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Background/Aim: Juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) can negatively influence the lives of children and parents. Because it is a chronic disease, a complete recovery is not expected; additionally, children with JIA and their parents must cope with problems such as chronic pain, physical disability, school absenteeism, and social communication disorders. Children’s quality of life (QoL) may be affected by all these problems. Also, prolonged exposure to stress and failure to cope with stress may cause burnout syndrome in parents. The study aims to evaluate osteoporosis, QoL of children with JIA and the burnout status of caregivers. Methods: In this prospective, cross-sectional study, 30 patients aged 4–18 years, who were followed up for at least 6 months with the diagnosis of JIA, were included. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory characteristics were recorded retrospectively. Daily dietary calcium intake and daily activity levels were questioned. The patients’ bone mineral densities (BMD) were measured by the Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry method. Z scores below -2 were classified as the osteoporosis group, and those above -2 were classified as the non-osteoporosis group. The Turkish Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory validated and reliable in Turkish children was used to evaluate the QoL. Maslach Burnout Inventory was used to evaluate the burnout status of parents. Results: The mean age of patients was 12.6 (4.3) years. Osteoporosis was detected in 46.7% (n=14) cases. The mean age was higher (14.5 [3.7] in the osteoporosis group and 10.9 [4.1] in the non-osteoporosis group) (P=0.032) and the rate of oligoarticular JIA (7.1%), daily calcium intake (288 [168-456] mg/kg), and duration of activity (3 [2-6] hours) were lower in the osteoporosis group (P=0.039, P=0.043, P

Objective: To evaluate depression, anxiety and burnout in mothers of infants with brachial plexus injury and assess the effects of the severity of injury on the mothers’ mental health, as the literature provides no information on this topic. Study design: The study was based on eighteen mothers without psychiatric antecedents who had infants with perinatal brachial plexus paralysis (PBPP). The severity of the brachial plexus injury was classified according to the Narakas classification system. The recovery rate following conservative treatment was classified according to the Modified Mallet Classification System. The Maslach burnout inventory, Beck depression inventory, and Beck anxiety inventory were administered to the mothers. Results: The mothers whose infants were in the third Narakas group were mildly depressed and the depression scores of the mothers in Narakas groups II and III were regularly increased. Mothers in the first and second groups reported a minimal level of anxiety scores. There was no statistically significant difference between the depression, anxiety, emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment scores of the mothers in relation to the severity of the injury in the child (p = 0.218, p = 0.078, p = 0.149, p = 0.138, and p = 0.246). In addition, the depression and anxiety levels of the mothers whose infants recovered fully or partially showed a statistically significant decrease when compared to the mothers of infants with no recovery (p = 0.003, p = 0.015). There was, however, no statistically significant difference between the emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment scores of the mothers of infants with full recovery, partial recovery and no recovery (p = 0.591, p = 0591, p = 0.062). Conclusion: Infants’ disability may cause psychological distress in their mothers. When brachial plexus injury is predicted in infants, more mothers may become depressed.

Patients with psychiatric disorders have a higher incidence of smoking than the general population. In particular, the rate of smoking among patients with schizophrenia has been found to be between two and three times in the general population in western countries. This paper reviews the biological factors that might be contributing to the high rate of smoking among patients with schizophrenia and examines the interaction between nicotine and neurobiological disturbances observed in schizophrenia.Papers assessing the possible biological causes of smoking in patients with schizophrenia and the physiological effects of nicotine were reviewed by using the key words "nicotine, schizophrenia, smoking and cigarette" in Pubmed, Turk Medline, and the Turkish Psychiatric Index.Studies conducted in humans and animals show that nicotine can directly increase dopaminergic transmission in the central nervous system, enhance cognitive performance and improve sensory gating deficits observed in patients with schizophrenia. Moreover, smoking diminishes the efficacy of most antipsychotic drugs via an increased hepatic metabolism.Studies suggest a link between the physiological effects of nicotine and the neurobiological disturbances in schizophrenia. Disturbances in the cholinergic transmission may be responsible for some symptoms of schizophrenia. The harmful effects of smoking vastly outweigh any possible benefits, but, nevertheless, further investigation may lead to important insights regarding the etiology of schizophrenia at a molecular level.