501 research outputs found
NCAM1, TACR1 and NOS Genes and Temperament: A Study on Suicide Attempters and Controls
Suicide, one of the leading causes of death among young adults, seems to be plausibly modulated by both genetic and personality factors. The aim of this study was to dissect the potential association between genetics and temperament in a sample of 111 suicide attempters and 289 healthy controls. We focused on 4 genes previously investigated in association with suicide on the same sample: the nitric oxide synthase 1 and 3 (NOS1 and NOS3), the neuronal cell adhesion molecule 1 (NCAM1), and the tachykinin receptor 1 (TACR1) genes. In particular, we investigated whether a set of genetic variants in these genes (NOS1 : rs2682826, rs1353939, rs693534; NOS3 : rs2070744, rs1799983, rs891512; NCAM1 : rs2301228, rs1884, rs1245113, rs1369816, rs2196456, rs584427; TACR1 : rs3771810, rs3771825, rs726506, rs1477157) were associated with temperamental traits at the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). No strong evidence was found for the association between TCI personality traits and the polymorphisms considered in the 4 genes, with the exception of an association between reward dependence trait and the rs2682826 SNP in NOS1 in the healthy sample. However, this result could be plausibly interpreted as a false-positive finding. In conclusion, our study did not support the thesis of a direct modulation of these genes on temperament; however, further studies on larger samples are clearly required in order to confirm our preliminary findings and to exclude any possible minor influence. Copyright (C) 2011 S. Karger AG, Base
Interaction of haloperidol plasma level and antipsychotic effect in early phases of acute psychosis treatment
Sociodemographic and treatment related variables are poor predictors of haloperidol induced motor side effects.
Age, haloperidol plasma levels and sex are associated with haloperidol induced motor side effects according to some lines of evidence, even though some conflicting findings mandate further research. We here report that age and sex were associated with dystonia during the early phases of treatment (p = 0.0006 and p = 0.008 respectively), but are overall poor predictors of the Extrapyramidal Symptom Rating Scale scores' variation over time (first month of treatment) in a sample of 60 acutely ill haloperidol treated psychotic patients. We conclude that age, sex and haloperidol plasma levels are not robust predictors of haloperidol induced motor side effects. Nonetheless, some limits of the study including the small sample size and the imputation of missing data could have diminished the power of detecting minor impacts of the investigated clinical predictors of the haloperidol induced motor side effects
Genetics of resilience: Implications from genome-wide association studies and candidate genes of the stress response system in posttraumatic stress disorder and depression
Resilience is the ability to cope with critical situations through the use of personal and socially mediated resources. Since a lack of resilience increases the risk of developing stress-related psychiatric disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD), a better understanding of the biological background is of great value to provide better prevention and treatment options. Resilience is undeniably influenced by genetic factors, but very little is known about the exact underlying mechanisms. A recently published genome-wide association study (GWAS) on resilience has identified three new susceptibility loci, DCLK2, KLHL36, and SLC15A5. Further interesting results can be found in association analyses of gene variants of the stress response system, which is closely related to resilience, and PTSD and MDD. Several promising genes, such as the COMT (catechol-O-methyltransferase) gene, the serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4), and neuropeptide Y (NPY) suggest gene × environment interaction between genetic variants, childhood adversity, and the occurrence of PTSD and MDD, indicating an impact of these genes on resilience. GWAS on PTSD and MDD provide another approach to identifying new disease-associated loci and, although the functional significance for disease development for most of these risk genes is still unknown, they are potential candidates due to the overlap of stress-related psychiatric disorders and resilience. In the future, it will be important for genetic studies to focus more on resilience than on pathological phenotypes, to develop reasonable concepts for measuring resilience, and to establish international cooperations to generate sufficiently large samples
Serotonin receptor HTR1A and HTR2C variants and personality traits in suicide attempters and controls
NOS-I and -III gene variants are differentially associated with facets of suicidal behavior and aggression-related traits
Genome-wide association study supports the role of the immunological system and of the neurodevelopmental processes in response to haloperidol treatment
The aim of the study was to detect the genetic predictors of reseponse to haloperidol
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