Multimodal prediction of the need of clozapine in treatment resistant schizophrenia; a pilot study in first-episode psychosis.

As many as one third of the patients diagnosed with schizophrenia do not respond to first-line antipsychotic medication. This group may benefit from the atypical antipsychotic medication clozapine, but initiation of treatment is often delayed, which may worsen prognosis. Predicting which patients do not respond to traditional antipsychotic medication at the onset of symptoms would provide fast-tracked treatment for this group of patients.

In Vitro Cell Model Investigation of Alpha-Synuclein Aggregate Morphology Using Spectroscopic Imaging.

Recently, it has been hypothesized that alpha-synuclein protein strain morphology may be associated with clinical subtypes of alpha-synucleinopathies, like Parkinson's disease and multiple system atrophy. However, direct evidence is lacking due to the caveat of conformation-specific characterization of protein strain morphology. Here we present a new cell model based in vitro method to explore various alpha-synuclein (αsyn) aggregate morphotypes.

Association Between Body Mass Index and Risk of Aortic Stenosis in Women in the Swedish Medical Birth Registry.

Background: Overweight and obesity are increasing globally with aging, as are life expectancy and aging-associated disorders, including calcific aortic stenosis (AS). Studies investigating the correlation between high body mass index (BMI) and AS are contradictory and inconclusive. This study examines a potential association between BMI and AS in women.

Psychotic-like experiences in a nationally representative study of general population adolescents.

Background: Subclinical psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) are common among general population adolescents but have been found to correlate with various problems in well-being. Due to limited sample sizes these effects have not been well differentiated by sex and age.

Methods: Using a nationally representative survey of almost 160,000 adolescents, we studied endorsement and correlates of PLEs by sex among middle adolescence pupils (ages 14-16) and late adolescence students (ages 16-20).

Mental health after the COVID-19 pandemic among Finnish youth: a repeated, cross-sectional, population-based study.

Background: High levels of mental health problems among young people were reported during the COVID-19 pandemic, but studies of the post-pandemic period are scarce. We assessed mental health problems among Finnish youth before, during, and after the COVID-19 pandemic using nationwide population-based samples. Our aim was to examine in which direction the heightened levels of adolescent mental health problems have developed after the pandemic.

Factors contributing to readmission in patients with psychotic disorders, with a special reference to first follow-up visit in outpatient care.

Background: Timely outpatient follow-up and readmission after discharge are common quality indicators in psychiatric care, but their association varies in previous research. We aimed to examine whether the impact of outpatient follow-up and other factors on readmission risk evolves over time in people with non-affective psychotic disorder (NAP).

Methods: The Finnish Quality of Care Register includes all people diagnosed with NAP since January 2010.

Polyallylamine Binds to Aβ Amyloid and Inhibits Antibody Recognition.

Protein amyloids have attracted attention for their application as functional amyloid materials because of their strong properties, such as high resistance to chemical or biological degradation, despite their medical issues. Amyloids can be used for various applications by modifying the amyloid surface with functional materials, such as proteins and polymers. In this study, we investigated the effect of polyallylamine (PAA), a functional cationic polymer as a candidate for amyloid modification, on the amyloids formed from amyloid β (Aβ) peptide.

Enhancing identification of nonaffective psychosis in register-based studies.

The Finnish Quality of Psychosis Care Register assesses nonaffective psychosis (NAP) care, acknowledging treatment outside specialized psychiatric services. This approach, while providing a holistic view, raises concerns about diagnostic inaccuracies. Here, we studied situations where the register-based diagnosis might be inaccurate, and whether the first episode can be reliably identified using a 14-year wash-out period.

Prevalence and Predictive Factors for Celiac Disease in Children With Type 1 Diabetes: Whom and When to Screen? A Nationwide Longitudinal Cohort Study of Swedish Children.

Objective: To examine the prevalence and predictive factors for celiac disease (CD) after a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in children and adolescents, to improve the current screening guidelines.

Research Design And Methods: The association between sex, age at T1D diagnosis, HLA, and diabetes autoantibodies, and a diagnosis of CD was examined in 5,295 children with T1D from the Better Diabetes Diagnosis study in Sweden.

Results: The prevalence of biopsy-proven CD was 9.

Body mass index and fitness in late adolescence and risk of cardiovascular disease, respiratory disease, and overall death after COVID-19.

Objective: Since obesity and poor fitness appear to be unfavorable for both cardiovascular health and coping with viral infections such as COVID-19, they are of specific interest in light of the increased risk of cardiovascular and respiratory events now seen after infection with SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate how body mass index (BMI) and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) in late adolescence are associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD), respiratory disease, and mortality after COVID-19.

Methods: In this study, 1.

Postdischarge major bleeding, myocardial infarction, and mortality risk after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Objective: To investigate the incidence and mortality risk associated with postdischarge major bleeding after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), and relate this to the incidence of, and mortality risk from, postdischarge myocardial infarction.

Methods: All patients undergoing first-time isolated CABG in Sweden in 2006-2017 and surviving 14 days after hospital discharge were included in a cohort study. Individual patient data from the SWEDEHEART Registry and five other mandatory nationwide registries were merged.

Kinetic effects in singlet oxygen mediated oxidations by immobilized photosensitizers on silica.

Singlet oxygen (O) mediated photo-oxidations are important reactions involved in numerous processes in chemical and biological sciences. While most of the current research works have aimed at improving the efficiencies of these transformations either by increasing O quantum yields or by enhancing its lifetime, we establish herein that immobilization of a molecular photosensitizer onto silica surfaces affords significant, substrate dependant, enhancement in the reactivity of O. Probing a classical model reaction (oxidation of Anthracene-9, 10-dipropionic acid, ADPA or dimethylanthracene, DMA) with various spectrofluorimetric techniques, it is here proposed that an interaction between polar substrates and the silica surface is responsible for the observed phenomenon.

Socioeconomic factors and long-term mortality risk after surgical aortic valve replacement.

Background: There is scarce knowledge about the association between socioeconomic status and mortality in patients undergoing surgical aortic valve replacement. This study explores the associations between income, education and marital status, and long-term mortality risk.

Methods: In this national registry-based observational cohort study we included all 14,537 patients aged >18 years who underwent isolated surgical aortic valve replacement for aortic stenosis in Sweden 1997-2020.

Development and initial validation of the THL Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE-THL).

Background: The research on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has deepened our understanding of the long-lasting and cumulative effects of childhood adversities. However, the instruments measuring ACEs have several shortcomings, including limited item coverage, collapsing of items and response options, simplistic scoring, and inadequate psychometric assessments.

Objective: To design and conduct preliminarily psychometric testing for a brief new self-report instrument-the THL Adverse Childhood Experiences questionnaire (ACE-THL)-with a comprehensive set of clearly formulated items and appropriate response options.

Sense of mastery in first-episode psychosis-a one-year follow-up study.

Introduction: A sense of mastery refers to beliefs about having control over one's life and has been found to protect health and buffer the effect of stressful experiences.

Methods: We investigated sense of mastery in first-episode psychosis (FEP) patients and population controls at baseline and at one-year follow-up. Pearlin and Schooler's Sense of Mastery scale was completed by 322 participants at baseline and by 184 participants at follow-up.

Multiplexed experimental strategies for fragment library screening against challenging drug targets using SPR biosensors.

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor methods are ideally suited for fragment-based lead discovery.  However, generally applicable experimental procedures and detailed protocols are lacking, especially for structurally or physico-chemically challenging targets or when tool compounds are not available. Success depends on accounting for the features of both the target and the chemical library, purposely designing screening experiments for identification and validation of hits with desired specificity and mode-of-action, and availability of orthogonal methods capable of confirming fragment hits.

A fluorescence spectroscopic study of light transmission and adaxial-abaxial distribution of emitting compounds in leaves of Christmas star (Euphorbia pulcherrima).

In situ fluorescence measurements have been used to investigate relative amounts of blue-green pigments and their distributions in plant leaves from Euphorbia pulcherrima. Advantage was taken from the fact that this species has white leaves on the top, with low pigment concentrations, and green leaves on the stem with ordinary pigment concentrations. Excitation- and emission spectra below 410 nm from white leaves, where pigment absorption is low, are not distorted by self-absorption.

Cumulative incidence of type 1 diabetes in two cohorts of children with different national gluten recommendations in infancy.

Aims: Between 1985 and 1996, Sweden experienced an "epidemic" of celiac disease with a fourfold increase in incidence in young children. Timing and amount of gluten introduced during infancy have been thought to explain this "epidemic". We aimed to study whether the cumulative incidence of type 1 diabetes differs between children born during the "epidemic" compared to children born after.

Binding of a Pyrene-Based Fluorescent Amyloid Ligand to Transthyretin: A Combined Crystallographic and Molecular Dynamics Study.

Misfolding and aggregation of transthyretin (TTR) cause several amyloid diseases. Besides being an amyloidogenic protein, TTR has an affinity for bicyclic small-molecule ligands in its thyroxine (T4) binding site. One class of TTR ligands are trans-stilbenes.

Development of a social skills training programme to target social isolation using virtual reality technology in primary mental health care.

Introduction: People with severe mental illness often have a small or no network of friends and limited contact with their family and live social isolated lives. We developed a social skills training programme to be administered by public mental health professionals in helping those with mental illness to overcome their social isolation.

Methods: The programme was developed over 3 years in close collaboration among psychologists, service users, municipal mental health professionals, mental health service researchers and a local firm providing virtual reality (VR) training.

Use of My Kanta in Finland 2010-2022.

In Finland, descriptive performance indicators point towards increasing and sustained use of the national Kanta Services among adults from May 2010 to December 2022. Adult users have accessed the web-based My Kanta, sent electronic prescription renewal requests to healthcare organizations, and caregivers and parents have acted on behalf of their children. Furthermore, adult users have recorded consents, consent restrictions, organ donation testaments and living wills.

Hippocampus-Centered Network Is Associated With Positive Symptom Alleviation in Patients With First-Episode Psychosis.

Background: Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have reported widespread brain functional connectivity alterations in patients with psychosis. These studies have mostly used either resting-state or simple-task paradigms, thereby compromising experimental control or ecological validity, respectively. Additionally, in a conventional functional magnetic resonance imaging intrasubject functional connectivity analysis, it is difficult to identify which connections relate to extrinsic (stimulus-induced) and which connections relate to intrinsic (non-stimulus-related) neural processes.

The prevalence of having coeliac disease in children with type 1 diabetes was not significantly higher during the Swedish coeliac epidemic.

Aim: From 1986 to 1996, there was a four-fold increase in coeliac disease among young Swedish children, known as the Swedish coeliac epidemic. Children with type 1 diabetes have an increased risk of developing coeliac disease. We studied whether the prevalence of coeliac disease differed in children with type 1 diabetes born during and after this epidemic.