Mike, can you provide a reference? The link took me to a sign in page. I could look up the article (as I suppose most tipsters could) via my library access if I had a reference.
Thanks. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 [email protected] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Time To Learn About Voltage-Gated Calcium-Channel Signaling From: "Mike Palij" <[email protected]> Date: Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:10:03 -0500 X-Message-Number: 4 A psychiatric research study just published in "The Lancet" focuses on the common genetic basis for five psychiatric disorders. A popular media account is provided by Medscape though this news is rapidly being disseminated through many outlets. Quoting from the Medscape article: |Investigators from the Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric |Genomics Consortium have found that autism spectrum disorder |(ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar |disorder (BD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia |share common genetic risk factors. | |Specifically, the results of the genome-wide association study |(GWAS) reveal single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in |2 genes - CACNA1C and CACNB2 - both of which |are involved in the balance of calcium in brain cells, are |implicated in several of these disorders, and could provide |a potential target for new treatments. | |"This analysis provides the first genome-wide evidence that |individual and aggregate molecular genetic risk factors are |shared between 5 childhood-onset or adult-onset psychiatric |disorders that are treated as distinct categories in clinical |practice," study investigator Jordan Smoller, MD, Massachusetts |General Hospital, Boston, said in a release. And: |The investigators add that the study results "implicate a specific |biological pathway - voltage-gated calcium-channel signalling - |as a contributor to the pathogenesis of several psychiatric disorders, |and support the potential of this pathway as a therapeutic target |for psychiatric disease." http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/779979 So, is replicated and supported, these results may change how we think that these disorders develop -- though I imagine that a diathesis-stress model might be needed to explain certain specific disorders -- and suggest new treatments that may have little to do with the medications that we use today. One wonders whether psychotherapy will also be altered as a result. -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=24006 or send a blank email to leave-24006-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
