel faktörler üzerine uygulamalı bir çalışma

Tüketicinin ve tüketici odaklılığın öneminin anlaşılması, satın alınan mal veya hizmetle ilgili müşteri sorunlarının çözüme kavuşturulması çabaları gibi savunmasal pazarlama stratejilerinin önemini artırmaktadır. Bu noktada karşılaşılan temel sorun müşterilerin satın alınan ürünle ilgili yaşadığı sorunları firmaya iletmek yerine sessiz kalma, firmayı terk etme, tanıdıklarını uyarma gibi işletmeler için son derece zararlı davranışlar sergilemesidir. Bu çalışmanın temel amacı, müşterilerin şikâyetlerini firmaya iletme eğilimini etkileyen bireysel faktörlerin belirlenmesi suretiyle, müşteri şikayet davranışının aydınlatılmasıdır. Böylece müşterilerin sorunlarını firmaya iletmemesinin olumsuz sonuçlarının önlenmesinin yanında müşteri sorunlarının çözülmesi, anlaşılması ve tekrar meydana gelmesinin engellenmesi kolaylaşacaktır. Bu doğrultuda bu çalışmada, şikâyetlerin firmaya iletilmemesi sorunu teorik olarak incelenmiş ve şikâyet etme eğilimini etkileyen kişisel değişkenler tespit edilmiştir. Ardından bu değişkenlerle firmaya şikâyet etme eğilimi arasındaki ilişkileri araştırmak amacıyla Kırıkkale Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Fakültesi öğrencileri üzerinde uygulanan anket çalışması ile toplanan birincil veriler üzerinde istatistiki analizler gerçekleştirilmiştir. Sonuçta kişilik, kontrol odağı, benlik saygısı, tüketici bilinci, cinsiyet rolü, dayanışmacı anlayış, yasal farkındalık gibi kişisel faktörler ile şikâyet etme eğilimi arasında anlamlı ilişkiler tespit edilmiştir.Understanding consumer and importance of the customer orientation, increases the importance of defensive marketing strategies which is about struggles to solve purchased goods or services. At this point, the main encountered problem is that, consumer presents very harmful behaviors for firms like remaining silent, leaving firm, warning acquaintanceship instead of transferring problems to firm about purchased products. The main purpose of this study is clarifying the customer complaint behavior by determining the individual factors that affect the transferring of customer problems to firm. Thus, in addition to prevent the negative outcomes of not being transferred of consumer problems to firm, it would be easier to solve, understand and prevent reoccurrence consumer problems. In this study, the problem of not transferring of complaints to firm is examined theoretically and individual variables that affect this problem are identified. Then, statistical analyses are conducted on primary data collected through a survey which is applied on students of the Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences of Kirikkale University in order to investigate the relationships between the variables. As a result, meaningful relationships between propensity to complain to firm and individual factors like personality, locus of control, self-esteem, consumer awareness, sex role, collectivist understanding and legal awareness etc. are found

Effects of Psychostimulant Drugs on Developing Brain

Although psychostimulants have been used for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder for approximately 70 years, little is known about the long term effects of these drugs on developing brain. The observable effects of psychostimulants are influenced by the timing of exposure, the age of examination after drug exposure and sex. Preclinical studies point out that chronic psychostimulant exposure before adolescence cause reverse sensitization or tolerance and this leads to reduction in stimulant effectiveness in adolesecence and adulthood. Preclinical studies show the potential long term effects of psychostimulants. But it is necessary to investigate the relationship between preclinical effects and clinical practice. A developmental approach is needed to understand the impact of pediatric medications on the brain that includes assessment at multiple ages to completely characterize the long term effects of these medications. The aim of this paper is to review the effects of psychostimulants on developing brain