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There may be a genetic susceptibility specific to both suicidal ideation and suicide attempt in men, which is not explained by the inheritance of common psychiatric disorders.

http://hyper.ahajournals.org/ Downloaded from Dong et al Effects of Air Pollution on Blood Pressure 579pollution on BP in different parts of the world are unclear but may result from spatial and temporal variability in pollution sources and composition. 17,18 Compared with short-term effects of air pollution, there is little information on the relation between chronic exposure to air pollution and prevalent hypertension. Inconsistent results have also been reported on the association between incident hypertension and air pollution. For instance, Coogan et al 19 showed in a 10-year follow-up for incident hypertension and diabetes mellitus of black women from Los Angeles that NO X (but less PM 2.5 ) borderline increased the risk of becoming hypertensive. However, Sørensen et al 20 reported that longterm exposure (1 and 5 years) to NO X was not associated with incident self-reported hypertension in a Danish cohort. We hypothesized that at the population level, long-term exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with higher BP and higher prevalence of hypertension among humans. In this study, we tested this hypothesis in the 11 Districts Chinese Study, a cross-sectional study of air pollution and adult health in a large, well-characterized population-based sample, residing in northeast China, where there are wide differences in inter-and intracity gradients and ambient pollutant levels, offering a valuable opportunity to assess the associations between exposure and response. Methods Study Cities Selection and Subject RecruitmentMore than 20 million people reside in 14 cities in Liaoning province in northeast China. To maximize the inter-and intracity gradients of the pollutants of interest and minimize the correlation between district-specific ambient pollutants, in April 2009, we selected 3 cities (Shenyang, Anshan, and Jinzhou) based on the results of air pollution measurements between 2006 and 2008. There are 5, well-identified geographic districts in Shenyang, and 3 districts in Anshan and Jinzhou, respectively. Three communities within 1 km of air-monitoring sites were randomly chosen from these districts resulting in 33 locales, and from each of these, 700 to 1000 households were randomly identified. One participant, aged 18 to 74 years, was selected from each household without replacement. Our entry criterion was that the subject should have lived at that place for at least 5 years. The design and conduct of this investigation was reviewed and approved by Human Studies Committee of China Medical University. Before data collection, a written informed consent form was obtained from each participant. Ambient Air PollutionIn each of the selected study districts, there was only 1 municipal air pollution monitoring station, which was located 1 mile from the participants' homes. Measurements of PM 10 , SO 2 , NO 2 , and O 3 concentrations from 2006 to 2008 were obtained at the stations. The measurements were subject to uniform criteria for monitoring, siting, instrumentation, and quality assurance. Thes...

In this sample, the shared genetic risk between MD and both AD and MJD was largely explained by genetic effects on ASPD, which in turn was associated with increased risk of each of the other disorders.

Objective Children with unilateral hearing loss (UHL) have been found to have lower language scores, and increased rate of speech therapy, grade failures, or needing Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). The objective of this study was to determine whether language skills and educational performance improved or worsened over time in a cohort of children with UHL. Study Design Prospective longitudinal cohort study Methods Forty-six children with permanent UHL, ages 6 to 12 years, were studied using standardized cognitive, achievement, and language testing at yearly intervals for three years. Using standardized test scores allowed implicit comparison to norms established by national cross-sectional samples. Secondary outcomes included behavioral issues, IEPs, receipt of speech therapy, or teacher report of problems at school. Analysis utilized repeated measures ANOVA and multilevel random regression modeling. Results Several cognitive and language mean standardized scores increased over time. Possible predictors of increase with time included higher baseline cognitive levels and receipt of interventions through an IEP. However, standardized achievement scores and indicators of school performance did not show concomitant improvements. Rates of IEPs remained > 50% throughout, and rates of speech therapy were consistently about 20%. Conclusions Children with UHL demonstrated improvement in oral language and verbal IQ scores over time, but not improvements in school performance. Parents and teachers reported persistent behavioral problems and academic weaknesses or areas of concern in about 25%. The provision of IEPs for children with UHL, and acknowledging UHL as a hearing disability, may be an effective intervention to improve language skills over time.