ABSTRACT
Objective@#This study aimed to examine the changes in serum nesfatin-1, leptin, orexin-A, and total ghrelin levels of patients diagnosed with drug-naive panic disorder (PD) before and after six weeks of the treatment and to compare the findings with the healthy subjects. @*Methods@#The neuropeptides were measured in venous blood samples taken from 32 patients and 32 healthy subjects. The blood samples of the patients who used paroxetine 20 mg/day plus alprazolam 0.5 mg/day were retaken again after six weeks. Measurements were performed with the Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) method. @*Results@#Serum nesfatin-1, leptin, orexin-A and total ghrelin levels of the patient group were found to be significantly lower than the control group (p<0.001, p<0.001, p<0.001, and p<0.001, respectively). When the serum nesfatin-1, leptin, orexin-A and total ghrelin levels of the patient group were compared before and after treatment, significant differences were found in terms of orexin-A and total ghrelin levels (p=0.046, p<0.001, respectively). However, no significant differences were found in terms of nesfatin-1and leptin levels (p=0.205, p=0.988, respectively). @*Conclusion@#This study reports that PD, like other anxiety disorders, may affect serum nesfatin-1, leptin, orexin-A, and total ghrelin levels, and there may be a relationship between PD treatment and the levels of these neuropeptides. The variability of this relationship among the neuropeptides examined indicates that various factors other than treatment play a role in this process.
ABSTRACT
Objective@#Substance use has such effects on pupil diameter. Although there is knowledge about the acute effects of substances on pupils, studies showing their chronic effects are limited. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of long-term substance use on scotopic, mesopic, and photopic vision. @*Methods@#The present study with cross-sectional desgn was conducted at the Adiyaman Training and Research Hospital for Psychiatry in Adiyaman. This study involved 110 substance use disorder (SUD) patients and 46 healthy volunteers as the control. The parameters were measured and recorded automatically by a device. @*Results@#The mean age was 23.44±5.53 years in the SUD group and 24.26±5.38 years in healthy controls (p=0.420). The mean age of onset of the substance was 17.74±3.89 years and the mean duration of substance use was 3.54±2.9 years. It was determined that the patients had not used any substance for a mean of 121.73±117.49 days. There was no significant difference between patient and control groups in terms of scotopic and mesopic measurements of both eyes (p>0.05). Photopic measurements were significantly higher in the patient group than in the control group (p<0.05). Photopic measurements were significantly higher in the opioid, cannabis, ecstasy, and multiple substance use groups than in the control group (p<0.05). @*Conclusion@#The most important topic of this study is that photopic vision is permanently impaired in patients with a history of chronic substance use. This was attributed to disrupted sympathetic-parasympathetic hierarchy.