BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Environmental factors such as serious trauma or abuse and related stress can lead to nightmares or night terrors. Being bullied can be very distressing for children, and victims display long-term social, psychological, and health consequences. Unknown is whether being bullied by peers may increase the risk for experiencing parasomnias such as nightmares, night terrors,...

OBJECTIVES Most studies reporting evidence of adverse effects of lead and cadmium on the ability to balance have been conducted in high-exposure groups or have included adults. The effects of prenatal exposure have not been well studied, nor have the effects in children been directly studied. The aim of the study was to identify the associations of lead (in utero and in childhood) and cadmium (...

AIM The purpose of this prospective cohort study is to examine whether cognitive decline is an independent predictor of new long-term care insurance (LTCI) requirement certifications in Japan. METHODS A total of 5,765 community-dwelling older Japanese adults who, at baseline, were independent in terms of their activities of daily living participated in this study and were followed up for 18 m...

This article focuses on a court innovation for criminally involved people who are afflicted with serious mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, or major depression. It describes a recently developed strategy for dealing with the challenges of working with mentally ill individuals during the preand post-adjudication stages of the criminal justice process: mental health court ...

Background: Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphocyte-monocyte ratio (LMR) and platelet-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) have a prognostic value in several types of diseases such as cancers and they vary in different races. So, we aimed to evaluate the normal range of these markers among healthy people to determine the normal value in Iranian population. Methods: In the present study, cross-sectiona...

AIMS To assess whether associations between maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring smoking initiation are due to intrauterine mechanisms. DESIGN Comparison of associations of maternal and partner smoking behaviour during pregnancy with offspring smoking initiation using partner smoking as a negative control (n = 6484) and a Mendelian randomization analysis (n = 1020), using a genetic...

BACKGROUND Hormone therapy has been shown to increase risk of ischemic stroke in women. Plant-derived estrogens, particularly soy isoflavones, are known to have some estrogenic effects and have been marketed as natural alternatives to hormone therapy. Concerns have been raised about whether high isoflavone exposure may be related to ischemic stroke risk as well. OBJECTIVE We examined the diet...

BACKGROUND Sjögren's syndrome (SS) has been associated with bronchial hyperresponsiveness and asthma; however, no population-based cohort study has been performed. We evaluated the risk of asthma in patients with primary SS in a nationwide population. METHODS We conducted a retrospective cohort study using data from the National Health Insurance Research Database in Taiwan. The primary SS gro...

BACKGROUND Electronic administrative data exist in several domains which, if linked, are potentially useful for research. However, benefits from data linkage should be considered alongside risks such as the threat to privacy. Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) is a birth cohort study. The Project to Enhance ALSPAC through Record Linkage (PEARL) was established to enrich th...