Migrant mental health: a model for indicators of mental health and health care consumption.

OBJECTIVE: This study explores the relationship between mental health and health care consumption among migrants in the Netherlands. DESIGN: Samples of the Turkish (n = 648), Moroccan (n = 102), and Surinamese (n = 311) populations in Amsterdam were examined. The study tested a hypothesized model of risk factors for psychiatric morbidity, indicators of well-being, and indicators of health care consumption. The model was specified on the basis of information from earlier research on the sample and literature on the topic. The model was tested and refined using structural equation modeling. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Psychiatric morbidity and well-being measures were assessed with the CIDI 1.1 and MOS-sf-36 subscales, respectively. Health care consumption was assessed by the question "Have you ever consulted one or more of these professionals or health care facilities with respect to mental health problems or problems related to alcohol or drugs usage?" RESULTS: The primary result of this study was the confirmation that health care consumption among migrants is predicted by need and predisposition factors, such as health condition and sociodemographic characteristics. In addition, mental health care consumption of migrants is predicted by acculturation characteristics. This result suggests an effect of cultural and migrant-specific factors in help-seeking behavior and barriers to mental health care facilities. CONCLUSIONS: Findings confirm the existence of migrant-specific mechanisms in health care consumption. Mental health care professionals should be aware of these. However, ignoring common ground for interventions unnecessarily creates distance between migrant groups and between migrant and indigenous Dutch groups.

Schizophrenia among Surinamese in the Netherlands: high admission rates not explained by high emigration rates.

BACKGROUND: A high risk of schizophrenia has been found among Caribbean immigrants in the Netherlands and Great Britain. One hypothesis to explain these findings is that patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia or patients with symptoms of psychosis not specifically diagnosed, emigrate more than the general population. Such selection might account for high rates of Surinamese patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia in Netherlands psychiatric hospitals. We examined this hypothesis. METHODS: The files of patients with schizophrenia or patients suffering from unspecified psychosis were selected from the archives of the National Psychiatric Hospital in Surinam. These patients were traced to investigate patterns of emigration. Data from the Central Bureau for Statistics in the Netherlands and from the Central Population Bureau in Surinam provided the percentage of the general Surinamese population that emigrated to the Netherlands. The difference between the two percentages was evaluated using the chi-squared test. Using the same method the percentage of remigration from the Netherlands among Surinamese patients was compared with the percentage of remigration among the general Surinamese population. RESULTS: Surinamese patients with schizophrenia or unspecified psychosis did not emigrate more frequently to the Netherlands compared with the general Surinamese population. They did remigrate significantly more frequently. CONCLUSION: High migration rates do not explain the high hospital admission rates for schizophrenia among Surinamese in the Netherlands.

Defective inactivation of leukotriene B4 in patients with Sjögren-Larsson syndrome.

In 6 patients with Sjögren-Larsson syndrome (SLS), the urinary excretion of leukotriene B(4) (LTB(4)) and omega-hydroxy-LTB(4) was found to be highly elevated, whereas omega-carboxy-LTB(4) was absent. This abnormal pattern of urinary excretion of LTB(4) and its metabolites appears to be unique to patients with SLS and offers a new approach to the diagnosis of this disorder. Moreover, defective inactivation of LTB(4) might be of pathophysiologic significance in the disease.

[High incidence of admissions for schizophrenia in Surinam patients in The Netherlands not caused by preferential immigration of (pre)schizophrenic patients]. / Hoge frequentie van opname wegens schizofrenie bij Surinamers in Nederland niet veroorzaakt door meer immigratie van (pre)schizofrene patiënten.

OBJECTIVE: To answer the question whether positive selection of (pre)schizophrenic Surinams in Surinam before emigration to the Netherlands can explain the high admission rates for schizophrenia of Surinams in the Netherlands. DESIGN: Retrospective research. SETTING: 's Lands Psychiatrisch Ziekenhuis (National Psychiatric Hospital) Paramaribo, Surinam (LPZ). METHOD: The Netherlands Central Bureau of Statistics in Voorburg and the Central Registry Office in Paramaribo provided data on emigration to the Netherlands of the Surinam population and on remigration. Files of (pre)schizophrenic patients were selected from the records of LPZ. Subsequently, these patients were traced and their pattern of migration was studied. Using the chi 2 test the significance of observed differences was assessed. RESULTS: Surinam (pre)schizophrenic patients did not emigrate more frequently to the Netherlands (6.3%) compared with the Surinam population in general (9.6%) and they remigrated more frequently to Surinam than the Surinams in general. CONCLUSION: The positive selection hypothesis must be rejected.

Molecular cytogenetics of Alstroemeria: identification of parental genomes in interspecific hybrids and characterization of repetitive DNA families in constitutive heterochromatin.

The genus Alstroemeria consists of diploid (2n = 2x = 16) species originating mainly from Chile and Brazil. Most cultivars are triploid or tetraploid interspecific hybrids. C-banding of eight species revealed obvious differentiation of constitutive heterochromatin within the genus. The present study focused on the molecular (cyto)genetic background of this differentiation. Genomic slot-blot analysis demonstrated strong conservation of major parts of the genomes among six species. The chromosomes of A. aurea and A. ligtu, species with pronounced interstitial C-bands, were found to contain large amounts of highly repetitive and species-specific DNA. The variation in size, number and intensity of strongly probed bands of major repetitive DNA families observed in genomic Southern blots of Sau3A, HaeIII, and MseI digests indicated a strong correlation between variation in genomic DNA composition and different C-banding patterns among Alstroemeria species. Genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) revealed a clear distinction between parental chromosomes in the hybrids between Chilean and Brazilian species and also between Chilean species, as long as at least one of the parental species possessed prominent C-banding. Regarding the latter, discriminative hybridization resulted from highly repetitive species specific DNA in the heterochromatic chromosome regions of A. aurea and A. ligtu, and caused GISH banding patterns that coincided with the C-banding patterns.

alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase deficiency with mild clinical manifestations and difficult biochemical diagnosis.

Two additional patients with alpha-N-acetylgalactosaminidase (alpha-NAGA) deficiency are described. An 11-month-old girl with nonconsanguineous parents had generalized seizures and no angiokeratoma. Biochemical investigation showed persistent slight oligosacchariduria; enzymatic analysis of plasma, leukocytes, and fibroblasts revealed profound alpha-NAGA deficiency. Heterozygote enzyme levels were found in both parents. The mother has epilepsy, and epilepsy is present in the father's family. A younger, clinically healthy brother also had the enzyme deficiency. Electron microscopy of lymphocytes from the index patient showed no vacuolization. Incubation of cultured fibroblasts with Helix pomatia lectin showed the presence of intracellular N-acetylgalactosamine-containing storage material, not present in a series of 12 normal fibroblast lines. Our cases cannot be classified definitely as infantile cases. Biochemically the diagnosis could easily have been missed. Urinary oligosaccharide pattern after resorcinol staining was identical to those previously described, but excretion was significantly lower than in the reported infantile cases and the bands disappeared after the urine was desalted. The enzyme defect in leukocytes would have been missed with one of the commercial substrates used. For this mild variant of alpha-NAGA deficiency, the clinical pattern is not yet clear; a longer follow-up period is needed.

Antibodies to fastidious faecal adenoviruses (species 40 and 41) in sera from children.

Three hundred and seventy-seven single sera from children in the United Kingdom, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Gambia, Guatemala, and Kuwait were tested for antibodies to fastidious fecal adenoviruses (species 40 and 41) by neutralisation test using a variant of Ad41 (Ad41a). All children were less than 12 years of age, and at least 41.1% of the total tested had antibodies. One hundred and fifty-four of these sera were collected during the 1960s from London children attending day nurseries, and 54.5% had antibodies to Ad40 or Ad41. The proportion of seropositive children from an isolated Gambian village community in 1979 was similar to the proportion of seropositives in London children bled in 1979-1980.