Advanced paternal age was associated with increased risk of ASD. Possible biological mechanisms include de novo mutations associated with advancing age or alterations in genetic imprinting.

Variations in people's vulnerability to stressful life events may rise from a predated neural sensitivity as well as from differential neural modifications in response to the event. Because the occurrence of a stressful life event cannot be foreseen, characterizing the temporal trajectory of its neural manifestations in humans has been a real challenge. The current prospective study examined the emotional experience and brain responses of 50 a priori healthy new recruits to the Israeli Defense Forces at 2 time points: before they entered their mandatory military service and after their subsequent exposure to stressful events while deployed in combat units. Over time, soldiers reported on increase in stress symptoms that was correlated with greater amygdala and hippocampus responsiveness to stress-related content. However, these closely situated core limbic regions exhibited different temporal trajectories with regard to the stress effect; whereas amygdala's reactivity before stress predicted the increase in stress symptoms, the hippocampal change in activation over time correlated with the increase in such symptoms. Hippocampal plasticity was also reflected by a modification over time of its functional coupling with the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and this coupling magnitude was again predicted by predated amygdala reactivity. Together, these findings suggest that variations in human's likelihood to develop symptomatic phenomena following stressful life events may depend on a balanced interplay between their amygdala's predisposing reactivity and hippocampal posteriori intra-and interregional plasticity. Accordingly, an individually tailored therapeutic approach for trauma survivors should target these 2 neural probes while considering their unique temporal prints.individual differences ͉ prospective study ͉ fMRI ͉ trauma

Taken together with the existing data on abnormalities in nicotinic transmission in patients and their relatives, this higher prevalence of smoking in future schizophrenia patients, before the onset of their illness, might indicate that impaired nicotinic neurotransmission is involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.

No abstract

The use of firearms is a common means of suicide. We examined the effect of a policy change in the Israeli Defense Forces reducing adolescents' access to firearms on rates of suicide. Following the policy change, suicide rates decreased significantly by 40%. Most of this decrease was due to decrease in suicide using firearms over the weekend. There were no significant changes in rates of suicide during weekdays. Decreasing access to firearms significantly decreases rates of suicide among adolescents. The results of this study illustrate the ability of a relatively simple change in policy to have a major impact on suicide rates.