No Differential Effects of Neural and Psychological Explanations of Psychopathy on Moral Behavior.

Research in neurocriminology has explored the link between neural functions and structures and the psychopathic disposition. This online experiment aimed to assess the effect of communicating the neuroscience of psychopathy on the degree to which lay people exhibited attitudes characteristic of psychopathy in particular in terms of moral behavior. If psychopathy is blamed on the brain, people may feel less morally responsible for their own psychopathic tendencies. In the study, participants read false feedback about their own psychopathic traits supposedly inferred from their Facebook likes, described either in neurobiological or cognitive terms. Participants were randomly allocated to read that they either had above-average or below-average psychopathic traits. We found no support for the hypothesis that the neuroscientific explanation of psychopathy influences moral behavior. This casts doubt on the fear that communicating the neuroscience of psychopathy will promote psychopathic attitudes.

Age at onset and the outcomes of schizophrenia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

The aim of this study was to analyse the effect of age at onset on the long-term clinical, social and global outcomes of schizophrenia through a systematic review and a meta-analysis. Original studies were searched from Web of Science, PsycINFO, Pubmed and Scopus, as well as manually. Naturalistic studies with at least a 2-year follow-up were included. Of the 3509 search results, 81 articles fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The meta-analysis was performed in Stata as a random-effect analysis with correlation coefficients between age at onset and the outcomes (categorized into remission, relapse, hospitalization, positive symptoms, negative symptoms, total symptoms, general clinical outcome, employment, social/occupational functioning and global outcome). There was a statistically significant (P < .05) correlation between younger age at onset and more hospitalizations (number of studies, n = 9; correlation, r = 0.17; 95% confidence interval, CI 0.09-0.25), more negative symptoms (n = 7; r = 0.14; 95% CI 0.01-0.27), more relapses (n = 3; r = 0.11; 95% CI 0.02-0.20), poorer social/occupational functioning (n = 12; r = 0.15; 95% CI 0.05-0.25) and poorer global outcome (n = 13; r = 0.14; 95% CI 0.07-0.22). Other relationships were not significant. This was the first systematic review of the effects of age at onset on the long-term outcomes of schizophrenia. The results show that age at onset has a small, but significant impact on some of the outcomes of schizophrenia.

Communicating the Neuroscience of Psychopathy and Its Influence on Moral Behavior: Protocol of Two Experimental Studies.

Neuroscience has identified brain structures and functions that correlate with psychopathic tendencies. Since psychopathic traits can be traced back to physical neural attributes, it has been argued that psychopaths are not truly responsible for their actions and therefore should not be blamed for their psychopathic behaviors. This experimental research aims to evaluate what effect communicating this theory of psychopathy has on the moral behavior of lay people. If psychopathy is blamed on the brain, people may feel less morally responsible for their own psychopathic tendencies and therefore may be more likely to display those tendencies. An online study will provide participants with false feedback about their psychopathic traits supposedly based on their digital footprint (i.e., Facebook likes), thus classifying them as having either above-average or below-average psychopathic traits and describing psychopathy in cognitive or neurobiological terms. This particular study will assess the extent to which lay people are influenced by feedback regarding their psychopathic traits, and how this might affect their moral behavior in online tasks. Public recognition of these potential negative consequences of neuroscience communication will also be assessed. A field study using the lost letter technique will be conducted to examine lay people's endorsement of neurobiological, as compared to cognitive, explanations of criminal behavior. This field and online experimental research could inform the future communication of neuroscience to the public in a way that is sensitive to the potential negative consequences of communicating such science. In particular, this research may have implications for the future means by which neurobiological predictors of offending can be safely communicated to offenders.

Finnish guidelines for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia and pertussis in children.

UNLABELLED: Evidence-based guidelines are needed to harmonise and improve the diagnostics and treatment of children's lower respiratory tract infections. Following a professional literature search, an interdisciplinary working group evaluated and graded the available evidence and constructed guidelines for the treatment of community-acquired pneumonia and pertussis. CONCLUSION: The clinical guidelines state that chest radiography is not needed if the child is diagnosed with pneumonia and treated at home. Complications should be considered if there is no improvement after antimicrobial therapy and a paroxysmal cough can indicate pertussis, which is life-threatening in unvaccinated infants and can lead to respiratory failure.

Finnish guidelines for the treatment of laryngitis, wheezing bronchitis and bronchiolitis in children.

UNLABELLED: Evidence-based guidelines are needed to harmonise and improve the diagnostics and treatment of children's lower respiratory tract infections. Following a professional literature search, an interdisciplinary working group evaluated and graded the available evidence and constructed guidelines for treating laryngitis, bronchitis, wheezing bronchitis and bronchiolitis. CONCLUSION: Currently available drugs were not effective in relieving cough symptoms. Salbutamol inhalations could relieve the symptoms of wheezing bronchitis and should be administered via a holding chamber. Nebulised adrenaline or inhaled or oral glucocorticoids did not reduce hospitalisation rates or relieve symptoms in infants with bronchiolitis and should not be routinely used.

Mould-specific immunoglobulin G antibodies in students from moisture- and mould-damaged schools: a 3-year follow-up study.

Immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies to moulds have been used as biomarkers of mould exposure, though their role reflecting exposure is not confirmed. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the changes in mould-specific IgG antibodies in children during a 3-year follow-up in relation to changes in exposure, and to allergic and respiratory morbidity. In 1996, 212 primary school students with asthma, wheezing or prolonged cough participated in a clinical study, including clinical examination, skin-prick tests to 12 moulds and mould-specific IgG determinations to 24 moulds. In 1999, 144 students of the same cohort participated in an identical follow-up study; among them, mould-specific IgG was measured in 121 students. No association was found between IgG antibodies to moulds and exposure to moisture or moulds in schools. Likewise, changes in mould-specific antibodies were only weakly associated with changes in exposure. Mould-specific IgG antibodies had no significant association with asthma, wheezing or cough episodes. IgG antibodies to moulds seem to be poor markers of exposure among children exposed to moisture or moulds at school.