Developmental dyscalculia is a specific learning difficulty which reflects deficits in arithmetical skills. The cause behind this disorder is not known. Recent studies provide evidence in favor of believing that the disorder is somehow tied with specific brain regions’ roles. These regions include the intraparietal sulcus (IPS), the angular gyrus (ANG) and the supramarginal gyrus (SMG) in developmental dyscalculia. The present study investigates the role of these regions in adults with developmental dyscalculia. Brain images were collected from 10 participants with developmental dyscalculia and 10 control participants using fMRI while conducting number comparison, multiplication and subtraction tasks. The results revealed the activation of the intraparietal sulcus during number comparison and the activation of both the angular gyrus, the supramarginal gyrus, and the intraparietal sulcus during calculation tasks. These results suggest that the IPS activation was not less than the developmental dyscalculia group than in the control group when conducting the number comparison task; and that there were activation in the ANG, SMG and IPS regions of the brain in participants’ brains during both the multiplication and subtraction tasks.

The gamma-aminobutyric acid type A receptors (GABAA Rs), belonging to the superfamily of Cys-loop receptors, responsible for the inhibitory transmission in the vertebrate central nervous system. Assembled from a pool of 19 subunits, the subunit composition of heteropentameric GABA-A Rs impacts on receptor’s function, physiology, cellular and subcellular localization in the cell membrane, i.e., synaptic or extrasynaptic. γ2 containing GABA-A Rs (γ2-GABA-A Rs) are clustered in the synapses and mediate classical fast synaptic inhibition called phasic inhibition. δ subunit containing GABA-A Rs (δ-GABA-A Rs) are located extrasynaptically and mediate a different form of inhibition called tonic inhibition critical for the threshold of action potential generation and neuronal excitability. Thus, distinct physiological roles of synaptic and extrasynaptic GABA-A R subtypes lead to the question to ask about the possibility of subtype selective drugs. In the light of accumulating data from X-ray crystal structures of vertabrate, invertabrate and prokaryotic Cys-loop receptor family members, new opportunities arise for the development of novel drugs targeting specificaly these subtypes of GABA-A Rs for the treatment of various neuropathological conditions.

Conventional obsessive-compulsive disorder related brain network model relies mainly on cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical areas. However, recent findings consistently point cerebellar structural and functional differences in obsessive-compulsive disorder patients compared to healthy controls. Here we briefly reviewed these studies and argued that cerebellum should be involved in obsessivecompulsive disorder related brain network model for a better understanding of the nature of this disorder.

In this report, we present a 51 year old postmenopausal woman with clinical presentation of “delusional disorder-somatic type” and also facial hirsutism and subclinical hypothyroidism. Blood tests revealed thyroid gland dysfunction with high TSH and anti-TPO levels but other blood tests and radiological investments were found to be normal. The relationship between thyroid dysfunction, hirsutism and psychosis is discussed in the context of this particular case. In presence of limited case reports in literature indicating a relationship with subclinical hypothyroidism and psychotic symptoms, we think that our case is important for reminding clinicians to consider endocrine disorders providing a basis for psychiatric disorders and to investigate thyroid function deficiency not only in patients with depression but with other psychiatric presentations like psychosis.

Galactorrhea is defined as non-puerperal lactation and frequently occurs as an adverse drug reaction due to typical antipsychotics. Furthermore, antidepressants, especially SSRIs, cause galactorrhea since the introduction of imipramine to psychiatry practice. Although galactorrhea usually accompanies increased prolactin levels, in some cases prolactin levels could be within the normal range. To date there are two case reports of normoprolactinemic galactorrhea due to sertraline and here we report a patient who developed normoprolactinemic galactorrhea 1 month after initiating sertraline 50 mg/day.

Galactorrhea is defined as non-puerperal lactation and frequently occurs as an adverse drug reaction due to typical antipsychotics. Furthermore antidepressants, especially SSRIs, cause galactorrhea since the introduction of imipramine to psychiatry practice. Although galactorrhea ususally accompany increased prolactin levels, in some cases prolactin levels could be in normal range. To date there are two case reports of normoprolactinemic galactorrhea due to sertraline and here we report a patient who developed normoprolactinemic galactorrhea 1 month after initiating sertraline 50 mg/day.

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Sufi meditation is a spiritual form of physically active meditation in which performers (Semazens) whirl without losing conscious awareness and while internally focusing on reaching an ecstatic state, thus requiring substantial motor and cognitive control and monitoring. Studies have argued that the experience of the meditator may affect the strength of the brain activations because more experienced meditators may need less cognitive effort to reach the ecstatic state. Despite this, our knowledge about the associations between emotional states of the meditators and activated brain areas during meditation remains unknown. With this in mind, fourteen male Semazens were recruited for this study. All Semazens performed Sema meditation under the scanner using imagined whirling techniques. An active control condition was used to explore brain areas specific to Sema meditation. Measures of affective states and psychiatric symptoms were also collected. Statistical parametric maps were created to compare the meditation vs. control conditions. Accordingly, Sema meditation specifically evoked activations in left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and left orbitofrontal areas. Activations in ACC were negatively correlated with the positive affect of the Semazens suggesting that less cognitive effort required to reach the meditative state in Semazens was associated with more positive affect. Despite previous studies highlighting the experience of the meditators as a predictor of brain activation, we found that affective state may also be an important factor that may facilitate emotion regulation and cognitive monitoring in the brain. Our findings may also be applicable to the effects of meditation on psychological and emotional wellbeing.

Olfactory function comes into prominence in the neuroscience study area after revealing that olfactory dysfunction is considered as an early diagnostic pre-motor biomarker of Parkinson’s disease. Researchers have also examined the sense of smell in detail in patients with other neuropsychiatric disorders. Here, we present data from a systematic literature review in olfactory function in child and adult neuropsychiatric disorders. We have researched autism spectrum disorders (ASD), epilepsy, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Due to smell test techniques and heterogeneity of studies, the total number of studies was limited. The disorders were grouped according to smell test techniques. The most commonly-used tests were Sniffin Sticks Test (SST) and the University of Pennsylvania Smell Identification Test (UPSIT). Although some researcher did not find any significant impairment in olfaction, most studies indicated that olfactory dysfunction was very striking, especially in disorders involving in the dopaminergic pathway (e.g., ADHD, autism, and schizophrenia). In this review, possible future diagnostic or prognostic markers of olfactory dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders have been discussed. More studies that combine imaging methods, the electrophysiologic system, and genetic research are needed to clarify the relationship between olfaction and neuropsychiatric disorders.

The Biased Competition Model suggests that stimuli matching the contents of working memory increase the likelihood that memorymatching items will be attended. According to this account, the representations in working memory create an involuntary capture of attention toward memory-matching items in the visual field. This influential assumption proposed by the biased competition model has been explored in a number of studies, showing that the contents of working memory exert an automatic bias in favor of memory matching items. These studies showed that active maintenance of objects in working memory automatically shift attention toward the memory matching-object and produce a negative early lateralized event related potential (ERP), the N2pc, toward the side of visual field where the memorized item appeared. This component, the N2pc is an important tool to investigate the allocation of attention by working memory representations, especially for the activity the activity that is specific to the hemisphere which is contralateral with respect to the hemifield containing e.g. the to-be-remembered items could be measured. This characteristic of the N2pc facilitates measuring the general direction of attention with fine-grained temporal resolution. Therefore, the N2pc could be used as an index to describe the lateralization effect of memorized items on attention related studies.