Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 cognitive deficits at one year are global and associated with elevated brain injury markers and grey matter volume reduction.

The spectrum, pathophysiology, and recovery trajectory of persistent post-COVID-19 cognitive deficits are unknown, limiting our ability to develop prevention and treatment strategies. We report the one-year cognitive, serum biomarker, and neuroimaging findings from a prospective, national study of cognition in 351 COVID-19 patients who had required hospitalisation, compared to 2,927 normative matched controls. Cognitive deficits were global and associated with elevated brain injury markers, and reduced anterior cingulate cortex volume one year after COVID-19. The severity of the initial infective insult, post-acute psychiatric symptoms, and a history of encephalopathy were associated with greatest deficits. There was strong concordance between subjective and objective cognitive deficits. Longitudinal follow-up in 106 patients demonstrated a trend toward recovery. Together, these findings support the hypothesis that brain injury in moderate to severe COVID-19 may be immune-mediated, and should guide the development of therapeutic strategies.

The United Kingdom Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative.

OBJECTIVE: The United Kingdom Eating Disorders Genetics Initiative (EDGI UK), part of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Mental Health BioResource, aims to deepen our understanding of the environmental and genetic etiology of eating disorders. EDGI UK launched in February 2020 and is partnered with the UK eating disorders charity, Beat. Multiple EDGI branches exist worldwide. This article serves the dual function of providing an in-depth description of our study protocol and of describing our initial sample including demographics, diagnoses, and physical and psychiatric comorbidities. METHOD: EDGI UK recruits via media and clinical services. Anyone living in England, at least 16 years old, with a lifetime probable or clinical eating disorder is eligible to sign up online: edgiuk.org. Participants complete online questionnaires, donate a saliva sample for genetic analysis, and consent to medical record linkage and recontact for future studies. RESULTS: As of September 2022, EDGI UK recruited 7435 survey participants: 98% female, 93.1% white, 97.8% cisgender, 65.9% heterosexual, and 52.1% have a university degree. Over half (57.8%) of these participants have returned their saliva DNA kit. The most common diagnoses are anorexia nervosa (48.3%), purging disorder (37.8%), bulimia nervosa (37.5%), binge-eating disorder (15.8%), and atypical anorexia nervosa (7.8%). CONCLUSION: EDGI UK is the largest UK eating disorders study and efforts to increase its diversity are underway. It offers a unique opportunity to accelerate eating disorder research. Researchers and participants with lived experience can collaborate on projects with unparalleled sample size. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Eating disorders are debilitating and costly for society but are under-researched due to underfunding. EDGI UK is one of the largest eating disorder studies worldwide with ongoing recruitment. The collected data constitute a resource for secondary analysis. We will combine data from all international EDGI branches and the NIHR BioResource to facilitate research that improves our understanding of eating disorders and their comorbidities.

Sociodemographic, mental health, and physical health factors associated with participation within re-contactable mental health cohorts: an investigation of the GLAD Study.

BACKGROUND: The Genetic Links to Anxiety and Depression (GLAD) Study is a large cohort of individuals with lifetime anxiety and/or depression, designed to facilitate re-contact of participants for mental health research. At the start of the pandemic, participants from three cohorts, including the GLAD Study, were invited to join the COVID-19 Psychiatry and Neurological Genetics (COPING) study to monitor mental and neurological health. However, previous research suggests that participation in longitudinal studies follows a systematic, rather than random, process, which can ultimately bias results. Therefore, this study assessed participation biases following the re-contact of GLAD Study participants. METHODS: In April 2020, all current GLAD Study participants (N = 36,770) were invited to the COPING study. Using logistic regression, we investigated whether sociodemographic, mental, and physical health characteristics were associated with participation in the COPING baseline survey (aim one). Subsequently, we used a zero-inflated negative binomial regression to examine whether these factors were also related to participation in the COPING follow-up surveys (aim two). RESULTS: For aim one, older age, female gender identity, non-binary or self-defined gender identities, having one or more physical health disorders, and providing a saliva kit for the GLAD Study were associated with an increased odds of completing the COPING baseline survey. In contrast, lower educational attainment, Asian or Asian British ethnic identity, Black or Black British ethnic identity, higher alcohol consumption at the GLAD sign-up survey, and current or ex-smoking were associated with a reduced odds. For aim two, older age, female gender, and saliva kit provision were associated with greater COPING follow-up survey completion. Lower educational attainment, higher alcohol consumption at the GLAD Study sign-up, ex-smoking, and self-reported attention deficit hyperactivity disorder had negative relationships. CONCLUSIONS: Participation biases surrounding sociodemographic and physical health characteristics were particularly evident when re-contacting the GLAD Study volunteers. Factors associated with participation may vary depending on study design. Researchers should examine the barriers and mechanisms underlying participation bias in order to combat these issues and address recruitment biases in future studies.

The network structure of mania symptoms differs between people with and without binge eating.

OBJECTIVES: People with bipolar disorder who also report binge eating have increased psychopathology and greater impairment than those without binge eating. Whether this co-occurrence is related to binge eating as a symptom or presents differently across full-syndrome eating disorders with binge eating is unclear. METHODS: We first compared networks of 13 lifetime mania symptoms in 34,226 participants from the United Kingdom's National Institute for Health and Care Research BioResource with (n = 12,104) and without (n = 22,122) lifetime binge eating. Second, in the subsample with binge eating, we compared networks of mania symptoms in participants with lifetime anorexia nervosa binge-eating/purging (n = 825), bulimia nervosa (n = 3737), and binge-eating disorder (n = 3648). RESULTS: People with binge eating endorsed every mania symptom significantly more often than those without binge eating. Within the subsample, people with bulimia nervosa most often had the highest endorsement rate of each mania symptom. We found significant differences in network parameter statistics, including network structure (M = 0.25, p = 0.001) and global strength (S = 1.84, p = 0.002) when comparing the binge eating with no binge-eating participants. However, network structure differences were sensitive to reductions in sample size and the greater density of the latter network was explained by the large proportion of participants (34%) without mania symptoms. The structure of the anorexia nervosa binge-eating/purging network differed from the bulimia nervosa network (M = 0.66, p = 0.001), but the result was unstable. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the presence and structure of mania symptoms may be more associated with binge eating as a symptom rather than any specific binge-type eating disorder. Further research with larger sample sizes is required to confirm our findings.

Genetic examination of the Mood Disorder Questionnaire and its relationship with bipolar disorder.

The Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) is a common screening tool for bipolar disorder that assesses manic symptoms. Its utility for genetic studies of mania or bipolar traits has not been fully examined. We psychometrically compared the MDQ to self-reported bipolar disorder in participants from the United Kingdom National Institute of Health and Care Research Mental Health BioResource. We conducted genome-wide association studies of manic symptom quantitative traits and symptom subgroups, derived from the MDQ items (N = 11,568-19,859). We calculated genetic correlations with bipolar disorder and other psychiatric and behavioral traits. The MDQ screener showed low positive predictive value (0.29) for self-reported bipolar disorder. Neither concurrent nor lifetime manic symptoms were genetically correlated with bipolar disorder. Lifetime manic symptoms had a highest genetic correlation (rg = 1.0) with posttraumatic stress disorder although this was not confirmed by within-cohort phenotypic correlations (rp = 0.41). Other significant genetic correlations included attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (rg = 0.69), insomnia (rg = 0.55), and major depressive disorder (rg = 0.42). Our study adds to existing literature questioning the MDQ's validity and suggests it may capture symptoms of general distress or psychopathology, rather than hypomania/mania specifically, in at-risk populations.

Factors associated with anxiety disorder comorbidity.

BACKGROUND: Anxiety and depressive disorders often co-occur and the order of their emergence may be associated with different clinical outcomes. However, minimal research has been conducted on anxiety-anxiety comorbidity. This study examined factors associated with anxiety comorbidity and anxiety-MDD temporal sequence. METHODS: Online, self-report data were collected from the UK-based GLAD and COPING NBR cohorts (N = 38,775). Logistic regression analyses compared differences in sociodemographic, trauma, and clinical factors between single anxiety, anxiety-anxiety comorbidity, anxiety-MDD (major depressive disorder) comorbidity, and MDD-only. Additionally, anxiety-first and MDD-first anxiety-MDD were compared. Differences in familial risk were assessed in those participants with self-reported family history or genotype data. RESULTS: Anxiety-anxiety and anxiety-MDD had higher rates of self-reported anxiety or depressive disorder diagnoses, younger age of onset, and higher recurrence than single anxiety. Anxiety-MDD displayed greater clinical severity/complexity than MDD only. Anxiety-anxiety had more severe current anxiety symptoms, less severe current depressive symptoms, and reduced likelihood of self-reporting an anxiety/depressive disorder diagnosis than anxiety-MDD. Anxiety-first anxiety-MDD had a younger age of onset, more severe anxiety symptoms, and less likelihood of self-reporting a diagnosis than MDD-first. Minimal differences in familial risk were found. LIMITATIONS: Self-report, retrospective measures may introduce recall bias. The familial risk analyses were likely underpowered. CONCLUSIONS: Anxiety-anxiety comorbidity displayed a similarly severe and complex profile of symptoms as anxiety-MDD but distinct features. For anxiety-MDD, first-onset anxiety had an earlier age of onset and greater severity than MDD-first. Anxiety disorders and comorbidity warrant further investigation and attention in research and practice.

Risk and protective factors for new-onset binge eating, low weight, and self-harm symptoms in >35,000 individuals in the UK during the COVID-19 pandemic.

OBJECTIVE: The disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has been associated with poor mental health, including increases in eating disorders and self-harm symptoms. We investigated risk and protective factors for the new onset of these symptoms during the pandemic. METHOD: Data were from the COVID-19 Psychiatry and Neurological Genetics study and the Repeated Assessment of Mental health in Pandemics Study (n = 36,715). Exposures were socio-demographic characteristics, lifetime psychiatric disorder, and COVID-related variables, including SARS-CoV-2 infection/illness with COVID-19. We identified four subsamples of participants without pre-pandemic experience of our outcomes: binge eating (n = 24,211), low weight (n = 24,364), suicidal and/or self-harm ideation (n = 18,040), and self-harm (n = 29,948). Participants reported on our outcomes at frequent intervals (fortnightly to monthly). We fitted multiple logistic regression models to identify factors associated with the new onset of our outcomes. RESULTS: Within each subsample, new onset was reported by: 21% for binge eating, 10.8% for low weight, 23.5% for suicidal and/or self-harm ideation, and 3.5% for self-harm. Shared risk factors included having a lifetime psychiatric disorder, not being in paid employment, higher pandemic worry scores, and being racially minoritized. Conversely, infection with SARS-CoV-2/illness with COVID-19 was linked to lower odds of binge eating, low weight, and suicidal and/or self-harm ideation. DISCUSSION: Overall, we detected shared risk factors that may drive the comorbidity between eating disorders and self-harm. Subgroups of individuals with these risk factors may require more frequent monitoring during future pandemics. PUBLIC SIGNIFICANCE: In a sample of 35,000 UK residents, people who had a psychiatric disorder, identified as being part of a racially minoritized group, were not in paid employment, or were more worried about the pandemic were more likely to experience binge eating, low weight, suicidal and/or self-harm ideation, and self-harm for the first time during the pandemic. People with these risk factors may need particular attention during future pandemics to enable early identification of new psychiatric symptoms.

Patient characteristics associated with retrospectively self-reported treatment outcomes following psychological therapy for anxiety or depressive disorders - a cohort of GLAD study participants.

BACKGROUND: Progress towards stratified care for anxiety and depression will require the identification of new predictors. We collected data on retrospectively self-reported therapeutic outcomes in adults who received psychological therapy in the UK in the past ten years. We aimed to replicate factors associated with traditional treatment outcome measures from the literature. METHODS: Participants were from the Genetic Links to Anxiety and Depression (GLAD) Study, a UK-based volunteer cohort study. We investigated associations between retrospectively self-reported outcomes following therapy, on a five-point scale (global rating of change; GRC) and a range of sociodemographic, clinical and therapy-related factors, using ordinal logistic regression models (n = 2890). RESULTS: Four factors were associated with therapy outcomes (adjusted odds ratios, OR). One sociodemographic factor, having university-level education, was associated with favourable outcomes (OR = 1.37, 95%CI: 1.18, 1.59). Two clinical factors, greater number of reported episodes of illness (OR = 0.95, 95%CI: 0.92, 0.97) and higher levels of personality disorder symptoms (OR = 0.89, 95%CI: 0.87, 0.91), were associated with less favourable outcomes. Finally, reported regular use of additional therapeutic activities was associated with favourable outcomes (OR = 1.39, 95%CI: 1.19, 1.63). There were no statistically significant differences between fully adjusted multivariable and unadjusted univariable odds ratios. CONCLUSION: Therapy outcome data can be collected quickly and inexpensively using retrospectively self-reported measures in large observational cohorts. Retrospectively self-reported therapy outcomes were associated with four factors previously reported in the literature. Similar data collected in larger observational cohorts may enable detection of novel associations with therapy outcomes, to generate new hypotheses, which can be followed up in prospective studies.

Comparison of symptom-based versus self-reported diagnostic measures of anxiety and depression disorders in the GLAD and COPING cohorts.

BACKGROUND: Understanding and improving outcomes for people with anxiety or depression often requires large sample sizes. To increase participation and reduce costs, such research is typically unable to utilise "gold-standard" methods to ascertain diagnoses, instead relying on remote, self-report measures. AIMS: Assess the comparability of remote diagnostic methods for anxiety and depression disorders commonly used in research. METHOD: Participants from the UK-based GLAD and COPING NBR cohorts (N = 58,400) completed an online questionnaire between 2018 and 2020. Responses to detailed symptom reports were compared to DSM-5 criteria to generate symptom-based diagnoses of major depressive disorder (MDD), generalised anxiety disorder (GAD), specific phobia, social anxiety disorder, panic disorder, and agoraphobia. Participants also self-reported any prior diagnoses from health professionals, termed self-reported diagnoses. "Any anxiety" included participants with at least one anxiety disorder. Agreement was assessed by calculating accuracy, Cohen's kappa, McNemar's chi-squared, sensitivity, and specificity. RESULTS: Agreement between diagnoses was moderate for MDD, any anxiety, and GAD, but varied by cohort. Agreement was slight to fair for the phobic disorders. Many participants with self-reported GAD did not receive a symptom-based diagnosis. In contrast, symptom-based diagnoses of the phobic disorders were more common than self-reported diagnoses. CONCLUSIONS: Agreement for MDD, any anxiety, and GAD was higher for cases in the case-enriched GLAD cohort and for controls in the general population COPING NBR cohort. For anxiety disorders, self-reported diagnoses classified most participants as having GAD, whereas symptom-based diagnoses distributed participants more evenly across the anxiety disorders. Further validation against gold standard measures is required.

Age and sex-related variability in the presentation of generalized anxiety and depression symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Generalized anxiety and depression are extremely prevalent and debilitating. There is evidence for age and sex variability in symptoms of depression, but despite comorbidity it is unclear whether this extends to anxiety symptomatology. Studies using questionnaire sum scores typically fail to address this phenotypic complexity. METHOD: We conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) items to identify latent factors of anxiety and depression in participants from the Genetic Links to Anxiety and Depression Study (N = 35,637; 16-93 years). We assessed age- and sex-related variability in latent factors and individual symptoms using multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: Four factors of mood, worry, motor, and somatic symptoms were identified (comparative fit index [CFI] = 0.99, Tucker-Lewis Index [TLI] = 0.99, root mean square error of approximation [RMSEA] = 0.07, standardized root mean square residuals [SRMR] = 0.04). Symptoms of irritability (odds ratio [OR] = 0.81) were most strongly associated with younger age, and sleep change (OR = 1.14) with older age. Males were more likely to report mood and motor symptoms (p < .001) and females to report somatic symptoms (p < .001). CONCLUSION: Significant age and sex variability suggest that classic diagnostic criteria reflect the presentation most commonly seen in younger males. This study provides avenues for diagnostic adaptation and factor-specific interventions.

Comparison of depression and anxiety symptom networks in reporters and non-reporters of lifetime trauma in two samples of differing severity.

BACKGROUND: Reported trauma is associated with differences in the course and outcomes of depression and anxiety. However, no research has explored the association between reported trauma and patterns of clinically relevant symptoms of both depression and anxiety. METHODS: We used network analysis to investigate associations between reported trauma and depression and anxiety symptom interactions in affected individuals from the Genetic Links to Anxiety and Depression (GLAD) Study (n = 17720), and population volunteers from the UK Biobank (n = 11120). Participants with current moderate symptoms of depression or anxiety were grouped into reporters and non-reporters of lifetime trauma. Networks of 16 depression and anxiety symptoms in the two groups were compared using the network comparison test. RESULTS: In the GLAD Study, networks of reporters and non-reporters of lifetime trauma did not differ on any metric. In the UK Biobank, the symptom network of reporters had significantly greater density (7.80) than the network of non-reporters (7.05). LIMITATIONS: The data collected in the GLAD Study and the UK Biobank are self-reported with validated or semi-validated questionnaires. CONCLUSIONS: Reported lifetime trauma was associated with stronger interactions between symptoms of depression and anxiety in population volunteers. Differences between reporters and non-reporters may not be observed in individuals with severe depression and/or anxiety due to limited variance in the presentation of disorder.

Assessing the Role of Long Noncoding RNA in Nucleus Accumbens in Subjects With Alcohol Dependence.

BACKGROUND: Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) have been implicated in the etiology of alcohol use. Since lncRNA provide another layer of complexity to the transcriptome, assessing their expression in the brain is the first critical step toward understanding lncRNA functions in alcohol use and addiction. Thus, we sought to profile lncRNA expression in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) in a large postmortem alcohol brain sample. METHODS: LncRNA and protein-coding gene (PCG) expressions in the NAc from 41 subjects with alcohol dependence (AD) and 41 controls were assessed via a regression model. Weighted gene coexpression network analysis was used to identify lncRNA and PCG networks (i.e., modules) significantly correlated with AD. Within the significant modules, key network genes (i.e., hubs) were also identified. The lncRNA and PCG hubs were correlated via Pearson correlations to elucidate the potential biological functions of lncRNA. The lncRNA and PCG hubs were further integrated with GWAS data to identify expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL). RESULTS: At Bonferroni adj. p-value ≤ 0.05, we identified 19 lncRNA and 5 PCG significant modules, which were enriched for neuronal and immune-related processes. In these modules, we further identified 86 and 315 PCG and lncRNA hubs, respectively. At false discovery rate (FDR) of 10%, the correlation analyses between the lncRNA and PCG hubs revealed 3,125 positive and 1,860 negative correlations. Integration of hubs with genotype data identified 243 eQTLs affecting the expression of 39 and 204 PCG and lncRNA hubs, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our study identified lncRNA and gene networks significantly associated with AD in the NAc, coordinated lncRNA and mRNA coexpression changes, highlighting potentially regulatory functions for the lncRNA, and our genetic (cis-eQTL) analysis provides novel insights into the etiological mechanisms of AD.

The Genetic Links to Anxiety and Depression (GLAD) Study: Online recruitment into the largest recontactable study of depression and anxiety.

BACKGROUND: Anxiety and depression are common, debilitating and costly. These disorders are influenced by multiple risk factors, from genes to psychological vulnerabilities and environmental stressors, but research is hampered by a lack of sufficiently large comprehensive studies. We are recruiting 40,000 individuals with lifetime depression or anxiety and broad assessment of risks to facilitate future research. METHODS: The Genetic Links to Anxiety and Depression (GLAD) Study (www.gladstudy.org.uk) recruits individuals with depression or anxiety into the NIHR Mental Health BioResource. Participants invited to join the study (via media campaigns) provide demographic, environmental and genetic data, and consent for medical record linkage and recontact. RESULTS: Online recruitment was effective; 42,531 participants consented and 27,776 completed the questionnaire by end of July 2019. Participants' questionnaire data identified very high rates of recurrent depression, severe anxiety, and comorbidity. Participants reported high rates of treatment receipt. The age profile of the sample is biased toward young adults, with higher recruitment of females and the more educated, especially at younger ages. DISCUSSION: This paper describes the study methodology and descriptive data for GLAD, which represents a large, recontactable resource that will enable future research into risks, outcomes, and treatment for anxiety and depression.

A neurobiological pathway to smoking in adolescence: TTC12-ANKK1-DRD2 variants and reward response.

The TTC12-ANKK1-DRD2 gene-cluster has been implicated in adult smoking. Here, we investigated the contribution of individual genes in the TTC12-ANKK1-DRD2 cluster in smoking and their association with smoking-associated reward processing in adolescence. A meta-analysis of TTC12-ANKK1-DRD2 variants and self-reported smoking behaviours was performed in four European adolescent cohorts (N = 14,084). The minor G-allele of rs2236709, mapping TTC12, was associated with self-reported smoking (p = 5.0 × 10-4) and higher plasma cotinine levels (p = 7.0 × 10-5). This risk allele was linked to an increased ventral-striatal blood-oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) response during reward anticipation (n = 1,263) and with higher DRD2 gene expression in the striatum (p = 0.013), but not with TTC12 or ANKK gene expression. These data suggest a role for the TTC12-ANKK1-DRD2 gene-cluster in adolescent smoking behaviours, provide evidence for the involvement of DRD2 in the early stages of addiction and support the notion that genetically-driven inter-individual differences in dopaminergic transmission mediate reward sensitivity and risk to smoking.

Addiction and the Role of Circadian Genes.

OBJECTIVE: In mammals, intimate interactions exist between the circadian system and other molecular systems, and mounting evidence is suggesting that these relationships may affect substance use disorders. Research in preclinical models supports the role of circadian genes as risk factors for addiction. Here, we explore the evidence and review human genetic studies testing the association between specific circadian genes and substance use disorders. METHOD: A literature search was conducted in PubMed for studies testing variants in eight circadian genes known to be central to the functioning of the master clock in the brain. The studies were primarily candidate gene studies, and although we considered all drugs of abuse, studies had tested mainly alcohol and opioid use disorders. Interestingly, several had examined gene-environment interactions on addiction. RESULTS: Human genetic studies considered here do provide support for the role of specific variants in drug use disorders and additionally suggest a modifying role for environmental factors such as stress, sleep, and mood disorders. However, the number of studies is limited, and, in most instances, the research involved small sample sizes, which would have produced limited statistical power and thus influenced the results. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the various caveats, circadian genes do appear to modulate drug use disorders; hence, molecules comprising the circadian system represent potential therapeutic agents, and we present a limited discussion of this interesting possibility. Future work using suitably powered large clinical samples in genome-wide association studies will identify additional molecules as well as functional pathways, and possibly new therapies.

Genome-Wide Association of Heroin Dependence in Han Chinese.

Drug addiction is a costly and recurring healthcare problem, necessitating a need to understand risk factors and mechanisms of addiction, and to identify new biomarkers. To date, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for heroin addiction have been limited; moreover they have been restricted to examining samples of European and African-American origin due to difficulty of recruiting samples from other populations. This is the first study to test a Han Chinese population; we performed a GWAS on a homogeneous sample of 370 Han Chinese subjects diagnosed with heroin dependence using the DSM-IV criteria and 134 ethnically matched controls. Analysis using the diagnostic criteria of heroin dependence yielded suggestive evidence for association between variants in the genes CCDC42 (coiled coil domain 42; p = 2.8x10-7) and BRSK2 (BR serine/threonine 2; p = 4.110-6). In addition, we found evidence for risk variants within the ARHGEF10 (Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor 10) gene on chromosome 8 and variants in a region on chromosome 20q13, which is gene-poor but has a concentration of mRNAs and predicted miRNAs. Gene-based association analysis identified genome-wide significant association between variants in CCDC42 and heroin addiction. Additionally, when we investigated shared risk variants between heroin addiction and risk of other addiction-related and psychiatric phenotypes using polygenic risk scores, we found a suggestive relationship with variants predicting tobacco addiction, and a significant relationship with variants predicting schizophrenia. Our genome wide association study of heroin dependence provides data in a novel sample, with functionally plausible results and evidence of genetic data of value to the field.

Gastrocnemius muscle-tendon interaction during walking in typically-developing adults and children, and in children with spastic cerebral palsy.

BACKGROUND: Our understanding of the interaction of muscle bellies and their tendons in individuals with muscle pathology is limited. Knowledge of these interactions may inform us of the effects of musculoskeletal pathologies on muscle-tendon dynamics and the subsequent neurological control strategies used in gait. Here, we investigate gastrocnemius muscle-tendon interaction in typically-developing (TD) adults and children, and in children with spastic cerebral palsy (SCP). METHODS: We recruited six TD adults (4 female; mean age: 34 yrs. (24-54)), eight TD children (5 female; mean age: 10 yrs. (6-12)) and eight independently ambulant children with SCP (5 female; mean age 9 yrs. (6-12); 3 unilaterally-affected). A combination of 3D motion capture and 2D real-time ultrasound imaging were used to compute the gastrocnemius musculo-tendinous unit (MTU) length and estimate muscle belly and tendon lengths during walking. For the TD subjects, the measurements were made for heel-toe walking and voluntary toe-walking. RESULTS: The gastrocnemius muscle bellies of children with SCP lengthened during single support (p = 0.003). In contrast, the muscle bellies of TD subjects did not demonstrate an increase in length over the period of single support under heel-toe or toe-walking conditions. CONCLUSION: We observed lengthening of the gastrocnemius muscle bellies in children with SCP during single support, a phase of the gait cycle in which the muscle is reported consistently to be active. Repeated lengthening of muscle bellies while they are active may lead to muscle damage and have implications for the natural history of gait in this group.

Integrating mRNA and miRNA Weighted Gene Co-Expression Networks with eQTLs in the Nucleus Accumbens of Subjects with Alcohol Dependence.

Alcohol consumption is known to lead to gene expression changes in the brain. After performing weighted gene co-expression network analyses (WGCNA) on genome-wide mRNA and microRNA (miRNA) expression in Nucleus Accumbens (NAc) of subjects with alcohol dependence (AD; N = 18) and of matched controls (N = 18), six mRNA and three miRNA modules significantly correlated with AD were identified (Bonferoni-adj. p≤ 0.05). Cell-type-specific transcriptome analyses revealed two of the mRNA modules to be enriched for neuronal specific marker genes and downregulated in AD, whereas the remaining four mRNA modules were enriched for astrocyte and microglial specific marker genes and upregulated in AD. Gene set enrichment analysis demonstrated that neuronal specific modules were enriched for genes involved in oxidative phosphorylation, mitochondrial dysfunction and MAPK signaling. Glial-specific modules were predominantly enriched for genes involved in processes related to immune functions, i.e. cytokine signaling (all adj. p≤ 0.05). In mRNA and miRNA modules, 461 and 25 candidate hub genes were identified, respectively. In contrast to the expected biological functions of miRNAs, correlation analyses between mRNA and miRNA hub genes revealed a higher number of positive than negative correlations (χ2 test p≤ 0.0001). Integration of hub gene expression with genome-wide genotypic data resulted in 591 mRNA cis-eQTLs and 62 miRNA cis-eQTLs. mRNA cis-eQTLs were significantly enriched for AD diagnosis and AD symptom counts (adj. p = 0.014 and p = 0.024, respectively) in AD GWAS signals in a large, independent genetic sample from the Collaborative Study on Genetics of Alcohol (COGA). In conclusion, our study identified putative gene network hubs coordinating mRNA and miRNA co-expression changes in the NAc of AD subjects, and our genetic (cis-eQTL) analysis provides novel insights into the etiological mechanisms of AD.

Genomewide association analysis of symptoms of alcohol dependence in the molecular genetics of schizophrenia (MGS2) control sample.

BACKGROUND: While genetic influences on alcohol dependence (AD) are substantial, progress in the identification of individual genetic variants that impact on risk has been difficult. METHODS: We performed a genome-wide association study on 3,169 alcohol consuming subjects from the population-based Molecular Genetics of Schizophrenia (MGS2) control sample. Subjects were asked 7 questions about symptoms of AD which were analyzed by confirmatory factor analysis. Genotyping was performed using the Affymetrix 6.0 array. Three sets of analyses were conducted separately for European American (EA, n = 2,357) and African-American (AA, n = 812) subjects: individual single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), candidate genes and enriched pathways using gene ontology (GO) categories. RESULTS: The symptoms of AD formed a highly coherent single factor. No SNP approached genome-wide significance. In the EA sample, the most significant intragenic SNP was in KCNMA1, the human homolog of the slo-1 gene in C. Elegans. Genes with clusters of significant SNPs included AKAP9, phosphatidylinositol glycan anchor biosynthesis, class G (PIGG), and KCNMA1. In the AA sample, the most significant intragenic SNP was CEACAM6 and genes showing empirically significant SNPs included KCNQ5, SLC35B4, and MGLL. In the candidate gene based analyses, the most significant findings were with ADH1C, nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells 1 (NFKB1) and ankyrin repeat and kinase domain containing 1 (ANKK1) in the EA sample, and ADH5, POMC, and CHRM2 in the AA sample. The ALIGATOR program identified a significant excess of associated SNPs within and near genes in a substantial number of GO categories over a range of statistical stringencies in both the EA and AA sample. CONCLUSIONS: While we cannot be highly confident about any single result from these analyses, a number of findings were suggestive and worthy of follow-up. Although quite large samples will be needed to obtain requisite power, the study of AD symptoms in general population samples is a viable complement to case-control studies in identifying genetic risk variants for AD.

Limited associations of dopamine system genes with alcohol dependence and related traits in the Irish Affected Sib Pair Study of Alcohol Dependence (IASPSAD).

BACKGROUND: Over 50 years of evidence from research has established that the central dopaminergic reward pathway is likely involved in alcohol dependence (AD). Additional evidence supports a role for dopamine (DA) in other disinhibitory psychopathology, which is often comorbid with AD. Family and twin studies demonstrate that a common genetic component accounts for most of the genetic variance in these traits. Thus, DA-related genes represent putative candidates for the genetic risk that underlies not only AD but also behavioral disinhibition. Many linkage and association studies have examined these relationships with inconsistent results, possibly because of low power, poor marker coverage, and/or an inappropriate correction for multiple testing. METHODS: We conducted an association study on the products encoded by 10 DA-related genes (DRD1-D5, SLC18A2, SLC6A3, DDC, TH, COMT) using a large, ethnically homogeneous sample with severe AD (n = 545) and screened controls (n = 509). We collected genotypes from linkage disequilibrium (LD)-tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and employed a gene-based method of correction. We tested for association with AD diagnosis in cases and controls and with a variety of alcohol-related traits (including age-at-onset, initial sensitivity, tolerance, maximum daily drinks, and a withdrawal factor score), disinhibitory symptoms, and a disinhibitory factor score in cases only. A total of 135 SNPs were genotyped using the Illumina GoldenGate and Taqman Assays-on-Demand protocols. RESULTS: Of the 101 SNPs entered into standard analysis, 6 independent SNPs from 5 DA genes were associated with AD or a quantitative alcohol-related trait. Two SNPs across 2 genes were associated with a disinhibitory symptom count, while 1 SNP in DRD5 was positive for association with the general disinhibitory factor score. CONCLUSIONS: Our study provides evidence of modest associations between a small number of DA-related genes and AD as well as a range of alcohol-related traits and measures of behavioral disinhibition. While we did conduct gene-based correction for multiple testing, we did not correct for multiple traits because the traits are correlated. However, false-positive findings remain possible, so our results must be interpreted with caution.