77 research outputs found
Interaction between prenatal stress and dopamine D4 receptor genotype in predicting aggression and cortisol levels in young adults
No full textRATIONALE: Considerable evidence suggests that genetic factors combine with environmental influences to impact on the development of aggressive behavior. A genetic variant that has repeatedly been reported to render individuals more sensitive to the presence of adverse experiences, including stress exposure during fetal life, is the seven-repeat allele of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene.
OBJECTIVES: The present investigation concentrated on the interplay of prenatal maternal stress and DRD4 genotype in predicting self-reported aggression in young adults. As disruption of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal system has been discussed as a pathophysiological pathway to aggression, cortisol stress reactivity was additionally examined.
METHODS: As part of an epidemiological cohort study, prenatal maternal stress was assessed by maternal interview 3 months after childbirth. Between the ages of 19 and 23 years, 298 offspring (140 males, 158 females) completed the Young Adult Self-Report to measure aggressive behavior and were genotyped for the DRD4 gene. At 19 years, 219 participants additionally underwent the Trier Social Stress Test to determine cortisol reactivity.
RESULTS: Extending earlier findings with respect to childhood antisocial behavior, the results revealed that, under conditions of higher prenatal maternal stress, carriers of the DRD4 seven-repeat allele displayed more aggression in adulthood (p = 0.032). Moreover, the same conditions which seemed to promote aggression were found to predict attenuated cortisol secretion (p = 0.028).
CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to indicate a long-term impact of prenatal stress exposure on the cortisol stress response depending on DRD4 genotype
Shared Genetic Etiology Between Alcohol Dependence and Major Depressive Disorder
No full textThe clinical comorbidity of alcohol dependence (AD) and
major depressive disorder (MDD) is well established,
whereas genetic factors influencing co-occurrence remain
unclear. A recent study using polygenic risk scores (PRS)
calculated based on the first-wave Psychiatric Genomics
Consortium MDD meta-analysis (PGC-MDD1) suggests a
modest shared genetic contribution to MDD and AD. Using a
(∼10 fold) larger discovery sample, we calculated PRS
based on the second wave (PGC-MDD2) of results, in a
severe AD case–control target sample. We found significant associations between AD disease status and MDD-PRS derived from both PGC-MDD2 (most informative
P-threshold=1.0, P=0.00063, R2=0.533%) and PGCMDD1
(P-threshold=0.2, P=0.00014, R2=0.663%) metaanalyses;
the larger discovery sample did not yield
additional predictive power. In contrast, calculating PRS in a MDD target sample yielded increased power when using
PGC-MDD2 (P-threshold=1.0, P=0.000038, R2=1.34%)
versus PGC-MDD1 (P-threshold=1.0, P=0.0013,
R2=0.81%). Furthermore, when calculating PGC-MDD2
PRS in a subsample of patients with AD recruited explicitly excluding comorbid MDD, significant associations were still found (n=331; P-threshold=1.0, P=0.042, R2=0.398%). Meanwhile, in the subset of patients in which MDD was not the explicit exclusion criteria, PRS predicted more variance (n=999; P-threshold=1.0, P=0.0003, R2=0.693%). Our findings replicate the reported genetic overlap between AD and MDD and also suggest the need for improved, rigorous phenotyping to identify true shared cross-disorder genetic factors. Larger target samples are needed to reduce noise and take advantage of increasing discovery sample size
Development of a Bioaerosol single particle detector (BIO IN) for the Fast Ice Nucleus CHamber FINCH
No full textIn this work we present the setup and first tests of our new BIO IN detector. This detector was constructed to classify atmospheric ice nuclei (IN) for their biological content. It is designed to be coupled to the Fast Ice Nucleus CHamber FINCH. If one particle acts as an ice nucleus, it will be at least partly covered with ice at the end of the development section of the FINCH chamber. The device combines an auto-fluorescence detector and a circular depolarization detector for simultaneous detection of biological material and discrimination between water droplets, ice crystals and non activated large aerosol particles. The excitation of biological material with UV light and analysis of auto-fluorescence is a common principle used for flow cytometry, fluorescence microscopy, spectroscopy and imaging. The detection of auto-fluorescence of airborne single particles demands some more experimental effort. However, expensive commercial sensors are available for special purposes, e.g. size distribution measurements. But these sensors will not fit the specifications needed for the FINCH IN counter (e.g. high sample flow of up 10 LPM). The newly developed -low cost- BIO IN sensor uses a single high-power UV LED for the electronic excitation instead of much more expensive UV lasers. Other key advantages of the new sensor are the low weight, compact size, and the little effect on the aerosol sample, which allows it to be coupled with other instruments for further analysis. The instrument will be flown on one of the first missions of the new German research aircraft "HALO" (High Altitude and LOng range)
Los seris, desierto y mar.. Anales del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia. Num. 47 Tomo XVIII (1965) Sexta Época (1939-1966)
No full textLos seris constituyen un pequeño grupo de indígenas, apenas 280 individuos, que habitan en Desemboque y en Punta Chueca, dos pequeñas localidades sobre la costa desértica de Sonora que antes de la llegada de los españoles les pertenecía en gran parte. Ellos se llaman a sí mismos "konkáak" que significa la gente, en su idioma, el seri, que pertenece al tronco yuma-pacua del Joca meridional. El paisaje seri se reduce a desierto y mar. El desierto es la parte sur del desierto Sonora-Arízona, uno de los más secos e inhóspitos del mundo, pero que florece en verano con el agua que baja de la sierra y efímeramente en invierno, como característica especial de este tipo de desierto. El mar tiene profundidades variadas y fuertes corrientes y forma una costa en partes rocosa y en otras arenosa y abierta. Tradicionalmente los seris ocupaban parte de las islas adyacentes, pero actualmente se reducen a las dos localidades ya mencionadas, sobre la costa. La vida y la cultura seri se relacionan con el mar y el desierto que los rodea. Antiguamente tenían una economía de autoconsumo y vivían nomádicamente trasladándose a lo largo de su territorio; actualmente viven más o menos sedentariamente y con una economía mercantilista, ligada a la regional. Siguen siendo pescadores y dependiendo, aunque parcialmente, de la recolección y de la manufactura de cestos, collares y otras cosas. No tienen ni han tenido agricultura, y parece que durante alguna época tuvieron una cerámica burda, que actualmente han abandonado totalmente. Su organización social está en crisis, tal vez por el paso de un tipo de economía a otro y de un sistema de vida a otro. Sus creencias, sencillas y de carácter mágico-religioso, siguen iguales que hace tiempo, y se ven poco influenciadas por la cultura occidental. Es de especial interés la cultura seri, tanto porque ha conservado relativamente bien la cultura del desierto, como porque muestra un proceso de cambio de un grupo nomádico, de economía de autosuficiencia, a un grupo sedentario con economía mercantilista y dependiente de un ámbito mayor. Muestra cierta semejanza con los grupos pimanos vecinos a ellos, y poca con los cahita que también son vecinos inmediatos; ofrecen una mayor similitud con los grupos yumanos del Gran Suroeste. Tal vez también haya presentado ciertas similitudes con los grupos, ahora extintos, de la Baja California. Algunos autores creen que el estadío cultural seri tan bajo se debe más a una regresión cultural que a una persistencia de una cultura primitiva. Pero todos los datos nos llevan a pensar que los seris conservan buena parte de la antigua cultura del desierto, primitiva por demás, que se origina en el horizonte San Pedro de la cultura Cochise. Las diferencias que se presentan con los demás grupos del desierto, y que también siguen esa tradición, se deben a formas culturales adoptadas posteriormente; por ejemplo, la agricultura para los grupos pimanos y yumanos, y para los seris, la pesca y la caza de animales marinos; pero seguramente todos tienen en común los elementos de la antigua cultura no agrícola que se adaptaba al desierto. Actualmente los seris constituyen un grupo marginal, pero su marginalismo se debe más a factores geográficos, aislamiento en el desierto y el mar, e históricos, relaciones conflictivas con sus vecinos, que aumentaban aún más tanto su aislamiento como su marginalismo, que a factores culturales y sociales. En los últimos años han resistido, culturalmente, los esfuerzos del Gobierno para lograr su asimilación cultural a la nación, pero su constante trato con los mercaderes mexicanos en pescado, llamados "armadores", han sido importantes para esta misma asimilación a la sociedad nacional. Actualmente están en una época de crisis cultural y social, con su sistema de valores casi destruido, con la adopción de sistemas occidentales negativos de valores, a través de los armadores. Con el tiempo tendrán que asimilarse totalmente a la sociedad nacional, sea como un grupo social aparte o integrándose completamente y en forma individual, a la misma sociedad nacional. Podríamos considerar que los seris, aunque fragmentariamente y como grupo en desintegración, son los representantes clásicos de la antigua cultura del desierto, preagrícola y precerámica, y que representa uno de los estadíos culturales más primitivos de América.Nolasco A., M. Los Pápagos, habitantes del Desierto. Anales del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, T. XVI. México, 1965.Padilla, M. Conquista del Reino de la Nueva Galicia, Ms. 1742. México.Pérez de Ribas, A. Los Triunfos de Nuestra Santa Fe. México, 1944.Pfefferkorn, I. Sonora, A Description of the Province. Trad. de Th. E. Treutlein. New Mexico, E. U., 1949.Olivera, M. y Sánchez, B. Distribución Actual de las Lenguas Indígenas de México, 1964. México, 1965.Rudo, Ensayo. Obra de un jesuita desconocido. Escrita en el siglo XVII. Arch. Gral. De la Nación, México. (De acuerdo con las investigaciones de Antonio Pompa y Pompa, parece que el autor fue el jesuita Juan l. Nentving o Netwig).Thompson, H. La tribu seri. El Imparcial. Sonora, 1956.Pozas, H. La Baja California y el Desierto de Sonora. Los Seris. Edic. Mimeográfica del C.A.P.F.C.E. México, 1961.Velasco, J. F. Noticias Estadísticas del Estado de Sonora. México, 1850.Villaseñor y Sánchez, J. A. Theatro Americano. México, 1952
Dopamine inactivation efficacy related to functional DAT1 and COMT variants influences motor response evaluation
No full textBACKGROUND: Dopamine plays an important role in orienting, response anticipation and movement evaluation. Thus, we examined the influence of functional variants related to dopamine inactivation in the dopamine transporter (DAT1) and catechol-O-methyltransferase genes (COMT) on the time-course of motor processing in a contingent negative variation (CNV) task.
METHODS: 64-channel EEG recordings were obtained from 195 healthy adolescents of a community-based sample during a continuous performance task (A-X version). Early and late CNV as well as motor postimperative negative variation were assessed. Adolescents were genotyped for the COMT Val(158)Met and two DAT1 polymorphisms (variable number tandem repeats in the 3'-untranslated region and in intron 8).
RESULTS: The results revealed a significant interaction between COMT and DAT1, indicating that COMT exerted stronger effects on lateralized motor post-processing (centro-parietal motor postimperative negative variation) in homozygous carriers of a DAT1 haplotype increasing DAT1 expression. Source analysis showed that the time interval 500-1000 ms after the motor response was specifically affected in contrast to preceding movement anticipation and programming stages, which were not altered.
CONCLUSIONS: Motor slow negative waves allow the genomic imaging of dopamine inactivation effects on cortical motor post-processing during response evaluation. This is the first report to point towards epistatic effects in the motor system during response evaluation, i.e. during the post-processing of an already executed movement rather than during movement programming
Stratified medicine for mental disorders
No full textThere is recognition that biomedical research into the causes of mental disorders and their treatment needs to adopt new approaches to research. Novel biomedical techniques have advanced our understanding of how the brain develops and is shaped by behaviour and environment. This has led to the advent of stratified medicine, which translates advances in basic research by targeting aetiological mechanisms underlying mental disorder. The resulting increase in diagnostic precision and targeted treatments may provide a window of opportunity to address the large public health burden, and individual suffering associated with mental disorders. While mental health and mental disorders have significant representation in the "health, demographic change and wellbeing" challenge identified in Horizon 2020, the framework programme for research and innovation of the European Commission (2014-2020), and in national funding agencies, clear advice on a potential strategy for mental health research investment is needed. The development of such a strategy is supported by the EC-funded "Roadmap for Mental Health Research" (ROAMER) which will provide recommendations for a European mental health research strategy integrating the areas of biomedicine, psychology, public health well being, research integration and structuring, and stakeholder participation. Leading experts on biomedical research on mental disorders have provided an assessment of the state of the art in core psychopathological domains, including arousal and stress regulation, affect, cognition social processes, comorbidity and pharmacotherapy. They have identified major advances and promising methods and pointed out gaps to be addressed in order to achieve the promise of a stratified medicine for mental disorders
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