Publications by authors named "Gershon E"

Bipolar disorder is a leading contributor to the global burden of disease. Despite high heritability (60-80%), the majority of the underlying genetic determinants remain unknown. We analysed data from participants of European, East Asian, African American and Latino ancestries (n = 158,036 cases with bipolar disorder, 2.

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Background: Investigations of causal pathways for psychosis can be guided by the identification of environmental risk factors. A recently developed composite risk tool, the exposome score for schizophrenia (ES-SCZ), which controls for intercorrelations between risk factors, has shown fair to good performance. We tested the transdiagnostic psychosis classifier performance of the ES-SCZ with the Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network for Intermedial Phenotypes data and examined its relationship with clinical-level outcomes.

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Recent genetic studies have linked numerous loci to psychiatric disorders. However, the biological pathways that connect these genetic associations to psychiatric disorders' specific pathophysiological processes are largely unclear. Endophenotypes, first defined over five decades ago, are heritable traits, independent of disease state that are associated with a disease, encompassing a broad range of neurophysiological, biochemical, endocrinological, neuroanatomical, cognitive, and neuropsychological characteristics.

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The Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network for Intermediate Phenotypes (B-SNIP) created psychosis Biotypes based on neurobiological measurements in a multi-ancestry sample. These Biotypes cut across DSM diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar disorder with psychosis. Two recently developed post hoc ancestry adjustment methods of Polygenic Risk Scores (PRSs) generate Ancestry-Adjusted PRSs (AAPRSs), which allow for PRS analysis of multi-ancestry samples.

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The Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network for Intermediate Phenotypes (B-SNIP) created psychosis Biotypes based on neurobiological measurements in a multi-ancestry sample. These Biotypes cut across DSM diagnoses of schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder with psychosis. Two recently developed ancestry adjustment methods of Polygenic Risk Scores (PRSs) generate Ancestry-Adjusted PRSs (AAPRSs), which allow for PRS analysis of multi-ancestry samples.

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Categorical diagnosis, a pillar of the medical model, has not worked well in psychiatry where most diagnoses are still exclusively symptom based. Uncertainty continues about whether categories or dimensions work better for the assessment and treatment of idiopathic psychoses. The Bipolar Schizophrenia Network for Intermediate Phenotypes (B-SNIP) examined multiple cognitive and electrophysiological biomarkers across a large transdiagnostic psychosis data set.

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Article Synopsis
  • Research highlights the genetic factors linked to schizophrenia (SCZ) through brain expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs), primarily focusing on European populations, which limits insights into diverse populations.
  • A comparative analysis across African Americans, Europeans, and East Asians revealed distinct eQTL patterns, with over 343,000 eQTLs unique to non-European groups, largely driven by differences in allele frequency.
  • This study suggests that increasing diversity in genetic ancestry, rather than just sample size, can enhance understanding of SCZ's genetic basis and aid in identifying risk genes associated with the disorder.
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Background: The profiles of cortical gyrification across schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder, and schizoaffective disorder have been studied to a limited extent, report discordant findings, and are rarely compared in the same study. Here we assess gyrification in a large dataset of psychotic disorder probands, categorized according to the DSM-IV. Furthermore, we explore gyrification changes with age across healthy controls and probands.

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Background: Past studies associating personality with psychosis have been limited by small nonclinical samples and a focus on general symptom burden. This study uses a large clinical sample to examine personality's relationship with psychosis-specific features and compare personality dimensions across clinically and neurobiologically defined categories of psychoses.

Methods: A total of 1352 participants with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, and bipolar with psychosis, as well as 623 healthy controls (HC), drawn from the Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network for Intermediate Phenotypes (BSNIP-2) study, were included.

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Smooth pursuit eye movements are considered a well-established and quantifiable biomarker of sensorimotor function in psychosis research. Identifying psychotic syndromes on an individual level based on neurobiological markers is limited by heterogeneity and requires comprehensive external validation to avoid overestimation of prediction models. Here, we studied quantifiable sensorimotor measures derived from smooth pursuit eye movements in a large sample of psychosis probands (N = 674) and healthy controls (N = 305) using multivariate pattern analysis.

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  • Bipolar disorder (BD) features disrupted sleep patterns and nerve cell loss, with lithium being a common but variably effective treatment.
  • Research focused on how certain circadian genes and their interactions influence cell survival and lithium response using neurons from BD patients and regular controls.
  • Findings indicated that certain gene knockdowns affected cell survival differently between lithium responders and non-responders, suggesting complex roles of circadian rhythms in BD and lithium treatment efficacy.
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Article Synopsis
  • Research on brain expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs) has primarily focused on European populations, leaving gaps in understanding genetic risks for schizophrenia in diverse populations.
  • A study analyzing data from African Americans, Europeans, and East Asians discovered that many eQTLs linked to schizophrenia risk are unique to non-European populations, highlighting significant differences due to allele frequency.
  • The research identified new risk genes and regulatory variants that were overlooked in European studies, suggesting that increasing genetic diversity in research samples is crucial for better understanding schizophrenia's biological mechanisms and identifying additional risk factors.
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Idiopathic psychosis shows considerable biological heterogeneity across cases. B-SNIP used psychosis-relevant biomarkers to identity psychosis Biotypes, which will aid etiological and targeted treatment investigations. Psychosis probands from the B-SNIP consortium (n = 1907), their first-degree biological relatives (n = 705), and healthy participants (n = 895) completed a biomarker battery composed of cognition, saccades, and auditory EEG measurements.

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Clinically defined psychosis diagnoses are neurobiologically heterogeneous. The B-SNIP consortium identified and validated more neurobiologically homogeneous psychosis Biotypes using an extensive battery of neurocognitive and psychophysiological laboratory measures. However, typically the first step in any diagnostic evaluation is the clinical interview.

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Introduction: High-inflammation subgroups of patients with psychosis demonstrate cognitive deficits and neuroanatomical alterations. Systemic inflammation assessed using IL-6 and C-reactive protein may alter functional connectivity within and between resting-state networks, but the cognitive and clinical implications of these alterations remain unknown. We aim to determine the relationships of elevated peripheral inflammation subgroups with resting-state functional networks and cognition in psychosis spectrum disorders.

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Hirschsprung's disease (HSCR) is a congenital disorder characterized by failure of the neural crest cells to migrate and populate the distal bowel during gestation affecting different lengths of intestine leading to a distal functional obstruction. Surgical treatment is needed to correct HSCR once the diagnosis is confirmed by demonstrating the absence of ganglion cells or aganglionosis of the affected bowel segment. Hirschsprung's disease associated enterocolitis (HAEC) is an inflammatory complication associated with HSCR that can present either in the pre- or postoperative period and associated with increased morbidity and mortality.

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Common genetic variants located in calcium channel genes are important markers of genetic susceptibility for bipolar disorder (BD). Previous clinical trials with Calcium Channel Blocker (CCB) medication improved mood stability for some BD patients. We hypothesize that manic patients who carried calcium channel risk variants would differentially benefit from treatment with CCBs.

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Bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized by mood episodes, disrupted circadian rhythms and gray matter reduction in the brain. Lithium is an effective pharmacotherapy for BD, but not all patients respond to treatment. Lithium has neuroprotective properties and beneficial effects on circadian rhythms that may distinguish lithium responders (Li-R) from non-responders (Li-NR).

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Social-emotional deficits in psychosis may be indexed by deviations in emotional scene processing, but event-related potential (ERP) studies indicate such deviations may not map cleanly to diagnostic categories. Neurobiologically defined psychosis subgroups offer an alternative that may better capture neurophysiological correlates of social-emotional deficits. The current study investigates emotional scene-elicited ERPs in Biotypes of psychosis in a large (N = 622), well-characterized sample.

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Article Synopsis
  • Lithium is recognized as a leading treatment for bipolar disorder, but predicting who will respond to it remains a challenge, leading researchers to investigate the genetic and functional differences between lithium responders and non-responders.
  • A study analyzing iPSC-derived neurons found 41 genes significantly expressed differently between these groups, and further gene prioritization identified over a thousand candidate genes related to lithium response.
  • The research highlighted the role of focal adhesion and the extracellular matrix in response mechanisms, indicating that differences in these areas may have a more significant impact on lithium treatment efficacy than the drug itself.
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Background: Cannabis use (CA) and childhood trauma (CT) independently increase the risk of earlier psychosis onset; but their interaction in relation to psychosis risk and association with endocannabinoid-receptor rich brain regions, i.e. the hippocampus (HP), remains unclear.

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Elevated markers of peripheral inflammation are common in psychosis spectrum disorders and have been associated with brain anatomy, pathology, and physiology as well as clinical outcomes. Preliminary evidence suggests a link between inflammatory cytokines and C-reactive protein (CRP) with generalized cognitive impairments in a subgroup of individuals with psychosis. Whether these patients with elevated peripheral inflammation demonstrate deficits in specific cognitive domains remains unclear.

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Bipolar disorder (BD) is characterized by manic and depressive mood episodes and loss of brain gray matter. Lithium has antimanic and neuroprotective properties, but only 30% BD patients respond to lithium pharmacotherapy. Dopamine signaling has been implicated in BD and may contribute to lithium response.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examines the role of somatic mutations in neurons related to aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD) using single-neuron whole genome sequencing from 96 neurons of 8 AD patients and 8 elderly controls.
  • It found that elderly subjects had approximately 3000 somatic mutations per neuron, with AD patients showing a higher mutational burden in genes associated with the disease.
  • Analysis revealed that while mutations in both groups were largely caused by aging and oxidative damage, certain functional mutations in AD patients were enriched in pathways relevant to AD, suggesting a significant impact on neuron function and disease progression.
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Task-evoked pupillary response (TEPR) is a measure of physiological arousal modulated by cognitive demand. Healthy individuals demonstrate greater TEPR prior to correct versus error antisaccade trials and correct antisaccade versus visually guided saccade (VGS) trials. The relationship between TEPR and antisaccade performance in individuals with psychotic disorders and their relatives has not been investigated.

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