Individuals, schools, and neighborhood: a multilevel longitudinal study of variation in incidence of psychotic disorders.

Context: Incidence of schizophrenia and other nonaffective psychoses is greater in urban than rural areas, but the reason is unclear. Few studies have examined whether both individual and neighborhood characteristics can explain this association. Furthermore, as has been shown for ethnicity, the effect of individual characteristics may depend on neighborhood context.

Examining interactions between risk factors for psychosis.

Background: For complex multifactorial diseases it seems likely that co-exposure to two risk factors will show a greater than additive relationship on disease risk.

Aims: To test whether greater than additive relationships occur between risk factors for psychosis.

Method: A cohort study of 50 053 Swedish conscripts.

Misconceptions about gene-environment interactions in psychiatry.

Misunderstandings surrounding the study of gene-environment interactions are very common. Given the large increase in the number of studies examining interactions in recent years, this raises serious concerns about the value of time and resources spent in these endeavours. In this article we discuss why, despite frequent claims to the contrary, studies of gene-environment interactions are very unlikely to enhance our understanding of disease aetiology or prevention.

Age- and puberty-dependent association between IQ score in early childhood and depressive symptoms in adolescence.

Background: Lower cognitive functioning in early childhood has been proposed as a risk factor for depression in later life but its association with depressive symptoms during adolescence has rarely been investigated. Our study examines the relationship between total intelligence quotient (IQ) score at age 8 years, and depressive symptoms at 11, 13, 14 and 17 years.

Method: Study participants were 5250 children and adolescents from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and their Children (ALSPAC), UK, for whom longitudinal data on depressive symptoms were available.

Perinatal folate-related exposures and risk of psychotic symptoms in the ALSPAC birth cohort.

Background: It is unclear to what extent non-clinical psychotic experiences during childhood and adolescence share underlying aetiological mechanisms with schizophrenia. One candidate mechanism for schizophrenia involves the epigenetic status of the developing fetus, which depends on the internal folate-status of mother and child. Our study examines the relationships between multiple determinants of perinatal folate-status and development of psychotic experiences in adolescence.

Evaluation and optimization of antifibrotic activity of cinnamoyl anthranilates.

Tranilast is an anti-inflammatory drug in use for asthma and atopic dermatitis. In studies over the last decade it has been revealed that tranilast can reduce fibrosis occurring in the kidney during diabetes, thereby delaying and/or preventing kidney dysfunction. We report a structure-activity study aimed at optimizing the antifibrotic activity of tranilast.

If cannabis caused schizophrenia--how many cannabis users may need to be prevented in order to prevent one case of schizophrenia? England and Wales calculations.

Background: We consider how many cannabis users may need to be prevented in order to prevent one case of schizophrenia or psychosis [defined as number needed to prevent (NNP)].

Method: Calculation for England and Wales using best available estimates of: incidence of schizophrenia; rates of heavy and light cannabis use; and risk that cannabis causes schizophrenia.

Results: In men the annual mean NNP for heavy cannabis and schizophrenia ranged from 2800 [90% confidence interval (CI) 2018-4530] in those aged 20-24 years to 4700 (90% CI 3114-8416) in those aged 35-39.

Maternal tobacco, cannabis and alcohol use during pregnancy and risk of adolescent psychotic symptoms in offspring.

Background: Adverse effects of maternal substance use during pregnancy on fetal development may increase risk of psychopathology.

Aims: To examine whether maternal use of tobacco, cannabis or alcohol during pregnancy increases risk of offspring psychotic symptoms.

Method: A longitudinal study of 6356 adolescents, age 12, who completed a semi-structured interview for psychotic symptoms in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) birth cohort.

Paternal and maternal ages at conception and risk of bipolar affective disorder in their offspring.

Background: A consistent association between paternal age and their offspring's risk of schizophrenia has been observed, with no independent association with maternal age. The relationship of paternal and maternal ages with risk of bipolar affective disorders (BPAD) in the offspring is less clear. The present study aimed at testing the hypothesis that paternal age is associated with their offspring's risk of BPAD, whereas maternal age is not.

Association of measures of fetal and childhood growth with non-clinical psychotic symptoms in 12-year-olds: the ALSPAC cohort.

Background: Previous studies have suggested that impaired fetal and childhood growth are associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia, but the association of pre-adult growth with non-clinical psychotic symptoms (psychosis-like symptoms) in children is not known.

Aims: To explore the associations of body size at birth and age 7.5 years with childhood psychosis-like symptoms.

Prospective study of peer victimization in childhood and psychotic symptoms in a nonclinical population at age 12 years.

Context: Psychotic symptoms are commonly experienced in nonclinical populations of adolescents and adults and have been shown to be predictive of later schizophreniform disorders. Associations between adverse experiences in childhood and psychotic symptoms in adulthood have been demonstrated.

Objective: To examine whether peer victimization is associated with psychotic symptoms in a population-based sample of 12-year-olds.

Investigating whether adverse prenatal and perinatal events are associated with non-clinical psychotic symptoms at age 12 years in the ALSPAC birth cohort.

Background: Non-clinical psychosis-like symptoms (PLIKS) occur in about 15% of the population. It is not clear whether adverse events during early development alter the risk of developing PLIKS. We aimed to examine whether maternal infection, diabetes or pre-eclampsia during pregnancy, gestational age, perinatal cardiopulmonary resuscitation or 5-min Apgar score were associated with development of psychotic symptoms during early adolescence.

Effects of cannabis use on outcomes of psychotic disorders: systematic review.

Background: It is unclear if research findings support clinical opinion that cannabis use leads to worse outcomes in people with psychosis, or whether this impression is confounded by other factors.

Aims: To systematically review the evidence pertaining to whether cannabis affects outcome of psychotic disorders.

Method: We searched 10 relevant databases (to November 2006), reference lists of included studies and contacted experts.

Pregnant women's alcohol consumption: the predictive utility of intention to drink and prepregnancy drinking behavior.

Objective: This study had two aims: (1) to examine pregnant women's alcohol consumption across time from prepregnancy until childbirth and (2) to explore whether prepregnancy drinking and intention to drink predict prenatal alcohol consumption while controlling for relevant demographic variables.

Methods: At 17-21 weeks, 248 pregnant women completed questions about demographics, intention to drink alcohol during the subsequent pregnancy, and retrospective measures of prepregnancy and early pregnancy consumption. After this time, calendars were sent fortnightly assessing daily alcohol consumption until birth.

Analysis of 10 independent samples provides evidence for association between schizophrenia and a SNP flanking fibroblast growth factor receptor 2.

We and others have previously reported linkage to schizophrenia on chromosome 10q25-q26 but, to date, a susceptibility gene in the region has not been identified. We examined data from 3606 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) mapping to 10q25-q26 that had been typed in a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of schizophrenia (479 UK cases/2937 controls). SNPs with P<0.

IQ and non-clinical psychotic symptoms in 12-year-olds: results from the ALSPAC birth cohort.

Background: Non-clinical psychotic symptoms appear common in children, but it is possible that a proportion of reported symptoms result from misinterpretation. There is a well-established association between pre-morbid low IQ score and schizophrenia. Psychosis-like symptoms in children may also be a risk factor for psychotic disorder but their relationship with IQ is unclear.

Wake-up call for British psychiatry.

The recent drive within the UK National Health Service to improve psychosocial care for people with mental illness is both understandable and welcome: evidence-based psychological and social interventions are extremely important in managing psychiatric illness. Nevertheless, the accompanying downgrading of medical aspects of care has resulted in services that often are better suited to offering non-specific psychosocial support, rather than thorough, broad-based diagnostic assessment leading to specific treatments to optimise well-being and functioning. In part, these changes have been politically driven, but they could not have occurred without the collusion, or at least the acquiescence, of psychiatrists.

Identification of loci associated with schizophrenia by genome-wide association and follow-up.

We carried out a genome-wide association study of schizophrenia (479 cases, 2,937 controls) and tested loci with P < 10(-5) in up to 16,726 additional subjects. Of 12 loci followed up, 3 had strong independent support (P < 5 x 10(-4)), and the overall pattern of replication was unlikely to occur by chance (P = 9 x 10(-8)). Meta-analysis provided strongest evidence for association around ZNF804A (P = 1.

Investigating if psychosis-like symptoms (PLIKS) are associated with family history of schizophrenia or paternal age in the ALSPAC birth cohort.

Psychosis-like symptoms (PLIKS) occur in about 15% of the population, but it is unclear to what extent PLIKS share aetiological mechanisms in common with those for schizophrenia. We examined whether the presence of PLIKS was associated with a family history of schizophrenia (FH-SCZ), or with advancing paternal age, using data from 6356 children in the ALSPAC birth cohort who participated in a semi-structured PLIKS interview at 12 years of age. We found no evidence of association between FH-SCZ and suspected or definite PLIKS (adjusted OR=0.

'Click' cycloaddition catalysts: copper(I) and copper(II) tris(triazolylmethyl)amine complexes.

The CuI complex of the 'click' ligand tris(benzyltriazolylmethyl)amine is an unusual dinuclear dication with one triazole unit bridging two metal centers, and is an effective catalyst for the 'click' cycloaddition reaction.

Impairments in cognition across the spectrum of psychiatric disorders: evidence from a Swedish conscript cohort.

It is well established that cognitive deficits are an almost invariable component of the schizophrenia syndrome. Much less is known about the association of cognitive deficits and the range of psychiatric disorders. The current study made use of a Swedish conscript cohort which included an IQ assessment and full psychiatric evaluation at conscription of all 18- to 19-year-old males.

Genotype effects of CHRNA7, CNR1 and COMT in schizophrenia: interactions with tobacco and cannabis use.

Background: Genetic variations might modify associations between schizophrenia and cannabis or tobacco use.

Aims: To examine whether variants within the cannabinoid receptor (CNR1) and alpha(7) nicotinic receptor (CHRNA7) genes are associated with schizophrenia, and whether these effects vary according to cannabis or tobacco use. We also examined a putative interaction between cannabis and Val(158)Met within the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene (COMT).