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Introduction: The Freedom Commission's recommendations, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's framework, and policy directives on recovery-oriented services have fueled the recovery transformation. Mental health recovery services have been implemented in a broad range of outpatient settings. However, psychiatric inpatient units remained embedded in the traditional model of care., Aims: The purpose of this article is to describe an ongoing quality improvement implementation of recovery services in a Veterans Health Administration acute psychiatric inpatient unit., Method: An interprofessional Partnership for Wellness delivered 4 to 6 hours per day of evidence-based recovery and holistic population-specific health programs. Veteran, system, and program indicators were measured., Results: Preliminary indicators over a 2-year period suggest that Veterans rated group content and relevance high, pre-post psychiatric rehospitalization rates decreased by 46%, and fidelity to recommended strategies was high., Conclusions: The project success reflects strong leadership, a partnership of committed staff, effective training, and an organizational culture exemplifying excellence in Veteran services and innovation.

The Author Recognition Test (ART) measures print exposure and is a unique predictor of phonological and orthographic processes in reading. In a sample of adolescent and young adult twins and siblings (216 MZ/430 DZ pairs, 307 singletons; aged 11-29 years) ART scores were moderately heritable (67%) and correlated with reading and verbal abilities, with genes largely accounting for the covariance. We also examine whether high (and low) (i.e. 1SD above the mean) represents a quantitative extreme of the normal distribution. Heritability for high ART was of similar magnitude to the full sample, but, a specific genetic factor, independent from both low ART performance and high reading ability, accounted for 53-58% of the variance. This suggests a distinct genetic etiology for high ART ability and we speculate that the specific genetic influence is on orthographical processing, a critical factor in developing word recognition skills.

Genetic and environmental sources of covariation among cognitive measures of verbal IQ, performance IQ (PIQ), academic achievement, 2-choice reaction time (CRT), inspection time (IT) and the 6 Openness facets of the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) were examined. The number of twin and twin-sibling pairs ranged from 432 (182 MZ, 350 DZ/sibling) to 1023 (273 MZ, 750 DZ/sibling) for cognitive measures, and between 432 (90 MZ, 342 DZ/sibling) - 437 (91 MZ, 346 DZ/sibling) for Openness facets. Structural equation modeling best supported a model with a 3-factor additive genetic structure. A genetic general factor subsumed the 5 cognitive measures and 5 of the 6 Openness facets (Actions did not load significantly). A second additive genetic factor incorporated the 6 Openness facets, and a third additive genetic factor incorporated the 5 cognitive measures. Specific additive and dominance genetic effects were also evident, as were shared common and shared unique environmental influences, and specific unique environmental effects. The Openness facets of Ideas and Values evidenced the strongest phenotypic correlations with cognitive indices, particularly verbal measures. The genetic correlations among Openness facets and cognitive measures ranged from -.06 to .79. Results were interpreted as suggesting that Openness is related to general cognitive ability (g) through a genetic mechanism and that gengenders a minor but discernable disposition towards Openness for the majority of facets.

This study used genome-wide linkage analysis to detect Quantitative Trait Loci (QTLs) implicated in variation in general academic achievement as measured by the Queensland Core Skills Test (QCST) (Queensland Studies Authority, 2004). Data from 210 families were analysed. While no empirically derived significant or suggestive peaks for general academic achievement were indicated a peak on chromosome 2 was observed in a region where Posthuma et al. (2005) reported significant linkage for Performance IQ (PIQ) and suggestive linkage for Full Scale IQ (FSIQ), and Luciano et al. (this issue) observed significant linkage for PIQ and word reading. A peak on chromosome 18 was also observed approximately 20 cM removed from a region recently implicated in reading achievement. In addition, on chromosomes 2 and 18 peaks for a number of specific academic skills, two of which were suggestive, coincided with the general academic achievement peaks. The findings suggest that variation in general academic achievement is influenced by genes on chromosome 2 which have broad influence on a variety of cognitive abilities.

A genome-wide linkage scan of 795 microsatellite markers (761 autosomal, 34 X chromosome) was performed on Multidimensional Aptitude Battery subtests and verbal, performance and full scale scores, the WAIS-R Digit Symbol subtest, and two word-recognition tests (Schonell Graded Word Reading Test, Cambridge Contextual Reading Test) highly predictive of IQ. The sample included 361 families comprising 2-5 siblings who ranged in age from 15.7 to 22.2 years; genotype, but not phenotype, data were available for 81% of parents. A variance components analysis which controlled for age and sex effects showed significant linkage for the Cambridge reading test and performance IQ to the same region on chromosome 2, with respective LOD scores of 4.15 and 3.68. Suggestive linkage (LOD score>2.2) for various measures was further supported on chromosomes 6, 7, 11, 14, 21 and 22. Where location of linkage peaks converged for IQ subtests within the same scale, the overall scale score provided increased evidence for linkage to that region over any individual subtest. Association studies of candidate genes, particularly those involved in neural transmission and development, will be directed to genes located under the linkage peaks identified in this study.

This study examined the genetic and environmental relationships among 5 academic achievement skills of a standardized test of academic achievement, the Queensland Core Skills Test (QCST; Queensland Studies Authority, 2003a). QCST participants included 182 monozygotic pairs and 208 dizygotic pairs (mean 17 years +/- 0.4 standard deviation). IQ data were included in the analysis to correct for ascertainment bias. A genetic general factor explained virtually all genetic variance in the component academic skills scores, and accounted for 32% to 73% of their phenotypic variances. It also explained 56% and 42% of variation in Verbal IQ and Performance IQ respectively, suggesting that this factor is genetic g. Modest specific genetic effects were evident for achievement in mathematical problem solving and written expression. A single common factor adequately explained common environmental effects, which were also modest, and possibly due to assortative mating. The results suggest that general academic ability, derived from genetic influences and to a lesser extent common environmental influences, is the primary source of variation in component skills of the QCST.

First, this study examined genetic and environmental sources of variation in performance on a standardised test of academic achievement, the Queensland Core Skills Test (QCST) (Queensland Studies Authority, 2003a). Second, it assessed the genetic correlation among the QCST score and Verbal and Performance IQ measures using the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery (MAB), [Jackson, D. N. (1984) Multidimensional Aptitude Battery manual. Port Huron, MI:Research Psychologist Press, Inc.]. Participants were 256 monozygotic twin pairs and 326 dizygotic twin pairs aged from 15 to 18 years (mean 17 years+/-0.4 [SD]) when achievement tested, and from 15 to 22 years (mean 16 years+/-0.4 [SD]) when IQ tested. Univariate analysis indicated a heritability for the QCST of 0.72. Adjustment to this estimate due to truncate selection (downward adjustment) and positive phenotypic assortative mating (upward adjustment) suggested a heritability of 0.76 The phenotypic (0.81) and genetic (0.91) correlations between the QCST and Verbal IQ (VIQ) were significantly stronger than the phenotypic (0.57) and genetic (0.64) correlations between the QCST and Performance IQ (PIQ). The findings suggest that individual variation in QCST performance is largely due to genetic factors and that common environmental effects may be substantially accounted for by phenotypic assortative mating. Covariance between academic achievement on the QCST and psychometric IQ (particularly VIQ) is to a large extent due to common genetic influences.