Polysaccharide conjugate vaccine against pneumococcal pneumonia in adults.

Background: Pneumococcal polysaccharide conjugate vaccines prevent pneumococcal disease in infants, but their efficacy against pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia in adults 65 years of age or older is unknown.

Methods: In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial involving 84,496 adults 65 years of age or older, we evaluated the efficacy of 13-valent polysaccharide conjugate vaccine (PCV13) in preventing first episodes of vaccine-type strains of pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia, nonbacteremic and noninvasive pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia, and invasive pneumococcal disease. Standard laboratory methods and a serotype-specific urinary antigen detection assay were used to identify community-acquired pneumonia and invasive pneumococcal disease.

Smooth pursuit eye movement (SPEM) in patients with multiple complex developmental disorder (MCDD), a subtype of the pervasive developmental disorder.

Objective: Multiple complex developmental disorder (MCDD) is a well-defined and validated behavioural subtype of pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS) and is thought to be associated with a higher risk of developing a schizophrenic spectrum disorder. The question was addressed whether patients with MCDD show the same psychophysiological abnormalities as seen in patients with schizophrenia.

Method: Smooth pursuit eye movement (pursuit gain and saccadic parameters) was measured in children with either MCDD (n=18) or autism (n=18), and in age- and IQ-matched controls (n=36), as well as in a group of adult patients with schizophrenia (n=14) and a group of adult controls (n=17).

Microglia activation in recent-onset schizophrenia: a quantitative (R)-[11C]PK11195 positron emission tomography study.

Background: Schizophrenia is a brain disease involving progressive loss of gray matter of unknown cause. Most likely, this loss reflects neuronal damage, which should, in turn, be accompanied by microglia activation. Microglia activation can be quantified in vivo using (R)-[(11)C]PK11195 and positron emission tomography (PET).

Excessive brain volume loss over time in cannabis-using first-episode schizophrenia patients.

Objective: Cerebral gray matter volume reductions have been found to progress over time in schizophrenia, with larger decreases related to poorer outcome, which has also been associated with cannabis use in schizophrenia patients. Progressive gray matter changes in patients who use cannabis may be more extensive than in those who do not.

Method: Patients with recent-onset schizophrenia (N=51) and matched healthy subjects (N=31) were included.

Brain volumes as predictor of outcome in recent-onset schizophrenia: a multi-center MRI study.

Gray matter brain volume decreases have been found in patients with schizophrenia as compared to healthy control subjects measured by using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). An association has been suggested between decreased gray matter volume and poor outcome in chronically ill patients with schizophrenia. The present longitudinal multi-center study investigated whether gray matter volume at illness onset can predict poor outcome in recent-onset schizophrenia after a follow-up of approximately 2 years.