History of offending behavior in first episode psychosis patients: A marker of specific clinical needs and a call for early detection strategies among young offenders.

OBJECTIVES: Previous literature suggests that early psychosis (EP) patients with a history of offending behavior (HOB) have specific clinical needs. The aims of this study were to assess: (1) the prevalence of HOB in a representative sample of EP; (2) the premorbid and baseline characteristics of patients with HOB, and (3) the potential differences in short-term outcome of such patients when compared to patients without HOB. METHODS: The Early Psychosis Prevention and Intervention Centre (EPPIC) admitted 786 EP patients between 1998 and 2000. Data were collected from patients' files using a standardized questionnaire. Data of 647 patients could be analyzed. RESULTS: HOB patients (29% of the sample) were more likely to be male with lower level of premorbid functioning and education, have used illicit substances and have attempted suicide. They presented with a more complex clinical picture and had poorer 18-month outcome. Most importantly, they had a significantly longer duration of untreated psychosis. CONCLUSIONS: On the basis of the high prevalence and specific features of EP patients with HOB, our study confirms a need for additional research in this domain and for the development of specific treatment strategies. Most importantly, it suggests a need for the promotion of early detection strategies among the populations of young offenders, considering that some of them may be going through the early phases of a psychotic disorder and that reduction of treatment delay and provision of well adapted interventions may have a significant impact at numerous levels in such patients.

Exhumation history of eastern Ladakh revealed by 40Ar/39Ar and fission-track ages: the Indus River-Tso Morari transect, NW Himalaya

Fission-track and (40)Ar/(39)Ar ages place time constraints on the exhumation of the North Himalayan nappe stack, the Indus Suture Zone and Molasse, and the Transhimalayan Batholith in eastern Ladakh (NW India). Results from this and previous studies on a north-south transect passing near Tso Morari Lake suggest that the SW-directed North Himalayan nappe stack (comprising the Mata, Tetraogal and Tso Morari nappes) was emplaced and metamorphosed by c. 50-45 Ma, and exhumed to moderately shallow depths (c. 10 km) by c. 45-40 Ma. From the mid-Eocene to the present, exhumation continued at a steady and slow rate except for the root zone of the Tso Morari nappe, which cooled faster than the rest of the nappe stack. Rapid cooling occurred at c. 20 Ma and is linked to brittle deformation along the normal Ribil-Zildat Fault concomitant with extrusion of the Crystalline nappe in the south. Data from the Indus Molasse suggest that sediments were still being deposited during the Miocene.

Family history of cancer: pooled analysis in the International Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology Consortium.

Alcohol and tobacco consumption are well-recognized risk factors for head and neck cancer (HNC). Evidence suggests that genetic predisposition may also play a role. Only a few epidemiologic studies, however, have considered the relation between HNC risk and family history of HNC and other cancers. We pooled individual-level data across 12 case-control studies including 8,967 HNC cases and 13,627 controls. We obtained pooled odds ratios (OR) using fixed and random effect models and adjusting for potential confounding factors. All statistical tests were two-sided. A family history of HNC in first-degree relatives increased the risk of HNC (OR=1.7, 95% confidence interval, CI, 1.2-2.3). The risk was higher when the affected relative was a sibling (OR=2.2, 95% CI 1.6-3.1) rather than a parent (OR=1.5, 95% CI 1.1-1.8) and for more distal HNC anatomic sites (hypopharynx and larynx). The risk was also higher, or limited to, in subjects exposed to tobacco. The OR rose to 7.2 (95% CI 5.5-9.5) among subjects with family history, who were alcohol and tobacco users. A weak but significant association (OR=1.1, 95% CI 1.0-1.2) emerged for family history of other tobacco-related neoplasms, particularly with laryngeal cancer (OR=1.3, 95% CI 1.1-1.5). No association was observed for family history of nontobacco-related neoplasms and the risk of HNC (OR=1.0, 95% CI 0.9-1.1). Familial factors play a role in the etiology of HNC. In both subjects with and without family history of HNC, avoidance of tobacco and alcohol exposure may be the best way to avoid HNC.

Coulier, Paul-Jean (1824-1890) : a precursor in the history of fingermark detection and their potential use for identifying their source (1863)

An online copy of a 1863 French book, The Scientific and Industrial Year (English translation of the title), that predates other historically significant writings about fingerprints suggests the use of iodine stains to reproduce papillary lines of the skin and suggests the feasibility of identifying suspects by touch. It also suggests the use of a magnifying glass for comparing those impressions whose origins need to be determined.

Meal-induced thermogenesis in obese children with or without familial history of obesity.

Resting metabolic rate (RMR) and the thermic effect of a meal (TEM) were measured in a group of 26 prepubertal children divided into three groups: (1) children with both parents obese (n = 8, group OB2); (2) children with no obese parents and without familial history of obesity (n = 8, OB0); and (3) normal body weight children (n = 10, C). Average RMR was similar in OB2 and OB0 children (4785 +/- 274 kJ/day vs 5091 +/- 543 kJ/day), but higher (P < 0.05) than in controls (4519 +/- 322 kJ/day). Adjusted for fat-free mass (FFM) mean RMRs were comparable in the three groups of children (4891 +/- 451 kJ/day vs 5031 +/- 451 kJ/day vs 4686 +/- 451 kJ/day in OB2, OB0, and C, respectively). The thermic response to the mixed meal was similar in OB2, OB0 and C groups. The TEM calculated as the percentage of RMR was lower (P < 0.05) in obese than in control children: 10.2% +/- 3.1% vs 10.9% +/- 4.3% vs 14.0% +/- 4.3% in OB2, OB0, and C, respectively. The similar RMR as absolute value as well as adjusted for FFM, and the comparable thermic effect of food in the obese children with or without familial history of obesity, failed to support the view that family history of obesity can greatly influence the RMR and the TEM of the obese child with obese parents.

Contribution of recombination to the evolutionary history of HIV.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: An improved understanding of how recombination affects the evolutionary history of HIV is crucial to understand its current and future evolution. The present review aims to disentangle the manifold effects of recombination on HIV by discussing its effects on the evolutionary history and the adaptive potential of HIV in the context of concepts from evolutionary genetics and genomics. RECENT FINDINGS: The increasing occurrence of secondary contacts between divergent subtype populations (during coinfection) results in increased observations of recombinants worldwide. Recombination is heterogeneous along the HIV genome. Consequences of recombination of HIV evolution are, in combination with other demographic processes, expected to either homogenize the genetic composition of HIV populations (homogenization) or provide the potential for novel adaptations (diversification). New methods in population genomics allow deep characterization of recombinant genome (the segment composition and origin) and their evolutionary trajectories. SUMMARY: HIV recombinants increase worldwide and invade geographical regions where pure subtypes were previously predominant. This trend is expected to continue in the future, as ease to travel worldwide increases opportunities for recombination between divergent HIV strains. While the effects of recombination in HIV are much researched, more effort is required to characterize current HIV recombinant composition and dynamics. This can be achieved with new population genetic and genomic methods.

Evolutionary history of almond tree domestication in the Mediterranean basin.

Genetic diversity of contemporary domesticated species is shaped by both natural and human-driven processes. However, until now, little is known about how domestication has imprinted the variation of fruit tree species. In this study, we reconstruct the recent evolutionary history of the domesticated almond tree, Prunus dulcis, around the Mediterranean basin, using a combination of nuclear and chloroplast microsatellites [i.e. simple sequence repeat (SSRs)] to investigate patterns of genetic diversity. Whereas conservative chloroplast SSRs show a widespread haplotype and rare locally distributed variants, nuclear SSRs show a pattern of isolation by distance with clines of diversity from the East to the West of the Mediterranean basin, while Bayesian genetic clustering reveals a substantial longitudinal genetic structure. Both kinds of markers thus support a single domestication event, in the eastern side of the Mediterranean basin. In addition, model-based estimation of the timing of genetic divergence among those clusters is estimated sometime during the Holocene, a result that is compatible with human-mediated dispersal of almond tree out of its centre of origin. Still, the detection of region-specific alleles suggests that gene flow from relictual wild preglacial populations (in North Africa) or from wild counterparts (in the Near East) could account for a fraction of the diversity observed.

Can we continue to neglect genomic variation in introgression rates when inferring the history of speciation? A case study in a Mytilus hybrid zone.

The use of molecular data to reconstruct the history of divergence and gene flow between populations of closely related taxa represents a challenging problem. It has been proposed that the long-standing debate about the geography of speciation can be resolved by comparing the likelihoods of a model of isolation with migration and a model of secondary contact. However, data are commonly only fit to a model of isolation with migration and rarely tested against the secondary contact alternative. Furthermore, most demographic inference methods have neglected variation in introgression rates and assume that the gene flow parameter (Nm) is similar among loci. Here, we show that neglecting this source of variation can give misleading results. We analysed DNA sequences sampled from populations of the marine mussels, Mytilus edulis and M. galloprovincialis, across a well-studied mosaic hybrid zone in Europe and evaluated various scenarios of speciation, with or without variation in introgression rates, using an Approximate Bayesian Computation (ABC) approach. Models with heterogeneous gene flow across loci always outperformed models assuming equal migration rates irrespective of the history of gene flow being considered. By incorporating this heterogeneity, the best-supported scenario was a long period of allopatric isolation during the first three-quarters of the time since divergence followed by secondary contact and introgression during the last quarter. By contrast, constraining migration to be homogeneous failed to discriminate among any of the different models of gene flow tested. Our simulations thus provide statistical support for the secondary contact scenario in the European Mytilus hybrid zone that the standard coalescent approach failed to confirm. Our results demonstrate that genomic variation in introgression rates can have profound impacts on the biological conclusions drawn from inference methods and needs to be incorporated in future studies.