Publications by authors named "Gwyneth C Zai"

Article Synopsis
  • PTSD genetics have been difficult to study compared to other psychiatric disorders, limiting our biological understanding of the condition.
  • A large-scale meta-analysis involving over 1.2 million individuals identified 95 genome-wide significant loci, with 80 being new discoveries related to PTSD.
  • Researchers identified 43 potential causal genes linked to neurotransmitter activity, developmental processes, synaptic function, and immune regulation, enhancing our knowledge of the neurobiological systems involved in PTSD.
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Article Synopsis
  • PTSD genetics are harder to study compared to other mental health disorders, resulting in limited biological insights from past research.
  • A large-scale analysis involving over 1.2 million individuals found 95 significant genetic loci related to PTSD, with 80 being new discoveries.
  • The study identified 43 potential causal genes linked to neurotransmitters, synaptic function, and immune responses, enhancing understanding of PTSD's biological mechanisms and suggesting new research directions.
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Objective: Canada exhibits one of highest lifetime prevalence for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), but the etiology of this debilitating mental health condition still remains largely unknown. This study aims to examine the genetics of PTSD in the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) to identify potential genetic factors involved in the development of PTSD.

Method: The CLSA sample was screened for primary (PTSD status) and secondary outcomes (avoidance, detachment, guardedness, and nightmares) based on the Primary Care PTSD Screen Scale (PC-PTSD).

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Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is an iatrogenic involuntary movement disorder occurring after extended antipsychotic use with unclear pathogenesis. is a liver enzyme involved in antipsychotic metabolism and a well-studied gene candidate for TD. We tested predicted CYP2D6 metabolizer phenotype with TD occurrence and severity in our two samples of European chronic schizophrenia patients (total n = 198, of which 82 had TD).

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Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a movement disorder that may develop in schizophrenia patients being treated long-term with antipsychotic medication. TD interferes with voluntary movements and leads to stigma, and can be associated with treatment non-adherence. The etiology of TD is unclear, but it appears to have a genetic component.

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Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a movement disorder that may occur after extended use of antipsychotic medications. The etiopathophysiology is unclear; however, genetic factors play an important role. The Perlecan () gene was found to be significantly associated with TD in Japanese schizophrenia patients, and this association was subsequently replicated by an independent research group.

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Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is an involuntary movement disorder that occurs in ∼20% of patients after extended antipsychotic use. Its pathophysiology is unclear; however, familial patterns and gene association studies indicate an inherited component to risk. The disrupted in schizophrenia 1 (DISC1) gene was selected for analysis because it interacts with and regulates two important proteins involved in antipsychotic medication action: the dopamine D2 receptor and the cAMP phosphodiesterase type IVB (PDE4B).

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Purpose Of Review: This review highlights recent advances in the investigation of genetic factors for antipsychotic response and side effects.

Recent Findings: Antipsychotics prescribed to treat psychotic symptoms are variable in efficacy and propensity for causing side effects. The major side effects include tardive dyskinesia, antipsychotic-induced weight gain (AIWG), and clozapine-induced agranulocytosis (CIA).

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Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a potentially irreversible and often debilitating movement disorder secondary to chronic use of dopamine receptor blocking medications. Genetic factors have been implicated in the etiology of TD. We therefore have reviewed the most promising genes associated with TD, including DRD2, DRD3, VMAT2, HSPG2, HTR2A, HTR2C, and SOD2.

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Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a leading risk factor of disease burden in the world. It is also commonly comorbid with over 20% of schizophrenia patients. The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and dopamine D3 receptor (DRD3) have been implicated in alcohol drinking behaviour.

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Background: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has extensive effects on the nervous system including cell survival, differentiation, neuronal growth and maintenance, as well as cell death. Moreover, it promotes synaptic plasticity and interacts with dopaminergic and serotonergic neurons, suggesting an important role on the alteration of brain function with antipsychotic medications and induced weight gain in schizophrenia patients. The differential effects of BDNF gene variants could lead to changes in brain circuitry that would in turn cause variable response to antipsychotic medication.

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Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder with prominent genetic etiologic factors. The dopamine receptor DRD3 gene is a strong candidate in genetic studies of SCZ because of the dopamine hypothesis of SCZ and the selective expression of D(3) in areas of the limbic system implicated in the disease. We examined 15 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in DRD3 in our sample of European origin consisting of 95 small nuclear SCZ families and 167 case-control pairs.

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Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a neuroleptic-induced movement disorder. Its pathophysiology is unclear. The most consistent genetic findings have shown an association with the Ser9Gly polymorphism of the DRD3 gene.

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Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a motor adverse effect of chronic antipsychotic medication. It has been suggested to involve dopamine neurotransmission system changes. AKT1 acts downstream of the D(2) receptor that is blocked by all antipsychotics to some degree.

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Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a side-effect of chronic antipsychotic medication. Abnormalities in dopaminergic activity in the nigrostriatal system have been most often suggested to be involved because the agents which cause TD share in common potent antagonism of dopamine D2 receptors (DRD2), that notably is not balanced by effects such as more potent serotonin (5-HT)2A antagonism. Thus, a number of studies have focused on the association of dopamine system gene polymorphisms and TD.

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