Abstract The Van cat is a domestic landrace found in the Van province of eastern Turkey. In this study, we aimed to determine the seasonal carriage of dermatophytes in Van cats without clinical lesions. A total of 264 hair specimens were collected from clinically healthy cats in and around the Van Province. Of these samples, 30.3% were obtained in spring, 30.6% in summer, 16.6% in autumn, and 22.3% in winter; 45.1% of samples were from male cats and the rest from female ones. Of the studied cats, 118 were younger than 1 year, 78 were 1–3 years old, and 68 were older than 3 years. The specimens were subjected to direct microscopic examination with 15% potassium hydroxide and cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar and dermatophyte test medium supplemented with cycloheximide and chloramphenicol. Dermatophyte identification was carried out based on macroscopic and microscopic colony morphology, urease activities, in vitro hair perforation test, growth at 37 °C, and pigmentation on corn meal agar. Dermatophytes were isolated from 19 (7.1%) of the 264 specimens examined. The most frequently isolated fungi were Trichophyton terrestre (4.1%), followed by Microsporum gypseum (1.1%), M. nanum (1.1%), and T. mentagrophytes (0.7%), and these fungi may represent a health risk for humans in contact with clinically healthy Van cats. M. canis was not isolated from any of the specimens. Our results show no significant (p > 0.05) association between carriage of dermatophytes and the gender of cats. The carriage rate of dermatophytes was high in spring and winter, and the only possible risk factor for infection was age of the animal.

Background and Objectives: This study was designed to investigate the association of the gender and subtype diagnosis with the onset age of the disease, marriage, reproductive rates in the schizophrenic inpatients. Methods: Total of 463 patients (329 males and 134 females) hospitalized with the diagnosis of schizophrenia according to DSM-IV criteria and who were between 15-65 years of age were included in the study. We evaluated the age, gender, marital status, number of children, onset of the disease and subtype of schizophrenia. Results: Mean of onset of the disease score was higher statistically in the females (27.6 ± 4.3) than the males (23.7 ± 3.9) (p < 0.05) in our study. The paranoid subtype was the commonest, while women were more likely to be married than men, men had more children than women; and the paranoid subtype were more likely to be married than the other groups. Conclusions: Onset age of schizophrenia was four years higher in the women than in men and that the rates of the schizophrenia subtypes were consistent with those detected in the other studies demonstrates that these rates were determined by neurobiological mechanisms rather than socio-cultural factors.