Associations Between Cohabitation, Marriage, and Suspected Crime : a Longitudinal Within-Individual Study

The effects of marriage on criminal behavior have been studied extensively. As marriages today are typically preceded by cohabiting relationships, there is a growing need to clarify how different relationship types are associated with criminality, and how these effects may be modified by relationship duration, partner's criminality, and crime type. We used Finnish longitudinal register data and between- and within-individual analyses to examine how cohabitation and marriage were associated with suspected crime. The data included 638,118 residents of Finland aged 0-14 in 2000 and followed for 17 years for a suspected crime: having been suspected of violent, drug, or any crime. Between-individual analyses suggested that those who were cohabiting or married had a 40-65% lower risk of being suspected of a crime compared to those who were single, depending on the type of crime. The within-individual analysis showed a 25-50% lower risk for suspected crime when people were cohabiting or married compared to time periods when they were single. Those in a relationship with a criminal partner had 11 times higher risk for suspected crime than those in a relationship with a non-criminal partner. Forming a cohabiting relationship with a non-criminal partner was associated with reduced criminality. The risk reduction was not fully explained by selection effects due to between-individual differences. Marriage did not introduce further reduction to criminality. Our findings demonstrate that selection effects partly explain the association between relationship status and criminality but are also compatible with a causal effect of cohabitation on reduced risk of being suspected of a crime.Peer reviewe

Unemployment and subsequent depression : A mediation analysis using the parametric G-formula

The effects of unemployment on depression are difficult to establish because of confounding and limited understanding of the mechanisms at the population level. In particular, due to longitudinal interdependencies between exposures, mediators and outcomes, intermediate confounding is an obstacle for mediation analyses. Using longitudinal Finnish register data on socio-economic characteristics and medication purchases, we extracted individuals who entered the labor market between ages 16 and 25 in the period 1996 to 2001 and followed them until the year 2007 (n = 42,172). With the parametric G-formula we estimated the population-averaged effect on first antidepressant purchase of a simulated intervention which set all unemployed person-years to employed. In the data, 74% of person-years were employed and 8% unemployed, the rest belonging to studying or other status. In the intervention scenario, employment rose to 85% and the hazard of first antidepressant purchase decreased by 7.6%. Of this reduction 61% was mediated, operating primarily through changes in income and household status, while mediation through other health conditions was negligible. These effects were negligible for women and particularly prominent among less educated men. By taking complex interdependencies into account in a framework of observed repeated measures data, we found that eradicating unemployment raises income levels, promotes family formation, and thereby reduces antidepressant consumption at the population-level.Peer reviewe

Geenitestit ja lääkehoito

Lääkeinfo.Lääkehoitoihin vaikuttavien geenien tutkiminen voi auttaa suunnittelemaan potilaalle sopivan lääkehoidon ja ehkäisemään lääkehoitojen haittavaikutuksia tai parantamaan hoidon tehoa

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes as single electron transistors

Single electron transistors (SET) are fabricated from multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) by manipulation with an atomic force microscope. The devices consist of either a single MWNT with Au contacts at the ends or of two crossing tubes. In the latter device, the lower nanotube acted as the central island of a single electron transistor while the upper one functioned as a gate electrode. Coulomb blockade oscillations were observed on the nanotube at low temperatures. The voltage noise of the nanotube-SET was gain dependent as in conventional SETs. The charge sensitivity at 10 Hz was 6x10 exp -4 e/√Hz. Furthermore, in another device where the MWNT is suspended above the substrate between the electrodes, we measure an extremely high charge sensitivity of 6x 10 exp -6 e/√Hz at 45 Hz, comparable to the best of the conventional SETs.Peer reviewe

The changing contribution of childhood social characteristics to mortality: a comparison of Finnish cohorts born in 1936–50 and 1961–75

Background: Life course epidemiology suggests that early life circumstances affect adult mortality, but most of the evidence is based on cohorts born in the beginning of the 20th century. It remains unclear whether and how the influences of early life circumstances on mortality have changed in later birth cohorts. Methods: Analyses rely on 10% register-based samples of households drawn from the 1950 and the 1975 Finnish censuses, with consistent follow-up of socioeconomic and housing-related characteristics and early mid-life mortality (at ages 30-55 years). We estimate survival models for the associations between childhood circumstances and all-cause, internal and external mortality for cohorts born in 1936-50 and 1961-75 adjusting for attained social characteristics. We estimate sibling intraclass correlations as summary measures of all early life and familial influences. Results: Adverse childhood social circumstances were typically associated with about 10-30% excess cause-specific mortality. These associations were almost fully attenuated by adjustment for achieved later life social characteristics. Early life influences have grown over time for mortality from external causes, particularly as related to home ownership and family type. Differentials have remained stable for internal causes. The intraclass correlations further confirmed the increasing association of early life circumstances on external-cause mortality. Conclusions: Our analyses show that the associations between childhood characteristics and mid-life mortality are substantial and almost fully mediated by achieved adult social characteristics. The increase in the contribution of childhood circumstances to mid-life mortality is driven by ever stronger associations with external causes of death.Peer reviewe

Rotation and torsion of the left ventricle with cardiovascular magnetic resonance tagging : comparison of two analysis methods

Abstract Background Left ventricle rotation and torsion are fundamental components of myocardial function, and several software packages have been developed for analysis of these components. The purpose of this study was to compare the suitability of two software packages with different technical principles for analysis of rotation and torsion of the left ventricle during systole. Methods A group of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients (N = 14, age 43 ± 11 years), mutation carriers without hypertrophy (N = 10, age 34 ± 13 years), and healthy relatives (N = 12, age 43 ± 17 years) underwent a cardiovascular magnetic resonance examination, including spatial modulation of magnetization tagging sequences in basal and apical planes of the left ventricle. The tagging images were analyzed offline using a harmonic phase image analysis method with Gabor filtering and a non-rigid registration-based free-form deformation technique. Left-ventricle rotation and torsion scores were obtained from end-diastole to end-systole with both software. Results Analysis was successful in all cases with both software applications. End-systolic torsion values between the study groups were not statistically different with either software. End-systolic apical rotation, end-systolic basal rotation, and end-systolic torsion were consistently higher when analyzed with non-rigid registration than with harmonic phase-based analysis (p <  0.0001). End-systolic rotation and torsion values had significant correlations between the two software (p <  0.0001), most significant in the apical plane. Conclusions When comparing absolute values of rotation and torsion between different individuals, software-specific reference values are required. Harmonic phase flow with Gabor filtering and non-rigid registration-based methods can both be used reliably in the analysis of systolic rotation and torsion patterns of the left ventricle