The role of farm operational and rural environments as potential risk factors for pediatric asthma in rural Saskatchewan.

Background: Researchers have historically reported that farm children have a lower prevalence of asthma compared to more urban children. Potential explanations include theories surrounding differences in personal factors, access to health care, engagement in health risk behaviors, and differences in the environment.

Objective: The aims of this study were to: (1) confirm whether the prevalence of asthma varies between farm and small town status among children living in Saskatchewan; (2) identify risk and protective factors for asthma, and use this information to infer which of the above theories is most explanatory for any observed geographic variations in pediatric asthma.

Factors contributing to risks for pediatric asthma in rural Saskatchewan.

Background: Rural children have lower reported rates of asthma compared with urban children. Although reasons for these differences remain unclear, 3 possible explanations exist: (1) environmental differences, (2) variations in health care access, and (3) variations in health risk behaviors.

Objective: We investigated asthma among children living on farms and in small towns and its potential determinants, including personal, behavioral, and environmental factors.

Probabilistic classification and gambling in patients with schizophrenia receiving medication: comparison of risperidone, olanzapine, clozapine and typical antipsychotics.

Rationale: We have previously shown that patients with schizophrenia treated with typical antipsychotics were impaired on the weather prediction probabilistic classification learning (PCL) task that relies on striatal function, and that similar patients treated with atypical antipsychotics were impaired on the Iowa gambling task (IGT) that depends on medial prefrontocortical function.

Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that test performance of patients treated with risperidone will be more similar to those treated with typical rather than atypical antipsychotics.

Results: Groups of schizophrenia patients treated with risperidone, olanzapine, clozapine or typical antipsychotics did not differ on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale or the Mini Mental State Exam (MMSE) but scored lower than controls on the MMSE.