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Artikkelissa tarkastellaan Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seuran tutkija Ulla Lipposen (1941–2015) tallettaman digitaalisen folkloreaineiston kuvaa 2000- luvun hulluudesta osana kansanhuumoria. Artikkelissa pohditaan, millaista kuvaa yhteiskunnasta ja hulluna pidetyn ilmentymistä nuorten aikuisten tallettamat esimerkit rakentavat. Mille niissä nauretaan tai millaiseen kulttuuriseen keskusteluun ne ottavat osaa huumorin keinoin? Artikkeli nostaa esille kaksi erilaista tulokulmaa hulluuteen: lääketieteelliseen diagnosointiin liittyvät näkökulmat sekä kulttuuriseen, pääosin normeja rikkovan käytöksen tuottamaan hulluuteen. Artikkeli osoittaa, että huumorin keinoin on mahdollista käsitellä arkoja yhteiskunnallisia kysymyksiä, tavallisuuden, normaaliuden ja poikkeavuuden määritelmiä sekä kyseenalaistaa totuttuja ajatusmalleja.

Introduction: In this prospective cohort study over 40 years we investigated the effect of childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and subthreshold ADHD on cognitive performance in adulthood. Methods: The cohort comprised individuals with mild perinatal risks. Childhood ADHD group (cADHD, n = 39) was compared to a group with subthreshold childhood attention or hyperactivity symptoms (cAP; n = 79), a group with similar perinatal risks but no ADHD symptoms (n = 255), and to controls without ADHD symptoms or perinatal risks (n = 69). The groups were assessed with multiple neuropsychological measures in domains of verbal reasoning, perceptual skills, memory, working memory, attention, executive functions, and speed. Grouplevel differences and frequencies of deficient functioning were analyzed. Results: Overall, the groups' performance differed in all cognitive domains at age 40. Verbal reasoning, perceptual skills, memory, and speed had the largest effect sizes (0.51-0.62). The cADHD group's performance was lower than the other groups' on 13 out of 21 measures. The cAP group performed poorer than controls on five measures. In the cADHD group, 23% had three or more deficient cognitive domains, compared to 4-6% in the other groups. Discussion: Childhood ADHD is associated with impaired cognitive functioning in adulthood on several cognitive domains whereas childhood subthreshold ADHD is linked to fewer cognitive deficits. Task complexity was linked to poorer performance within the ADHD group. Our results add to the scarce longitudinal evidence of cognitive outcomes related to childhood ADHD and subthreshold symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online cognitive tests have gained popularity in recent years, but their utility needs evaluation. We reviewed the available information on the reliability and validity measures of tests that were designed to be performed online without supervision. We then compared a newly developed web-based and self-administered memory test to traditional neuropsychological tests. We also studied if familiarity with computers affects the willingness to take the test or the test performance. Five hundred thirty-one healthy individuals, who have a history of a perinatal risk and who have been followed up since birth for the potential long-term consequences, participated in a traditional comprehensive neuropsychological assessment at the age of 40. Of them, 234 also completed an online memory test developed for follow-up. The online assessment and traditional neuropsychological tests correlated moderately (total r =.50, p <.001; subtests r =.21−.45). The mean sum scores did not differ between presentation methods (online or traditional) and there was no interaction between presentation method and sex or education. The experience in using computers did not affect the performance, but subjects who used computers often were more likely to take part in the voluntary online test. Our self-administered online test is promising for monitoring memory performance in the follow-up of subjects who have no major cognitive impairments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Difficulties in phonological processing and reading that characterize developmental dyslexia have been suggested also to affect those with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, it is not known to what extent various intervening factors, such as low intelligence quotient or age, explain the observed difficulties. In this study, the authors investigated the domains of phonological processing, reading, spelling, and arithmetic in 110 adults (ages 18-55 years) in healthy control, dyslexia, and ADHD groups. The aim of the study was specifically to compare domain profiles of participants with ADHD to those in other groups. The results showed that participants with dyslexia had the most generalized difficulties. Participants with ADHD were the least affected, and their difficulties reflected less accurate performance. Furthermore, all the observed differences became nonsignificant when intelligence quotient was controlled for. This suggests that adult ADHD is not related to significant impairments in phonological processing or achievement. (Contains 3 tables and 1 figure.)

The project Adult Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder in Finland (Project DyAdd) compares adults (n = 119, 18-55 years) with dyslexia, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), dyslexia together with ADHD (comorbid), and healthy controls with neuropsychological, psychophysical, and biological methods. The focus of this article is on the "Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Third Edition" (WAIS-III). The clinical groups performed well compared to the norms, and they did not differ from each other. However, compared to the controls, all of them were slightly poorer in their Full IQ, and of the factors, processing speed was relatively difficult for all of them. In addition to the group comparisons, a cluster analysis based on subtest scores was conducted over the clinical groups. It did not suggest a solution that would differentiate between the clinical groups. Instead, four clusters emerged: above average, average, poor perceptual organization, and poor working memory. Thus, differentiating between these clinical groups with the WAIS-III was not possible. However, all of them shared a relative difficulty in processing speed, and group-independent clusters with perceptual or memory difficulties emerged. (Contains 5 tables and 3 figures.)

C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansion is a common cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD). The C9orf72 locus may harbor residual risk outside the hexanucleotide repeat expansion, but the evidence is conflicting. Here, we first compared 683 unrelated amyotrophic lateral sclerosis cases and 3,196 controls with Finnish ancestry to find best single nucleotide polymorphisms that tag the C9orf72 hexanucleotide repeat expansion and intermediate-length alleles. Rs2814707 was the best tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms for intermediate-length alleles with ≥7 repeats (p = 5 x 10-307) and rs139185008 for the hexanucleotide repeat expansion (p = 7 x 10-114) as well as alleles with ≥20 repeats. rs139185008*C associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis after removing cases with the hexanucleotide repeat expansion, especially in the subpopulation homozygous for the rs2814707*T (p = 0.0002, OR = 5.06), which supports the concept of residual amyotrophic lateral sclerosis risk at the C9orf72 haplotypes other than the hexanucleotide repeat expansion. We then leveraged Finnish biobank data to test the effects of rs2814707*T and rs139185008*C on longevity after removing individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis / frontotemporal dementia diagnoses. In the discovery cohort (n = 230,006), the frequency of rs139185008*C heterozygotes decreased significantly with age in the comparisons between 50 and 80 years vs. >80 years (p = 0.0005) and <50 years vs. >80 years (p = 0.0001). The findings were similar but less significant in a smaller replication cohort (2-sided p = 0.037 in 50-80 years vs. >80 years and 0.061 in <50 years vs. >80 years). Analysis of the allele frequencies in 5-year bins demonstrated that the decrease of rs139185008*C started after the age of 70 years. The hexanucleotide repeat expansion tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms decreasing frequency with age suggests its' association with age-related diseases probably also outside amyotrophic lateral sclerosis / frontotemporal dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]