Publications

Neurocognitive dysfunction is common in schizophrenia but its course and determinants remain uncertain. Our aim was to analyse if premorbid school performance and the severity of illness and functioning predict change in cognition in schizophrenia in a general population sample. The sample included cases with schizophrenia spectrum disorder from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. Data on school marks at the age of 16 years, educational level at the age of 34 years, severity of symptoms and occupational functioning around first episode and after years of illness were gained from national registers, hospital notes and interviews. Change of verbal and visual learning and memory and executive functioning were examined between ages 34 and 43 years. The number of cases varied in analyses from 29 to 41, depending on missing data in particular cognitive tests. Lower school marks at age 16 years and lower education at age 34 years predicted more decline of cognition. Measures of severity of illness or functioning were not associated statistically significantly with change of cognition. Premorbid school performance, but not later course of schizophrenia, related to change of cognition in midlife. Poor premorbid scholastic performance and post-onset cognitive decline may represent related processes as part of an endophenotype of schizophrenia.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) reaches an epidemic proportion among adults in China. However, no simple score has been created for the prediction of T2DM incidence diagnosed by updated criteria with hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) ≥ 6.5% included in Chinese. In a 6-year follow-up cohort in Beijing and Shanghai, China, we recruited a total of 2529 adults aged 50-70 years in 2005 and followed them up in 2011. Fasting plasma glucose (FPG), HbA1c, and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured and incident diabetes was identified by the recently updated criteria. Of the 1912 participants without T2DM at baseline, 924 were identified as having T2DM at follow-up, and most of them (72.4%) were diagnosed using the HbA1c criterion. Baseline body mass index, FPG, HbA1c, CRP, hypertension, and female gender were all significantly associated with incident T2DM. Based upon these risk factors, a simple score was developed with an estimated area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.714 (95% confidence interval: 0.691, 0.737), which performed better than most of existing risk score models developed for eastern Asian populations. This simple, newly constructed score of six parameters may be useful in predicting T2DM in middle-aged and older Chinese.

Abstract This paper describes several low‐cost methods for fabricating flexible electronic circuits on paper. The circuits comprise i) metallic wires (e.g., tin or zinc) that are deposited on the substrate by evaporation, sputtering, or airbrushing, and ii) discrete surface‐mountable electronic components that are fastened with conductive adhesive directly to the wires. These electronic circuits—like conventional printed circuit boards—can be produced with electronic components that connect on both sides of the substrate. Unlike printed circuit boards made from fiberglass, ceramics, or polyimides, however, paper can be folded and creased (repeatedly), shaped to form three‐dimensional structures, trimmed using scissors, used to wick fluids (e.g., for microfluidic applications) and disposed of by incineration. Paper‐based electronic circuits are thin and lightweight; they should be useful for applications in consumer electronics and packaging, for disposable systems for uses in the military and homeland security, for applications in medical sensing or low‐cost portable diagnostics, for paper‐based microelectromechanical systems, and for applications involving textiles.

▪ Abstract Nanostructures are fabricated using either conventional or unconventional tools—that is, by techniques that are highly developed and widely used or by techniques that are relatively new and still being developed. This chapter reviews techniques of unconventional nanofabrication, and focuses on experimentally simple and inexpensive approaches to pattern features with dimensions <100 nm. The techniques discussed include soft lithography, scanning probe lithography, and edge lithography. The chapter includes recent advances in fabricating nanostructures using each set of techniques, together with demonstrated advantages, limitations, and applications for each.

Epidemiological data have consistently found an inverse association between coffee consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D). It is unclear whether changes in coffee consumption are associated with subsequent risk of T2D. Therefore, we analyzed whether 4‐year changes in coffee and tea consumption predicted subsequent risk of T2D among 48,721 women from the Nurses’ Health Study (1986–2006) who were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at baseline. Diet was assessed using a validated FFQ and updated every 4 years. We documented 3482 cases of T2D during 20 years of follow‐up. In Cox proportional hazards regression analyses, adjusting for baseline and 4‐year changes in dietary and lifestyle variables, we found that women who decreased their coffee intake by 1 serving/day, over a 4‐year period, had a 17% higher risk for T2D (RR=1.17, 95% CI: 1.06–1.30) compared to those who made no changes in coffee consumption. Conversely, those who increased their coffee intake by 1 serving/day had a 13% lower risk for T2D (RR=0.87, 95% CI: 0.77–0.99). We did not observe any significant associations between changes in tea intake and T2D. There was no evidence that these associations were modified by baseline coffee/tea intake, changes in smoking status, body weight, hypertension, or high cholesterol. Our data provide novel evidence that changes in coffee consumption habits influence subsequent risk of T2D in women. Grant Funding Source : Supported by NIH grants CA87969, CA055075, DK58845, HL60712

The elevated prevalence of cardiometabolic disorders is consistently reported in patients with severe mental illness (SMI). We explored the association between parental SMI and offspring cardiometabolic morbidity. Our hypothesis was that offspring of people with SMI have increased morbidity risk.The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 is a study of offspring whose date of birth was expected in 1966. The follow-up lasted until 2015 (49 years). The final study sample included 11,175 children. We used parental SMI as the exposure in the study. The following cardiometabolic disorders were used as outcome measures: diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, coronary artery disease, obesity, and cerebrovascular disorders.There were 139 (14.7%; hazard ratios [HR] = 1.63; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.36-1.94) children of parents with SMI who developed cardiometabolic disorder during follow-up and 957 (9.4%) in the comparison cohort. Statistically significant HRs were found in males (HR = 1.95; 95% CI =1.56-2.44), but not in females (HR = 1.29; 95% CI = 0.96-1.73).Having a cardiometabolic disorder was associated with male offspring of parents with SMI. Our findings suggest that there is an elevated risk of coronary artery disease, hyperlipidemia, obesity, and hypertension in the male offspring of parents with SMI. Our results suggest that the somatic health of offspring of parents with SMI should also be considered in addition to their mental health in clinical practice.