Studies show evidence of longitudinal brain volume decreases in schizophrenia. We studied brain volume changes and their relation to symptom severity, level of function, cognition, and antipsychotic medication in participants with schizophrenia and control participants from a general population based birth cohort sample in a relatively long follow-up period of almost a decade. All members of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 with any psychotic disorder and a random sample not having psychosis were invited for a MRI brain scan, and clinical and cognitive assessment during 1999–2001 at the age of 33–35 years. A follow-up was conducted 9 years later during 2008–2010. Brain scans at both time points were obtained from 33 participants with schizophrenia and 71 control participants. Regression models were used to examine whether brain volume changes predicted clinical and cognitive changes over time, and whether antipsychotic medication predicted brain volume changes. The mean annual whole brain volume reduction was 0.69% in schizophrenia, and 0.49% in controls (p = 0.003, adjusted for gender, educational level, alcohol use and weight gain). The brain volume reduction in schizophrenia patients was found especially in the temporal lobe and periventricular area. Symptom severity, functioning level, and decline in cognition were not associated with brain volume reduction in schizophrenia. The amount of antipsychotic medication (dose years of equivalent to 100 mg daily chlorpromazine) over the follow-up period predicted brain volume loss (p = 0.003 adjusted for symptom level, alcohol use and weight gain). In this population based sample, brain volume reduction continues in schizophrenia patients after the onset of illness, and antipsychotic medications may contribute to these reductions.

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A single dose of ibuprofen suppository 20 mg.kg(-1) after induction of anesthesia guarantees analgesic plasma concentrations during the early postoperative period. Except for the delayed absorption of ibuprofen in adults and higher physiological t(1/2) in infants aged 1-7 weeks, no major pharmacokinetic differences were observed between study groups.

Two adult patients with upper airway obstruction due to epiglottitis and infectious mononucleosis requiring urgent airway management are presented. Successful establishment of an open airway was achieved by performing a minitracheotomy using the Seldinger technique followed finally with nasotracheal fibreoptic intubation.

This study, based on unselected general population data, long follow-up and an extensive database, confirms findings of previous studies, that morphological abnormalities in several brain structures are associated with outcome. The difference in brain morphology in patients with good and poor outcomes may reflect separable aetiologies and developmental trajectories in schizophrenia.