Aims and Scope Eurasian Journal of Medicine (Eurasian J Med) is an international, scientific, open access periodical published by independent, unbiased, and tripleblinded peer-review principles. The journal is the official publication of

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability, which is a biologically based neurodevelopmental disorder that affects a child’s social interaction and communication skills. Core deficits are identified in two domains: social communication/interaction and restrictive, repetitive patterns of behavior. Children and youth with ASD have service needs in behavioral, educational, health, leisure, family support, and other areas. Autism is a set of heterogeneous neurodevelopmental conditions, characterized by inability to acquire social skills, repetitive behaviors and failure of speech and nonverbal communication development. Objective: To examine frequency, correlation and predictivity of communication and language skills of autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) children and their parents’ emotions. Methods: The sample consisted of 80 participants who are parents of children with ASD. The study was performed using a questionnaire made out for this research. Three groups of variables were analyzed: parental emotions variables; child’s communication variables, child’s language variables. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS, and included basic statistical parameters and multiple regression analysis. Results: The most common ways of communicate for children with ASD are: Allowing to cuddle; Recognizes familiar faces; and Makes it known when he needs help or wants an item. The most common language forms of children ASD are: Following simple instructions; Understanding connected words/phrases; Pronouncing single words; and Looking at when called by name. Parents of children with ASD expressed the greatest agreement with the following statements: “My child is more demanding than most other children”; “It seems to me that my child is very sensitive and easily upset”; “My child can’t do much of what he’s expected to know to do”, and “I often lack energy.” Conclusion: Parents of children with ASD proved that their children have significant delays in communication and language. Developed communication and language skills of the child with ASD are valid predictors of parents’ emotions/attitudes. Speech and language therapy work focused on developing the ASD child’s communication and language skills can be expected to improve parents’ emotions/attitudes.

Objectives: The present study aimed to determine the voice outcomes before and after the administration of voice therapy in patients who suffered an injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve after undergoing thyroidectomy. Methods:The sample consisted of 26 patients (2 males and 24 females) aged between 18 and 80 years (m=55±12) who experienced injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve following thyroidectomy that was used to treat a thyroid gland disease. Subjective and objective parameters of the voice of the patients as well as its aerodynamic aspects were assessed upon the completion of the surgical procedure and before and after the implementation of voice therapy. Objective voice analysis was performed with the help of computer software viz. "Speech Training for Windows, Version 4.00 -Dr. Speech "and" EZ Voice Plus (TM) v. 2.0;" while GRBAS scale was used for subjective voice assessment. The subjects were followed for two years. The data so collected during this period was analyzed by implementing descriptive statistical parameters, Chi-square test, t-test and Wilcoxon test. Results:Patients with an injury to the recurrent laryngeal nerve were found to have voice alterations in all vocal parameters of subjective voice assessment conducted using the GRBAS Scale. These alterations ranged from moderate to severe degree, which provided a high degree of roughness in the voice. Objective voice assessment parameter analysis showed a decrease in voice pitch, increase in shimmer, decrease in noise-to-harmonics ratio, decrease in maximum phonation time and a decrease in voiceless percentage. Overall, it was observed that there were significant differences in all parameters of subjective and objective voice assessment, before and after vocal therapy, except for variables regarding the noise-to-harmonics ratio and aerodynamic variable of the S/Z ratio, although, the results on these vocal parameters were better after voice therapy.

Introduction:Basic cognitive functions such as: alertness, working memory, long term memory and perception, as well as higher levels of cognitive functions like: speech and language, decision-making and executive functions are affected by aging processes. Relations between the receptive vocabulary and cognitive functioning, and the manifestation of differences between populations of elderly people based on the primary disease is in the focus of this study.Aim:To examine receptive vocabulary and cognition of elderly people with: verified stroke, dementia, verified stroke and dementia, and without the manifested brain disease.Material and Methods:The sample consisted of 120 participants older than 65 years, living in an institution. A total of 26 variables was analyzed and classified into three groups: case history/anamnestic, receptive vocabulary assessment, and cognitive assessments. The interview with social workers, nurses and caregivers, as well as medical files were used to determine the anamnestic data. A Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA) was used for the assessment of cognition. In order to estimate the receptive vocabulary, Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test was used.Results:Mean raw score of receptive vocabulary is 161.58 (+–21:58 points). The best results for cognitive assessment subjects achieved on subscales of orientation, naming, serial subtraction, and delayed recall. Discriminative analysis showed the significant difference in the development of receptive vocabulary and cognitive functioning in relation to the primary disease of elderly people. The biggest difference was between subjects without manifested brain disease (centroid = 1.900) and subjects with dementia (centroid = -1754).Conclusion:There is a significant difference between elderly with stroke; dementia; stroke and dementia, and elderly people without manifested disease of the brain in the domain of receptive vocabulary and cognitive functioning. Variables of serial subtraction, standardized test results of receptive vocabulary, delayed recall, abstraction, orientation and vigilance successfully discriminate studied groups.