Anxiety in children and youth: Part 1-Diagnosis.

Anxiety disorders are the most common mental health concerns affecting Canadian children and adolescents. The Canadian Paediatric Society has developed two position statements that summarize current evidence regarding the diagnosis and management of anxiety disorders. Both statements offer evidence-informed guidance to support paediatric health care providers (HCPs) making decisions around the care of children and adolescents with these conditions.

Delayed diagnosis of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder and autism spectrum disorder in a 14-year-old boy.

Psychiatric comorbidities are common among individuals with ARFID and may contribute to a failure to establish an accurate diagnosis, delayed diagnosis, and poor long-term prognosis, especially among children and adolescents.

DNA Methylation of the Oxytocin Receptor Across Neurodevelopmental Disorders.

Many neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) share common learning and behavioural impairments, as well as features such as dysregulation of the oxytocin hormone. Here, we examined DNA methylation (DNAm) in the 1st intron of the oxytocin receptor gene, OXTR, in patients with autism spectrum (ASD), attention deficit and hyperactivity (ADHD) and obsessive compulsive (OCD) disorders. DNAm of OXTR was assessed for cohorts of ASD (blood), ADHD (saliva), OCD (saliva), which uncovered sex-specific DNAm differences compared to neurotypical, tissue-matched controls.

Serotonin system gene variants and regional brain volume differences in pediatric OCD.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is phenotypically heterogeneous and genetically complex. This study aimed to reduce heterogeneity using structural brain imaging to study putative intermediate phenotypes for OCD. We hypothesized that select serotonin gene variants would differ in their relationship with brain volume in specific regions of the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuits between OCD patients and controls.

Glutamate Genetics in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Review.

Objective: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is common and debilitating with patients exhibiting persistent intrusive thoughts (obsessions), repetitive ritualistic behaviours (compulsions) and anxiety. While it is known that OCD is highly heritable, the specific genetic risk factors for OCD are still largely unknown. The etiology of OCD has also not been fully elucidated but there is growing evidence that glutamate signaling dysfunction in the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuitry plays a role in its pathogenesis.

Uncovering obsessive-compulsive disorder risk genes in a pediatric cohort by high-resolution analysis of copy number variation.

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a heterogeneous neuropsychiatric condition, thought to have a significant genetic component. When onset occurs in childhood, affected individuals generally exhibit different characteristics from adult-onset OCD, including higher prevalence in males and increased heritability. Since neuropsychiatric conditions are associated with copy number variations (CNVs), we considered their potential role in the etiology of OCD.

Multilocus loss of DNA methylation in individuals with mutations in the histone H3 lysine 4 demethylase KDM5C.

Background: A number of neurodevelopmental syndromes are caused by mutations in genes encoding proteins that normally function in epigenetic regulation. Identification of epigenetic alterations occurring in these disorders could shed light on molecular pathways relevant to neurodevelopment.

Results: Using a genome-wide approach, we identified genes with significant loss of DNA methylation in blood of males with intellectual disability and mutations in the X-linked KDM5C gene, encoding a histone H3 lysine 4 demethylase, in comparison to age/sex matched controls.

Assessment of methylation level prediction accuracy in methyl-DNA immunoprecipitation and sodium bisulfite based microarray platforms.

In this study, we verified the accuracy of two array methods--methylated DNA immunoprecipitation coupled with CpG island microarrays (MeDIP-CGI-arrays) and sodium bisulfite conversion based microarrays (BC-arrays)--in predicting regional methylation levels as measured by pyrosequencing of bisulfite converted DNA (BC-pyrosequencing). To test the accuracy of these methods we used the Agilent Human CpG island and the Illumina HumanMethylation27 microarrays respectively, and compared microarray outputs to the data from targeted BC-pyrosequencing assays from several genomic regions of corresponding samples. We observed relatively high correlation with BC-pyrosequencing data for both array platforms, R = 0.