The intracranial and posterior cranial fossa volumes and volume fractions in children: A stereological study [Los volúmenes de la fosa craneal intracraneal y posterior y las fracciones de volumen en los niños: Un estudio estereológico]

The size of intracranial cavity (IC) and posterior cranial fossa (PCF) plays an important role in the pathophysiology of various disorders. In this study, we aimed at establishing normal volume data of the IC and PCF in Turkish population according to age and sex by using stereological method. This study was carried out retrospectively on 339 individuals (168 females and 171 males) between 0 and 18 years old with no medical or neurological disorders that affected the skeletal morphology of the cranial cavity. Volumetric estimations were determined on computed tomography (CT) images using point-counting approach of stereological methods. Intracranial volume (ICV) and posterior cranial fossa volume (PCFV) were increased with age in both sexes. They reached adult dimensions at 5 years of age during the teenage years. According to sex; the mean ICV and PCFV were 1594.51±245.57cm3 and 244.89±53.86 cm3 in males, 1456.34±241.85 cm3 and 228.24±41.38 cm3 in females, respectively. Generally, significant differences were determined in ICV and PCFV according to sex after they reached maximum growth period. According to age the volume ratios of PCF to IC was ranged from 13.03 to 17.48 in males and 12.06 to 18.54 in females. This study demonstrated that these volume ratios could help the physician for both patient selections for surgery, and for the assessment of any surgical technique used to treatment of PCF malformations. However current study revealed that point counting method can produce accurate volume estimations and is effective in determining volume estimation of IC and PCF. © 2017, Universidad de la Frontera. All rights reserved

The Effect of Pre-school Education on the Process of Initial Literacy for Non Native Turkish Students

The purpose of this research is to determine the problems experienced in the learning process of initial literacy by the students that are non-Turkish and do not have pre-school education according to the views of the teachers. "Grounded design" among the mixed methods was conducted in processing the research. The" open-ended question questionnaire" and the "Scale for Tendency of Teachers towards Effect of Pre-school Education on Learning Process of Initial Literacy for Non-Turkish Students (STTEPL)" generated by the researchers were implemented in collecting data. The quantitative dimension of the study was carried out with 176 teachers, and the qualitative dimension was conducted with 35 teachers. The themes of "adaptation phase, visual reading, self-expression, understanding the instructions, and writing skill were acquired in the process of content analysis applied to the qualitative data. 15 of the teachers mentioned that the pre-school education were of positive effects on the readiness level of non-Turkish students. Perceptions of the teachers about the success of the students with pre-school education do not significantly vary in terms of the variables of classroom size, and place of duty of the teachers