Aim of the study was to examine the course of schizophrenia patients within 2 years after discharge. Within a multicenter study of the German Competence Network on Schizophrenia, patients suffering ...from a schizophrenia spectrum disorder were examined regarding their psychopathological improvement, tolerability, and the treatment regime applied during hospitalization and a 2-year follow-up period. Response, remission, the level of everyday functioning, and relapse were furthermore evaluated during the follow-up period using established definitions for these outcome domains. The psychopharmacological treatment was specifically evaluated in terms of a potential association with relapse. 149 patients were available for analysis, with 65% of the patients being in response, 52% in symptomatic remission, and 64% having a satisfiable everyday functioning 2 years after their discharge from hospital. Despite these favorable outcome rates, 63% of the patients suffered from a relapse within the 2-year follow-up period with 86% of these patients being rehospitalized. Discharge non-responder and non-remitter were twice as likely to relapse during follow-up. A significant decrease of side-effects was observed with negligible rates of extrapyramidal side-effects, sedation, and weight gain during follow-up. Patients receiving treatment with atypical antipsychotics were found to have the lowest risk to relapse (
p
< 0.0001). The results highlight the natural and unsteady course of schizophrenia in most patients underlining the need to develop more specific treatment strategies ensuring ongoing stability and preventing relapse.
The specialization of left ventral occipitotemporal brain regions to automatically process word forms develops with reading acquisition and is diminished in children with poor reading skills (PR). ...Using a fast periodic visual oddball stimulation (FPVS) design during electroencephalography (EEG), we examined the level of sensitivity and familiarity to word form processing in ninety-two children in 2nd and 3rd grade with varying reading skills (n = 35 for PR, n = 40 for typical reading skills; TR).
To test children's level of “sensitivity”, false font (FF) and consonant string (CS) oddballs were embedded in base presentations of word (W) stimuli. “Familiarity” was examined by presenting letter string oddballs with increasing familiarity (CS, pseudoword – PW, W) in FF base stimuli.
Overall, our results revealed stronger left-hemispheric coarse sensitivity effects (“FF in W” > “CS in W”) in TR than in PR in both topographic and oddball frequency analyses. Further, children distinguished between orthographically legal and illegal (“W/PW in FF” > “CS in FF”) but not yet between lexical and non-lexical (“W in FF” vs “PW in FF”) word forms. Although both TR and PR exhibit visual sensitivity and can distinguish between orthographically legal and illegal letter strings, they still struggle with nuanced lexical distinctions. Moreover, the strength of sensitivity is linked to reading proficiency. Our work adds to established knowledge in the field to characterize the relationship between print tuning and reading skills and suggests differences in the developmental progress to automatically process word forms.
This study examines the effect of meteorological variables, such as temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, and relative humidity on average monthly crawfish (Procambarus spp.) harvests at 6 ...research ponds located at the Aquaculture Research Station in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, operated by the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center. Eight years (2006–2013) of harvest data were collected spanning February, March, and April of each year. Using multiple regression and model selection processes, the effect of meteorological variables was assessed at 3 different monthly lags (lag 0, 1, and 2) to determine which combination of variables best explained variance in average monthly crawfish pounds per trap (AMPT). The final model selected for lag 0 (adj-rsq = 0.73, p < 0.01), lag 1 (adj-rsq = 0.71, p < 0.01), and lag 2 (adj-rsq = 0.69, p < 0.01) generally included the same variables: monthly average low temperature, precipitation, and the preceding October/November precipitation (ON). Both monthly average low temperature and ON exhibited a statistically significant (p ≤ 0.05) positive effect on AMPT while controlling for other variables in the model, revealing the importance of warm temperatures and precipitation during October/November for crawfish harvests. Precipitation during the harvest month was not significant, but increased precipitation 1 and 2 mo before harvest significantly decreased AMPT. The number of hours with temperatures ≤0°C was also a significant variable negatively associated with AMPT 1 and 2 mo before harvest and, along with precipitation, could potentially be an early indicator for AMPT before harvests begin in southern Louisiana.
This paper analyzes a model in which housing tenure choice serves as a means of screening households with different utilization rates. If the proportion of low-utilization types is small, there is a ...separating equilibrium at which tenure choice acts as a screening device: consistent with empirical evidence, low-utilization households buy a house, while high-utilization types rent. Otherwise, there is a pooling equilibrium. The reason why, contrary to standard screening models, a pooling equilibrium possibly exists is indivisibility of home ownership, which makes it a very costly screening device. Introducing partial ownership restores the standard results: non-existence of a pooling equilibrium and possible non-existence of equilibrium.
Starting from the basic photon detection process in semiconductors, the function, principles and properties of sophisticated silicon detectors are discussed. These detectors are based on, or inspired ...by, the semiconductor drift detector. They have already shown their potential in X‐ray astronomy (pn‐CCD) and in X‐ray spectroscopy (silicon drift diode), and further detector types (DEPFET pixel detector and macro‐pixel detector) are under development for several other future experiments. The detectors seem to be very well suited for synchrotron radiation experiments.
Despite being recommended for use in clinical trials, the consensus remission criteria were found to leave patients with persisting symptoms, relevant areas of functional impairment and a decreased ...sense of wellbeing. Therefore, to evaluate the appropriateness of the schizophrenia consensus criteria, a definition of remission based on the Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI) was developed and remitter subgroups were compared.
239 patients with a schizophrenia spectrum disorder were evaluated regarding their remission status after inpatient treatment. Remission in schizophrenia was defined according to the symptom-severity component of the consensus criteria by Andreasen et al. and a CGI based definition was calculated using sensitivity and specificity using receiver operating curves (asymptomatic remitter). Both remitter groups (schizophrenia consensus versus asymptomatic remitters) were compared regarding different clinical variables at discharge as well as the likelihood to relapse within a 1-year follow-up period. Both schizophrenia remitter subgroups were compared to remitters in major depression as a reference value.
Following the consensus criteria, 63% of the schizophrenia patients were in remission compared to only 18% following the asymptomatic criterion. The schizophrenia consensus remitters were less likely to be concurrent treatment responders (p < 0.0001), had a significantly greater illness severity (p < 0.0001) and less functioning (p = 0.0358) as well as a significantly greater risk to relapse (p = 0.0174) compared to the schizophrenia asymptomatic remitters as well as the depressed remitters.
It should be critically re-evaluated if the currently proposed consensus criteria are adequate to measure what is traditionally understood to be remission.
Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is caused by homozygous mutation or deletion of the SMN1 gene encoding survival of motor neuron (SMN) protein, resulting in the selective loss of alpha-motor neurons. ...Humans typically have one or more copies of the SMN2 gene, the coding region of which is nearly identical to SMN1, except that a point mutation causes splicing out of exon 7 and production of a largely nonfunctional SMNDelta7 protein. The development of drugs that mitigate aberrant SMN2 splicing is an attractive therapeutic approach for SMA. A steric block antisense oligonucleotide (AO) has recently been developed that blocked an intronic splice suppressor element, and enhanced SMN2 exon 7 inclusion in SMA patient fibroblasts. Here, we show that periodic intracerebroventricular (ICV) delivery of this AO resulted in increased SMN expression in brain and spinal cord to as much as 50% of the level of healthy littermates. Real-time PCR of SMN2 transcripts confirmed the AO-mediated increase in full-length SMN. The AO-derived increase in SMN expression led to a concomitant improvement in bodyweight throughout the lifespan of the SMA animals. Treatment of SMA mice with AO also provided partial correction of motor deficits, manifest as improved righting response. Injections of a scrambled oligonucleotide had no effect on SMN expression or phenotype in the SMA mice. Our results validate that AOs that abrogate aberrant splicing of SMN2 are promising compounds for treating SMA.
In a article in this journal, Schnabel and Roumi (1989) assert that if uninsured debt is risky, a levered firm takes a casualty insurance with a positive safety loading if, and only if, the amount of ...debt is sufficiently high. This note shows that in marked contrast to this assertion, the correct conclusion from their model is that the firm generally takes insurance for low levels of risky debt, and it depends on the magnitude of the loading whether it also takes insurance for high levels of debt.
A new DEPFET detector-amplifier structure with strongly non-linear characteristics is presented. It will be used as basic element of an X-ray pixel detector at the new XFEL free electron laser ...radiation source to be constructed in Hamburg, Germany, providing at the same time single X-ray photon detection and high dynamic range even when operated at readout frequency up to 5
MHz. This is possible due to the new detector concept that adds to the excellent DEPFET properties – combined function of detector amplifier and data storage, full sensitivity over whole bulk, non-destructive readout, low serial noise and absence of reset noise – the new features of very large charge handling capability and signal compression. Concept and design will be presented and properties demonstrated by extended computer simulations.
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