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Background: Social and environmental factors such as poverty or violence modulate the risk and course of schizophrenia. However, how they affect the brain in patients with psychosis remains unclear.Aims: We studied how environmental factors are related to brain structure in patients with schizophrenia and controls in Latin America, where these factors are large and unequally distributed.Method: This is a multicentre study of magnetic resonance imaging in patients with schizophrenia and controls from six Latin American cities. Total and voxel-level grey matter volumes, and their relationship with neighbourhood characteristics such as average income and homicide rates, were analysed with a general linear model.Results: A total of 334 patients with schizophrenia and 262 controls were included. Income was differentially related to total grey matter volume in both groups (P = 0.006). Controls showed a positive correlation between total grey matter volume and income (R = 0.14, P = 0.02). Surprisingly, this relationship was not present in patients with schizophrenia (R = -0.076, P = 0.17). Voxel-level analysis confirmed that this interaction was widespread across the cortex. After adjusting for global brain changes, income was positively related to prefrontal cortex volumes only in controls. Conversely, the hippocampus in patients with schizophrenia, but not in controls, was relatively larger in affluent environments. There was no significant correlation between environmental violence and brain structure.Conclusions: Our results highlight the interplay between environment, particularly poverty, and individual characteristics in psychosis. This is particularly important for harsh environments such as low- and middle-income countries, where potentially less brain vulnerability (less grey matter loss) is sufficient to become unwell in adverse (poor) environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been associated with socioeconomic difficulties later in life. Little research in this area has been based on longitudinal and community studies.Aims: To examine the relationship between childhood attention problems and socioeconomic status 18 years later.Method: Using a French community sample of 1103 youths followed from 1991 to 2009, we tested associations between childhood attention problems and socioeconomic status between ages 22 and 35 years, adjusting for potential childhood and family confounders.Results: Individuals with high levels of childhood attention problems were three times more likely to experience subsequent socioeconomic disadvantage than those with low levels of attention problems (odds ratio 3.44, 95% CI 1.72-6.92). This association remained statistically significant even after adjusting for childhood externalising problems, low family income, parental divorce and parental alcohol problems.Conclusions: This longitudinal community-based study shows an association between childhood attention problems and socioeconomic disadvantage in adulthood. Taking into account ADHD and associated difficulties could help reduce the long-term socioeconomic burden of the disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Understanding of the psychological impact of politically motivated violence is poor.Aims: To examine the prevalence of post-traumatic symptoms subsequent to the 'troubles' in Northern Ireland.Method: A telephone survey of 3000 adults, representative of the population in Northern Ireland and the border counties of the Irish Republic, examined exposure to political violence, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and national identity.Results: Ten per cent of respondents had symptoms suggestive of clinical PTSD. These people were most likely to come from low-income groups, rate national identity as relatively unimportant and have higher overall experience of the 'troubles'than other respondents.Conclusions: Direct experience of violence and poverty increase the risk of PTSD, whereas strong national identification appears to reduce this risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There are few studies of mental ill health among young people in developing countries.Aims: To measure the prevalence of common mental disorders among low-income young people in the city of Cali, Colombia and to examine associations with violence and social capital.Method: The Self-Reporting Questionnaire was administered to 1057 young people aged 15-25 years. Social capital, violence, alcoholism and socio-demographic variables were also measured.Results: We found 255 young people (24%) with common mental disorders. Being a woman, having limited education and experiencing high levels of violence were the main risk factors for common mental disorders. Social capital did not emerge as a risk factor.Conclusions: A large burden of mental ill health among young people was found; this requires urgent interventions and more research on the mechanisms which link mental health and violence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The roofless have not been previously surveyed in detail looking specifically at their psychiatric status.Method: All roofless people in a discrete area were interviewed in their 'skippers' using a semi-structured interview. Other roofless people helped in case finding and diagnostic validity was confirmed using a computerised case register.Results: Sixty-five people were interviewed. High rates of substance abuse (n = 48, 75%), and very low rates of psychotic illness (n = 2, 3%) were found. High rates of serious physical morbidity, of imprisonment and of being the victim of a crime were found.Conclusion: The roofless have multiple severe medical, social, and psychiatric problems. These all must be addressed when considering the provision of services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information on a report about the family care of the insane poor in England and Wales, that has been published within the journal. The report states that the concept of family care is not very popular in England. It discusses the condition of insane poor who are deprived of family care. The law of the country and society does not recognize its duty towards the care of the insane. It also states that the subjects related to the duty of curing the victims of a mental disorder and of securing kindly and sufficient care for such people have not been sufficiently understood in the region.

The article reports on a decrease in the consumption of beer and spirits in Great Britain since 1899. The beer consumption was 32.2 gallons per head of the population in 1899-1900 but in 1905-1906 it had decreased to 27.9 gallons per head. The spirit consumption has also decreased each year from 1.17 gallons per head to .90 gallons per head. Several factors that are attributable to the abuse of alcoholic drinks include pauperism, crime and insanity. It is possible that the reduction may be due only to the greater moderation from necessity or improved habits of the middle and upper classes.

The article discusses about Edith Seller's article entitled "Shifting Scenes in Rural Workhouses," which describes the classification of the inmates of workhouses. The author provided examples of the abuses that were existing in workhouses. He emphasized that one of the workhouses consisted of twelve men, two of whom were murderers, one was a repulsive lunatic. He likewise asserted that two women can be seen in one small workhouse, where one of these women was imbecile. The author stressed that one institution between the workhouse on the one hand and the prison or lunatic asylum on the other hand must be available for the poor of any district.

The article looks at the field of psychiatry in Great Britain in 1897. The London County Council has encountered difficulties in dealing with the increasing numbers of insane patients. The Asylum Committee has required to exercise skill, tact, discretion in no ordinary degree. A new asylum is to be built in Edinburgh, and order has been issued by the General Board of Lunacy dividing the former Edinburgh City Lunacy District into two new districts. The article reports on the insufficiency of the accommodation for the pauper insane.