Publications by authors named "R J L Anney"
Recent research has highlighted the role of complement genes in shaping the microstructure of the brain during early development, and in contributing to common allele risk for Schizophrenia. We hypothesised that common risk variants for schizophrenia within complement genes will associate with structural changes in white matter microstructure within tracts innervating the frontal lobe. Results showed that risk alleles within the complement gene set, but also intergenic alleles, significantly predict axonal density in white matter tracts connecting frontal cortex with parietal, temporal and occipital cortices.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Copy number variations (CNVs) conferring risk for mental disorders are associated with brain changes and cognitive deficits. However, whether these effects are shared or distinct across CNVs remains untested. Here we compared the effects on brain morphometry and cognitive performance across CNVs with shared psychiatric liability.
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- The study focuses on postpartum depression (PPD), a hereditary form of major depressive disorder, using genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to explore its genetic basis across various populations.
- It analyzed data from 18,770 PPD cases and 58,461 controls, finding no single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that met genome-wide significance, though it highlighted significant genetic correlations with other mental health conditions.
- The findings suggest that PPD is polygenic and heritable, potentially involving unique genetic factors despite its close relationship with major depressive disorder and implicate specific brain neurons associated with its treatment.
Article Synopsis
- Over 100 genes are linked to autism, but the prevalence of rare genetic variants in people without an autism diagnosis is not well understood.
- This study analyzed data from over 13,000 individuals with autism and 210,000 without, finding that rare loss-of-function variants in autism-associated genes negatively impact intelligence, education, and income.
- Brain imaging data showed no significant anatomical differences related to these variants, suggesting a need for more research on how genetic factors influence individual experiences beyond autism diagnosis.