Objective: To investigate influences of personality traits on quality of life (QOL) over the first 3 months after stroke. Methods: Participants were interviewed 2 weeks after stroke with a follow-up after 3 months, with QOL (WHOQOL-BREF) measured on both occasions. Personality traits were ascertained at the 3-month examination using the Big Five Inventory, quantifying five personality traits: extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. Influences of personality traits on QOL at the 2 examinations were investigated using repeated-measure analysis of variance (ANOVA) with adjustments for age, gender, number of years in education, use of antidepressants, stroke severity and physical disability. Results: In the 151 patients present at both examinations, neuroticism resulted in lower overall QOL levels on all 4 WHOQOL-BREF domains, and extraversion, agreeableness and conscientiousness influenced some, but not all, QOL domains. The openness trait had no influence on overall QOL levels but showed significant group-by-time interactions on psychological and environment QOL domains. Conclusions: QOL over the 3-month period after stroke was influenced by several personality traits. The neuroticism trait influenced overall QOL levels but not trajectories, while the opposite was true for the openness trait.

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The microbiological and molecular characteristics of the rickettsiae isolated from humans with Queensland tick typhus (QTT) caused by Rickettsia australis and the recently described Flinders Island spotted fever (FISF) were compared. Clinically and serologically, the diseases are similar. Cell culture reveals differences in the plaque-forming abilities of the isolates. Characterization of the gene encoding the genus-specific 17-kDa antigen of R. australis revealed a unique nucleotide sequence unlike those of the FISF isolate and Ricketfsia rickettsii. Southern blot analysis of rickettsial DNA from the isolates with a 17-kDa-antigen gene probe revealed the presence of this gene in all isolates but no difference in banding patterns. When a probe for the rRNA genes was used, clear differences in banding patterns of isolates from patients with QTT and FISF were revealed. Thus, the rickettsiae isolated from patients with FISF differ from those from patients with QTT and may represent a new rickettsial species.

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