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Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14288/6

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    PublicationOpen Access
    Revisiting the etiological aspects of dissociative identity disorder: a biopsychosocial perspective
    (Dove Medical Press, 2017) Dorahy, Martin J; Krüger, Christa; N/A; Şar, Vedat; Faculty Member; School of Medicine; 8542
    Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a chronic post-traumatic disorder where developmentally stressful events in childhood, including abuse, emotional neglect, disturbed attachment, and boundary violations are central and typical etiological factors. Familial, societala and cultural factors may give rise to the trauma and/or they may influence the expression of DID. Memory and the construction of self-identity are cognitive processes that appear markedly and centrally disrupted in DID and are related to its etiology. Enduring decoupling of psychological modes may create separate senses of self, and metamemory processes may be involved in interidentity amnesia. Neurobiological differences have been demonstrated between dissociative identities within patients with DID and between patients with DID and controls. Given the current evidence, DID as a diagnostic entity cannot be explained as a phenomenon created by iatrogenic influences, suggestibility, malingering, or social role-taking. On the contrary, DID is an empirically robust chronic psychiatric disorder based on neurobiological, cognitive, and interpersonal non-integration as a response to unbearable stress. While current evidence is sufficient to firmly establish this etiological stance, given the wide opportunities for innovative research, the disorder is still understudied. Comparison of well-selected samples of DID patients with non-dissociative subjects who have other psychiatric disorders would further delineate the neurobiological and cognitive features of the disorder, whereas genetic research on DID would further illuminate the interaction of the individual with environmental stress. As such, DID may be seen as an exemplary disease model of the biopsychosocial paradigm in psychiatry.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    A new method to determine reflex latency induced by high rate stimulation of the nervous system
    (Frontiers, 2014) Karacan, İlhan; Çakar, Halil İ.; Cidem, Muharrem; Kara, Sadık; N/A; Yılmaz, Gizem; Sebik, Oğuz; Türker, Kemal Sıtkı; PhD Student; Researcher; Faculty Member; School of Medicine; N/A; N/A; 6741
    High rate stimulations of the neuromuscular system, such as continuous whole body vibration, tonic vibration reflex and high frequency electrical stimulation, are used in the physiological research with an increasing interest. In these studies, the neuronal circuitries underlying the reflex responses remain unclear due to the problem of determining the exact reflex latencies. We present a novel 'cumulated average method" to determine the reflex latency during high rate stimulation of the nervous system which was proven to be significantly more accurate than the classical method. The classical method, cumulant density analysis, reveals the relationship between the two synchronously recorded signals as a function of the lag between the signals. The comparison of new method with the classical technique and their relative accuracy was tested using a computer simulation. In the simulated signals the EMG response latency was constructed to be exactly 40 ms. The new method accurately indicated the value of the simulated reflex latency (40 ms). However, the classical method showed that the lag time between the simulated triggers and the simulated signals was 49 ms. Simulation results illustrated that the cumulated average method is a reliable and more accurate method compared with the classical method. We therefore suggest that the new cumulated average method is able to determine the high rate stimulation induced reflex latencies more accurately than the classical method.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Neuropsychological function at first episode in treatment-resistant psychosis: findings from the ÆsOP-10 study
    (Cambridge University Press (CUP), 2019) Kravariti, Eugenia; Demjaha, Arsime; Zanelli, Jolanta; Ibrahim, Fowzia; Wise, Catherine; MacCabe, James H.; Reichenberg, Abraham; Pilecka, Izabela; Morgan, Kevin; Fearon, Paul; Morgan, Craig; Doody, Gillian A.; Donoghue, Kim; Jones, Peter B.; Dazzan, Paola; Lappin, Julia; Murray, Robin M.; N/A; Kaçar, Anıl Şafak; PhD Student; Graduate School of Health Sciences
    Background: neuropsychological investigations can help untangle the aetiological and phenomenological heterogeneity of schizophrenia but have scarcely been employed in the context of treatment-resistant (TR) schizophrenia. No population-based study has examined neuropsychological function in the first-episode of TR psychosis. Methods: we report baseline neuropsychological findings from a longitudinal, population-based study of first-episode psychosis, which followed up cases from index admission to 10 years. At the 10-year follow up patients were classified as treatment responsive or TR after reconstructing their entire case histories. Of 145 cases with neuropsychological data at baseline, 113 were classified as treatment responsive, and 32 as TR at the 10-year follow-up. Results: compared with 257 community controls, both case groups showed baseline deficits in three composite neuropsychological scores, derived from principal component analysis: verbal intelligence and fluency, visuospatial ability and executive function, and verbal memory and learning (p valuesâ 0.001). Compared with treatment responders, TR cases showed deficits in verbal intelligence and fluency, both in the extended psychosis sample (t =-2.32; p = 0.022) and in the schizophrenia diagnostic subgroup (t =-2.49; p = 0.017). Similar relative deficits in the TR cases emerged in sub-/sensitivity analyses excluding patients with delayed-onset treatment resistance (p values<0.01-0.001) and those born outside the UK (p values<0.05). Conclusions: Verbal intelligence and fluency are impaired in patients with TR psychosis compared with those who respond to treatment. This differential is already detectable-At a group level-At the first illness episode, supporting the conceptualisation of TR psychosis as a severe, pathogenically distinct variant, embedded in aberrant neurodevelopmental processes.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Acute dissociative reaction to spontaneous delivery in a case of total denial of pregnancy: diagnostic and forensic aspects
    (Routledge, 2017) Aydın, N.; van der Hart, O.; Frankel, A.S.; Şar, M.; Omay, O.; N/A; Şar, Vedat; Faculty Member; School of Medicine; 8542
    This article presents the history of a 21-year-old female college student with total denial of pregnancy who experienced an acute dissociative reaction during the spontaneous delivery at home without medical assistance where the newborn died immediately. Psychiatric examination, self-report questionnaires, legal documents, and witness reports have been reviewed in evaluation of the case. Evidence pointed to total denial of pregnancy, that is, until delivery. The diagnoses of an acute dissociative reaction to stress (remitted) and a subsequent PTSD were established in a follow-up examination conducted 7months after the delivery. Notwithstanding the inherently dissociative nature of total denial of pregnancy, no other evidence has been found about pre-existing psychopathology. For causing the newborn's death, the patient faced charges for aggravated murder, which were later on reduced into involuntary manslaughter. Given the physical incapacity to perform voluntary acts due to the loss of control over her actions during the delivery, and the presence of an acute dissociative reaction to unexpected delivery, the legal case represents an intricate overlap between insanity and incapacitation defenses. The rather broad severity spectrum of acute dissociative conditions requires evaluation of the limits and conditions of appropriate legal defenses by mental health experts and lawyers. Denial of pregnancy as a source of potential stress has attracted little interest in psychiatric literature although solid research exists which documented that it is not infrequent. Arguments are presented to introduce this condition as a diagnostic category of female reproductive psychiatry with a more neutral label: unperceived pregnancy.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Neuropsychiatric symptoms of COVID-19 explained by SARS-CoV-2 proteins' mimicry of human protein interactions
    (Frontiers, 2021) Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; N/A; Eser, Hale Yapıcı; Keskin, Özlem; Gürsoy, Attila; Köroğlu, Yunus Emre; Çakmak, Özgür Öztop; Özdemir, Yasemin Gürsoy; Faculty Member; Faculty Member; Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Koç University Research Center for Translational Medicine (KUTTAM) / Koç Üniversitesi Translasyonel Tıp Araştırma Merkezi (KUTTAM); School of Medicine; College of Engineering; Graduate School of Sciences and Engineering; 134359; 26605; 8745; N/A; 299358; 170592
    The first clinical symptoms focused on the presentation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have been respiratory failure, however, accumulating evidence also points to its presentation with neuropsychiatric symptoms, the exact mechanisms of which are not well known. By using a computational methodology, we aimed to explain the molecular paths of COVID-19 associated neuropsychiatric symptoms, based on the mimicry of the human protein interactions with SARS-CoV-2 proteins. Methods: available 11 of the 29 SARS-CoV-2 proteins’ structures have been extracted from Protein Data Bank. HMI-PRED (Host-Microbe Interaction PREDiction), a recently developed web server for structural PREDiction of protein-protein interactions (PPIs) between host and any microbial species, was used to find the “interface mimicry” through which the microbial proteins hijack host binding surfaces. Classification of the found interactions was conducted using the PANTHER Classification System. Results: predicted Human-SARS-CoV-2 protein interactions have been extensively compared with the literature. Based on the analysis of the molecular functions, cellular localizations and pathways related to human proteins, SARS-CoV-2 proteins are found to possibly interact with human proteins linked to synaptic vesicle trafficking, endocytosis, axonal transport, neurotransmission, growth factors, mitochondrial and blood-brain barrier elements, in addition to its peripheral interactions with proteins linked to thrombosis, inflammation and metabolic control. Conclusion: SARS-CoV-2-human protein interactions may lead to the development of delirium, psychosis, seizures, encephalitis, stroke, sensory impairments, peripheral nerve diseases, and autoimmune disorders. Our findings are also supported by the previous in vivo and in vitro studies from other viruses. Further in vivo and in vitro studies using the proteins that are pointed here, could pave new targets both for avoiding and reversing neuropsychiatric presentations.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    A possible role of prolonged whirling episodes on structural plasticity of the cortical networks and altered vertigo perception: the cortex of sufi whirling dervishes
    (Frontiers, 2017) Çakmak, Yusuf Ö.; Ekinci, Gazanfer; Heinecke, Armin; N/A; Çavdar, Safiye; Faculty Member; School of Medicine
    Although minutes of a spinning episode may induce vertigo in the healthy human, as a result of a possible perceptional plasticity, Sufi Whirling Dervishes (SWDs) can spin continuously for an hour without a vertigo perception.This unique long term vestibular system stimulation presents a potential human model to clarify the cortical networks underlying the resistance against vertigo. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate the potential structural cortical plasticity in SWDs. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of 10 SWDs and 10 controls were obtained, using a 3T scanner. Cortical thickness in the whole cortex was calculated. Results demonstrated significantly thinner cortical areas for SWD subjects compared with the control group in the hubs of the default mode network (DMN), as well as in the motion perception and discrimination areas including the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), the right lingual gyrus and the left visual area 5 (V5)/middle temporal (MT) and the left fusiform gyrus. In conclusion, this is the first report that warrants the potential relationship of the motion/body perception related cortical networks and the prolonged term of whirling ability without vertigo or dizziness.
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    PublicationOpen Access
    Pre-attentive mismatch response and involuntary attention switching to a deviance in an earlier-than-usual auditory stimulus: an ERP study
    (Frontiers, 2019) Karşılar, Hakan; Yağcıoğlu, Süha; N/A; Ungan, Pekcan; Faculty Member; School of Medicine
    An acoustic stimulus elicits an electroencephalographic response called auditory event-related potential (ERP). When some members of a stream of standard auditory stimuli are replaced randomly by a deviant stimulus and this stream is presented to a subject who ignores the stimuli, two different ERPs to deviant and standard stimuli are recorded. If the ERP to standard stimuli is subtracted from the ERP to deviant stimuli, the difference potential (DP) waveform typically exhibits a series of negative-positive-negative deflections called mismatch negativity (MMN), P3a, and reorienting negativity (RON), which are associated with pre-attentive change detection, involuntary attention switching, and reorienting of attention, respectively. The aim of the present study was to investigate how these pre-attentive processes are affected if the change occurs earlier than its usual timing implied by isochronous standard stimuli. In the MMN paradigm employed, 15% of the standards were randomly replaced by deviant stimuli which differed either in their pitch, their earlier onset time, or in both. Event-related responses to these three deviants [timely pitch change (RTP), earlier onset (REO), earlier pitch change (REP)] and to standards (RS) were recorded from 10 reading subjects. To maintain identical stimulation histories for the responses subtracted from each other, “deviant-standard” difference potentials (DP) for “timely” and “early” pitch deviances were derived as follows: DPTP = RTP − RS and DPEP = REP − REO. Interestingly, the MMN components of the DPs to timely and early pitch deviances had similar amplitudes, indicating that regularity of stimulus timing does not provide any benefit for the pre-attentive auditory change detection mechanism. However, different scalp current density (SCD) dynamics of the MMN/P3a complexes, elicited by timely and early pitch deviances, suggested that an auditory change in a stimulus occurring earlier-than-usual initiates a faster and more effective call-for-attention and causes stronger attention switching than a timely change. SCD results also indicated that the temporal, frontal, and parietal MMN components are simultaneously present rather than emerging sequentially in time, supporting the MMN models based on parallel deviance processing in the respective cortices. Similarity of the RONs to timely and early pitch deviances indicated that reorienting of attention is of the same strength in two cases.