This case report describes a 58-year-old man who is otherwise healthy but has periodic episodes of syncope which only happen when he laughs vigorously. This occurs suddenly with no prodrome, so the patient has no time to react and is unable to brace himself when he falls. The case is one of the very few described in the medical literature, most of which have similar presentations and findings o...

BACKGROUND Community-acquired necrotizing pneumonia caused by Panton-Valentine leukocidin (PVL)-secreting Staphylococcus aureus is a highly lethal infection that mainly affects healthy children and young adults. Both methicillin-sensitive S. aureus (MSSA) and methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) may carry the PVL-phage, but the majority of publications relate to community-associated methicill...

It is a well-known fact that managing schizophrenia patients as early as possible has a positive impact on the psychopathological and psychosocial outcomes of the disorder. Identifying people at risk for this serious disorder before its outbreak has become a major research aim in the past decade. Consequently, the intuitive notion that intervening at this early stage, before a diagnosis of schi...

In this issue, Woods et al report data analyses that support the validity of the criteria for identifying the prodrome stage of psychotic disorders. We have previously placed emphasis on this issue with a special theme. Questions related to the development of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (Fifth Edition) (DSM-V) now emerge. Should clinical practice move in the direction ...

One of the most important trends in the treatment of schizophrenia involves its early diagnosis and intervention. The ultimate goal of research is the prevention of the disorder, A major impediment to the development of prevention strategies, however, is that we do not yet know what the liability for schizophrenia is before the onset of psychosis. Consequently, early treatment attempts are focu...

This issue of the Schizophrenia Bulletin focuses around research in the prodromal phase of severe mental illness, largely schizophrenia. The years since the last Bulletin issue on early detection and intervention have witnessed success at identifying the prodrome prospectively, positive initial data about treating prodromal symptoms and delaying psychosis onset, and hopeful data about elucidati...

We compared the clinical course of 68 patients with infective endocarditis and mycotic aneurysm and 147 patients with infective endocarditis but no mycotic aneurysm. Among the patients with mycotic aneurysm, 57% had subarachnoid hemorrhage without warning. Forty-three percent had a neurologic prodrome 2 days to 18 months (median 17 days) prior to discovery of the mycotic aneurysm. A focal defic...