Diverse Psychiatric Disorders Research Articles

Measure of the Depression at Psychology Students

Background: The University of Lubumbashi doesn’t have the culture to evaluate the mental health and the humor’s state of psychology’s students who will be confronted with the multiple realities of the suffering patients with diverse psychiatric disorders, among whom in particular the disorders of the humor. Aims of the Study: The present study (i) measures the depression of students in psychology at University of Lubumbashi and (ii) analyzes the prevalence of gender and age to their depression. Instruments: Having made appeal to Beck Depression Inventory, we evaluate 60 first-year students of graduate in psychology who composing our sample, 30 women and 30 men from 18 to 23 years old. Results: It emerges from our investigations that 73.3% of students were depressive (5% of grave Depression and 1.67% of extreme Depression), with the depression’s prevalence of men (80%) and of less old students (75%). Conclusion: The mental health of the students in psychology at University of Lubumbashi would thus be measured at least once during their academic program.

Social isolation induces schizophrenia-like behavior potentially associated with HINT1, NMDA receptor 1, and dopamine receptor 2.

Both genetic factors and early life adversity play major roles in the etiology of schizophrenia. Our previous studies indicated that social isolation (SI) during early postnatal development leads to several lasting abnormal behavioral and pathophysiological features resembling the core symptoms of some human neuropsychiatric disorders in mice. The glutamate and dopamine hypotheses are tightly linked to the development of schizophrenia. The cross-talk between glutamate N-methyl-d-aspartate acid receptors and dopamine receptors is associated with histidine triad nucleotide binding protein 1 (HINT1), which is correlated with diverse psychiatric disorders. We examined the effects of SI on schizophrenia-like behavior and used enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays to investigate the expression levels of HINT1, the NR1 subunit of N-methyl-d-aspartate acid receptor, and dopamine type 2 receptor (D2R) in C57 mice. We found that SI leads to a series of schizophrenia-related deficits, such as social withdrawal, anxiety disorder, cognitive impairments, and sensorimotor gating disturbances. These abnormal phenotypes paralleled changes of HINT1, NR1, and D2R. SI may be considered a robust model of the effects of early life stress on the schizophrenia-related behaviors in mice. Potential interactions among HINT1, NR1, and D2R may underlie the behavioral deficits induced by SI.

The joint impact of cognitive performance in adolescence and familial cognitive aptitude on risk for major psychiatric disorders: a delineation of four potential pathways to illness.

How do joint measures of premorbid cognitive ability and familial cognitive aptitude (FCA) reflect risk for a diversity of psychiatric and substance use disorders? To address this question, we examined, using Cox models, the predictive effects of school achievement (SA) measured at age 16 and FCA-assessed from SA in siblings and cousins, and educational attainment in parents-on risk for 12 major psychiatric syndromes in 1 140 608 Swedes born 1972-1990. Four developmental patterns emerged. In the first, risk was predicted jointly by low levels of SA and high levels of FCA-that is a level of SA lower than would be predicted from the FCA. This pattern was strongest in autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia, and weakest in bipolar illness. In these disorders, a pathologic process seems to have caused cognitive functioning to fall substantially short of familial potential. In the second pattern, seen in the internalizing conditions of major depression and anxiety disorders, risk was associated with low SA but was unrelated to FCA. Externalizing disorders-drug abuse and alcohol use disorders-demonstrated the third pattern, in which risk was predicted jointly by low SA and low FCA. The fourth pattern, seen in eating disorders, was directly opposite of that observed in externalizing disorders with risk associated with high SA and high FCA. When measured together, adolescent cognitive ability and FCA identified four developmental patterns leading to diverse psychiatric disorders. The value of cognitive assessments in psychiatric research can be substantially increased by also evaluating familial cognitive potential.

Homocysteine as a peripheral biomarker in bipolar disorder: A meta-analysis

BackgroundBipolar disorder (BD) is a psychiatric disorder with an uncertain aetiology. Recently, special attention has been given to homocysteine (Hcy), as it has been suggested that alterations in 1-carbon metabolism might be implicated in diverse psychiatric disorders. However, there is uncertainty regarding possible alterations in peripheral Hcy levels in BD. MethodsThis study comprises a meta-analysis comparing serum and plasma Hcy levels in persons with BD and healthy controls. We conducted a systematic search for all eligible English and non-English peer-reviewed articles. ResultsNine cross-sectional studies were included in the meta-analyses, providing data on 1547 participants. Random-effects meta-analysis showed that serum and plasma levels of Hcy were increased in subjects with BD in either mania or euthymia when compared to healthy controls, with a large effect size in the mania group (g=0.98, 95% CI: 0.8–1.17, P<0.001, n=495) and a small effect in the euthymia group (g=0.3, 95% CI: 0.11–0.48, P=0.002, n=1052). ConclusionsOur meta-analysis provides evidence that Hcy levels are elevated in persons with BD during mania and euthymia. Peripheral Hcy could be considered as a potential biomarker in BD, both of trait (since it is increased in euthymia), and also of state (since its increase is more accentuated in mania). Longitudinal studies are needed to clarify the relationship between bipolar disorder and Hcy, as well as the usefulness of peripheral Hcy as both a trait and state biomarker in BD.

Editorial: Mechanisms of Neuronal Migration during Corticogenesis.

Editorial: Mechanisms of Neuronal Migration during Corticogenesis.

Nightmare Disorder, Psychopathology Levels, and Coping in a Diverse Psychiatric Sample.

Nightmares are associated with psychopathology and impaired coping in the general population. However, little is known about this association in a psychiatric population. In this study, we investigate whether patients with diverse psychiatric disorders have increased symptomatology and different coping styles if they suffer from comorbid nightmare disorder. Participants were 498 patients with diverse moderate to severe psychiatric disorders. As part of a standard assessment procedure, they filled out questionnaires regarding nightmares, psychopathology, personality pathology, and coping. A multivariate analysis of covariance and post hoc tests showed that patients with nightmare disorder scored higher on psychopathology (ηp2 = .03; p = .001) and personality pathology (ηp2 = .01-.03; p < .05). No significant differences were found with regards to coping strategies. Nightmare disorder is associated with higher levels of psychopathology and personality pathology in a sample of patients with diverse psychiatric disorders.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive brain stimulation technique that consists of applying a weak electric current over the scalp to modulate cortical excitability. tDCS has been extensively investigated in adults with psychiatric disorders. The aim of this study was to review the current literature regarding the use of tDCS in children and adolescents with psychiatric disorders. We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE databases for studies evaluating the safety and efficacy of tDCS in children and adolescents from age 0 to 18 years with psychiatric disorders. We found six studies that evaluated patients with different psychiatric disorders, with diverse study designs and stimulation parameters, including three small randomized clinical trials (RCTs), one evaluating childhood-onset schizophrenia, one RCT with patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), and one study in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); three open-label studies, two evaluating patients with ASD, and one study of feasibility of the technique in children and adolescents with language disorders and diverse psychiatric disorders, including ASD, intellectual disability, and ADHD. We also found three studies of dosage considerations in the general pediatric population. The technique was well tolerated, with no reports of serious side effects. Preliminary research suggests that tDCS may be well tolerated and safe for children and adolescents with psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Nevertheless, because the literature regarding tDCS in child and adolescent psychiatry is scarce and there exist limited numbers of randomized controlled trials, it is not possible to draw definite conclusions. Future studies should investigate the technique with regard to specific psychiatric conditions in comparison with standard treatments. In addition, long-term efficacy and safety should be monitored.

Finding the Elusive Psychiatric “Lesion” With 21st-Century Neuroanatomy: A Note of Caution

The widespread use of MRI has led to a wealth of structural and functional anatomical findings in patients with diverse psychiatric disorders that may represent insights into pathobiology. However, recent technical reports indicate that data from popular MRI research-particularly structural MRI, resting--state functional MRI, and diffusion tensor imaging--are highly sensitive to common artifacts (e.g., head motion and breathing effects) that may dominate the results. Because these and other important confounders of MRI data (e.g., smoking, body weight, metabolic variations, medical comorbidities, psychoactive drugs, alcohol use, mental state) tend to vary systematically between patient and control groups, the evidence that findings are neurobiologically meaningful is inconclusive and may represent artifacts or epiphenomena of uncertain value. The authors caution that uncritically accepting from study to study findings that may represent fallacies of all sorts carries the risk of misinforming practitioners and patients about biological abnormalities underlying psychiatric illness.

Social deficits in IRSp53 mutant mice improved by NMDAR and mGluR5 suppression.

Social deficits are observed in diverse psychiatric disorders, including autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia. We found that mice lacking the excitatory synaptic signaling scaffold IRSp53 (also known as BAIAP2) showed impaired social interaction and communication. Treatment of IRSp53(-/-) mice, which display enhanced NMDA receptor (NMDAR) function in the hippocampus, with memantine, an NMDAR antagonist, or MPEP, a metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 antagonist that indirectly inhibits NMDAR function, normalized social interaction. This social rescue was accompanied by normalization of NMDAR function and plasticity in the hippocampus and neuronal firing in the medial prefrontal cortex. These results, together with the reduced NMDAR function implicated in social impairments, suggest that deviation of NMDAR function in either direction leads to social deficits and that correcting the deviation has beneficial effects.

Les troubles liés à l’utilisation des opioïdes prescrits médicalement

Epidemiology Canada now has the second highest number of opioid prescriptions per capita in the world. The rate of prescriptions has increased over the last decade, most notably in adults over 55 years of age. A recognition of the importance of treating pain has influenced this increase, but higher rates of opioid prescribing have produced undesirable outcomes including the misuse of medication as well as an increased number of deaths and emergency department visits attributable to opioids. Diverse psychiatric disorders, such as major depression, now also occur in 40% of those with an opioid use disorder (OUD). Neuroscience We now understand that addictive behaviors are caused by both environmental and genetic factors. Although OUD has historically been perceived as a weakness of character, it is now clear that it is a chronic disease, which results from a complex interaction between a substance, such as opioid, environmental factors, and an individual's genotype. Unfortunately, this evidence has yet to be successfully translated into clinical practice and most physicians are unable to diagnose and manage OUD patients appropriately.Clinical guidelines Many clinical guidelines for the management of chronic, non-cancer pain are available. All guidelines identify the need to assess the patient appropriately and screen for factors associated with misuse before prescribing opioids. Guidelines generally acknowledge that patients should not be denied appropriate pain management, but that some patients will require close supervision and frequent follow-up to prevent the misuse of prescription opioids.

Discrete Alterations of Brain Network Structural Covariance in Individuals at Ultra-High Risk for Psychosis

BackgroundInvestigation of aberrant large-scale brain networks offers novel insight into the role these networks play in diverse psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Although studies report altered functional brain connectivity in participants at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis, it is unclear whether these alterations extend to structural brain networks. MethodsWhole-brain structural covariance patterns of 133 participants at UHR for psychosis (51 of whom subsequently developed psychosis) and 65 healthy control (HC) subjects were studied. Following data preprocessing (using VBM8 toolbox), the mean signal in seed regions relating to specific networks (visual, auditory, motor, speech, semantic, executive control, salience, and default-mode) were extracted, and voxel-wise analyses of covariance were conducted to compare the association between whole-brain signal and each seed region for UHR and HC individuals. The UHR participants who transitioned to psychosis were compared with the UHR participants who did not. ResultsSignificantly reduced structural covariance was observed in the UHR sample compared with the HC sample for the default-mode network, and increased covariance was observed for the motor and executive control networks. When the UHR participants who transitioned to psychosis were compared with the UHR participants who did not, aberrant structural covariance was observed in the salience, executive control, auditory, and motor networks. ConclusionsWhole-brain structural covariance analyses revealed subtle changes of connectivity of the default-mode, executive control, salience, motor, and auditory networks in UHR individuals for psychosis. Although we found significant differences, these are small changes and tend to reflect largely intact structural networks.

Eight years later: outcomes of CBT-treated versus untreated anxious children.

BackgroundAnxiety disorders are the most common psychiatric disorders of childhood, generate significant distress, are considered precursors to diverse psychiatric disorders, and lead to poor social and employment outcomes in adulthood. Although childhood anxiety has a significant impact on a child's developmental trajectory, only a handful of studies examined the long-term impact of treatment and none included a control group. The aim of this study was to conduct a long-term follow-up (LTFU) of anxious children who were treated with Cognitive–Behavioral Therapy (CBT) compared to a matched group of children who were not.MethodsSubjects comprised 120 children: a treatment group which included the first 60 consecutive consenting children who were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder and treated with CBT between the years 1997 and 2003 and a control group, 60 matched children who were assessed but not treated with CBT. An “ex-post-facto” design was used to compare the two groups.ResultsChildren showed lower rates of anxiety diagnosis (about 50% for both groups) and significantly improved functioning at LTFU (time effect P < 0.0001; no group difference). Anxiety levels were significantly lower in the nontreatment group at LTFU as compared to initial assessment (P = 0.02), but not in the treatment group, and a significant between-group difference was found (P = 0.01) according to child. An inverse relationship was found between self-efficacy/self-esteem and anxiety outcome ([P = 0.0008] and [P = 0.04], respectively).ConclusionsThis study supports the assumption that childhood anxiety disorders may improve without treatment and highlights self-efficacy/self-esteem as potential factors in recovery.

Sleep disturbances in a clinical forensic psychiatric population

ObjectivePoor sleep is known to cause detrimental effects on the course of diverse psychiatric disorders and is a putative risk factor for hostility and aggression. Thus, sleep may be crucial in forensic psychiatric practice. However, little is known about the prevalence of sleep disturbances in these complex psychiatric patients. MethodsIn this study we investigated the presence of sleep disorders and subjective sleep quality using the Sleep Diagnosis List (SDL), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), interviews addressing the causes of sleep complaints, and file information on sleep medications in 110 patients admitted to a forensic psychiatric hospital. ResultsAlmost 30% of the participants suffered from one or more sleep disorders, especially insomnia. An even larger proportion of the participants (49.1%) experienced poor sleep quality. Interestingly, patients with an antisocial personality disorder or traits were particularly dissatisfied with their sleep. The most common causes of sleep problems were suboptimal sleep hygiene, stress or ruminating, negative sleep conditioning, and side effects of psychotropic medication. Of the poor sleepers, 40.7% received a hypnotic drug. ConclusionDespite intensive clinical treatment, sleep problems are experienced by a large number of forensic psychiatric patients. It would be worthwhile to examine the effects of pharmacological and non-pharmacological sleep interventions on both psychiatric symptoms and reactive aggressive behavior in forensic patients.

Social Stress Engages Opioid Regulation of Locus Coeruleus Norepinephrine Neurons and Induces a State of Cellular and Physical Opiate Dependence

Stress is implicated in diverse psychiatric disorders including substance abuse. The locus coeruleus-norepinephrine (LC-NE) system is a major stress response system that is also a point of intersection between stress neuromediators and endogenous opioids and so may be a site at which stress can influence drug-taking behaviors. As social stress is a common stressor for humans, this study characterized the enduring impact of repeated social stress on LC neuronal activity. Rats were exposed to five daily consecutive sessions of social stress using the resident-intruder model or control manipulation. LC discharge rate recorded 2 days after the last manipulation was decreased in stressed rats compared with controls. By 10 days after the last manipulation, LC rates were comparable between groups. Systemic administration of the opiate antagonist, naloxone, robustly increased LC discharge rate in a manner suggestive of opiate withdrawal, selectively in stressed rats when administered 2 or 10 days after the last manipulation. This was accompanied by behavioral signs of mild opiate withdrawal. Western blot and electron microscopic studies indicated that repeated social stress decreased corticotropin-releasing factor type 1 receptor and increased μ-opioid receptor levels in the LC. Together, the results suggest that repeated social stress engages endogenous opioid modulation of LC activity and induces signs of cellular and physical opiate dependence that endure after the stress. These cellular effects may predispose individuals with a history of repeated social stress to substance abuse behaviors.

2795 – Delusional social isolation: criteria attempts for psychotic depression and late paranoid schizophrenia

Introduction Chronic social isolation in the elderly may be related with diverse psychiatric disorders: chronic depressive episode, paranoia-type personality, and late non-schizophrenic psychosis. Objectives In order to separate psychotic depression and non-schizophrenic psychosis with depressive mood, there is a need for more clearly defined criteria. Methods We report the case of a 68 yrs. women living alone at home for more than twenty years, with a complete social isolation for two years. This behaviour was found associated with severe delusion: she unreasonably felt persecuted by her flat's owner and she dissimulated an extensive basocellular carcinoma on her face threatening her life. A history of a short depressive episode at the time of her divorce was only found, as she demonstrated at initial assessment many paranoia personality traits. A review of literature on this disorders’ association was therefore undertaken. Results Evolution after admission revealed the lack of effectiveness of antipsychotic treatment on delusion, but some efficiency of antidepressant. Nevertheless, personality traits remained unaffected by care. Literature on the association between mood disorders and non-schizophrenic psychosis is rare, and we suggest some criteria that may account for psychotic depression and be useful to treatment choice. Conclusions In the absence of a history of chronic mood or psychotic disorder, it is hypothesised that paranoia symptoms may account more for a psychotic depression than for late paranoid schizophrenia. This may have consequences for therapeutic strategy.

Next-generation strategies in animal model research to translate preclinical discoveries into better treatments for circuit-centered psychiatric dimensions

The study of animal models is of key relevance in biomedical research. Animal models of psychiatric disorders have been important tools to gain insight into the presumed mechanisms of psychoses and mood and anxiety disorders in the last several decades. These models have largely focused on the improvement of specific aspects of validity. 1 Our current psychopharmacological treatments came from these preclinical models for diverse psychiatric disorders. They provided not only a screening for identifying and further developing these compounds but also helped to clarify neurobiological aspects underlying psychiatric disorders. However, despite these gains, animal models have also contributed to the relatively little progress in developing new and improved therapeutics for human psychiatric disorders – existing medications are largely refinements of older versions and have not been demonstrated to be superior

1526 – Attenuation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis as a consequence of childhood adversity - a possible mechanism of sex-specific vulnerability for psychiatric disorders in adolescence?

Introduction Alterations of the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis (HPAA) may be related to the development of psychiatric disorders, especially in the context of childhood adversity. The “attenuation hypothesis” postulates that chronic childhood adversity leads to initial hyperactivation of the HPAA, which subsequently may turn into hypoactivation during adolescence, and support the development of emotional and behavioural problems. However, studies investigating this hypothesis during the course of adolescence are rare. Methods The sample comprised 49 adolescents (f/m 19/30), subsampled from a larger longitudinal study on adolescent development. Assessments were performed at three points in time (T1-T3). Pituitary Gland Volume (PGV) as an estimate of chronic HPAA activity was measured by MRI at T1 (mean age 12.5) and T3 (mean age 16.5). HPAA functioning was assessed via multiple salivary cortisol measures at T2 (mean age 15.5). The Cortisol Awakening Response (CAR) was calculated as a measure of HPAA activity. Additionally, childhood adversity was assessed at T2 using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Results There was a significant sex-specific association of PGV at T1 and HPAA activity at T2. While PGV was positively predicting HPAA activity in boys, girls showed a reverse pattern (attenuation of the HPAA). A blunted CAR in girls was significantly related to their report of childhood adversity. Conclusions The results show that girls may have a higher tendency of attenuation of the HPAA in the context of childhood adversity and initial hyperactivation of the HPAA. This may contribute to their higher risk for diverse psychiatric disorders during adolescence.

CBT for Chronic Illnesses in Children

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article From the ExpertsFull AccessCBT for Chronic Illnesses in ChildrenEva Szigethy, M.D., PH.D.Eva SzigethySearch for more papers by this author, M.D., PH.D.Published Online:20 Apr 2012https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.47.8.psychnews_47_8_18-b There is growing evidence of the benefit of integrating behavioral health into primary care settings as well as in pediatric clinics. Collaborative care approaches, careful joint monitoring of symptoms, and education have improved outcomes for both depressive and anxiety disorders.Among specific evidence-based psychiatric treatments, there is strong empirical evidence of the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) with children and adolescents across diverse psychiatric disorders. In addition, targeted CBT approaches have been shown to improve functioning in youth with a wide variety of chronic physical illneses.Medication adherence, pain perception, sleep disturbances, and family issues can all significantly impact a child’s ability to cope with physical illness and are common across pediatric diseases. Both individual and family-based cognitive and behavioral approaches can target these domains.One such chronic pediatric disease, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which encompasses Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, has high medical morbidity, unpredictable course, complicated treatment options including surgery, and substantial health care costs. In a subset of patients, standard medical care and episodic treatment have been ineffective in controlling these symptoms and can lead to medical resource overutilization.One potential reason for this misallocation of resources is the high rates of neuropsychiatric symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and functional abdominal pain reported in this population. The etiology of such brain effects of IBD is heterogeneous and may result from the physiological impact of the disease-related inflammation, premorbid psychopathology unrelated to IBD activity, and/or an exaggerated stress response (either from concurrent life stress or the medical traumatization of having the disease or the associated surgical procedures).Each of these pathways to neuropsychiatric symptoms may benefit from individualized treatment algorithms that integrate medical, psychological, and surgical approaches.Adolescents with IBD report impaired health-related quality of life, poor self-esteem, fear of loss of control of bodily functions, and fear of pain and humiliation. Several studies have shown that adolescents with IBD have higher rates of depression compared with community controls and youth with other physical diseases. Our group has shown that depressed youth with IBD receiving CBT demonstrated improved depressive severity, improved functioning, and decreased medical utilization across two different pediatric gastroenterology settings. The CBT was based on a model developed by John Weisz and colleagues in 1997 known as Primary and Secondary Control Enhancement Training (PASCET). It postulates that depressive symptoms can be improved by teaching adolescents a more appropriate locus of control. The PASCET-CBT was modified to include (1) a focus on illness perception and coping, (2) hypnosis for abdominal pain and immune functioning, (3) education about the relationship between IBD and depression, and (4) emphasis on maladaptive illness behaviors (for example, disordered eating or medical nonadherence).In addition to content, the structure of this modified CBT was also adapted to the IBD population to include therapy sessions by phone and coupling face-to-face sessions with medical appointments. These changes greatly enhanced compliance with behavioral treatment.Although antidepressants are widely used as adjunctive treatment for severe psychopathology, psychotropic agents have not been systematically studied in randomized, controlled trials in this pediatric population. Antidepressants may have negative synergistic side effects with IBD medications and may be poorly absorbed in patients with severe gastrointestinal pathology.While the initial outcomes of such an integrated psychiatric-medical model of care are promising, several challenges must still be overcome. These include educating both primary care providers about the importance of managing psychosocial issues and hospital administrators about the potential cost savings and improved overall quality of health care delivery.Given the pediatric onset of many chronic physical illnesses, early screening for psychopathology such as depression, easy access to behavioral care with little negative stigmatization, and collaboration with pediatricians and medical subspecialists in the context of a medical-home model may prevent both medical and psychiatric complications later in life.The targeted application of cognitive-behavioral interventions that incorporate a focus on the patient’s and family’s illness narrative offers the opportunity to change dysfunctional trajectories during the critical developmental window when there is optimal plasticity in brain circuitry and development. And as Hippocrates aptly stated, “It is far more important to know what person the disease has than what disease the person has” to achieve the best outcome. Eva Szigethy, M.D., Ph.D., is an associate professor of psychiatry, pediatrics, and medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and director of the Medical Coping Clinic at Children’s Hospital of Boston. She is an editor of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Children and Adolescents (American Psychiatric Publishing), a guide to using CBT for psychiatric and other medical conditions. The book includes video case presentations illustrating key concepts. APA members may purchase the book at discount at www.appi.org/SearchCenter/Pages/SearchDetail.aspx?ItemId=62406. ISSUES NewArchived

Variations in5-HT2AInfluence Spatial Cognitive Abilities and Working Memory

5-hydroxytryptamine receptor 2A (5-HT2A) participates in diverse psychiatric disorders by regulating the activity of serotonin. Some previous studies have also suggested that the receptor is involved in cognitive abilities of disease groups. We hypothesize that some functional genetic variants in 5-HT2A have certain specific influences on cognitive abilities in a normal population. To confirm this hypothesis, two polymorphisms (rs6313 and rs4941573) in 5-HT2A were selected, and a population-based study was performed in a young healthy Chinese Han cohort. The results indicated that the rs6313 and rs4941573 were associated with touching blocks and mental rotation-3D error ratio in males, and the rs4941573 was associated with visuo-spatial working memory in the whole cohort. All the findings suggest that 5-HT2A participates in human spatial cognitive abilities and spatial working memory.

Association Between 5HT1b Receptor Gene and Methamphetamine Dependence

Several lines of evidence implicate serotonergic dysfunction in diverse psychiatric disorders including anxiety, depression, and drug abuse. Mice with a knock-out of the 5HT1b receptor gene (HTR1B) displayed increased locomotor response to cocaine and elevated motivation to self-administer cocaine and alcohol. Previous genetic studies showed significant associations of HTR1B with alcohol dependence and substance abuse, but were followed by inconsistent results. We examined a case-control genetic association study of HTR1B with methamphetamine-dependence patients in a Japanese population. The subjects were 231 patients with methamphetamine dependence, 214 of whom had a co-morbidity of methamphetamine psychosis, and 248 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), rs130058 (A-165T), rs1228814 (A-700C) and rs1228814 (A+1180G) of HTR1B were genotyped. There was no significant difference in allelic and genotypic distributions of the SNPs between methamphetamine dependence and the control. Genetic associations of HTR1B were tested with several clinical phenotypes of methamphetamine dependence and/or psychosis, such as age at first abuse, duration of latency from the first abuse to onset of psychosis, prognosis of psychosis after therapy, and complication of spontaneous relapse of psychotic state. There was, however, no asscocation between any SNP and the clinical phenotypes. Haplotype analyses showed the three SNPs examined were within linkage disequilibrium, which implied that the three SNPs covered the whole HTR1B, and distribution of estimated haplotype frequency was not different between the groups. The present findings may indicate that HTR1B does not play a major role in individual susceptibility to methamphetamine dependence or development of methamphetamine-induced psychosis.