Schizophrenia is associated with lower intelligence and poor educational performance relative to the general population. This is, to a lesser degree, also found in first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients. It is unclear whether bipolar disorder I (BD-I) patients and their relatives have similar lower intellectual and educational performance as that observed in schizophrenia.

This cross-sectional study investigated intelligence and educational performance in two outpatient samples [494 BD-I patients, 952 schizophrenia spectrum (SCZ) patients], 2231 relatives of BD-I and SCZ patients, 1104 healthy controls and 100 control siblings. Mixed-effects and regression models were used to compare groups on intelligence and educational performance.

BD-I patients were more likely to have completed the highest level of education (odds ratio 1.88, 95% confidence interval 1.66–2.70) despite having a lower IQ compared to controls (β = −9.09, s.e. = 1.27, p < 0.001). In contrast, SCZ patients showed both a lower IQ (β = −15.31, s.e. = 0.86, p < 0.001) and lower educational levels compared to controls. Siblings of both patient groups had significantly lower IQ than control siblings, but did not differ on educational performance. IQ scores did not differ between BD-I parents and SCZ parents, but BD-I parents had completed higher educational levels.

Although BD-I patients had a lower IQ than controls, they were more likely to have completed the highest level of education. This contrasts with SCZ patients, who showed both intellectual and educational deficits compared to healthy controls. Since relatives of BD-I patients did not demonstrate superior educational performance, our data suggest that high educational performance may be a distinctive feature of bipolar disorder patients.

The risk of developing bipolar disorder (BD) has been linked to structural brain abnormalities. The degree to which genes and environment influence the association of BD with cortical surface area remains to be elucidated. In this twin study, genetic and environmental contributions to the association between liability to develop BD and surface area, thickness and volume of the cortex were examined.

The study cohort included 44 affected monozygotic (nine concordant, 12 discordant) and dizygotic (four concordant, 19 discordant) twin pairs, and seven twins from incomplete discordant monozygotic and dizygotic discordant twin pairs. In addition, 37 monozygotic and 24 dizygotic healthy control twin pairs, and six twins from incomplete monozygotic and dizygotic control pairs were included.

Genetic liability to develop BD was associated with a larger cortical surface in limbic and parietal regions, and a thicker cortex in central and parietal regions. Environmental factors related to BD were associated with larger medial frontal, parietal and limbic, and smaller orbitofrontal surfaces. Furthermore, thinner frontal, limbic and occipital cortex, and larger frontal and parietal, and smaller orbitofrontal volumes were also associated with environmental factors related to BD.

Our results suggest that unique environmental factors play a prominent role in driving the associations between liability to develop BD and cortical measures, particularly those involving cortical thickness. Further evaluation of their influence on the surface and thickness of the cortical mantle is recommended. In addition, cortical volume appeared to be primarily dependent on surface and not thickness.

This is a copy of the slides presented at the meeting but not formally written up for the volume.

Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) has become a widespread technique for fabrication of thin films. A powerful pulsed laser is used to create a plasma off a target material, which is subsequently epitaxially deposited on a heated single crystal substrate. The PLD process can take place at relatively high oxygen pressures (up to 100 Pa), thereby making it especially suited for the deposition of complex oxides. For the purpose of studying the crystalline structure of the film during growth, a special sample chamber has been constructed to be used with synchrotron X-rays. The first results of deposition of thin films of YBa2Cu3O7-ä as well PbTiO3 on SrTiO3 substrates were obtained at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility. From intensity oscillations of the specularly reflected X-ray beam it is concluded that growth proceeds in a layer-by-layer fashion. Deposition was interrupted several times, which allowed for detailed structural characterization of the grown film at the deposition temperature of 780°C, where pronounced Kiessig fringes show that the surface is particularly smooth. A simple growth model, which contains a large degree of inter-layer mass transport, is used to describe the data and shows that a quantitative interpretation of the data is possible.