Association between DNA methyltransferase gene polymorphism and Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common and complex neurodegenerative disorder, the second most prevalent, only behind Alzheimer's disease. Recent studies suggest that environmental factors may contribute for neurodegeneration through induction of epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, that is carried out by enzymes, such as DNMT1 and DNMT3B. This present study targeted to investigate the association among DNMT1 and DNMT3B polymorphisms with PD.

Glucocorticoid receptor gene modulates severity of depression in women with crack cocaine addiction.

Crack cocaine addicted inpatients that present more severe withdrawal symptoms also exhibit higher rates of depressive symptoms. There is strong evidence that the identification of genetic variants in depression is potentialized when reducing phenotypic heterogeneity by studying selected groups. Since depression has been associated to dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, this study evaluated the effects of SNPs in stress-related genes on depressive symptoms of crack cocaine addicts at early abstinence and over the detoxification treatment (4th, 11th and 18th day post admission).

The synergistic risk effect of apolipoprotein ε4 and DNA (cytosine-5-)-methyltransferase 3 beta (DNMT3B) haplotype for Alzheimer's disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a complex and multifactorial disease with the contribution of several genes and polymorphisms to its development. Among these genes, the APOEε4 is the best known risk factor for AD. Methylation is associated with APOE expression and AD development.

Similarities between adult female crack cocaine users and adolescents in risky decision-making scenarios.

Background: Although previous studies have shown that both adolescence and drug addiction can influence risk-taking and decision-making processes, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Specifically, there is a lack of evidence as to whether these conditions could affect deliberative and affective processes involved in risk taking, such as feedback learning and valuation of profits and risk.

Objectives: The objectives were to compare the role of feedback and the use of information in risk-taking behavior between female crack cocaine users and adolescents.

Corticosteroid receptor genes and childhood neglect influence susceptibility to crack/cocaine addiction and response to detoxification treatment.

The aim of this study was to analyze hypotheses-driven gene-environment and gene-gene interactions in smoked (crack) cocaine addiction by evaluating childhood neglect and polymorphisms in mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptor genes (NR3C2 and NR3C1, respectively). One hundred thirty-nine crack/cocaine-addicted women who completed 3 weeks of follow-up during early abstinence composed our sample. Childhood adversities were assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and withdrawal symptoms were assessed using the Cocaine Selective Severity Assessment (CSSA) scale.