China's little-known efforts to protect its marine ecosystems safeguard some habitats but omit others.

China’s stature as the world’s major producer and consumer of seafood is legendary, but its long-standing tradition of protecting marine life domestically is virtually unknown. We present the most comprehensive database on area-based marine conservation in China including 326 sites that conserve 12.98% of China’s seas and address 142 conservation objectives.

Short duration of marriage at conception as an independent risk factor for schizophrenia.

Unlabelled: Short duration of marriage (DoM) is a risk factor for preeclampsia that is also related to the risk for schizophrenia. This analysis examined the risk for schizophrenia associated with DoM and its independence from parental psychiatric disorders, parental ages and fathers' age at marriage.

Method: Relative Risks (RR) for schizophrenia were estimated using continuous and stratified Cox proportional hazards models in the 90,079 offspring from the prospective population-based Jerusalem birth cohort study (1964-1976).

The Emerging Role for Zinc in Depression and Psychosis.

Zinc participation is essential for all physiological systems, including neural functioning, where it participates in a myriad of cellular processes. Converging clinical, molecular, and genetic discoveries illuminate key roles for zinc homeostasis in association with clinical depression and psychosis which are not yet well appreciated at the clinical interface. Intracellular deficiency may arise from low circulating zinc levels due to dietary insufficiency, or impaired absorption from aging or medical conditions, including alcoholism.

Live birth sex ratios and father's geographic origins in Jerusalem, 1964-1976.

Objective: To examine whether ancestry influenced sex ratios of offspring in a birth cohort before parental antenatal sex selection influenced offspring sex.

Methods: We measured the sex ratio as the percent of males according to countries of birth of paternal and maternal grandfathers in 91,459 live births from 1964 to 1976 in the Jerusalem Perinatal Study. Confidence limits (CI) were computed based on an expected sex ratio of 1.

Prenatal stress and affective disorders in a population birth cohort.

Objectives: Pregnant women exposed to an acute traumatic event are thought to produce offspring with an increased incidence of affective disorders. It is not known whether there are specific times in pregnancy which confer increased vulnerability, or if psychosocial stress alone can increase the incidence of affective disorders in offspring. We examined the relationship of the timing of an acute psychosocial threat during pregnancy to the incidence of affective disorders in offspring using data from a large birth cohort.

Olfactory acuity is associated with mood and function in a pilot study of stable bipolar disorder patients.

Objectives: Olfactory dysfunction is described in several neuropsychiatric disorders but there is little research on olfactory processing in bipolar disorder.

Methods: We assessed odor detection threshold (sensitivity) and smell identification test scores, along with symptoms, cognition, and social function in 20 DSM-IV bipolar disorder patients and 44 control subjects.

Results: The patient and control groups had similar demographic measures, intelligence, and mean olfaction scores, but significantly differed in social domains, including adjustment, function, and anxiety.

Prenatal stress, gestational age and secondary sex ratio: the sex-specific effects of exposure to a natural disaster in early pregnancy.

Background: Previous research suggests that maternal exposure to acute stress has a negative impact on the duration of pregnancy, and that this effect may vary by the time of exposure. It has also been proposed that stress exposure reduces the ratio of male-to-female births. To date, no study has jointly examined both outcomes, although they may be strongly related.

Infant bonding and attachment to the caregiver: insights from basic and clinical science.

Early life infant-caregiver attachment is a dynamic, bidirectional process that involving both the infant and caregiver. Infant attachment appears to have a dual function. First, it ensures the infant remains close to the caregiver in order to receive necessary care for survival.

Paternal age related schizophrenia (PARS): Latent subgroups detected by k-means clustering analysis.

Background: Paternal age related schizophrenia (PARS) has been proposed as a subgroup of schizophrenia with distinct etiology, pathophysiology and symptoms. This study uses a k-means clustering analysis approach to generate hypotheses about differences between PARS and other cases of schizophrenia.

Methods: We studied PARS (operationally defined as not having any family history of schizophrenia among first and second-degree relatives and fathers' age at birth ≥ 35 years) in a series of schizophrenia cases recruited from a research unit.

Fregoli syndrome: an underrecognized risk factor for aggression in treatment settings.

Fregoli syndrome (FS) is commonly associated with verbal threats and aggressive behavior. We present a case of Fregoli syndrome leading to an assault. We discuss the possible underdiagnosis of FS, associated risk for aggression, and strategies to reduce that risk.

Critical periods and the developmental origins of disease: an epigenetic perspective of schizophrenia.

Epigenetics holds promise to explain some puzzles concerning the risk and course of psychiatric disorders. Epigenetic information is essential as a set of operating instructions for the genome, which is heritable with DNA. The epigenetic regulation of gene expression can plausibly be influenced by the environment of one's ancestors, prenatal exposures, and by early life events.

Older paternal age strongly increases the morbidity for schizophrenia in sisters of affected females.

The effect of a family history of schizophrenia on the risk for this disorder in the offspring has rarely been examined in a prospective population cohort accounting for the sex of the proband and the first-degree relatives, and certainly not with respect to later paternal age. The influence of affected relatives on offspring risk of schizophrenia was estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression in models that accounted for sex, relation of affected first degree relatives and paternal age in the prospective population-based cohort of the Jerusalem Perinatal Schizophrenia Study. Of all first-degree relatives, an affected mother conferred the highest risk to male and female offspring among the cases with paternal age <35 years, however, female offspring of fathers ≥35 years with an affected sister had the highest risk (RR = 8.

Catatonic schizophrenia: a cohort prospective study.

Background: In the 20th century, catatonia was usually deemed a subtype of schizophrenia. Recently, the nature and classification of catatonia are being reconsidered. This study is the first to describe catatonia using prospectively collected data and to examine how catatonic schizophrenia differs from, or resembles, other types of schizophrenia.

Age, sex and first treatment of schizophrenia in a population cohort.

Objective: Schizophrenia affects men more than women, but this may not be true at all ages. This study examines the incidence of first hospitalization for treatment of schizophrenia in each sex over different ages.

Methods: We compared the incidence of first admission for treatment in a cohort of 46,388 males and 43,680 females followed from birth until ages 29-41, using life tables and proportional hazards methods.

Time-to-pregnancy and risk of schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia has been linked to advanced paternal age, but the explanation is unknown. We questioned whether the incidence of schizophrenia would be related to male reproductive capacity, as reflected in the time taken to conceive. We measured the incidence of schizophrenia in relation to time to conception in a sub-group of 12,269 in the Jerusalem cohort whose mothers, interviewed post-partum, reported that the pregnancy had been intended.

Effects of excessive glucocorticoid receptor stimulation during early gestation on psychomotor and social behavior in the rat.

Severe psychological stress in the first trimester of pregnancy increases the risk of schizophrenia in the offspring. To begin to investigate the role of glucocorticoid receptors in this association, we determined the effects of the glucocorticoid dexamethasone (2 mg/kg), administered to pregnant rats on gestation days 6-8, on maternal behaviors and schizophrenia-relevant behaviors in the offspring. Dams receiving dexamethasone exhibited increased milk ejection bouts during nursing.

Later paternal age and sex differences in schizophrenia symptoms.

Objective: Advanced paternal age is consistently associated with an increased risk for schizophrenia, accounting for up to a quarter of cases in some populations. If paternal age-related schizophrenia (PARS) involves a distinct etiopathology, then PARS cases may show specific characteristics, vis-à-vis other schizophrenia cases. This study examined if PARS exhibits the symptom profile and sex differences that are consistently observed for schizophrenia in general, wherein males have an earlier onset age and more severe negative symptoms than females.

Schizophrenia and birthplace of paternal and maternal grandfather in the Jerusalem perinatal cohort prospective study.

Some forms of epigenetic abnormalities transmitted to offspring are manifested in differences in disease incidence that depend on parent-of-origin. To explore whether such phenomena might operate in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, we estimated the relative incidence of these conditions in relation to parent-of-origin by considering the two grandfathers' countries of birth. In a prospective cohort of 88,829 offspring, born in Jerusalem in 1964-76 we identified 637 cases through Israel's psychiatric registry.

Cancer risk after exposure to treatments for ovulation induction.

Uncertainty continues as to whether treatments for ovulation induction are associated with increased risk of cancer. The authors conducted a long-term population-based historical cohort study of parous women. A total of 15,030 women in the Jerusalem Perinatal Study who gave birth in 1974-1976 participated in a postpartum survey.

Preeclampsia and subsequent risk of cancer: update from the Jerusalem Perinatal Study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the association between preeclampsia and cancer incidence.

Study Design: The Jerusalem Perinatal Study is a population-based cohort of all births to 41,206 residents of Western Jerusalem from 1964-76. Cancer incidence to 2004 was assessed by linkage of the cohort with the Israel Cancer Registry.

Advanced parental age at birth is associated with poorer social functioning in adolescent males: shedding light on a core symptom of schizophrenia and autism.

Background: Evidence indicates an association between older parents at birth and increased risk for schizophrenia and autism. Patients with schizophrenia and autism and their first-degree relatives have impaired social functioning; hence, impaired social functioning is probably an intermediate phenotype of the illness. This study tested the hypothesis that advanced father's age at birth would be associated with poorer social functioning in the general population.

Paternal age and twinning in the Jerusalem Perinatal Study.

Objective: To investigate whether incidence of twin deliveries is related to father's age, independently of mother's age, and whether it differs for same-sex or opposite-sex twin sets.

Study Design: In a program of research on effects of paternal age, this study used data from a prospective cohort of 92,408 offspring born in Jerusalem from 1964 to 1976. Of the 91,253 deliveries in the Jerusalem Perinatal Study, 1115 were twin deliveries.

Twin pregnancy and the risk of schizophrenia.

Background: Twins are exposed to intrauterine environments that differ significantly from those of singletons. These diverse environments might alter the risk for schizophrenia in twins and make it difficult to generalize from findings in twins when studying the risk of schizophrenia in the general population. Previous studies report contradictory findings on the risk for schizophrenia in twins.

Acute maternal stress in pregnancy and schizophrenia in offspring: a cohort prospective study.

Unlabelled: Schizophrenia has been linked with intrauterine exposure to maternal stress due to bereavement, famine and major disasters. Recent evidence suggests that human vulnerability may be greatest in the first trimester of gestation and rodent experiments suggest sex specificity. We aimed to describe the consequence of an acute maternal stress, through a follow-up of offspring whose mothers were pregnant during the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.