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This study investigates the associations of longitudinal Big Five personality profiles with long-term health in 304 adults (53% males). Personality traits (Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness, Conscientiousness, Agreeableness) were assessed at ages 33, 42, and 50. Subjective (self-rated health, symptoms, psychological distress) and objective (body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio, blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides) indicators of health were measured at ages 42 and 50. Five longitudinally stable personality profiles were extracted over 17 years by latent profile analysis. The levels of traits were the same in each profile at each age. Resilient individuals (N = 65; Neuroticism low, other traits high) had the best subjective health and Overcontrolled individuals (N = 40; Neuroticism high, other traits low) the poorest health over eight years. Reserved individuals (N = 25; high Conscientiousness, other traits low), Undercontrolled (N = 41; high Openness and Extraversion, low Conscientiousness), and Ordinary (N = 133; all traits scored medium) individuals were in the middle of these extremes in subjective health. No differences between the profiles were found in the objective indicators of health. Thus, overcontrol and resilience were most discriminative in terms of good health. Moreover, personality profiles revealed associations with health to be more nuanced than simply being composed of single traits. High Extraversion needed to be combined with high Conscientiousness (Resilients) in order to be associated with the best health; high Extraversion with low Conscientiousness (Undercontrolled) was associated with average health; and low Extraversion with high Neuroticism (Overcontrolled) was associated with the poorest health.

SummaryThe cytokine response after thermal stress (sauna + swimming in ice-cold water) was investigated in subjectively healthy persons. Two groups were studied at the end of the winter season: habitual and inexperienced winter swimmers. Blood was collected at rest, after a sauna bath and after a short swim in ice-cold water. Conventional methods and ELISA kits were used to determined the blood picture, serum cortisol and dehydroepiandrosterone sulphate, plasma antidiuretic hormone (ADH) levels, and the levels of several cytokines in plasma and in the supernatants of blood cell cultures which were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In regular winter swimmers, the concentrations of plasma interleukin 6 (IL-6), leukocytes, and monocytes at rest were signi®cantly higher than in inexperienced subjects. In experienced female winter swimmers, the plasma concentration of the soluble receptor for IL-6 was signi®cantly lower than in inexperienced female swimmers 1 . In both groups, granulocytosis, haemoconcentration and signi®cant increases in the concentrations of ADH, cortisol and IL-6 were observed after the stimuli. However, the changes in the cortisol concentration were dramatically larger in habitual winter swimmers. A signi®cant correlation was found between the delta values of cortisol and the basal concentrations of IL-6. In cell cultures, the LPS-induced release of IL-1b and IL-6 was higher at rest in the inexperienced winter swimmers. This release was dramatically suppressed after exposure to the stimuli in the inexperienced winter swimmers but tended to increase in the regular winter swimmers. These stresses appear to challenge both the neuro-endocrine and the immune systems and the results indicate 2 that adaptive mechanisms occur in habitual winter swimmers.

BackgroundDisturbances in lipid metabolism have been linked to suicidal behaviour, but little is known about the association between suicide risk and abnormal glucose metabolism in depression. Hyperglycaemia and hyperinsulinaemia may increase the risk of depression and also the risk for suicide, we therefore studied associations between suicidal behaviour and disturbances in glucose metabolism in depressive patients who had been referred to depression nurse case managers.MethodsPatients aged 35 years and older (N = 448, mean age 51 years) who were experiencing a new depressive episode, who were referred to depression nurse case managers in 2008–2009 and who scored ≥10 on the Beck Depression Inventory were enrolled in this study. The study was conducted in municipalities within the Central Finland Hospital District (catchment area of 274 000 inhabitants) as part of the Finnish Depression and Metabolic Syndrome in Adults study. The patients’ psychiatric diagnoses and suicidal behaviour were confirmed by the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview. Blood samples, for glucose and lipid determinations, were drawn from participants after 12 h of fasting, which was followed by a 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) when blood was drawn at 0 and 2 h. Insulin resistance was measured by the Quantitative Insulin Sensitivity Check Index (QUICKI) method.ResultsSuicidal ideation (49 %) and previous suicide attempts (16 %) were common in patients with major depressive disorder or dysthymia. Patients with depression and suicidal behaviour had higher blood glucose concentrations at baseline and at 2 hours in the OGTT. Glucose levels associated positively with the prevalence of suicidal behaviour, and the linearity was significant at baseline (p for linearity: 0.012, adjusted for age and sex) and for 2-hour OGTT glucose (p for linearity: 0.004, adjusted for age and sex). QUICKI levels associated with suicidal behavior (p for linearity across tertiles of QUICKI: 0.026). Total and LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels were also higher in those patients with suicidal behaviour. Multivariate analysis revealed that blood glucose levels, BDI scores and antidepressive medications associated with suicidal behaviour.ConclusionInsulin resistance and disturbances in glucose and lipid metabolism may be more common in middle-aged depressive patients with suicidal behaviour.

Tamsulosin has selective alpha1A-adrenoreceptor antagonistic properties and obviously binds for a long period to the postsynaptic nerve endings of the iris dilator muscle, thus affecting iris dilatation and leading to complications in cataract surgery. The iris remained floppy after 7- to 28-day interruption of the tamsulosin regimen.