Association between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms and obesity and hypertension in early adulthood: a population-based study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the associations between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, obesity and hypertension in young adults in a large population-based cohort. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: The study population consisted of 15,197 respondents from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, a nationally representative sample of adolescents followed from 1995 to 2009 in the United States. Multinomial logistic and logistic models examined the odds of overweight, obesity and hypertension in adulthood in relation to retrospectively reported ADHD symptoms. Latent curve modeling was used to assess the association between symptoms and naturally occurring changes in body mass index (BMI) from adolescence to adulthood. RESULTS: Linear association was identified between the number of inattentive (IN) and hyperactive/impulsive (HI) symptoms and waist circumference, BMI, diastolic blood pressure and systolic blood pressure (all P-values for trend <0.05). Controlling for demographic variables, physical activity, alcohol use, smoking and depressive symptoms, those with three or more HI or IN symptoms had the highest odds of obesity (HI 3+, odds ratio (OR)=1.50, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.22-2.83; IN 3+, OR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.02-1.44) compared with those with no HI or IN symptoms. HI symptoms at the 3+ level were significantly associated with a higher OR of hypertension (HI 3+, OR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.01-1.51; HI continuous, OR = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.00-1.09), but associations were nonsignificant when models were adjusted for BMI. Latent growth modeling results indicated that compared with those reporting no HI or IN symptoms, those reporting 3 or more symptoms had higher initial levels of BMI during adolescence. Only HI symptoms were associated with change in BMI. CONCLUSION: Self-reported ADHD symptoms were associated with adult BMI and change in BMI from adolescence to adulthood, providing further evidence of a link between ADHD symptoms and obesity.

The spacing effect depends on an encoding deficit, retrieval, and time in working memory: evidence from once-presented words.

The spacing effect in list learning occurs because identical massed items suffer encoding deficits and because spaced items benefit from retrieval and increased time in working memory. Requiring the retrieval of identical items produced a spacing effect for recall and recognition, both for intentional and incidental learning. Not requiring retrieval produced spacing only for intentional learning because intentional learning encourages retrieval. Once-presented words provided baselines for these effects. Next, massed and spaced word pairs were judged for matches on their first three letters, forcing retrieval. The words were not identical, so there was no encoding deficit. Retrieval could and did cause spacing only for the first word of each pair; time in working memory, only for the second.

Visual memory-deficit amnesia: a distinct amnesic presentation and etiology.

We describe a form of amnesia, which we have called visual memory-deficit amnesia, that is caused by damage to areas of the visual system that store visual information. Because it is caused by a deficit in access to stored visual material and not by an impaired ability to encode or retrieve new material, it has the otherwise infrequent properties of a more severe retrograde than anterograde amnesia with no temporal gradient in the retrograde amnesia. Of the 11 cases of long-term visual memory loss found in the literature, all had amnesia extending beyond a loss of visual memory, often including a near total loss of pretraumatic episodic memory. Of the 6 cases in which both the severity of retrograde and anterograde amnesia and the temporal gradient of the retrograde amnesia were noted, 4 had a more severe retrograde amnesia with no temporal gradient and 2 had a less severe retrograde amnesia with a temporal gradient.

Response variability in Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: Evidence for neuropsychological heterogeneity

Response time (RT) variability is a common finding in ADHD research. RT variability may reflect frontal cortex function and may be related to deficits in sustained attention. The existence of a sustained attention deficit in ADHD has been debated, largely because of inconsistent evidence of time-on-task effects. A fixed-sequence Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) was given to 29 control, 39 unimpaired and 24 impaired-ADHD children (impairment defined by the number of commission errors). The response time data were analysed using the Fast Fourier Transform, to define the fast-frequency and slow-frequency contributions to overall response variability. The impaired-ADHD group progressively slowed in RT over the course of the 5.5 min task, as reflected in this group's greater slow-frequency variability. The fast-frequency trial-to-trial variability was also significantly greater, but did not differentially worsen over the course of the task. The higher error rates of the impaired-ADHD group did not become differentially greater over the length of the task. The progressive slowing in mean RT over the course of the task may relate to a deficit in arousal in the impaired-ADHD group. The consistently poor performance in fast-frequency variability and error rates may be due to difficulties in sustained attention that fluctuate on a trial-to-trial basis. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Vetting Sexual Offenders: State Over-extension, the Punishment Deficit and the Failure to Manage Risk

This article examines the state regulation of sexual offenders in the particular context of pre-employment vetting. A successive range of statutory frameworks have been put in place, culminating in the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, to prevent unsuitable individuals from working with the vulnerable, and children in particular. Contemporary legislative and policy developments are set against a backdrop of broader concerns in the area of crime and justice, namely risk regulation, preventative governance and ‘precautionary logic.’ Proponents of these approaches have largely ignored concerns over their feasibility. This article specifically addresses this fissure within the specific field of vetting. It is argued that ‘hyper innovation’ and state over-extension in this area are particularly problematic and have resulted in exceptionally uncertain and unsafe policies. These difficulties relate principally to unrealistic public expectations about the state’s ability to control crime; unintended and ambiguous policy effects; and ultimately the failure of the state to deliver on its self-imposed regulatory mandate to effectively manage risk.

PROBLEM-SOLVING IN SCHIZOPHRENIA - A SPECIFIC DEFICIT IN PLANNING ABILITY

The study investigated problem solving ability in schizophrenia. Thirty DSM-IIIR schizophrenic patients and 27 matched normal controls were tested on the Three-Dimensional Computerised Tower of London Test (3-D CTL Test) (Morris et al., 1993). The patients took significantly more moves to solve a series of problems and solved significantly fewer problems in the predetermined minimum number of moves. The patients response times, as measured using a control version of the task (the 3-D CTL Control), were longer than those of the controls. However, when latencies were adjusted to take into account the slower responses overall, the patients planning times were not significantly increased. Inaccurate planning, as defined by taking more moves, did not correlate with either positive or negative symptoms, but the response times tended to be longer in patients who had more negative symptoms. The findings suggest that there is a deficit in problem solving activity in schizophrenia that may be associated with translating 'willed intentions' into action, independent of slower motor speed.

Soil Moisture Deficit as a predictor of the trend in soil water status of grass fields

Nutrient loss from agricultural land following organic fertilizer spreading can lead to eutrophication and poor water quality. The risk of pollution is partly related to the soil water status during and after spreading. In response to these issues, a decision support system (DSS) for nutrient management has been developed to predict when soil and weather conditions are suitable for slurry spreading. At the core of the DSS, the Hybrid Soil Moisture Deficit (HSMD) model estimates soil water status relative to field capacity (FC) for three soil classes (well, moderately and poorly drained) and has potential to predict the occurrence of a transport vector when the soil is wetter than FC. Three years of field observation of volumetric water content was used to validate HSMD model predictions of water status and to ensure correct use and interpretation of the drainage classes. Point HSMD model predictions were validated with respect to the temporal and spatial variations in volumetric water content and soil strength properties. It was found that the HSMD model predictions were well related to topsoil water content through time, but a new class intermediate between poor and moderate, perhaps ‘imperfectly drained’, was needed. With correct allocations of a field into a drainage class, the HSMD model predictions reflect field scale trends in water status and therefore the model is suitable for use at the core of a DSS.

Sibling correlation of deficit syndrome in the Irish study of high-density schizophrenia families

The deficit syndrome is a subtype of schizophrenia characterized by primary and enduring negative features of psychopathology. It appears to reflect a distinct subtype within the syndrome of schizophrenia. Little is known about the familial or genetic aspects of the deficit syndrome. The purpose of this study was to determine whether deficit versus nondeficit subtypes are correlated in sibling pairs affected with schizophrenia.

Plasma cortisol levels and illness appraisal in deficit syndrome schizophrenia

Research investigating the association between negative symptoms and plasma cortisol levels in individuals with schizophrenia has produced inconsistent findings. This study investigated whether deficit syndrome schizophrenia (characterized by high levels of primary negative symptoms) is associated with comparatively high morning plasma cortisol levels, more negative appraisals about illness and higher levels of depression. Participants were 85 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and 85 individuals with no history of contact with psychiatric services matched for age and gender. All participants provided fasting 9.00 a.m. plasma cortisol samples. There were no significant differences between the schizophrenia and control participants in plasma cortisol levels. The Proximal Deficit Syndrome method was used to identify individuals with deficit syndrome schizophrenia. Contrary to what had been hypothesized, participants with deficit syndrome schizophrenia had significantly lower plasma cortisol levels than both non-deficit syndrome participants and control participants. Participants with the deficit syndrome reported significantly less negative appraisals about illness (assessed by PBIQ) and lower levels of depression (assessed by BDI-II). Differences in cortisol levels continued to trend toward significance when levels of depression were controlled for. The patterns of illness-related appraisals and plasma cortisol levels raise the possibility that the deficit syndrome could be a form of adaptation syndrome.