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Advances in Psychiatric Treatment current issue

Comfort zones [From the Editor]
Bouch, J.
Seeing the evidence: learning from images in neuroscience [Editorials]
Cookson, J. The cover of this issue heralds a series of articles in which a visual image derived from cell biology or neuroscience is used to promote understanding of the biological mechanisms fundamental to psychiatry. ‘Images in neuroscience’ are intended to demonstrate the structures and mechanisms of the basic building blocks of brain function, including ionotropic and metabotropic receptors, second messenger systems, specialised ion channels, transmitter pathways, transporters, neuroglial function, and the complex mechanisms within cells that are being revealed, as new genetic associations for mental illness are discovered.
From My Sister and Myself [In Other Words]
Oyebode, F.

Am J Psychiatry current issue

In This Issue [In This Issue]

Psychiatrists' Role in the Health of the Pregnant Mother and the Risk for Schizophrenia in Her Offspring [Editorials]
Freedman, R.
Combining Antidepressant Medications: A Good Idea? [Editorials]
Rush, A. J.

Archives of General Psychiatry current issue

Association Between Cannabis Use and Psychosis-Related Outcomes Using Sibling Pair Analysis in a Cohort of Young Adults [Original Article]
McGrath, J., Welham, J., Scott, J., Varghese, D., Degenhardt, L., Hayatbakhsh, M. R., Alati, R., Williams, G. M., Bor, W., Najman, J. M.Context  Prospective cohort studies have identified an association between cannabis use and later psychosis-related outcomes, but concerns remain about unmeasured confounding variables. The use of sibling pair analysis reduces the influence of unmeasured residual confounding.Objective  To explore the association between cannabis use and psychosis-related outcomes.Design  A sibling pair analysis nested within a prospective birth cohort.Setting  Births at a Brisbane, Australia, hospital.Participants  Three thousand eight hundred one young adults born between 1981 and 1984 as part of the Mater-University Study of Pregnancy.Main Outcome Measures  Cannabis use and 3 psychosis-related outcomes (nonaffective psychosis, hallucinations, and Peters et al Delusions Inventory score) were assessed at the 21-year follow-up. Associations between duration since first cannabis use and psychosis-related outcomes were examined using logistic regression adjusted for sex, age, parental mental illness, and hallucinations at the 14-year follow-up. Within 228 sibling pairs, the association between within-pair differences in duration since first cannabis use and Peters et al Delusions Inventory score was examined with general linear modeling. The potential impact of attrition was examined.Results  Duration since first cannabis use was associated with all 3 psychosis-related outcomes. For those with duration since first cannabis use of 6 or more years, there was a significantly increased risk of (1) nonaffective psychosis (adjusted odds ratio, 2.2; 95% confidence interval, 1.1-4.5), (2) being in the highest quartile of Peters et al Delusions Inventory score (adjusted odds ratio, 4.2; 95% confidence interval, 4.2-5.8), and (3) hallucinations (adjusted odds ratio, 2.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.9-4.1). Within sibling pairs, duration since first cannabis use and higher scores on the Peters et al Delusions Inventory remained significantly associated.Conclusions  Early cannabis use is associated with psychosis-related outcomes in young adults. The use of sibling pairs reduces the likelihood that unmeasured confounding explains these findings. This study provides further support for the hypothesis that early cannabis use is a risk-modifying factor for psychosis-related outcomes in young adults.Published online March 1, 2010 (doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2010.6).
Association of Genetic Variants in the Neurotrophic Receptor-Encoding Gene NTRK2 and a Lifetime History of Suicide Attempts in Depressed Patients [Original Article]
Kohli, M. A., Salyakina, D., Pfennig, A., Lucae, S., Horstmann, S., Menke, A., Kloiber, S., Hennings, J., Bradley, B. B., Ressler, K. J., Uhr, M., Muller-Myhsok, B., Holsboer, F., Binder, E. B.Context  A consistent body of evidence supports a role of reduced neurotrophic signaling in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD) and suicidal behavior. Especially in suicide victims, lower postmortem brain messenger RNA and protein levels of neurotrophins and their receptors have been reported.Objective  To determine whether the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene or its high-affinity receptor gene, receptor tyrosine kinase 2 (NTRK2), confer risk for suicide attempt (SA) and MDD by investigating common genetic variants in these loci.Design  Eighty-three tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) covering the genetic variability of these loci in European populations were assessed in a case-control association design.Setting  Inpatients and screened control subjects.Participants  The discovery sample consisted of 394 depressed patients, of whom 113 had SA, and 366 matched healthy control subjects. The replication studies comprised 744 German patients with MDD and 921 African American nonpsychiatric clinic patients, of whom 152 and 119 were positive for SA, respectively.Interventions  Blood or saliva samples were collected from each participant for DNA extraction and genotyping.Main Outcome Measures  Associations of SNPs in BDNF and NTRK2 with SA and MDD.Results  Independent SNPs within NTRK2 were associated with SA among depressed patients of the discovery sample that could be confirmed in both the German and African American replication samples. Multilocus interaction analysis revealed that single SNP associations within this locus contribute to the risk of SA in a multiplicative and interactive fashion (P = 4.7 x 10–7 for a 3-SNP model in the combined German sample). The effect size was 4.5 (95% confidence interval, 2.1-9.8) when patients carrying risk genotypes in all 3 markers were compared with those without any of the 3 risk genotypes.Conclusions  Our results suggest that a combination of several independent risk alleles within the NTRK2 locus is associated with SA in depressed patients, further supporting a role of neurotrophins in the pathophysiology of suicide.Published online February 1, 2010 (doi:10.1001/archgenpsychiatry.2009.201).
About This Journal [About This Journal]


Acad Psychiatry current issue

Education on Genetics for Psychiatric Residents [EDITORIALS]
Layde, J. B., Roberts, L. W.
Psychiatric Education in the Genomic Era [COMMENTARIES]
Lehner, T., Insel, T.
Remembered [COMMENTARIES]
Doyle, M.

pubmed: 0924-9338

Theory of mind in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Comparison with healthy controls.
Sayın A, Oral N, Utku C, Baysak E, Candansayar S Related Articles Theory of mind in obsessive-compulsive disorder: Comparison with healthy controls. Eur Psychiatry. 2009 Dec 22; Authors: Sayın A, Oral N, Utku C, Baysak E, Candansayar S AIM: Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to represent one's own or another's mental states and has been found to be impaired in many psychiatric disorders. Our objective was to compare ToM abilities of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) with healthy controls and to investigate the relation between some illness features, other cognitive functions and ToM abilities of patients. METHOD: Thirty OCD patients and age, sex and education matched 30 he Subscribe to Journals RSS feed