ADHD in international adoptees: a national cohort study

Several investigators have reported an increased frequency of attention/hyperactivity symptoms in international adoptees, though population-based studies are lacking. In this national cohort study, we aimed to determine the prevalence of ADHD medication in international adoptees in Sweden, in comparison to the general population. A further purpose was to study gender, age at adoption and region of origin as predictors of ADHD medication in international adoptees. The study population consisted of all Swedish residents born in 1985–2000 with Swedish-born parents, divided into 16,134 adoptees, and a comparison population of 1,326,090. ADHD medications were identified in the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register during 2006. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratios. The rates of ADHD medication were higher in international adoptees than in the comparison population for both boys (5.3 vs. 1.5% for 10–15-year olds) and girls (2.1 vs. 0.3% for 10–15-year olds). International adoptees from all regions of birth more often consumed ADHD medication compared with the majority population, but the age and sex adjusted odds ratios were particularly high for adoptees from Eastern Europe, Middle East/Africa and Latin America. Adjusting for maternal education and single parenthood increased the odds ratios even further. The risk also increased with higher age at adoption. Adoptees from Eastern Europe have a very high risk for ADHD medication. A structured identification and support programme should be tailored for this group. Adoptees from other regions have a more moderately increased risk, which should be communicated to adoptive parents and to professionals who care for adoptees in their clinical practice

Qdensity - a Mathematica Quantum Computer Simulation

This Mathematica 5.2 package~\footnote{QDENSITY is available at http://www.pitt.edu/~tabakin/QDENSITY} is a simulation of a Quantum Computer. The program provides a modular, instructive approach for generating the basic elements that make up a quantum circuit. The main emphasis is on using the density matrix, although an approach using state vectors is also implemented in the package. The package commands are defined in {\it Qdensity.m} which contains the tools needed in quantum circuits, e.g. multiqubit kets, projectors, gates, etc. Selected examples of the basic commands are presented here and a tutorial notebook, {\it Tutorial.nb} is provided with the package (available on our website) that serves as a full guide to the package. Finally, application is made to a variety of relevant cases, including Teleportation, Quantum Fourier transform, Grover's search and Shor's algorithm, in separate notebooks: {\it QFT.nb}, {\it Teleportation.nb}, {\it Grover.nb} and {\it Shor.nb} where each algorithm is explained in detail. Finally, two examples of the construction and manipulation of cluster states, which are part of ``one way computing" ideas, are included as an additional tool in the notebook {\it Cluster.nb}. A Mathematica palette containing most commands in QDENSITY is also included: {\it QDENSpalette.nb} .Comment: The Mathematica 5+ package is available at: http://www.pitt.edu/~tabakin/QDENSITY/QDENSITY.htm Minor corrections, accepted in Computer Physics Communication

A national cohort study of parental socioeconomic status and non-fatal suicidal behaviour-the mediating role of school performance

Background: A link between low parental socioeconomic status and mental health problems in offspring is well established in previous research. The mechanisms that explain this link are largely unknown. The present study investigated whether school performance was a mediating and/or moderating factor in the path between parental socioeconomic status and the risk of hospital admission for non-fatal suicidal behaviour. Methods: A national cohort of 447 929 children born during 1973-1977 was followed prospectively in the National Patient Discharge Register from the end of their ninth and final year of compulsory school until 2001. Multivariate Cox proportional hazards and linear regression analyses were performed to test whether the association between parental socioeconomic status and non-fatal suicidal behaviour was mediated or moderated by school performance. Results: The results of a series of multiple regression analyses, adjusted for demographic variables, revealed that school performance was as an important mediator in the relationship between parental socioeconomic status and risk of non-fatal suicidal behaviour, accounting for 60% of the variance. The hypothesized moderation of parental socioeconomic status-non-fatal suicidal behaviour relationship by school performance was not supported. Conclusions: School performance is an important mediator through which parental socioeconomic status translates into a risk for non-fatal suicidal behaviour. Prevention efforts aimed to reduce socioeconomic inequalities in non-fatal suicidal behaviour among young people will need to consider socioeconomic inequalities in school performance

Extended quantum conditional entropy and quantum uncertainty inequalities

Quantum states can be subjected to classical measurements, whose incompatibility, or uncertainty, can be quantified by a comparison of certain entropies. There is a long history of such entropy inequalities between position and momentum. Recently these inequalities have been generalized to the tensor product of several Hilbert spaces and we show here how their derivations can be shortened to a few lines and how they can be generalized. All the recently derived uncertainty relations utilize the strong subadditivity (SSA) theorem; our contribution relies on directly utilizing the proof technique of the original derivation of SSA.Comment: 4 page

Resolution of the clinical features of tyrosinemia following orthotopic liver transplantation for hepatoma

The clinical history before transplantation and subsequent clinical and biochemical course of 3 children and one adult with hereditary tyrosinemia treated by orthotopic hepatic transplantation is described. All four patients are now free of their previous dietary restrictions and appear to be cured of both their metabolic disease and their hepatic neoplasm. © 1986 Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. All rights reserved

A Missense Mutation in the SERPINH1 Gene in Dachshunds with Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a hereditary disease occurring in humans and dogs. It is characterized by extremely fragile bones and teeth. Most human and some canine OI cases are caused by mutations in the COL1A1 and COL1A2 genes encoding the subunits of collagen I. Recently, mutations in the CRTAP and LEPRE1 genes were found to cause some rare forms of human OI. Many OI cases exist where the causative mutation has not yet been found. We investigated Dachshunds with an autosomal recessive form of OI. Genotyping only five affected dogs on the 50 k canine SNP chip allowed us to localize the causative mutation to a 5.82 Mb interval on chromosome 21 by homozygosity mapping. Haplotype analysis of five additional carriers narrowed the interval further down to 4.74 Mb. The SERPINH1 gene is located within this interval and encodes an essential chaperone involved in the correct folding of the collagen triple helix. Therefore, we considered SERPINH1 a positional and functional candidate gene and performed mutation analysis in affected and control Dachshunds. A missense mutation (c.977C>T, p.L326P) located in an evolutionary conserved domain was perfectly associated with the OI phenotype. We thus have identified a candidate causative mutation for OI in Dachshunds and identified a fifth OI gene

Qcmpi: A Parallel Environment for Quantum Computing

QCMPI is a quantum computer (QC) simulation package written in Fortran 90 with parallel processing capabilities. It is an accessible research tool that permits rapid evaluation of quantum algorithms for a large number of qubits and for various "noise" scenarios. The prime motivation for developing QCMPI is to facilitate numerical examination of not only how QC algorithms work, but also to include noise, decoherence, and attenuation effects and to evaluate the efficacy of error correction schemes. The present work builds on an earlier Mathematica code QDENSITY, which is mainly a pedagogic tool. In QCMPI, the stress is on state vectors, in order to employ a large number of qubits. The parallel processing feature is implemented by using the Message-Passing Interface (MPI) protocol. Codes for Grover's search and Shor's factoring algorithms are provided as examples. A major feature of this work is that concurrent versions of the algorithms can be evaluated with each version subject to alternate noise effects, which corresponds to the idea of solving a stochastic Schr\"{o}dinger equation.Comment: Package webpage http://www.pitt.edu/~tabakin/QCMP

School performance of international adoptees better than expected from cognitive test results

Objective: To investigate school performance of international adoptees in relation to their cognitive competence. Method: From the population of all male Swedish residents born 1973–1976, registered in the census 1985 and with complete test scores from military conscription, the following study groups were identified: Korean adoptees (n = 320), non-Korean adoptees (n = 1,125), siblings (children born by adoptive parents, n = 190) and Swedish majority comparisons (n = 142,024). Global scores from intelligence tests at conscription were compared with grade points from the last compulsory school year (year 9). Linear and logistic regression was applied in statistical analyses. Results: The mean grade points in theoretical subjects were lower in non-Korean adoptees than in the majority population, but when global test scores from military conscription were adjusted for, outcomes were significantly better, equal for physics, than in the majority population. The grade points of Korean adoptees were higher than in the majority population and the same held true after adjusting for global test scores. When SES was taken into account, the risk of poor school performance (only completed lower subject levels) increased in non-Korean adoptees compared to models only adjusted for age and sex. Conclusion: Male international adoptees generally perform better in school than expected by their cognitive competence. A cognitive evaluation is important in the assessment of adoptees with learning difficulties