Genetic variation in the GCG and in the GLP1R genes and antipsychotic-induced weight gain.

Aim: GLP-1 plays a key role in glucose metabolism and influences antipsychotic-induced weight gain (AIWG). Our study is the first to investigate the encoding gene, GCG, and the GLP-1 receptor gene, GLP1R, and association with AIWG.

Materials & Methods: In 216 schizophrenic patients treated with antipsychotics for up to 14 weeks, we investigated four GCG and 33 GLP1R polymorphisms.

The human early-life exposome (HELIX): project rationale and design.

Background: Developmental periods in early life may be particularly vulnerable to impacts of environmental exposures. Human research on this topic has generally focused on single exposure-health effect relationships. The "exposome" concept encompasses the totality of exposures from conception onward, complementing the genome.

Maternal dietary patterns and preterm delivery: results from large prospective cohort study.

Objective: To examine whether an association exists between maternal dietary patterns and risk of preterm delivery.

Design: Prospective cohort study.

Setting: Norway, between 2002 and 2008.

Investigation of melanocortin system gene variants in antipsychotic-induced weight gain.

Objectives: The use of second-generation antipsychotic medications may result in substantial weight gain in a subset of schizophrenia patients. Distinct populations of neurons expressed in the hypothalamus, including the cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART), the polypeptide pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) and the agouti-related protein (AGRP), have regulatory roles in weight control and energy homeostasis. Thus, we investigated the potential role of CART, POMC and AGRP genetic variants in antipsychotic-induced weight gain (AIWG).

Clozapine acts as an agonist at serotonin 2A receptors to counter MK-801-induced behaviors through a βarrestin2-independent activation of Akt.

The G protein-coupled serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2AR) is a prominent target for atypical antipsychotic drugs, such as clozapine. Although clozapine is known to inhibit 5-HT2AR signaling through G protein-dependent mechanisms, it differs from classic GPCR antagonists, in that it also induces 5-HT2AR internalization and activates Akt signaling via a 5-HT2AR-mediated event. In this regard, clozapine may also be considered a functionally selective agonist.

Folic acid supplementation and interpregnancy interval.

Background: Maternal folic acid supplementation between subsequent pregnancies may be important to reduce the risk of low folate status associated with short interpregnancy intervals. We examined how the prevalence of preconception folic acid use for a given pregnancy in Norwegian women varied according to the time interval from the previous pregnancy.

Methods: Analysis was based on 48 855 pairs of pregnancies with the second pregnancy included in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (birth years 1999-2009).

Fat mass- and obesity-associated (FTO) gene and antipsychotic-induced weight gain: an association study.

Objectives: Genetic variation in the fat mass- and obesity-associated gene (FTO) has been associated with obesity in the general population. In this study we have investigated these variants for association with antipsychotic-induced weight gain (AIWG).

Methods: A total of 218 patients with chronic schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder treated mostly with clozapine or olanzapine for up to 14 weeks were included in the study.

Urinary excretion of arsenicals following daily intake of various seafoods during a two weeks intervention.

The excretion pattern of arsenic (As) species after seafood intake varies widely depending on species ingested and individual handling. We have previously reported the 72 h urinary excretion of arsenicals following a single dose of seafood. Here, we report the excretion patterns in the same 37 subjects following 15 days daily consumption of either 150 g cod, salmon, blue mussels or potato (control), followed by a 72 h period with a low-As diet.

Adherence of pregnant women to Nordic dietary guidelines in relation to postpartum weight retention: results from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.

Background: Pregnancy is a major life event for women and often connected with changes in diet and lifestyle and natural gestational weight gain. However, excessive weight gain during pregnancy may lead to postpartum weight retention and add to the burden of increasing obesity prevalence. Therefore, it is of interest to examine whether adherence to nutrient recommendations or food-based guidelines is associated with postpartum weight retention 6 months after birth.

Language-dependent performance on the letter fluency task in patients with schizophrenia.

Two types of verbal fluency tasks (letter fluency task; LFT, category fluency task; CFT) have been widely used to assess cognitive function in people with psychiatric diseases including schizophrenia. The task demand of the LFT is considered to vary across languages, as the cognitive process largely relies on sound and writing systems. Specifically, a sound unit for a letter (s) and a manner of association between them are assumed to be related with the performance.

Eating Disorders, Pregnancy, and the Postpartum Period: Findings from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).

This review summarizes studies on eating disorders in pregnancy and the postpartum period that have been conducted as part of the broader Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa). Prior to the 2000s, empirical literature on eating disorders in pregnancy was sparse and consisted mostly of studies in small clinical samples. MoBa has contributed to a new era of research by making population-based and large-sample research possible.

The novel object recognition test in rodents in relation to cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.

Novel object recognition (NOR) in rodents is analogous in some ways to human declarative (episodic) memory, one of the seven cognitive domains which are abnormal in schizophrenia. Cognitive impairment in schizophrenia (CIS) accounts for the largest proportion of the poor functional outcomes in this complex syndrome, with psychosis and negative symptoms accounting for much of the rest. Current atypical antipsychotic drugs (APDs) e.

Fish intake during pregnancy, fetal growth, and gestational length in 19 European birth cohort studies.

Background: Fish is a rich source of essential nutrients for fetal development, but in contrast, it is also a well-known route of exposure to environmental pollutants.

Objective: We assessed whether fish intake during pregnancy is associated with fetal growth and the length of gestation in a panel of European birth cohort studies.

Design: The study sample of 151,880 mother-child pairs was derived from 19 population-based European birth cohort studies.

The alpha-7 nicotinic receptor partial agonist/5-HT3 antagonist RG3487 enhances cortical and hippocampal dopamine and acetylcholine release.

Rationale: Alpha-7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) agonists may ameliorate cognitive deficits in schizophrenia, in part, because of their ability to enhance dopaminergic and cholinergic neurotransmission.

Objectives: In the current study, the effects of partial nAChR agonist and 5-HT3 receptor antagonist RG3487 (previously R3487/MEM3454) on dopamine (DA) and acetylcholine (ACh) effluxes in rat prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus (HIP) were investigated in awake, freely moving rats.

Results: R3487/MEM3454, at doses of 0.

Lorcaserin and pimavanserin: emerging selectivity of serotonin receptor subtype-targeted drugs.

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, or 5-HT) receptors mediate a plethora of physiological phenomena in the brain and the periphery. Additionally, serotonergic dysfunction has been implicated in nearly every neuropsychiatric disorder. The effects of serotonin are mediated by fourteen GPCRs.

A hypothesis-driven association study of 28 nuclear-encoded mitochondrial genes with antipsychotic-induced weight gain in schizophrenia.

Mitochondria are the main source of energy for neurons and have a role in many vital neuronal functions. Mitochondrial dysfunction has been described in schizophrenia, and antipsychotics such as clozapine and olanzapine have been associated with differences in gene expression in mitochondria. We investigated the hypothesis that nuclear-encoded mitochondrial genes, particularly those involved in oxidative phosphorylation or involved in oxidative stress, mitochondrial biogenesis, inflammation, and apoptosis, would be associated with antipsychotic-induced weight gain (AIWG).

Comparative effect of lurasidone and blonanserin on cortical glutamate, dopamine, and acetylcholine efflux: role of relative serotonin (5-HT)2A and DA D2 antagonism and 5-HT1A partial agonism.

Atypical antipsychotic drugs (AAPDs) have been suggested to be more effective in improving cognitive impairment in schizophrenia than typical APDs, a conclusion supported by differences in receptor affinities and neurotransmitter efflux in the cortex and the hippocampus. More potent serotonin (5-HT)2A than dopamine (DA) D2 receptors antagonism, and direct or indirect 5-HT1A agonism, characterize almost all AAPDs. Blonanserin, an AAPD, has slightly greater affinity for D2 than 5-HT2A receptors.

Consumption of lead-shot cervid meat and blood lead concentrations in a group of adult Norwegians.

Several recent investigations have reported high concentrations of lead in samples of minced cervid meat. This paper describes findings from a Norwegian study performed in 2012 among 147 adults with a wide range of cervid game consumption. The main aim was to assess whether high consumption of lead-shot cervid meat is associated with increased concentration of lead in blood.

Prenatal mercury exposure and infant birth weight in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.

Objective: To examine the association between calculated maternal dietary exposure to Hg in pregnancy and infant birth weight in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).

Design: Exposure was calculated with use of a constructed database of Hg in food items and reported dietary intake during pregnancy. Multivariable regression models were used to explore the association between maternal Hg exposure and infant birth weight, and to model associations with small-for-gestational-age offspring.

Changes and tracking of fruit, vegetables and sugar-sweetened beverages intake from 18 months to 7 years in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study.

Background: A few studies have investigated tracking of dietary patterns or nutrient intake in pre-school children, but no studies have been identified examining tracking of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), fruit and vegetable intakes in early childhood (1-7 year olds). The purpose of this study was to investigate changes and tracking of intakes of fruit, vegetables and SSB, and association between maternal education and dietary tracking, from 18 months to 7 years of age.

Methods: Longitudinal data from the nation-wide Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study, conducted by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health were used, including 9025 children participating at three time points (18 months, 36 months and 7 years).

Translating the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist model of schizophrenia to treatments for cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.

The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonists, phencyclidine (PCP), dizocilpine (MK-801), or ketamine, given subchronically (sc) to rodents and primates, produce prolonged deficits in cognitive function, including novel object recognition (NOR), an analog of human declarative memory, one of the cognitive domains impaired in schizophrenia. Atypical antipsychotic drugs (AAPDs) have been reported to improve declarative memory in some patients with schizophrenia, as well as to ameliorate and prevent the NOR deficit in rodents following scNMDAR antagonist treatment. While the efficacy of AAPDs to improve cognitive impairment in schizophrenia (CIS) is limited, at best, and controversial, single doses of all currently available AAPDs so far tested transiently restore NOR in rodents following scNMDAR antagonist treatment.

Maternal and early postnatal nutrition and mental health of offspring by age 5 years: a prospective cohort study.

Objective: Diet quality is related to the risk for depression and anxiety in adults and adolescents; however, the possible impact of maternal and early postnatal nutritional exposures on children's subsequent mental health is unexplored.

Method: The large prospective Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study recruited pregnant women between 1999 and 2008. Data were collected from mothers during pregnancy and when children were 6 months and 1.

Dietary benzo(a)pyrene intake during pregnancy and birth weight: associations modified by vitamin C intakes in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).

Background: Maternal exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) during pregnancy has been associated with reduced fetal growth. However, the role of diet, the main source of PAH exposure among non-smokers, remains uncertain.

Objective: To assess associations between maternal exposure to dietary intake of the genotoxic PAH benzo(a)pyrene [B(a)P] during pregnancy and birth weight, exploring potential effect modification by dietary intakes of vitamins C, E and A, hypothesized to influence PAH metabolism.

Maternal dietary intake of dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls and birth size in the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).

Maternal diet not only provides essential nutrients to the developing fetus but is also a source of prenatal exposure to environmental contaminants. We investigated the association between dietary intake of dioxins and PCBs during pregnancy and birth size. The study included 50,651 women from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).