ARTICLES

Original Article

Evaluation of Memory Functions of Alcohol Dependent Patients

Serdar Nurmedov
2018, 2(1), s:5-10

Long-term alcohol use causes varying degrees of deficit in various cognitive functions including learning, memory, visuospatial functions and abstraction. Studies using dif­ferent techniques indicate that the neocortex, particularly the frontal lobe; limbic system and cerebellum are the bra­in regions most vulnerable to the toxic effects of alcohol.

The aim of this study is to assess the memory function in individuals with a history of alcohol dependency who meet the criteria for at least early partial remission and to compare it with healthy controls. The study also aims to investigate the association of memory function with duration of abstinence.

Twenty-four patients and 24 age, sex and education matched healthy controls were included in the study. Patients with Axis-I comorbidity, chronic neurological disease, dementia, chronic disease, Wernicke encephalopathy, Korsakoff syndrome and history of head trauma were excluded. The memory function of alcohol dependent individuals and healthy controls was assessed with Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS) and Rey Auditory- Verbal Learning Test (AVLT).

The memory subscales that show significant difference between the dependent and control groups are immediate memory span, total scores of learning trials and learning false score in AVLT and forward digit span, backward digit span, visual reproduction and memory quotient in WMS. Statistically significant difference was found in the long term recall score and long term false recognition score between the early and sustained full remission subgroups.

As a result of this study, dependent subjects are found to show more deficit in attention and memory functions compared to healthy controls. These findings are consistent with the literature on this subject.


Original Article

Treatment And Approaches On Acute Agitation Among in Patients in a Private Psychıatry Hospital

Aslı Enez Darçın,Cemal Onur Noyan,Serdar Nurmedov,Hasan Kaya,Nesrin Dilbaz
2017, 1(1), s:26-32

Aim: It is aimed to determine the association between the indications of acute agitation call, applied treatment, applied restraint and seclusion with the
sociodemographical and clinical characteristics of psychopathology.
Method: Among inpatients in a private psychiatry hospital, medical records of whom has a form filled for acute agitation between June 2013-April 2014 examined
retrospectively, 137 medical records enrolled. Acute intervation form and brief psychiatric rating scale points that had been filled in the same day were determined.
Results: In the duration of the study acute agitation call applied for 16.4% of inpatients, 1.9% were restrained, 8% were secluded and 9.4% were given acute medication.
While the applied physical restraint and seclusion rates did not differ during the day, drug applications were found in higher rates during daytime hours (p<0.05). According to the hours of application, the duration of physical restraints were constant throughout the day while the duration of seclusions were longer in the night hours (p<0.05). The most common causes of acute agitation were aggression, threat of violence and treatment rejection. There was no difference approaches to acute agitation in terms of the diagnosis. The majority of selected drug treatments for acute agitation were intramuscular injections. No association was found between scale scores and the duration of any application.
Conclusion: Lower rates of restraints in our study could be associated with that the sample of this study was chosen from a private psychiatry hospital. There is need
for further training among treatment team and studies in this area to shed light on the development of approaches.