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Adolescence is a vulnerable age for emerging mental health problems. As schools are everyday environments for children and adolescents, mental health promotion interventions may be especially effective when delivered within them. The aim of this study was to generate knowledge on mental health promotion interventions in comprehensive schools in northern Finland. First, a mental health promotion model for comprehensive schools was developed by psychiatric nurses in collaboration with school professionals in workshops in Oulu, Finland. A review of the literature, which revealed that mental health promotion in schools includes indicated, selective and universal interventions, was used as a basis for the study, together with written reports from the workshops. Secondly, school professionals from comprehensive schools with or without interventions developed in the mental health promotion model in Oulu were included in the study, and their perceptions of student well-being and mental health promotion in school were queried. The study samples consisted of school professionals from 9 intervention schools and from 49 non-intervention schools. School professionals considered that student well-being has declined and that students show a general disregard for their own well-being. Mental health promotion was regarded as a ‘core business’ of schools. Thirdly, a universal psychoeducation intervention, including lectures and group work on mental health issues, was delivered to 14-years old students in eighth grade. Students from two comprehensive schools were included, 85 pupils in 8th grade forming an intervention group and 77 a non-intervention group. The psychoeducation intervention delivered in classroom settings increased boys’ recognition of conduct disorders and altered girls’ attitudes to regard mental health disorders more as real medical conditions than as personal traits. Students reported feeling more comfortable seeking help from family members and friends th, Tiivistelmä Erilaiset mielenterveyteen liittyvät ongelmat ovat lapsilla ja nuorilla yleisiä ja suuri osa aikuisiän mielenterveyden häiriöistä alkaa lapsuudessa tai nuoruudessa. Koulut ovat lapsille ja nuorille yhteinen ja luonnollinen ympäristö edistää lasten ja nuorten mielenterveyttä, jonka vuoksi mielenterveyden edistämisen interventiot kouluympäristöissä voivat olla erityisen vaikuttavia. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli tuottaa tietoa mielenterveyden edistämisestä peruskouluissa. Mielenterveyden edistämisen malli peruskouluihin kehitettiin Oulussa työpajoissa yhdessä psykiatristen sairaanhoitajien sekä eri yhteistyötahojen, koulun toimijoiden sekä vanhempien ja oppilaiden kanssa. Tutkimuksen pohjana toimi kirjallisuuskatsaus, jonka mukaan mielenterveyttä edistetään kouluissa yksilö-, ryhmä- ja yleistasolla sekä työpajojen raportit. Tutkimuksessa tarkasteltiin koulujen henkilökunnan kokemuksia oppilaiden hyvinvoinnista sekä mielenterveyden edistämisen toiminnasta kouluympäristössä. Tutkimukseen osallistui henkilökuntaa 9 koulusta, joissa toteutettiin työpajoissa kehitettyjä interventioita sekä 49 koulusta, joissa ei toteutettu työpajoissa kehitettyjä interventioita. Koulun henkilökunta koki, että oppilaiden hyvinvointi on heikentynyt ja oppilaat osoittavat välinpitämättömyyttä omaa hyvinvointia kohtaan. Koulujen henkilökunnan mielestä mielenterveyden edistäminen on osa koulun perustoimintaa. Yleistason psykoedukatiivinen interventio, johon kuului opetusta sekä ryhmätöitä mielenterveyden teemoista toteutettiin 8-luokan noin 14-vuotiaille oppilaille. Tutkimukseen osallistui oppilaita kahdesta peruskoulusta, 85 oppilasta interventiokoulusta sekä 77 ei-interventiokoulusta. Luokkaympäristössä toteutettu interventio lisäsi poikien osalta käytöshäiriöiden tunnistamista ja tyttöjen asenne muuttui mieltämään mielenterveyden häiriöitä enemmän lääketieteellisenä häiriönä eikä henkilökohtaisena ominaisuutena. Oppilaat raportoivat hakevansa mieluummin apua perheen jäseniltä

Since prior research has mostly focused on children, less is known about how autistic adults and adults with sub-clinical autistic traits interpret pragmatically complex social situations and the kind of narrative discourse they produce. 32 autistic young adults, 18 young adults with sub-clinical autistic traits and 34 non-autistic young adults participated this study. They were shown videos of social interactions which required complex pragmatic processing and were asked to freely narrate what they thought was occurring in each video. Their narratives were coded for aspects of social-pragmatic and narrative discourse. The results indicate that the autistic and sub-clinical groups differed from the comparison group in what they inferred as relevant video content. The narratives of the autistic group also differed from the comparison group in meaning, focus and emphasis on details. In addition, the comparison group produced more holistic narratives whereas the autistic and sub-clinical groups produced more atomistic narratives. Correlational findings indicated that perceptual reasoning has stronger associations with pragmatic inferencing in the autistic and sub-clinical groups than in the comparison group. This study suggests that autistic adults and adults with sub-clinical autistic traits differ from non-autistic adults in what they perceive to be relevant in their social world.

Background: Despite increasing knowledge of social communication skills of autistic peole, the interrelatedness of different skills such as non-linguistic comprehension, social inference and empathizing skills is not much known about. A better understanding of the complex interplay between different domains of social communication helps us to develop assessment protocols for individuals with social communication difficulties. Aims: To compare the performances of autistic young adults, young adults with autistic traits identified in childhood and control young adults in social communication tasks measuring non-linguistic comprehension, social inference and empathizing skills. In addition, to examine associations between the different social communication measures. Methods & Procedures: Autistic young adults (n = 34), young adults with autistic traits (n = 19) and control young adults (n = 36) completed the extra- and paralinguistic scales of the Assessment Battery for Communication (ABaCo), the Faux Pas Recognition Test, Social–Pragmatic Questions (SoPra) and the Empathy Quotient (EQ). Outcomes & Results: Group differences were found in the performance in the ABaCo, SoPra and EQ scores. Compared with the control young adults, autistic young adults scored lower. The performance of the young adults in the autistic traits group fell in between the other two groups. There were no group differences in the Faux Pas Recognition Test. The variability within the groups was large in all measurements. In the control group, there was a significant correlation between EQ and SoPra scores and between the Faux Pas and SoPra scores. In the autistic group, a significant correlation was found between Faux Pas and SoPra scores. Also, other patterns were observed but these were not statistically significant. Conclusions & Implications: The young adults with autistic traits fell in between the control and autistic young adults, highlighting the presence of the contin

Background: Insufficient physical activity is risk factor for morbidity and premature mortality. This population-based birth cohort study investigated the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between self-reported temperament at age 31 and self-reported leisure-time moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels and changes thereof from the age of 31 to the age of 46 years. Methods: The study population comprised 3,084 subjects (1,359 male and 1,725 female) from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. MVPA was self-reported at ages 31 and 46 years. Novelty seeking, harm avoidance, reward dependence, and persistence and their subscales were measured using Cloninger’s Temperament and Character Inventory at age 31. Four temperament clusters were used in the analyses: persistent, overactive, dependent, and passive. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the relationship between temperament and MVPA. Results: The persistent and overactive temperament profiles at age 31 were positively associated with higher MVPA levels both in young adulthood and in midlife, while the passive and dependent temperament profiles were associated with lower MVPA levels. The overactive temperament profile was associated with a decrease in MVPA levels from young adulthood to midlife among males. Conclusion: A passive temperament profile characterized by high harm avoidance is associated with a higher risk of low MVPA level than other temperament profiles over the life cycle in females. The results suggest that temperament may play a role in determining the level and sustainability of MVPA. Individual targeting and intervention tailoring for promoting physical activity should consider temperament traits.

Background: Several observational studies indicate that dietary habits in children and adolescents are associated with school performance. These associations are heavily confounded by socio-economic characteristics, such as household income and parents’ educational attainment, amongst other factors. The objective of this study was to explore the association between diet and school performance in adolescents from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (NFBC1986). Methods: Dietary and school performance data were collected using self-reported questionnaires from adolescents in the NFBC1986 cross-sectional, 16-year follow-up study. In this work we derived exploratory factors for the dietary variables, frequency of skipping main meals and school performance variables, performed genome-wide association studies (GWAS) against these factors to obtain genetic association data and conducted one-sample and two-sample Mendelian randomisation (MR) analyses using individual level data for up to 9220 adolescents in NFBC1986 and GWAS results from external cohorts. We report observational and MR effects of diet on school performance and cognition-related phenotypes. Results: The observational study and the one-sample Mendelian randomisation analysis showed that high fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) consumption was associated with poor school performance in general/science subjects (−0.080, −0.128 to −0.033) and staple food consumption with better school performance in general/science subjects (0.071, 0.024 to 0.119) and physical education (0.065, 0.021 to 0.110). Findings from our two-sample MR analysis identified dietary principal components described best as whole brain bread, wheat, cheese, oat cereal and red wine to be associated with higher educational attainment and other cognition-related phenotypes. Conclusion: Using genetics, we highlighted the potential role of HFSS food consumption and consumption of the components of a staple food diet for school performance. However

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the military performance of men with adolescent attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and men with childhood ADHD (in remission during adolescence) as compared with controls without ADHD. Methods: The study employs the general population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (NFBC1986) together with data received from the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF). A total of 38 men with childhood ADHD and 67 with adolescent ADHD were compared with 160 controls. Results: The men with adolescent ADHD were more often deemed unfit for military service, had more military health care visits, more often committed at least one offence during service, received poorer evaluations for team leadership skills and indulged in more alcohol consumption and smoking than the controls, while those with childhood ADHD did not differ from the controls in their military fitness, but received poorer evaluations for team leadership skills and smoked more than did the controls. Conclusions: The conscripts with adolescent ADHD performed worse on many military parameters, but the men with ADHD in remission did not seem to suffer from such negative effects on military performance. The childhood ADHD group in particular was nevertheless somewhat limited in size, which might have led to a Type II error.

Background: Externalizing symptoms are associated with risk of future substance use disorder (SUD). Few longitudinal studies exist using general population-based samples which assess the spectrum of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms. Aims/Objectives: We aimed to study the associations between adolescent ADHD symptoms and subsequent SUD and additionally examine whether the risk of SUD is influenced by comorbid oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms. Methods: The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 was linked to nationwide health care register data for incident SUD diagnoses until age 33 years (n = 6278, 49.5% male). ADHD/ODD-case status at age 16 years was defined using parent-rated ADHD indicated by Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD symptoms and Normal Behaviors (SWAN) questionnaire with 95% percentile cut-off. To assess the impact of ODD comorbidity on SUD risk, participants were categorized into four groups based on their ADHD/ODD case status. Cox-regression analysis with hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to study associations between adolescent ADHD/ODD case statuses and subsequent SUD. Results: In all, 552 participants (8.8%) presented with ADHD case status at the age of 16 years, and 154/6278 (2.5%) were diagnosed with SUD during the follow-up. ADHD case status was associated with SUD during the follow-up (HR = 3.84, 95% CI 2.69–5.50). After adjustments for sex, family structure, and parental psychiatric disorder and early substance use the association with ADHD case status and SUD remained statistically significant (HR = 2.60, 95% CI 1.70–3.98). The risk of SUD remained elevated in individuals with ADHD case status irrespective of ODD symptoms. Conclusions: ADHD in adolescence was associated with incident SUD in those with and without symptoms of ODD. The association of ADHD and SUD persisted even after adjustment for a wide range of potential confounds.

Chronic conditions are common in childhood. We investigated the associations of childhood chronic conditions reported by parents with subsequent self-reported internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence. A sample of 6290 children (3142 boys and 3148 girls) with data on chronic condition reported by parents both at 7 and at 16 years of age was obtained from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (NFBC 1986), which is a longitudinal 1-year birth cohort (n = 9432) from an unselected, regionally defined population. Internalizing and externalizing problems were measured at 8 years of age with Rutter Children’s Behavioral Questionnaire by teachers and at 16 years of age with Youth Self-Report by adolescents. When studying the effects of history of chronic conditions on these problems at 16 years of age, childhood internalizing and externalizing problems and social relations were adjusted. A history of chronic condition predicted subsequent somatic complaints among all adolescents. Early-onset chronic conditions were related to subsequent externalizing (OR 1.35; 1.02–1.79) and attention problems (OR 1.33; 1.01–1.75) and later onset of chronic conditions with internalizing (OR 1.49; 1.22–1.82) and thought problems (OR 1.50; 1.18–1.92). The effect was specific for sex and the type of chronic condition. Conclusion: Childhood chronic conditions predicted internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescence. To prevent poor mental health trajectories, children with chronic conditions during their growth to adolescence need early support and long-term monitoring.

Aim: The aim of this study was to explore whether active participation in a longitudinal birth cohort study is associated with study participants’ health behaviour and well-being. Methods: The subjects of this study were part of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966. The follow-up data were collected through clinical examinations and questionnaires when the cohort members were 1, 14, 31 and 46 years old. In this study, cohort participation activity was divided into three categories: active, semiactive and least active. Results: The total number of study participants who participated in the 46-year follow-up on both the survey and clinical trials was 6392, of which 66.5% (n=4268) participated actively in the cohort study. A total of 67.6% were female (p<0.001). Of the participants, 23.7% (n=1519) were semiactive and 9.5% (n=605) were the least active. Women who participated least actively experienced statistically significantly more depressive symptoms and poorer health, were more dissatisfied with their lives and had more addiction problems. In men, there was not a statistically significant association between participation activity and these well-being variables other than addiction problems and mental health. Conclusions: The findings indicate that participation activity is associated with better self-reported health and well-being, especially among women. With this knowledge, people can be encouraged to participate in longitudinal health research and, at the same time, may improve their own health and quality of life.

Tiivistelmä Myötätunto tarkoittaa toisen ihmisen kärsimyksen havaitsemista ja sen synnyttämää halua lievittää toisen kärsimystä. Itsemyötätunto on nimensä mukaisesti myötätuntoa itseä kohtaan. Myötätunto itseä ja potilaita kohtaan kuuluvat suomalaisiin valmistuvan lääkärin osaamistavoitteisiin. Vahva itsemyötätunto on lääkäreillä ja lääketieteen opiskelijoilla liittynyt vähäisempään työuupumukseen ja suurempaan työhön tai opintoihin sitoutumiseen. Myötätuntouupumus on lääkärien keskuudessa yleistä.

Background: Diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) has been associated with increased risk of mortality in large register samples. However, there is less known about the association between symptoms of ADHD in adolescents and risk of mortality in general population samples. Methods: The Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (n = 9432 at recruitment in early pregnancy) linked to nationwide register data for deaths was utilized to study the association between parent-rated ADHD symptoms assessed using Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD symptoms and Normal Behaviors (SWAN) questionnaire and mortality until age 33 years. Cox-regression analysis with hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was used to study the association between SWAN inattentive, hyperactive, and combined symptom scores and risk of death. Results: Sixty-three (0.9%) of the 6685 participants died during the follow-up. Higher SWAN inattentive (crude HR = 2.30, 95% CI 1.46–3.63), SWAN hyperactive (crude HR = 2.43, 95% CI 1.29–4.56), and SWAN combined (crude HR = 2.69, 95% CI 1.57–4.61) scores were associated with increased risk of death. After adjustments for sex, family structure, and lifetime parental psychiatric disorder, these associations persisted. Further adjustment for frequent alcohol intoxication, cannabis, and other substance use in adolescence attenuated these to below statistical significance. Conclusions: These results extend previous findings on the risk of mortality in adolescents who have symptoms of ADHD. Further research with larger samples are needed to determine whether the association between ADHD symptoms and mortality is independent of adolescent substance use.

Introduction: Peer victimization and aggression in adolescence are associated with later mental health morbidity. However, studies examining this association have not controlled for adolescent substance use. We aimed to study the associations between peer victimization, peer aggression, and mental disorders in adulthood, adjusting for substance use in adolescence. Methods: Participants were from the prospective Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986. Data were available for 6682 individuals (70.8% of the original sample). Peer victimization and peer aggression were assessed with items from the Achenbach Youth Self Report at ages 15−16 years. Outcomes were nonorganic psychosis, anxiety disorder, mood disorder, substance use disorder, and any mental disorder (a none-vs-any indicator) at age 33 years collected from nationwide health care, insurance, and pension registers. Family structure, alcohol intoxication frequency, daily smoking, illicit drug use, and baseline psychopathology using Youth Self-Report total score, and parental mental disorders were considered as confounding factors. Results: In multivariable analyses, the association between peer victimization and psychosis (Hazard ratio [HR]: 2.9, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.2−6.9, p = .020) and mood disorder (HR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.2−2.4, p = .012) in females remained significant after adjusting for confounders. Other associations between female and male peer victimization or aggression and the studied outcomes attenuated after adjustments. Conclusions: Some associations between peer victimization and aggression and later mental health morbidity are explained by adolescent substance use. For females, substance use does not account for the increased risk of psychosis and mood disorder in those who experience peer victimization.

Abstrakti Tarkastelemme referointikeinoja, joita aikuiset autismikirjon henkilöt ja verrokit käyttävät puhuessaan toisen henkilön ajatuksista. Aineisto on kerätty tutkimustilanteessa, jossa tutkittavia pyydetään kertomaan, mitä videolla nähty henkilö voisi ajatella. Tässä tutkimuksessa referointikeinot on luokiteltu kuvaileviksi ja esittäviksi sen mukaan, pysyykö vuoron näkökulma eli deonttinen origo meneillään olevassa puhetilanteessa vai siirtyykö se referoitavaan puhetilanteeseen. Tutkimus osoittaa, että autismikirjon henkilöiden ja verrokkien referointikeinot ovat pääosin samankaltaisia, joskin verrokkiryhmän edustajien vastauksissa on hieman enemmän kuvailua ja autismikirjon henkilöillä esitystä. Kaksi tutkittavaa autismikirjon henkilöä käyttää myös ns. paljaita esityksiä, jotka eivät sisällä lainkaan sellaisia deonttisia markkereita, jotka sitoisivat sanotun meneillä olevaan puhetilanteeseen. Tällainen referointi on suomenkielisessä puheessa melko harvinaista, ja katsomme sen mahdollisesti kuvastavan yksittäisten autismikirjon henkilöiden erilaista tapaa hahmottaa tai käsitellä puhetilanteen osallistumiskehikkoa., This paper examines participants’ responses to questions regarding the thoughts of another person. The data is drawn from semi-structured interviews with 56 young adults, 26 of whom have been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. The interviews are in Finnish. The focus of this study is on linguistic means used by the participants in a task in which they are asked to watch a video clip and then tell what one of the characters is thinking. A common type of response to the latter question is an assertion, such as noo (.) se oli selvästi kiinnostunu siitä (2.0) kurssista ja (.) siitä mitä siellä tehdään ja ’well, she was clearly interested in the course and what it’s all about and’, which names the thought (e.g., kiinnostunu ‘interested’). The responses also include demonstrations, such as kuulostaapa tosi hauskalta kurssilta haluanpa itsekin mukaan sinne ‘That sounds like a fun course. I think I’d like to join.’ The study shows that individuals on the autism spectrum and control group members use similar linguistic means in their reported speech utterances. Most demonstrations in the data are combined with an assertion or other markers that show a deictic shift between the reported speech situation and the situation here-and-now. Two individuals on the autism spectrum, however, use a rare type of ‘bare demonstration’ which is not linguistically tied to the situation here-and-now. We pose a hypothesis that this may reflect some difficulty of individuals on the autism spectrum in processing the complex participation framework in a reported thought situation. In this part, ‘bare demonstrations’ resemble repetitive speech of children on the autism spectrum, which also reflects difficulty in intersubjective processing and interactional deictics. However, bare demonstrations are not reproductions of something the speaker has heard but, instead, a creation of the speaker’s own imagination.

This video-based study examines the pragmatic non-verbal comprehension skills and corresponding neural-level findings in young Finnish autistic adults, and controls. Items from the Assessment Battery of Communication (ABaCo) were chosen to evaluate the comprehension of non-verbal communication. Inter-subject correlation (ISC) analysis of the functional magnetic resonance imaging data was used to reveal the synchrony of brain activation across participants during the viewing of pragmatically complex scenes of ABaCo videos. The results showed a significant difference between the ISC maps of the autistic and control groups in tasks involving the comprehension of non-verbal communication, thereby revealing several brain regions where correlation of brain activity was greater within the control group. The results suggest a possible weaker modulation of brain states in response to the pragmatic non-verbal communicative situations in autistic participants. Although there was no difference between the groups in behavioural responses to ABaCo items, there was more variability in the accuracy of the responses in the autistic group. Furthermore, mean answering and reaction times correlated with the severity of autistic traits. The results indicate that even if young autistic adults may have learned to use compensatory resources in their communicative-pragmatic comprehension, pragmatic processing in naturalistic situations still requires additional effort.

Abstrakti Aiemmissa tutkimuksissa on saatu ristiriitaisia tuloksia autismikirjon naisten ja miesten tavasta orientoitua sosiaalisiin tilanteisiin, tulkita niitä ja kertoa niistä. Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastelimme, kuinka autismikirjon naiset (n = 7) ja miehet (n = 24) ja verrokkiryhmän naiset (n = 11) ja miehet (n = 24) kuvaavat sosiopragmaattisesti monimutkaisissa videoleikkeissä esiintyvien henkilöiden tunteita. Tarkastelimme tutkittavien vapaata kerrontaa keskittyen siihen, kuinka paljon tutkittavat tuottivat suoria ja epäsuoria tunnekuvauksia sekä missä määrin he taustoittivat tunnekuvauksiaan. Tutkimuksessa havaittiin verrokkiryhmän naisten ja autismikirjon naisten tuottavan enemmän epäsuoria tunnekuvauksia kuin autismikirjon miesten. Lisäksi autismikirjon miesten, mutta ei naisten, havaittiin taustoittavan tunnekuvauksiaan vähemmän kuin verrokkiryhmän naisten ja verrokkiryhmän miesten. Verrokkiryhmän naiset ja verrokkiryhmän miehet eivät eronneet toisistaan suorien tai epäsuorien tunnekuvausten määrässä tai tunnekuvausten taustoittamisessa. Tulokset kannustavat kiinnittämään huomiota sukupuolierojen tarkasteluun, jotta autismikirjon naisia ja autismikirjon miehiä voidaan sekä tunnistaa paremmin että tukea kohdennetummin.

This study examined social-pragmatic inferencing, visual social attention and physiological reactivity to complex social scenes. Participants were autistic young adults (n = 14) and a control group of young adults (n = 14) without intellectual disability. Results indicate between-group differences in social-pragmatic inferencing, moment-level social attention and heart rate variability (HRV) reactivity. A key finding suggests associations between increased moment-level social attention to facial emotion expressions, better social-pragmatic inferencing and greater HRV suppression in autistic young adults. Supporting previous research, better social-pragmatic inferencing was found associated with less autistic traits.

The northern provinces of Finland are mostly not densely populated, with long distances to healthcare services. This creates a challenge for how to reach all children and adolescents with mental health services. In order to assess the effectiveness of school-based mental health promotion interventions, it is essential to understand the views of school professionals on student well-being and mental health promotion activity in schools. This study was carried out in urban area comprehensive schools where psychiatric nurses delivered additional mental health promotion interventions. The data were collected using a questionnaire, and a mixed-methods approach was utilised in the analysis. School professionals perceived that students are more unwell than before; they exhibit a general disregard for their well-being and more mental health problems. The respondents regarded the promotion of students’ mental health as a basic function of schools. Teachers need adequate support with this work.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore changes in the incidences of childhood and early adulthood hospital‐treated psychiatric disorders in five large Finnish birth cohorts of individuals born between 1966 and 1997. Methods: The five birth cohorts were as follows: Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966 (NFBC 1966) and 1986 (NFBC 1986), 1987 Finnish Birth Cohort (FBC 1987) and 1997 (FBC 1997), and Finnish 1981 Birth Cohort Study (FBCS 1981). Incidences of hospital‐treated psychiatric disorders in each cohort were calculated separately for males (N = 71,209) and females (N = 65,190). Poisson regression was used to test difference in proportions of psychiatric disorders in wide range of diagnosis classes separately in childhood and adolescence, and early adulthood. Results: The total incidences of psychiatric disorders in childhood and adolescence among males has increased in the birth cohorts over decades (Incidence Rate Ratio, IRR = 1.04 (1.04–1.05); p < 0.001). Similar result was seen among females (IRR = 1.04 (1.03–1.04); p < 0.001). In early adulthood, there was significant increase among females (IRR = 1.04 (1.03–1.05);p < 0.001), but among males, the change was not significant (IRR = 0.99 (0.99–1.00), p = 0.051). Conclusions: The main finding was that the cumulative incidence of hospital‐treated psychiatric disorders increased over the decades in Finland. The increasing trend in hospital‐treated psychiatric disorders in early adulthood was detected in females but not in males. In the youngest cohorts, the cumulative incidence of hospital‐treated psychiatric disorders was at the same level in males and females, whereas in oldest cohort, males had higher incidence than females.

Social and pragmatic difficulties in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are widely recognized, although their underlying neural level processing is not well understood. The aim of this study was to examine the activity of the brain network components linked to social and pragmatic understanding in order to reveal whether complex socio-pragmatic events evoke differences in brain activity between the ASD and control groups. Nineteen young adults (mean age 23.6 years) with ASD and 19 controls (mean age 22.7 years) were recruited for the study. The stimulus data consisted of video clips showing complex social events that demanded processing of pragmatic communication. In the analysis, the functional magnetic resonance imaging signal responses of the selected brain network components linked to social and pragmatic information processing were compared. Although the processing of the young adults with ASD was similar to that of the control group during the majority of the social scenes, differences between the groups were found in the activity of the social brain network components when the participants were observing situations with concurrent verbal and non-verbal communication events. The results suggest that the ASD group had challenges in processing concurrent multimodal cues in complex pragmatic communication situations.

Background: Low IQ is a risk factor for psychosis, but the effect of high IQ is more controversial. The aim was to explore the association of childhood school success with prodromal symptoms in adolescence and psychoses in adulthood. Methods: In the general population-based Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1986 (n = 8 229), we studied the relationship between teacher-assessed learning deficits, special talents and general school success at age 8 years and both prodromal symptoms (PROD-screen) at age 15–16 years and the occurrence of psychoses by age 30 years. Results: More prodromal symptoms were experienced by those talented in oral presentation [boys: adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.49; 95% confidence interval 1.14–1.96; girls: 1.23; 1.00–1.52] or drawing (boys: 1.44; 1.10–1.87). Conversely, being talented in athletics decreased the probability of psychotic-like symptoms (boys: OR 0.72; 0.58–0.90). School success below average predicted less prodromal symptoms with boys (OR 0.68; 0.48–0.97), whereas above-average success predicted more prodromal symptoms with girls (OR 1.22; 1.03–1.44). The occurrence of psychoses was not affected. Learning deficits did not associate with prodromal symptoms or psychoses. Conclusions: Learning deficits in childhood did not increase the risk of prodromal symptoms in adolescence or later psychosis in this large birth cohort. Learning deficits are not always associated with increased risk of psychosis, which might be due to, e.g. special support given in schools. The higher prevalence of prodromal symptoms in talented children may reflect a different kind of relationship of school success with prodromal symptoms compared to full psychoses.

Delayed motor developmental milestones have been reported to be associated with schizophrenia in previous studies, but no study has examined the relationship between early motor developmental milestones and schizotypy. We have examined this relationship in a prospective birth cohort. In the Northern Finland Birth Cohort 1966, data on 9 early motor developmental milestones were collected prospectively from visits to child welfare centers, and data on adult schizotypy were collected through a questionnaire (N = 4557–4674). Positive schizotypy was measured by the Perceptual Aberration Scale (PAS), negative schizotypy was measured by Physical Anhedonia Scale (PhAS) and Social Anhedonia Scale (SAS). Three related scales were included: Schizoidia Scale (SCHD), Hypomanic Personality Scale (HPS), and Bipolar II Scale (BIP2). We examined the milestone–schizotypy associations before and after excluding cases of schizophrenia from this population-based sample. Hierarchical regression analyses adjusted for covariates and separately for both genders were performed. In men, each extra month of delay in achievement of touching thumb with index finger, sitting unsupported, standing up, walking with support, or walking unsupported was associated with an increase in PAS, PhAS, or SCHD scores, or decrease in BIP2 score (P < 0.05). In women, each extra month of delay in achievement of turning from back to tummy was associated with an increase in PhAS and SAS scores (P < 0.05). Schizotypy is associated with delayed motor developmental milestones in early-life, but there is some heterogeneity with regards to types of milestones and gender. These findings suggest delayed motor development confers risk across the continuum of schizophrenia syndrome.

The neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia proposes that impaired brain development is a cause of the illness. Early motor developmental milestones, such as learning to walk, are predictors of later schizophrenia but studies have not been systematically reviewed. The aim of the present systematic review and meta-analysis was to explore the association between early motor developmental milestones and the risk of adult schizophrenia. In addition, we updated a systematic review on motor function and risk of schizophrenia. The PubMed, PsycINFO and Scopus databases were searched for original research articles published up to July 2015. Motor milestones were measured between ages 0 and 13 years. Random effect meta-analysis calculated effect estimates (Hedges’ g) for the association between individual motor milestones and schizophrenia risk. An electronic database and selected articles reference list search identified 5990 articles after removing duplicates. Sixty-nine full text articles were assessed for eligibility of which six were included in the review. Five studies provided sufficient data for meta-analyses. The following motor milestones were significantly associated with adult schizophrenia risk: walking unsupported (g = 0.46; 95% CI 0.27–0.64; p < 0.001), standing unsupported (g = 0.28; 0.16–0.40; p < 0.001) and sitting unsupported (g = 0.18; 0.05–0.31; p = 0.007). Results for the milestones ‘holding head up’ and ‘grabbing object’ were not statistically significant. Delayed walking, sitting and standing unsupported were associated with adult onset schizophrenia. The findings emphasise the importance of timely achievement of these motor milestones in childhood and can contribute to the identification of individuals at risk of psychosis.

Irradiating a flame by microwave radiation is one of several plasma-assisted combustion (PAC) technologies that can be used to modify the combustion chemical kinetics in order to improve flame-stability and to delay lean blow-out. One practical implication is that engines may be able to operate with leaner fuel mixtures and have an improved fuel flexibility capability including biofuels. In addition, this technology may assist in reducing thermoacoustic instabilities that may severely damage the engine and increase emission production. To examine microwave-assisted combustion a combined experimental and computational study of microwave-assisted combustion is performed for a lean, turbulent, swirl-stabilized, stratified flame at atmospheric conditions. The objectives are to demonstrate that the technology increases both the laminar and turbulent flame speeds, and modifies the chemical kinetics, enhancing the flame-stability at lean mixtures. The study combines experimental investigations using hydroxyl (OH) and formaldehyde (CH2O) Planar Laser-Induced Fluorescence (PLIF) and numerical simulations using finite rate chemistry Large Eddy Simulations (LES). The reaction mechanism is based on a methane (CH4)-air skeletal mechanism expanded with sub-mechanisms for ozone, singlet oxygen, chemionization, electron impact dissociation, ionization and attachment. The experimental and computational results show similar trends, and are used to demonstrate and explain some significant aspects of microwave-enhanced combustion. Both simulation and experimental studies are performed close to lean blow off conditions. In the simulations, the flame is gradually subjected to increasing reduced electric field strengths, resulting in a wider flame that stabilizes nearer to the burner nozzle. Experiments are performed at two equivalence ratios, where the leaner case absorbs up to more than 5% of the total flame power. Data from experiments reveal trends similar to simulated results with in