Mass ivermectin treatment for Onchocerciasis: Lack of evidence for collateral impact on transmission of Wuchereria bancrofti in areas of co-endemicity

There has long been interest in determining if mass ivermectin administration for onchocerciasis has 'unknowingly' interrupted lymphatic filariasis (LF) transmission where the endemicity of the two diseases' overlaps. We studied 11 communities in central Nigeria entomologically for LF by performing mosquito dissections on Anopheline LF vectors. Six of the communities studied were located within an onchocerciasis treatment zone, and five were located outside of that zone. Communities inside the treatment zone had been offered ivermectin treatment for two-five years, with a mean coverage of 81% of the eligible population (range 58–95%). We found 4.9% of mosquitoes were infected with any larval stage of W. bancrofti in the head or thorax in 362 dissections in the untreated villages compared to 4.7% infected in 549 dissections in the ivermectin treated villages (Mantel-Haenszel ChiSquare 0.02, P = 0.9). We concluded that ivermectin annual therapy for onchocerciasis has not interrupted transmission of Wuchereria bancrofti (the causative agent of LF in Nigeria)

Are lay people good at recognising the symptoms of schizophrenia?

©2013 Erritty, Wydell. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.Aim: The aim of this study was to explore the general public’s perception of schizophrenia symptoms and the need to seekhelp for symptoms. The recognition (or ‘labelling’) of schizophrenia symptoms, help-seeking behaviours and public awareness of schizophrenia have been suggested as potentially important factors relating to untreated psychosis. Method: Participants were asked to rate to what extent they believe vignettes describing classic symptoms (positive and negative) of schizophrenia indicate mental illness. They were also asked if the individuals depicted in the vignettes required help or treatment and asked to suggest what kind of help or treatment. Results: Only three positive symptoms (i.e., Hallucinatory behaviour, Unusual thought content and Suspiciousness) of schizophrenia were reasonably well perceived (above 70%) as indicating mental illness more than the other positive or negative symptoms. Even when the participants recognised that the symptoms indicated mental illness, not everyone recommended professional help. Conclusion: There may be a need to improve public awareness of schizophrenia and psychosis symptoms, particularly regarding an awareness of the importance of early intervention for psychosis

The 'At-risk mental state' for psychosis in adolescents : clinical presentation, transition and remission.

Despite increased efforts over the last decade to prospectively identify individuals at ultra-high risk of developing a psychotic illness, limited attention has been specifically directed towards adolescent populations (<18 years). In order to evaluate how those under 18 fulfilling the operationalised criteria for an At-Risk Mental State (ARMS) present and fare over time, we conducted an observational study. Participants (N = 30) generally reported a high degree of functional disability and frequent and distressing perceptual disturbance, mainly in the form of auditory hallucinations. Seventy percent (21/30) were found to fulfil the criteria for a co-morbid ICD-10 listed mental health disorder, with mood (affective; 13/30) disorders being most prevalent. Overall transition rates to psychosis were low at 24 months follow-up (2/28; 7.1 %) whilst many participants demonstrated a significant reduction in psychotic-like symptoms. The generalisation of these findings may be limited due to the small sample size and require replication in a larger sample

Evidence for Genetic Overlap Between Schizophrenia and Age at First Birth in Women

IMPORTANCE: A recently published study of national data by McGrath et al in 2014 showed increased risk of schizophrenia (SCZ) in offspring associated with both early and delayed parental age, consistent with a U-shaped relationship. However, it remains unclear if the risk to the child is due to psychosocial factors associated with parental age or if those at higher risk for SCZ tend to have children at an earlier or later age. OBJECTIVE: To determine if there is a genetic association between SCZ and age at first birth (AFB) using genetically informative but independently ascertained data sets. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This investigation used multiple independent genome-wide association study data sets. The SCZ sample comprised 18 957 SCZ cases and 22 673 controls in a genome-wide association study from the second phase of the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, and the AFB sample comprised 12 247 genotyped women measured for AFB from the following 4 community cohorts: Estonia (Estonian Genome Center Biobank, University of Tartu), the Netherlands (LifeLines Cohort Study), Sweden (Swedish Twin Registry), and the United Kingdom (TwinsUK). Schizophrenia genetic risk for each woman in the AFB community sample was estimated using genetic effects inferred from the SCZ genome-wide association study. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: We tested if SCZ genetic risk was a significant predictor of response variables based on published polynomial functions that described the relationship between maternal age and SCZ risk in offspring in Denmark. We substituted AFB for maternal age in these functions, one of which was corrected for the age of the father, and found that the fit was superior for the model without adjustment for the father's age. RESULTS: We observed a U-shaped relationship between SCZ risk and AFB in the community cohorts, consistent with the previously reported relationship between SCZ risk in offspring and maternal age when not adjusted for the age of the father. We confirmed that SCZ risk profile scores significantly predicted the response variables (coefficient of determination R2 = 1.1E-03, P = 4.1E-04), reflecting the published relationship between maternal age and SCZ risk in offspring by McGrath et al in 2014. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: This study provides evidence for a significant overlap between genetic factors associated with risk of SCZ and genetic factors associated with AFB. It has been reported that SCZ risk associated with increased maternal age is explained by the age of the father and that de novo mutations that occur more frequently in the germline of older men are the underlying causal mechanism. This explanation may need to be revised if, as suggested herein and if replicated in future studies, there is also increased genetic risk of SCZ in older mothers

Characterization of Leishmania spp. causing cutaneous leishmaniasis in Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

In the State of Amazonas, American tegumentary leishmaniasis is endemic and presents a wide spectrum of clinical variability due to the large diversity of circulating species in the region. Isolates from patients in Manaus and its metropolitan region were characterized using monoclonal antibodies and isoenzymes belonging to four species of the parasite: Leishmania (Viannia) guyanensis, 73% (153/209); Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis, 14% (30/209); Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis, 8% (17/209); and Leishmania (Viannia) naiffii, 4% (9/209). The most prevalent species was L. (V.) guyanensis. The principal finding of this study was the important quantity of infections involving more than one parasite species, representing 14% (29/209) of the total. The findings obtained in this work regarding the parasite are further highlighted by the fact that these isolates were obtained from clinical samples collected from single lesions

Comparison of the ‘Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus’ Genome Adapted for an Intracellular Lifestyle with Other Members of the Rhizobiales

An intracellular plant pathogen ‘Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus,’ a member of the Rhizobiales, is related to Sinorhizobium meliloti, Bradyrhizobium japonicum, nitrogen fixing endosymbionts, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, a plant pathogen, and Bartonella henselae, an intracellular mammalian pathogen. Whole chromosome comparisons identified at least 50 clusters of conserved orthologous genes found on the chromosomes of all five metabolically diverse species. The intracellular pathogens ‘Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus’ and Bartonella henselae have genomes drastically reduced in gene content and size as well as a relatively low content of guanine and cytosine. Codon and amino acid preferences that emphasize low guanosine and cytosine usage are globally employed in these genomes, including within regions of microsynteny and within signature sequences of orthologous proteins. The length of orthologous proteins is generally conserved, but not their isoelectric points, consistent with extensive amino acid substitutions to accommodate selection for low GC content. The ‘Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus’ genome apparently has all of the genes required for DNA replication present in Sinorhizobium meliloti except it has only two, rather than three RNaseH genes. The gene set required for DNA repair has only one rather than ten DNA ligases found in Sinorhizobium meliloti, and the DNA PolI of ‘Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus’ lacks domains needed for excision repair. Thus the ability of ‘Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus’ to repair mutations in its genome may be impaired. Both ‘Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus and Bartonella henselae lack enzymes needed for the metabolism of purines and pyrimidines, which must therefore be obtained from the host. The ‘Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus’ genome also has a greatly reduced set of sigma factors used to control transcription, and lacks sigma factors 24, 28 and 38. The ‘Ca. Liberibacter asiaticus’ genome has all of the hallmarks of a reduced genome of a pathogen adapted to an intracellular lifestyle

The ethics of psychopharmacological research in legal minors

Research in psychopharmacology for children and adolescents is fraught with ethical problems and tensions. This has practical consequences as it leads to a paucity of the research that is essential to support the treatment of this vulnerable group. In this article, we will discuss some of the ethical issues which are relevant to such research, and explore their implications for both research and standard care. We suggest that finding a way forward requires a willingness to acknowledge and discuss the inherent conflicts between the ethical principles involved. Furthermore, in order to facilitate more, ethically sound psychopharmacology research in children and adolescents, we suggest more ethical analysis, empirical ethics research and ethics input built into psychopharmacological research design