Interaction between compound genetic risk for schizophrenia and high birth weight contributes to social anhedonia and schizophrenia in women.

Schizophrenia is a highly heritable disease, but despite extensive study, its genetic background remains unresolved. The lack of environmental measures in genetic studies may offer some explanation. In recent Finnish studies, high birth weight was found to increase the risk for familial schizophrenia.

Prevalence and prognosis of ECG abnormalities in normotensive and hypertensive individuals.

Objective: To define the prevalence and prognosis of ECG abnormalities in hypertensive individuals.

Methods: ECG, blood pressure and other cardiovascular risk factors were recorded in a nationwide population sample of 5800 Finns. The presence of 15 ECG abnormalities was evaluated.

Genetic Variants on Chromosome 1p13.3 Are Associated with Non-ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction and the Expression of DRAM2 in the Finnish Population.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is divided into either ST elevation MI (STEMI) or non-ST elevation MI (NSTEMI), differing in a number of clinical characteristics. We sought to identify genetic variants conferring risk to NSTEMI or STEMI by conducting a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of MI stratified into NSTEMI and STEMI in a consecutive sample of 1,579 acute MI cases with 1,576 controls. Subsequently, we followed the results in an independent population-based sample of 562 cases and 566 controls, a partially independent prospective cohort (N = 16,627 with 163 incident NSTEMI cases), and examined the effect of disease-associated variants on gene expression in 513 healthy participants.

Very low birth weight, infant growth, and autism-spectrum traits in adulthood.

Objectives: We examined whether adults born preterm at very low birth weight (VLBW; <1500 g) differ from term-born adults in autism-spectrum traits, and whether among VLBW adults, growth in infancy is associated with these traits.

Methods: A total of 110 VLBW and 104 term-born adults of the Helsinki Study of Very Low Birth Weight Adults completed the Autism-Spectrum Quotient yielding total, social interaction, and attention to detail sum scores. Growth in weight, length, and head circumference from birth to term and from term to 1 year of corrected age was determined as standardized residuals reflecting growth conditional on previous history.

Physical activity and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis function in adolescents.

Little is known about the associations between physical activity (PA) and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPAA) activity in adolescents. This knowledge could offer insight into the links between PA and well-being in youth. We studied whether objectively-measured PA is associated with diurnal salivary cortisol responses and morning salivary cortisol responses after a low-dose overnight dexamethasone suppression test (DST) in adolescent girls and boys.

Is very preterm birth a risk factor for adult cardiometabolic disease?

The first infants to experience modern pre- and neonatal care are now in their thirties, an age at which the incidence of cardiometabolic disease is low. However, data from cohorts born preterm prior to the introduction of modern care suggest an increased risk of type 2 diabetes. For young adult cohorts of former very small or very preterm infants, there is accumulating evidence of increased risk factors for later cardiovascular disease, including higher blood pressure, lower lean body mass, impaired glucose regulation, and perhaps a more atherogenic lipid profile.