The Impact of Copy Number Deletions on General Cognitive Ability and Ventricle Size in Patients with Schizophrenia and Healthy Control Subjects

Cannabis abuse is a common public health issue and may lead to considerable adverse effects. Along with other effects, the dependence on cannabis consumption is a serious problem which has significant consequences on biochemical and clinical symptoms. This study intends to evaluate the harmful effects of the use of cannabis on thyroid hormonal levels, cardiovascular indicators, and psychotic symptoms in the included patients. This prospective multicenter study was conducted on cannabis-dependent patients with psychotic symptoms (n = 40) vs. healthy control subjects (n = 40). All participants were evaluated for psychiatric, biochemical, and cardiovascular physiological effects. Patients were selected through Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-IV criteria and urine samples, exclusively for the evaluation of cannabis presence. Serum thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), T3, and T4 levels were measured using the immunoassay technique. Patients were assessed for severity of depressive, schizophrenic, and manic symptoms using international ranking scales. Various quantifiable factors were also measured for the development of tolerance by cannabis. Among the patients of cannabis abuse, 47.5% were found with schizophrenia, 20% with schizoaffective symptoms, 10% with manic symptoms, and 22.5% with both manic and psychotic symptoms. In the group–group and within-group statistical analysis, the results of thyroid hormones and cardiovascular parameters were non-significant. The psychiatric assessment has shown highly significant (p < 0.001) difference of positive, negative, general psychopathology, and total scores [through Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) rating scales] in patients vs. the healthy control subjects. The study revealed that cannabis abuse did not significantly alter thyroid hormones and cardiovascular parameters due to the development of tolerance. However, the cannabis abuse might have a significant contributing role in the positive, negative, and manic symptoms in different psychiatric disorders.

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Low-frequency copy-number variants and general cognitive ability: No evidence of association

Intelligence ◽

10.1016/j.intell.2013.11.005 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 42 ◽

pp. 98-106 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Robert M. Kirkpatrick ◽

Matt McGue ◽

William G. Iacono ◽

Michael B. Miller ◽

Saonli Basu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Ability ◽

Copy Number ◽

Copy Number Variants ◽

Low Frequency ◽

General Cognitive Ability

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The impact of environmental interventions among mouse siblings on the heritability and malleability of general cognitive ability

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences ◽

10.1098/rstb.2017.0289 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 373 (1756) ◽

pp. 20170289 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Bruno Sauce ◽

Sophie Bendrath ◽

Margalit Herzfeld ◽

Dan Siegel ◽

Conner Style ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Ability ◽

Environmental Enrichment ◽

Future Research ◽

Control Group ◽

Environment Interaction ◽

General Cognitive Ability ◽

Environmental Variance ◽

Apparent Paradox ◽

Gene Environment ◽

The Impact

General cognitive ability can be highly heritable in some species, but at the same time, is very malleable. This apparent paradox could potentially be explained by gene–environment interactions and correlations that remain hidden due to experimental limitations on human research and blind spots in animal research. Here, we shed light on this issue by combining the design of a sibling study with an environmental intervention administered to laboratory mice. The analysis included 58 litters of four full-sibling genetically heterogeneous CD-1 male mice, for a total of 232 mice. We separated the mice into two subsets of siblings: a control group (maintained in standard laboratory conditions) and an environmental-enrichment group (which had access to continuous physical exercise and daily exposure to novel environments). We found that general cognitive ability in mice has substantial heritability (24% for all mice) and is also malleable. The mice that experienced the enriched environment had a mean intelligence score that was 0.44 standard deviations higher than their siblings in the control group (equivalent to gains of 6.6 IQ points in humans). We also found that the estimate of heritability changed between groups (55% in the control group compared with non-significant 15% in the enrichment group), analogous to findings in humans across socio-economic status. Unexpectedly, no evidence of gene–environment interaction was detected, and so the change in heritability might be best explained by higher environmental variance in the enrichment group. Our findings, as well as the ‘sibling intervention procedure’ for mice, may be valuable to future research on the heritability, mechanisms and evolution of cognition. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive abilities’.

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Race and General Cognitive Ability: The Myth of Diminishing Returns to Education

Psychological Science ◽

10.1111/1467-9280.00026 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. 139-142 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

Joel Myerson ◽

Mark R. Rank ◽

Fredric Q. Raines ◽

Mark A. Schnitzler

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Ability ◽

Racial Differences ◽

College Education ◽

Educational Process ◽

General Cognitive Ability ◽

Diminishing Returns ◽

Using Data ◽

The Impact ◽

Positive Effect ◽

Educational Careers

The impact of education on racial differences in general cognitive ability was assessed using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. To control for attrition during the educational process, we compared the scores of individuals who ultimately attained the same level of education but who were tested at different points in their educational careers. Multiple regression analyses revealed that education can have a strong positive effect on cognitive ability in both whites and blacks. Whites benefited more from education than blacks during the high school years, but blacks benefited much more than whites from a college education, substantially narrowing the gap between the races. These findings contradict the hypothesis that racial differences in intelligence are relatively immutable, in part because of the diminishing returns from increases in education.

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Variation in the relative copy number of theTLR7 gene in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus and healthy control subjects

Arthritis & Rheumatism ◽

10.1002/art.22916 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 56 (10) ◽

pp. 3375-3378 ◽

Cited By ~ 46

Author(s):

James Kelley ◽

Martin R. Johnson ◽

Graciela S. Alarcón ◽

Robert P. Kimberly ◽

Jeffrey C. Edberg

Keyword(s):

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus ◽

Lupus Erythematosus ◽

Copy Number ◽

Systemic Lupus ◽

Relative Copy Number ◽

Control Subjects ◽

Healthy Control

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No Association Between General Cognitive Ability and Rare Copy Number Variation

Behavior Genetics ◽

10.1007/s10519-013-9587-9 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 43 (3) ◽

pp. 202-207 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Allan F. McRae ◽

Margaret J. Wright ◽

Narelle K. Hansell ◽

Grant W. Montgomery ◽

Nicholas G. Martin

Keyword(s):

Copy Number Variation ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Copy Number ◽

General Cognitive Ability ◽

Number Variation

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Decreased Plasma Oxytocin Levels in Patients With PTSD

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.612338 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Claudia Carmassi ◽

Donatella Marazziti ◽

Federico Mucci ◽

Alessandra Della Vecchia ◽

Filippo Maria Barberi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Healthy Subjects ◽

Physical Violence ◽

Venous Blood ◽

Analysis Of Covariance ◽

Control Group ◽

Event Scale ◽

Dsm 5 ◽

Control Subjects ◽

Healthy Control ◽

The Impact

IntroductionAlthough the pathophysiology of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is still unclear, growing preclinical evidences suggest that oxytocin (OT), a pleiotropic hormone, is possibly involved. However, direct studies on OT levels or clinical trials with this exogenous hormone in patients with PTSD led to inconsistent findings. Therefore, the aim of the present study was at exploring and comparing the plasma OT levels in a group of patients with PTSD and matched healthy subjects as the control group.Materials and MethodsTwenty-six outpatients (13 men, 13 women, mean age: 40.3 ± 11.5 years) suffering from PTSD, according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5), and 26 healthy subjects (13 men, 13 women, mean age: 43.8 ± 12.7 years) were included. The patients were assessed through the structured clinical interview for DSM-5 research version, patient edition (SCID-I/P), and the Impact for Event Scale revised (IES-R). All fasting subjects underwent three venous blood samples for the subsequent oxytocin radioimmunoassay. We used unpaired Student’s t-test to assess OT levels and the intergroup difference of demographic characteristics, while anxiety, avoidance, and hyperarousal scores were compared among groups adjusting for the effect of gender and age by means of analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). The correlations between different variables were investigated by Pearson’s method.ResultsThe most common traumatic events of patients with PTSD were the following: severe car accident, physical violence, sexual violence, sudden death of a loved one, and natural disaster. The IES total score was 55 ± 15. Student’s t-test revealed that the patients showed significantly lower OT levels (mean ± SD, pg/ml) than healthy control subjects (4.37 ± 1.61 vs 5.64 ± 2.17, p < 0.001). We detected no correlation between the IES total score, subscales, or single items and OT plasma levels. Again, no difference between men and women was detected in the patients’ group, while healthy control women showed higher OT levels than men.DiscussionOur study, while reporting the presence of decreased plasma OT levels in outpatients with PTSD of both sexes, as compared with healthy control subjects, would support the possible involvement of OT in the pathophysiology of PTSD. However, given the complexity of the clinical picture, future investigations are necessary to better deepen the role and level of OT in PTSD.

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Acculturation moderates cognitive performance in adults at risk of autosomal dominant Alzheimer's Disease

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igab046.3654 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 1031-1031

Author(s):

Kayla Tureson ◽

Christopher Beam ◽

John Ringman

Keyword(s):

Alzheimer’S Disease ◽

Alzheimer's Disease ◽

At Risk ◽

Cognitive Functioning ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Cognitive Performance ◽

Mexican Americans ◽

Autosomal Dominant ◽

General Cognitive Ability ◽

The Impact

Abstract Acculturative processes via persistent exposure to a set of cultural practices and behaviors can influence cognitive functioning (Park & Huang, 2010). The impact of acculturation on populations at risk for Alzheimer’s disease (AD), however, remains understudied. Persons with or at-risk for early-onset autosomal dominant AD (ADAD) offer a known AD pathogenesis and the opportunity to study whether acculturation moderates their cognitive performance. The present study used a latent variable model to test whether effects of latent cognitive ability on observable cognitive performance depend on acculturation. Participants included 119 adults with or at-risk for ADAD, the majority of whom were of Mexican origin with various levels of U.S. acculturation. Participants completed the Cognitive Abilities Screening Instrument (CASI) and the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans-II (ARSMA-II). Confirmatory factor analysis was used to estimate a latent general cognitive ability factor from nine domains (e.g., attention, abstraction and judgment). The ARSMA-II was used to test whether factor loadings depended on level of acculturation, covarying for mutation status. Results revealed ARSMA-II scores nearly significantly moderated the effects of general cognitive ability on abstraction and judgment (λ = 0.20, SE = 0.11, p = .070). Individual differences in general cognitive ability at lower levels of acculturation likely predict lower abstraction and judgment performance. Cognitive assessments may not equally represent true cognitive ability in Mexican-Americans. Although the CASI was developed as a cross-cultural measure of cognitive functioning, caution should be exercised in inferring true cognitive functioning in Mexican-Americans who may not be acculturated to the U.S.

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Genetic Copy Number Variation and General Cognitive Ability

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0037385 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 7 (12) ◽

pp. e37385 ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Andrew K. MacLeod ◽

Gail Davies ◽

Antony Payton ◽

Albert Tenesa ◽

Sarah E. Harris ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Copy Number Variation ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Copy Number ◽

General Cognitive Ability ◽

Number Variation

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Sex Differences in Childhood Associations between DNA Markers and General Cognitive Ability

Journal of Individual Differences ◽

10.1027/1614-0001.28.3.161 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 28 (3) ◽

pp. 161-164 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Rosalind Arden ◽

Nicole Harlaar ◽

Robert Plomin

Keyword(s):

Sex Differences ◽

Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

Cognitive Ability ◽

Dna Markers ◽

Community Sample ◽

Nucleotide Polymorphisms ◽

General Cognitive Ability ◽

Single Nucleotide ◽

The Difference

Abstract. An association between intelligence at age 7 and a set of five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) has been identified and replicated. We used this composite SNP set to investigate whether the associations differ between boys and girls for general cognitive ability at ages 2, 3, 4, 7, 9, and 10 years. In a longitudinal community sample of British twins aged 2-10 (n > 4,000 individuals), we found that the SNP set is more strongly associated with intelligence in males than in females at ages 7, 9, and 10 and the difference is significant at 10. If this finding replicates in other studies, these results will constitute the first evidence of the same autosomal genes acting differently on intelligence in the two sexes.

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