Cohort profile for the STratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally (STRADL) study: A depression-focused investigation of Generation Scotland, using detailed clinical, cognitive, and neuroimaging assessments.

STratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally (STRADL) is a population-based study built on the Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study (GS:SFHS) resource. The aim of STRADL is to subtype major depressive disorder (MDD) on the basis of its aetiology, using detailed clinical, cognitive, and brain imaging assessments. The GS:SFHS provides an important opportunity to study complex gene-environment interactions, incorporating linkage to existing datasets and inclusion of early-life variables for two longitudinal birth cohorts.

Language function following preterm birth: prediction using machine learning.

Background: Preterm birth can lead to impaired language development. This study aimed to predict language outcomes at 2 years corrected gestational age (CGA) for children born preterm.

Methods: We analysed data from 89 preterm neonates (median GA 29 weeks) who underwent diffusion MRI (dMRI) at term-equivalent age and language assessment at 2 years CGA using the Bayley-III.

A loss of mature microglial markers without immune activation in schizophrenia.

Microglia, the immune cells of the brain, are important for neurodevelopment and have been hypothesized to play a role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia (SCZ). Although previous postmortem studies pointed toward presence of microglial activation, this view has been challenged by more recent hypothesis-driven and hypothesis-free analyses. The aim of the present study is to further understand the observed microglial changes in SCZ.

Digital Access in Working-Age and Older Adults and Their Caregivers Attending Psychiatry Outpatient Clinics: Quantitative Survey.

Background: It has been suggested that improving access to mental health services, supporting self-management, and increasing clinical productivity can be achieved through the delivery of technology-enabled care by personal mobile-based and internet-based services. There is little evidence available about whether working-age and older adults with mental health problems or their caregivers have access to these technologies or their confidence with these technologies.

Objective: This study aimed to ascertain the prevalence and range of devices used to access the internet in patients and caregivers attending general and older adult psychiatry outpatient services and their confidence in using these technologies.

Pharmaco-epidemiology of antidepressant exposure in a UK cohort record-linkage study.

Objectives: Antidepressants are the most commonly prescribed psychiatric medication but concern has been raised about significant increases in their usage in high income countries. We aimed to quantify antidepressant prevalence, incidence, adherence and predictors of use in the adult population.

Methods: The study record-linked administrative prescribing and morbidity data to the Generation Scotland cohort ( N = 11,052), between 2009 and 2016.

A validation of the diathesis-stress model for depression in Generation Scotland.

Depression has well-established influences from genetic and environmental risk factors. This has led to the diathesis-stress theory, which assumes a multiplicative gene-by-environment interaction (GxE) effect on risk. Recently, Colodro-Conde et al.

Digital Support Platform: a qualitative research study investigating the feasibility of an internet-based, postdiagnostic support platform for families living with dementia.

Objectives: To establish the feasibility of the Digital Support Platform (DSP), an internet-based, postdiagnostic tool designed for families living with a diagnosis of dementia.

Design: Qualitative methods using normalisation process theory as an analysis framework for semistructured interview transcriptions.

Setting: A community care setting in the South-East Scotland.

Genome-wide Regional Heritability Mapping Identifies a Locus Within the TOX2 Gene Associated With Major Depressive Disorder.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is the second largest cause of global disease burden. It has an estimated heritability of 37%, but published genome-wide association studies have so far identified few risk loci. Haplotype-block-based regional heritability mapping (HRHM) estimates the localized genetic variance explained by common variants within haplotype blocks, integrating the effects of multiple variants, and may be more powerful for identifying MDD-associated genomic regions.

An Analysis of Two Genome-wide Association Meta-analyses Identifies a New Locus for Broad Depression Phenotype.

Background: The genetics of depression has been explored in genome-wide association studies that focused on either major depressive disorder or depressive symptoms with mostly negative findings. A broad depression phenotype including both phenotypes has not been tested previously using a genome-wide association approach. We aimed to identify genetic polymorphisms significantly associated with a broad phenotype from depressive symptoms to major depressive disorder.

Shared Genetics and Couple-Associated Environment Are Major Contributors to the Risk of Both Clinical and Self-Declared Depression.

Background: Both genetic and environmental factors contribute to risk of depression, but estimates of their relative contributions are limited. Commonalities between clinically-assessed major depressive disorder (MDD) and self-declared depression (SDD) are also unclear.

Methods: Using data from a large Scottish family-based cohort (GS:SFHS, N=19,994), we estimated the genetic and environmental variance components for MDD and SDD.

A Combined Pathway and Regional Heritability Analysis Indicates NETRIN1 Pathway Is Associated With Major Depressive Disorder.

Background: Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of major depressive disorder (MDD) have identified few significant associations. Testing the aggregation of genetic variants, in particular biological pathways, may be more powerful. Regional heritability analysis can be used to detect genomic regions that contribute to disease risk.

Epidemiology and Heritability of Major Depressive Disorder, Stratified by Age of Onset, Sex, and Illness Course in Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study (GS:SFHS).

The heritability of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has been estimated at 37% based largely on twin studies that rely on contested assumptions. More recently, the heritability of MDD has been estimated on large populations from registries such as the Swedish, Finnish, and Chinese cohorts. Family-based designs utilise a number of different relationships and provide an alternative means of estimating heritability.

Current versus lifetime depression, APOE variation, and their interaction on cognitive performance in younger and older adults.

Objective: An interaction effect of depressive symptoms and APOE e4 allele status on cognitive decline has been shown in old age: e4 allele carriers with more depressive symptoms have faster cognitive decline than those with either depression or the e4 allele. We test this interaction effect on four cognitive domains, using a clinical depression measure comparing current versus lifetime depression.

Methods: 14,379 individuals aged 18 to 59 years, and 3944 individuals aged 60 to 94 years from the Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study participated.

Polygenic risk for alcohol dependence associates with alcohol consumption, cognitive function and social deprivation in a population-based cohort.

Alcohol dependence is frequently co-morbid with cognitive impairment. The relationship between these traits is complex as cognitive dysfunction may arise as a consequence of heavy drinking or exist prior to the onset of dependence. In the present study, we tested the genetic overlap between cognitive abilities and alcohol dependence using polygenic risk scores (PGRS).

Cohort Profile: Generation Scotland: Scottish Family Health Study (GS:SFHS). The study, its participants and their potential for genetic research on health and illness.

GS:SFHS is a family-based genetic epidemiology study with DNA and socio-demographic and clinical data from about 24 000 volunteers across Scotland aged 18-98 years, from February 2006 to March 2011. Biological samples and anonymized data form a resource for research on the genetics of health, disease and quantitative traits of current and projected public health importance. Specific and important features of GS:SFHS include the family-based recruitment, with the intent of obtaining family groups; the breadth and depth of phenotype information, including detailed data on cognitive function, personality traits and mental health; consent and mechanisms for linkage of all data to comprehensive routine health-care records; and 'broad' consent from participants to use their data and samples for a wide range of medical research, including commercial research, and for re-contact for the potential collection of other data or samples, or for participation in related studies and the design and review of the protocol in parallel with in-depth sociological research on (potential) participants and users of the research outcomes.