scholarly journals Can we use mice to study schizophrenia?

2018 ◽  
Vol 373 (1742) ◽  
pp. 20170032 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Canetta ◽  
Christoph Kellendonk
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Therapeutic Intervention ◽  
Pharmaceutical Companies ◽  
Rodent Models ◽  
Neuronal Circuit ◽  
Testing Hypotheses ◽  
Neuronal Mechanisms ◽  
Entry Points

The validity of rodent models for the study of psychiatric disorders is controversial. Despite great efforts from academic institutions and pharmaceutical companies, as of today, no major therapeutic intervention has been developed for the treatment of psychiatric disorders based on mechanistic insights from rodent models. Here, we argue that despite these historical shortcomings, rodent studies are nevertheless instrumental for identifying neuronal circuit mechanisms underlying behaviours that are affected in psychiatric disorders. Focusing on schizophrenia, we will give four examples of rodent models that were generated based on genetic and environmental risk factors or pathophysiological evidence as entry points. We will then discuss how circuit analysis in these specific examples can be used for testing hypotheses about neuronal mechanisms underlying symptoms of schizophrenia, which will then guide the development of new therapies. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Of mice and mental health: facilitating dialogue between basic and clinical neuroscientists’.

Suicide ideation, plans and attempts in Ukraine: findings from the Ukraine World Mental Health Survey

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 807-819 ◽  
Author(s):  
EVELYN J. BROMET ◽  
JOHAN M. HAVENAAR ◽  
NATHAN TINTLE ◽  
STANISLAV KOSTYUCHENKO ◽  
ROMAN KOTOV ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Service Utilization ◽  
Suicide Ideation ◽  
World Health ◽  
Functional Impairments ◽  
World Mental Health ◽  
Co Morbidity ◽  
The World

Background. Because the suicide rates in Eastern Europe have increased, the epidemiology of suicide behaviors in this part of the world is in urgent need of study. Using data from the Ukraine site of the World Mental Health (WMH) Survey Initiative, we present the first population-based findings from a former Soviet country on the descriptive epidemiology of suicide ideation, plans and attempts, and their links to current functioning and service utilization.Method. In 2002, a nationally representative sample of 4725 adults in Ukraine was interviewed with the World Health Organization (WHO) Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). Risk factors included demographic characteristics, trauma, smoking, and parental and personal psychiatric disorders. Current functional impairments and recent service utilization were assessed.Results. The lifetime prevalence of suicide ideation was 8·2%. The average age of onset was 31. The key risk factors were female sex, younger age, trauma, parental depression, and prior alcohol, depressive and intermittent explosive disorders, especially the presence of co-morbidity. Ideators had poorer functioning and greater use of health services. One-third of ideators had a plan, and one-fifth made an attempt. Among ideators, young age, smoking and prior psychiatric disorders were risk factors for these behaviors.Conclusions. Together with the increasing suicide rate, these results suggest that suicide intervention programs in Ukraine should focus on the generation of young adults under 30. The associations with co-morbidity, impairments in current functioning and greater service use indicate that a physician education program on suicidality should be comprehensive in scope and a public health priority in Ukraine.

scholarly journals Phenotypically independent profiles relevant to mental health are genetically correlated

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Roelfs ◽  
Dag Alnæs ◽  
Oleksandr Frei ◽  
Dennis van der Meer ◽  
Olav B. Smeland ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Depression Symptoms ◽  
Genome Wide Association Studies ◽  
Health Profile ◽  
Healthy Individuals ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Cognitive Traits ◽  
Health Profiles

AbstractGenome-wide association studies (GWAS) and family-based studies have revealed partly overlapping genetic architectures between various psychiatric disorders. Given clinical overlap between disorders, our knowledge of the genetic architectures underlying specific symptom profiles and risk factors is limited. Here, we aimed to derive distinct profiles relevant to mental health in healthy individuals and to study how these genetically relate to each other and to common psychiatric disorders. Using independent component analysis, we decomposed self-report mental health questionnaires from 136,678 healthy individuals of the UK Biobank, excluding data from individuals with a diagnosed neurological or psychiatric disorder, into 13 distinct profiles relevant to mental health, capturing different symptoms as well as social and risk factors underlying reduced mental health. Utilizing genotypes from 117,611 of those individuals with White British ancestry, we performed GWAS for each mental health profile and assessed genetic correlations between these profiles, and between the profiles and common psychiatric disorders and cognitive traits. We found that mental health profiles were genetically correlated with a wide range of psychiatric disorders and cognitive traits, with strongest effects typically observed between a given mental health profile and a disorder for which the profile is common (e.g. depression symptoms and major depressive disorder, or psychosis and schizophrenia). Strikingly, although the profiles were phenotypically uncorrelated, many of them were genetically correlated with each other. This study provides evidence that statistically independent mental health profiles partly share genetic underpinnings and show genetic overlap with psychiatric disorders, suggesting that shared genetics across psychiatric disorders cannot be exclusively attributed to the known overlapping symptomatology between the disorders.

Genetic influences across the age span

2018 ◽  
pp. 55-58
Author(s):  
Edward Shaw ◽  
Daniel J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Mental Illness ◽  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Genetic Research ◽  
Public Mental Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Health Significance

Most psychiatric disorders have a genetic component. Mental illness tends to occur as a consequence of the dynamic interaction between genetic vulnerabilities and environmental risk factors. Future advances in public mental health should bear in mind the important role of genetics in determining mental health and well-being. Genetic research raises important ethical considerations. The challenges of discovering genetic risk factors for psychiatric disorders are outlined, along with examples of recent discoveries from large-scale genetic epidemiological research. The focus is on an age span perspective, with consideration of the role of epigenetic processes during development. Discoveries in childhood (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder), adulthood (schizophrenia and bipolar disorder) and older-age (Alzheimer’s disease) are summarized. The public health significance of psychiatric genetics is considered within the context of ongoing global efforts to understand the causes of mental illness and how this might lead to new approaches to diagnosis, classification, and treatment.

Association between Criminological Risk Factors and Mental Health Problems among Urban Jail Inmates

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernie Gonzalez ◽  
Jorge G. Varela ◽  
Erika J. Canales ◽  
Alexandra Tellez ◽  
Amy B. Percosky
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Risk Factors ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
Jail Inmates
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