OBJECTIVE: Studies show partial improvements in some core symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in time. However, the predictive factors (e.g. pretreatment IQ, comorbid psychiatric disorders, adaptive, and language skills, etc.) for a better the outcome was not studied with machine learning methods. We aimed to examine the predictors of outcome with machine learning methods, which are novel computational methods including statistical estimation, information theories and mathematical learning automatically discovering useful patterns in large amounts of data. METHOD: The study the group comprised 433 children (mean age: 72.3 ± 45.9 months) with ASD diagnosis. The ASD symptoms were assessed by the Autism Behavior Checklist, Aberrant Behavior Checklist, Clinical Global Impression scales at baseline (T0) and 12th (T1), 24th (T2), and 36th (T3) months. We tested the performance of for machine learning algorithms (Naive Bayes, Generalized Linear Model, Logistic Regression, Decision Tree) on our data, including the 254 items in the baseline forms. Patients with ≤2 CGI points in ASD symptoms at in 36 months were accepted as the group who has “better outcome” as the prediction class. RESULTS: The significant proportion of the cases showed significant improvement in ASD symptoms (39.7% in T1, 60.7% in T2; 77.8% in T3). Our machine learning model in T3 showed that diagnosis group affected the prognosis. In the autism group, older father and mother age; in PDD-NOS group, MR comorbidity, less birth weight and older age at diagnosis have a worse outcome. In Asperger’s Disorder age at diagnosis, age at first evaluation and developmental cornerstones has affected prognosis. CONCLUSION: In accordance with other studies we found early age diagnosis, early start rehabilitation, the severity of ASD symptoms at baseline assessment predicted outcome. Also, we found comorbid psychiatric diagnoses are affecting the outcome of ASD symptoms in clinical observation. The machine learning models reveal several others are more significant (e.g. parental age, birth weight, sociodemographic variables, etc.) in terms of prognostic information and also planning treatment of children with ASD.

The number of studies investigating inflammatory biomarkers in bipolar disorder has increased significantly in recent years. The neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet to lymphocyte ratio (...

Background: Recent evidence shows that the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis can be dysregulated in chronic sexual abuse victims with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We hypothesized that PTSD in adolescents exposed to a single sexual trauma may function as a chronic stressor leading to HPA-axis dysregulation. Aims: The objective of this study was to assess dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate (DHEA-S) and cortisol levels in female adolescents |with single sexual trauma-related PTSD compared to healthy controls. Method: We assessed 20 female adolescent (age 12–18) single sexual trauma victims with PTSD from the Ondokuz Mayis University Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry between December 2013 and December 2014. PTSD symptoms were assessed using the Child Depression Inventory (CDI) and Child Posttraumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPSRI). Blood cortisol and DHEA-S were measured in 20 female adolescent sexual abuse victims with PTSD and 20 healthy adolescents after 12-h fasting using the chemiluminescence method. Results: Compared to age-matched controls, female adolescent sexual abuse victims with PTSD had significantly lower DHEA-S levels (U = 70.00, Z = − 3.517, p = 0.01, r = 0.55). There was also a significant negative correlation between DHEA-S and CDI scores (Spearman r = − 0.522, p < 0.01). Conclusions: Decreased DHEA-S levels and correlation with depressive symptoms are evidence for a dysregulated HPA-axis in female adolescent single sexual trauma victims with PTSD. Further research is now recommended with large patient groups in order to maximize generalizations.

Zihin kuramı son kırk yılda yapılan klinik çalışmalarla psikiyatrideki önemi ortaya konulan bir sosyal biliş becerisidir. Zihin kuramı becerisi başkalarının zihinsel durumlarını ve duygularını fark edebilme yeteneği olarak sosyal bir canlı olan insanın sosyal işlevselliğinde etkili ve gerekli bir beceri olarak görülmektedir. Hayatın özellikle ilk altı yılında pek çok ilişkili alanla birlikte temeli atılan bu becerinin, ayna nöronlarla başlayan ve limbik paralimbik yapılar, prefrontal korteks gibi pek çok nörobiyolojik temelle ilgili bulguları bu beceriyi anlamamıza yardımcı olmaktadır. Zihin kuramı gelişimi ile ilişkili alanlar zihin kuramı beceri ve bozulmalarını daha iyi anlamamızı sağlamaktadır. İlk psikopatoloji çalışmaları otizmli çocuklarda yapılmakla birlikte nörogelişimsel bozukluklar tanı kümesinde zihin kuramı becerileri ile ilgili çalışmalar giderek ilgi çekici olmaktadır. Bu derlemede zihin kuramı gelişimi, nörobiyolojik temeli ve ilişkili olduğu alanlar anlatılacak ve zihin kuramının psikopatoloji ile ilişkisi incelenecektir.

Objective: In literature, recent evidence has shown that the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis can be dysregulated in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and HPA axis hormones may predict the psychotherapy treatment response in patients with PTSD. In this study, it was aimed to investigate changing cortisol and DHEA-S levels post-eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and the relationship between treatment response and basal cortisol, and DHEA-S levels before treatment. Method: The study group comprised 40 adolescents (age, 12–18 years) with PTSD. The PTSD symptoms were assessed using the Child Depression Inventory (CDI) and Child Post-traumatic Stress Reaction Index (CPSRI) and the blood cortisol and DHEA-S were measured with the chemiluminescence method before and after treatment. A maximum of six sessions of EMDR therapy were conducted by an EMDR level-1 trained child psychiatry resident. Treatment response was measured by the pre- to post-treatment decrease in self-reported and clinical PTSD severity. Results: Pre- and post-treatment DHEA-S and cortisol levels did not show any statistically significant difference. Pre-treatment CDI scores were negatively correlated with pre-treatment DHEA-S levels (r: −0.39). ROC analysis demonstrated that the DHEA-S/cortisol ratio predicts treatment response at a medium level (AUC: 0.703, p: .030, sensitivity: 0.65, specificity: 0.86). Conclusion: The results of this study suggested that the DHEA-S/cortisol ratio may predict treatment response in adolescents with PTSD receiving EMDR therapy. The biochemical parameter of HPA-axis activity appears to be an important predictor of positive clinical response in adolescent PTSD patients, and could be used in clinical practice to predict PTSD treatment in the future.