Are Genetic and Environmental Risk Factors for Psychopathology Amplified in Children with Below-Average Intelligence? A Population-Based Twin Study.

There is a negative association between intelligence and psychopathology. We analyzed data on intelligence and psychopathology to assess this association in seven-year-old Dutch twin pairs (ranging from 616 to 14,150 depending on the phenotype) and estimated the degree to which genetic and environmental factors common to intelligence and psychopathology explain the association. Secondly, we examined whether genetic and environmental effects on psychopathology are moderated by intelligence.

Maximizing the value of twin studies in health and behaviour.

In the classical twin design, researchers compare trait resemblance in cohorts of identical and non-identical twins to understand how genetic and environmental factors correlate with resemblance in behaviour and other phenotypes. The twin design is also a valuable tool for studying causality, intergenerational transmission, and gene-environment correlation and interaction. Here we review recent developments in twin studies, recent results from twin studies of new phenotypes and recent insights into twinning.

Lack of concentration-dependent local toxicity of highly concentrated (5%) versus conventional 0.5% bupivacaine following musculoskeletal surgery in a rat model.

Purpose: Various sustained-release formulations incorporate high bupivacaine concentrations but data on local toxicity is lacking. This study explores local toxic effects of highly concentrated (5%) bupivacaine compared to clinically used concentrations in vivo following skeletal surgery, to assess the safety of sustained-release formulations with high bupivacaine concentrations.

Methods: Sixteen rats underwent surgery, in which screws with catheters affixed were implanted in the spine or femur in a factorial experimental design, allowing single-shot or continuous 72 h local administration of 0.

National audit on maternal mortality in Guinea-Bissau, West-Africa: A retrospective observational study of 2020.

Guinea-Bissau has particularly alarming indicators of maternal health, with one of the highest maternal mortality (MM) worldwide. According to UNICEF-2014, this ratio (MMR) was 900/100,000 live births, mostly due to preventable and treatable causes. In 2013, the European Union developed an Integrated Programme to reduce Maternal and Infant Mortality (EU/PIMI),** the largest project of this kind, implemented in Guinea-Bissau.

Impact of airway and a standardized recruitment maneuver on CT chest imaging quality in a pediatric population: A retrospective review.

Introduction: When performing computerized tomography chest imaging in children, obtaining high quality, motion-free images is important in the accurate diagnosis of underlying pathology. General anesthesia is associated with the development of atelectasis, which can impair accurate diagnosis by obscuring or altering the appearance of the lung parenchyma or airways. Recruitment maneuvers, performed by anesthesiologists, can be used to effectively re-expand atelectatic lung.

Atelectasis and lung recruitment in pediatric anesthesia: An educational review.

General anesthesia is associated with development of pulmonary atelectasis. Children are more vulnerable to the development and adverse effects of atelectasis. We review the physiology and risk factors for the development of atelectasis in pediatric patients under general anesthesia.

The Power to Detect Cultural Transmission in the Nuclear Twin Family Design With and Without Polygenic Risk Scores and in the Transmitted-Nontransmitted (Alleles) Design.

We compare the power of two different approaches to detect passive genotype-environment (GE) covariance originating from cultural and genetic transmission operating simultaneously. In the traditional nuclear twin family (NTF) design, cultural transmission is estimated from the phenotypic covariance matrices of the mono- and dizygotic twins and their parents. Here, phenotyping is required in all family members.

In pursuit of a sensitive EEG functional connectivity outcome measure for clinical trials in Alzheimer's disease.

Objective: In clinical trials in Alzheimer's Disease (AD), an improvement of impaired functional connectivity (FC) could provide biological support for the potential efficacy of the drug. Electroencephalography (EEG) analysis of the SAPHIR-trial showed a treatment induced improvement of global relative theta power but not of FC measured by the phase lag index (PLI). We compared the PLI with the amplitude envelope correlation with leakage correction (AEC-c), a presumably more sensitive FC measure.

The Netherlands Twin Register: Longitudinal Research Based on Twin and Twin-Family Designs.

The Netherlands Twin Register (NTR) is a national register in which twins, multiples and their parents, siblings, spouses and other family members participate. Here we describe the NTR resources that were created from more than 30 years of data collections; the development and maintenance of the newly developed database systems, and the possibilities these resources create for future research. Since the early 1980s, the NTR has enrolled around 120,000 twins and a roughly equal number of their relatives.

Safety, tolerability and efficacy of the glutaminyl cyclase inhibitor PQ912 in Alzheimer's disease: results of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 2a study.

Background: PQ912 is an inhibitor of the glutaminyl cyclase enzyme that plays a central role in the formation of synaptotoxic pyroglutamate-A-beta oligomers. We report on the first clinical study with PQ912 in subjects with biomarker-proven Alzheimer's disease (AD). The aim was to determine the maximal tolerated dose, target occupancy and treatment-related pharmacodynamic effects.

Morbidity of cardiac arrest in the very elderly.

The objective of this retrospective cohort study was to assess mortality and morbidity after cardiac arrest in hospital inpatients aged 80 years or older, in an Australian tertiary hospital. We studied patients aged 80 years or older who suffered an in-hospital cardiac arrest from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2016. The main outcome measures were one-year survival and narrative morbidity.

Retrospective review of critical incidents in the post-anaesthesia care unit at a major tertiary hospital.

Introduction: We reviewed patients with critical incidents that occurred in the post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) at a major tertiary hospital, and assessed the effect of these incidents on PACU length of stay and discharge disposition.

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted of patients in the PACU over a two-year period from 24 June 2011 to 23 August 2013. Data on critical incidents was recorded in the administrative database using a standardised data form.

Fatigue after stroke: baseline predictors and influence on survival. Analysis of data from UK patients recruited in the International Stroke Trial.

Background And Purpose: Little is known about the associations of post-stroke fatigue or its influence on survival. The vitality component of the Short Form 36 (SF-36) is a valid and reliable measure of post-stroke fatigue. We sought to identify associates of post-stroke fatigue and determine whether fatigue predicted survival.

Utility of early MRI in the diagnosis and management of acute spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage.

Background: The optimal diagnostic evaluation for spontaneous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) remains controversial. In this retrospective study, we assessed the utility of early magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in ICH diagnosis and management.

Methods: Eighty-nine (72%) of 123 patients with spontaneous ICH underwent a brain CT and MRI within 30 days of ICH onset.

High intraindividual variation of B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and amino-terminal proBNP in patients with stable chronic heart failure.

Background: Plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and N-terminal proBNP (NT-proBNP) are promising markers for heart failure diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment. Insufficient data on the intraindividual biological variation (CV(i)) of BNP and NT-proBNP hamper interpretation of changes in concentration on disease progression or treatment optimization. We therefore investigated CV(i) values in stable heart failure patients.

Bullous pemphigoid and epidermolysis bullosa acquisita. Differentiation by fluorescence overlay antigen mapping.

Background And Design: From previous studies, we concluded that the fluorescence overlay antigen mapping (FOAM) technique could be of value to the differential diagnosis of the acquired subepidermal bullous skin disorders, bullous pemphigoid (BP) and epidermolysis bullosa acquisita (EBA). In these diseases, ultrastructural identification of the site of skin-bound IgG deposits at the epidermal basement membrane zone (EBMZ) may be essential to the correct diagnosis. Since ultrastructural studies are more expensive, time-consuming, and less widely available than immunofluorescence, we addressed the question of whether the FOAM technique can reliably identify the site of IgG deposits at the EBMZ, and distinguish BP from EBA.

Fluorescence overlay antigen mapping of the epidermal basement membrane zone: II. Color fidelity.

In this second report on the fluorescence overlay antigen mapping (FOAM) technique, we highlight some of the errors that may influence faithful color rendition of slide preparations using triple antigen immunofluorescence staining. Reliable interpretation of multicolor fluorescence images requires that the observer can unambiguously assign each color in these images to the presence of a specific combination of the labeled antigens. This is possible only when the image fidelity meets certain standards.

Fluorescence overlay antigen mapping of the epidermal basement membrane zone: III. Topographic staining and effective resolution.

In this third study on the fluorescence overlay antigen mapping (FOAM) technique, we have addressed the question of which differences of antigen distributions close to the resolving power of the light microscope can be distinguished. An answer to this question should provide clues to future applications of the technique aiming at the topographic differentiation of IgG deposits displayed at the epidermal basement membrane zone (EBMZ) in certain bullous skin disorders. For the present purpose we have developed a topographic staining model in human skin, using structural EBMZ antigens as topographic reference markers.

Fluorescence overlay antigen mapping of the epidermal basement membrane zone: I. Geometric errors.

To identify in tissue sections the relative positions of antigen distributions close to the resolving power of the microscope, we have developed the fluorescence overlay antigen mapping (FOAM) procedure. As this technique makes high demands on the geometric fidelity of the overlay image, it is essential to recognize geometric errors resulting from optical imperfections. This applies in particular to the image shift difference (ISD) that may routinely occur during fluorescence overlay.

Comparison of reticulate and elementary body antigens in detection of antibodies against Chlamydia trachomatis by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

Reticulate bodies from a type C and elementary bodies from a type L2 strain of Chlamydia trachomatis were isolated and used as antigens in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results obtained for human sera with these two antigens used in the ELISA were compared with each other and with results obtained for the same sera by the micro-immunofluorescence test. Negative control populations included cloistered nuns and children with respiratory infections.

Radioimmunoassay for detection of IgG antibodies against enterobacterial antigens.

The rough mutant of Salmonella minnesota (Re 595) contains several broad reacting antigens including a core LPS common to many aerobic gram-negative bacteria without sugars that confer serotype specificity to most gram-negative bacteria. Therefore, antibodies against this organism can be evoked by a large number of gram-negative bacteria. Using radioimmunoassay methods, sera from 59 patients with bacteremia due to enterobacteriaceae had higher concentrations of IgG antibodies against the rough mutant of Salmonella minnesota (Re 595) than control subjects.