The catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) gene is considered to be a promising schizophrenia susceptibility gene. A common functional polymorphism (Val158Met) in the COMT gene affects dopamine regulation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Recent studies suggest that this polymorphism contributes to poor prefrontal functions, particularly working memory, in both normal individuals and patients with schizophrenia. However, possible morphological changes underlying such functional impairments remain to be clarified. The aim of this study was to examine whether the Val158Met polymorphism of the COMT gene has an impact on brain morphology in normal individuals and patients with schizophrenia. The Val158Met COMT genotype was obtained for 76 healthy controls and 47 schizophrenics. The diagnostic effects, the effects of COMT genotype and the genotype-diagnosis interaction on brain morphology were evaluated by using a voxel-by-voxel statistical analysis for high-resolution MRI, a tensor-based morphometry. Patients with schizophrenia demonstrated a significant reduction of volumes in the limbic and paralimbic systems, neocortical areas and the subcortical regions. Individuals homozygous for the Val-COMT allele demonstrated significant reduction of volumes in the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the right middle temporal gyrus (MTG) compared to Met-COMT carriers. Significant genotype-diagnosis interaction effects on brain morphology were noted in the left ACC, the left parahippocampal gyrus and the left amygdala-uncus. No significant genotype effects or genotype-diagnosis interaction effects on morphology in the dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) were found. In the control group, no significant genotype effects on brain morphology were found. Schizophrenics homozygous for the Val-COMT showed a significant reduction of volumes in the bilateral ACC, left amygdala-uncus, right MTG and left thalamus compared to Met-COMT schizophrenics. Our findings suggest that the Val158Met polymorphism of the COMT gene might contribute to morphological abnormalities in schizophrenia.

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The immunogenicity and safety profile of an inactivated whole-virion influenza A (H5N1, NIBRG-14) vaccine with alum adjuvant that was administered by IM or SC injection in a phase I clinical study involving 120 healthy Japanese men aged 20-40 years is described. The serological response of the IM group was stronger than that of the SC group. Local adverse events were less severe with IM injection than with SC injection, while similar systemic adverse events were seen in both groups. These results indicate that, when administering an inactivated whole virion vaccine with alum adjuvant for pandemic influenza, IM injection may achieve better immunogenicity and safety than SC injection.

Schizophrenia is a common psychiatric disorder characterized by disturbances of cognition, emotion and social functioning. There are few studies investigating a possible genetic basis for the underlying mechanism of cognitive dysfunctions. A genetic variation in the dysbindin gene (DTNBP1: dystrobrevin binding protein 1), a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia, has been reported to be associated with general cognitive ability and cognitive decline in patients with schizophrenia. Although profound disturbances of memory performance are observed in schizophrenia, only one study has reported a relationship between this gene and spatial working memory in a Caucasian population. We examined a possible association between a protective haplotype of DTNBP1 for developing schizophrenia and memory performance measured by the Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) and the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) in 165 healthy volunteers and 70 patients with schizophrenia in a Japanese population. Healthy controls that carry the protective haplotype showed higher performance in several memory domains measured by the WMS-R than those who did not. Genotype effect on memory performance was not observed in patients with schizophrenia. This haplotype did not affect IQ and its sub-scores as measured by the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised in both groups. These data suggest that DTNBP1 may have impact on parts of memory functions.

Environmental factors, in addition to genetic factors, may be related to the development of panic attack (PA) and panic disorder (PD). Previous studies suggested that there may be seasonal variation in the onset of PA/PD and possibly a higher prevalence of PA/PD in colder areas. Also observed were lactate-induced PA and elevated serum cholesterol in PD patients. These suggest that living environment and lifestyle, such as weather conditions, preference of food and physical exercise, might play a role in the occurrence of PA and PD. The present study explored the association of such candidate factors with the development of PA and PD in 4000 Japanese subjects, using a questionnaire. The subjects were recruited from the general population of Japan, using stratified random sampling. Logistic regression with stepwise selection of variables was employed for statistical analysis. Variables including 'dislike of physical exercise', mostly in female subjects, and 'living in areas with longer winter', in male subjects, were suggested for associations with PA and PD among the candidate factors. The result is preliminary but indicates that lifestyle such as like/dislike of physical exercise and environmental factors including weather conditions could play a partial role in the development of PA and PD. Further investigations are required before firm conclusions can be reached.