[Comorbidity of mental disorders among the stuttering children referred to speech therapy department of Akhavan hospital in Kashan]

Stuttering is a developmental disorder which may adversely affect the individual on many emotional levels and cause many impairments [e.g. lack of self- confidence, depression, poor communication and finally the avoidance of social situation. This study was carried out to evaluate the comorbidity of mental disorders among the stuttering children in Kashan during 2007-8. In this cross-sectional study, 50 children [age range, 3-12 years] referred to speech therapy department of Akhavan hospital were selected using the census sampling. The diagnosis of mental disorders was made by psychiatrists through a clinical interview based on the DSM-IV-TR checklist. In addition, the IQ of cases was measured using the Wechsler test. Data were analyzed using the Chi-square test. Thirty-three children [70%] had the comorbid mental disorders. The most common comorbid disorders were attention deficit hyperactivity and anxiety disorders [51.4% and 25.7%, respectively]. A significant difference was found between the comorbid mental disorder and the age and also the educational level of children [P=0.005 and P=0.003, respectively]. According to the results, the majority of children had comorbid mental disorders. Considering the high rates of comorbidity among the children and also their outcomes, more careful attention should be paid to offer the effective therapeutic plans

Differential sensitivity of male and female neuronal cells may play a role in onset of neuronal diseases

Due to the worldwide increase in the number of older people in both developed and developing countries, there is a public health concern for dealing with age related diseases such as neurodegenerative diseases. There is little known about the difference in neuronal cell responses between genders. Our understanding of the neuronal cell response regarding genders, will be useful for developing more efficient therapies for these diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. To investigate gender differences in neuronal cell response against cell death inducers, we examined the percentage of cell death in male and female mouse primary cortical neuronal cultures. Our findings indicate that there is a difference in cellular response to ethanol [a cell death inducer] that may be the basis of how they behave in vivo of what may be seen in adults, as they age. These observation support this idea that genetic factors, most likely governed by X or Y chromosomes