Parental Decisions Regarding a Prenatally Detected Fetal Chromosomal Abnormality and the Impact of Genetic Counseling: An Analysis of 38 Cases with Aneuploidy in Southeast Turkey

This study investigated parental decision-making to terminate or continue a pregnancy after prenatal diagnosis of a chromosomal abnormality among a sample of patients in Southeast Turkey. Between 2004 and 2007, 1068 amniocentesis tests were performed in the Medical Biology and Genetic Department Laboratory at Dicle University. Aneuploidy was found in 38 cases (3.56%). Genetic counseling was provided for the couples that received abnormal results, and they were later interviewed and asked if they had continued or interrupted the pregnancy after the diagnosis. When confronted with autosomal aneuploidy in which a severe prognosis was expected, 85% of cases decided to terminate the pregnancy. When confronted with sex chromosome aneuploidy with a low risk of an abnormal clinical phenotype 60% of cases decided to continue the pregnancy. Among the diagnoses with aneuploidy, pregnancy was continued in 21.1% of cases due to religious beliefs regardless of whether there was a low or severe risk of an abnormal clinical phenotype. These findings indicate that both severity of abnormality and religiosity play an important role in genetic counseling patients’ decision-making processes and outcomes in Turkey. In addition, the findings suggest the need for legislation that reduces the differences in approaches between the physicians and institutions regarding parental decision-making to terminate or continue a pregnancy in our country.     

Retrieval-induced forgetting in young children

A prominent theory of cognitive development attributes the poor performance that children show in many cognitive tasks to a general lack of inhibitory control. We tested this theory by examining children’s inhibitory capabilities in retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF), a memory task in which selective retrieval of previously studied material causes forgetting of related, nonretrieved material. Such forgetting is often attributed to inhibitory control processes, which supposedly suppress the nonretrieved items’ memory representation. We examined RIF in kindergartners, second graders, and adults, using both recall and recognition testing. Although all three age groups showed significant RIF in recall, only adults and second graders, but not kindergartners, showed RIF in recognition. Because inhibition-based RIF should be present in recall and recognition, these findings indicate that in adults and second graders, but not in kindergartners, RIF is mediated by inhibition. The results support the view of inefficient inhibitory processes in young children’s cognition.     

Individual differences in working memory capacity predict retrieval-induced forgetting

Selectively retrieving a subset of previously studied information enhances memory for the retrieved information but causes forgetting of related, nonretrieved information. Such retrieval-induced forgetting (RIF) has often been attributed to inhibitory executive-control processes that supposedly suppress the nonretrieved items' memory representation. Here, we examined the role of working memory capacity (WMC) in young adults' RIF. WMC was assessed by means of the operation span task. Results revealed a positive relationship between WMC and RIF, with high-WMC individuals showing more RIF than low-WMC individuals. In contrast, individuals showed enhanced memory for retrieved information regardless of WMC. The results are consistent with previous individual-differences work that suggests a close link between WMC and inhibitory efficiency. In particular, the finding supports the inhibitory executive-control account of RIF.     

Adaptive memory: young children show enhanced retention of fitness-related information

Evolutionary psychologists propose that human cognition evolved through natural selection to solve adaptive problems related to survival and reproduction, with its ultimate function being the enhancement of reproductive fitness. Following this proposal and the evolutionary-developmental view that ancestral selection pressures operated not only on reproductive adults, but also on pre-reproductive children, the present study examined whether young children show superior memory for information that is processed in terms of its survival value. In two experiments, we found such survival processing to enhance retention in 4- to 10-year-old children, relative to various control conditions that also required deep, meaningful processing but were not related to survival. These results suggest that, already in very young children, survival processing is a special and extraordinarily effective form of memory encoding. The results support the functional-evolutionary proposal that young children's memory is "tuned" to process and retain fitness-related information.     

A review of common sleep disorders

What should clinicians know about sleep disorders? This article briefly introduces the reader to sleep medicine and succinctly reviews common sleep disorders. First, the authors describe the diagnostic tools unique to sleep medicine: the over-night polysomnogram and the multiple sleep latency test. Next, the authors review essential features of a subset of the sleep, described in the International Classification of Sleep Disorders-Revised, that sleep disorder specialists commonly evaluate, diagnose, and treat. The disorders reviewed include the intrinsic and circadian rhythm subsets of the dyssomnias group and the parasomnia group of sleep disorders. The authors identify the core signs and symptoms, polysomnogram findings, multiple sleep latency test findings, and treatment of these disorders.     

Determination of Dyadic Adjustment,Happiness and Related Factors in Married Turkish Women Living in Anatolia

Journal of Religion and Health - Nowadays, divorce rate increases rapidly; therefore evaluation, of dyadic adjustment and happiness at marriage gains importance. In the study, 910 women were...     

The Effect of Therapeutic Touch on the Comfort and Anxiety of Nursing Home Residents

Journal of Religion and Health - Nurses are increasingly using energy therapies such as therapeutic touch (TT) in many countries. This research aimed at finding out the effects of TT on comfort and...     

Memorial consequences of imagination in children and adults

Recent work with adults suggests that imagination can impair later recall of previously encoded events but can improve recall of subsequently encoded events. The present study examined the memorial consequences of imagination in children. Kindergartners, first and fourth graders, and young adults studied two successively presented lists of items. Between the two lists, participants were given an imagination task supposed to create a change in mental context. As expected, in adults, the imagination task impaired recall of the previously encoded material (List 1) and improved recall of the subsequently encoded material (List 2). In children, significant List 1 impairment was present from first grade on, but even fourth graders failed to show improvement for List 2. The results challenge a purely context-based explanation of the memorial costs and benefits of imagination. Instead, they suggest that the two effects are mediated by different mechanisms with different developmental trajectories.     

The role of inhibitory processes in part-list cuing

Providing a subset of studied items as retrieval cues can have detrimental effects on recall of the remaining items. In 2 experiments, the authors examined such part-list cuing impairment in a repeated testing situation. Participants studied exemplars from several semantic categories and were given 2 successive cued-recall tests separated by a distractor task of several minutes. Part-list cues were provided in the 1st test but not the 2nd. Noncue item recall was tested with the studied category cues (same probes) in the 1st test, but novel, unstudied retrieval cues (independent probes) in the 2nd test. The authors found detrimental effects of part-list cues in both the 1st (same-probe) test and the 2nd (independent-probe) test. These results show that part-list cuing impairment can be lasting and is not eliminated with independent probes. The findings support the view that the impairment was caused by retrieval inhibition.