[tips] Time To Learn About Voltage-Gated Calcium-Channel Signaling
A psychiatric research study just published in "The Lancet" focuses on the common genetic basis for five psychiatric disorders. A popular media account is provided by Medscape though this news is rapidly being disseminated through many outlets. Quoting from the Medscape article: |Investigators from the Cross-Disorder Group of the Psychiatric |Genomics Consortium have found that autism spectrum disorder |(ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar |disorder (BD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia |share common genetic risk factors. | |Specifically, the results of the genome-wide association study |(GWAS) reveal single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in |2 genes - CACNA1C and CACNB2 - both of which |are involved in the balance of calcium in brain cells, are |implicated in several of these disorders, and could provide |a potential target for new treatments. | |"This analysis provides the first genome-wide evidence that |individual and aggregate molecular genetic risk factors are |shared between 5 childhood-onset or adult-onset psychiatric |disorders that are treated as distinct categories in clinical |practice," study investigator Jordan Smoller, MD, Massachusetts |General Hospital, Boston, said in a release. And: |The investigators add that the study results "implicate a specific |biological pathway - voltage-gated calcium-channel signalling - |as a contributor to the pathogenesis of several psychiatric disorders, |and support the potential of this pathway as a therapeutic target |for psychiatric disease." http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/779979 So, is replicated and supported, these results may change how we think that these disorders develop -- though I imagine that a diathesis-stress model might be needed to explain certain specific disorders -- and suggest new treatments that may have little to do with the medications that we use today. One wonders whether psychotherapy will also be altered as a result. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=23996 or send a blank email to leave-23996-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
re:[tips] Some movement disorders may be rooted in the brain............................ Well, duh!
On Wed, 27 Feb 2013 05:25:15 -0800, Edward Pollak wrote: [snip] 1) I don't think it's at all trivial to acjknowledge that all behavior is rooted in brain activity. Yeah, except for the spinal reflexes and other monosynaptic reflexes that don't involve the brain in the behavioral response like in the patellar reflex. See: http://michaeldmann.net/mann15.html Witness the number of unapologetic dualists publishing at a prolific rate and by the use of terms like "psychogenic." I don't even know what you're trying to say here except that you disagree with some how some researchers use language. 2) I had thought that the entire notion of functional vs. organic illness was long defunct. If you have a copy of DSM-IV handy, look at the entry for "somatoform disorders". There is currently much debate about how such a group of disorders should be included in DSM-V. Remember, if a medical condition has a well understood biological basis and a person presents with the condition but doesn't have the biological basis, what do you attribute their symptoms to? The person's condition is functionally similar to that of a person with an identifiable biological basis but apparently is based on some other basis, historically, on psychological processes -- processes that could lead to the simulation of the condition. See, for example: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17278912 and http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3044887/ NOTE: if one can explain symptoms through the use of psychological processes, such as attention focusing, symptom catastrophizing, and so on, then it seems most reasonable to assume that some form of psychological therapy would be appropriate instead of medical treatment. The article that Ed originally linked to was attempting to show that there was a neurological anomaly in processing associated with the movement disorder. Many researchers are now trying to demonstrate this through neuroimaging or other brain activity measures (e.g., EEG) with "functional" disorders. Consider the case of "hysterical blindness", that is, a person claims total or partial blindness but has no detectable problem with the eyes, the areas of the brain associated with visual processing and so on. Here is one case study that was published in 2011: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21368085 NOTE: measures of brain activity before and after SUCCESSFUL treatment with psychodynamic therapy of the condition suggest that there are some subtle neural processing differences. For the complete article, see: http://cercor.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/10/2394.long The real problem here, as I see it, is that functional disorders are treated differently from organic disorders by INSURANCE COMPANIES because there is no parity between payment for psychological treatment and medical treatment. Once parity is achieved, purely scientific issues can be focused on. (And just for the record, I was making fun of the headline in the popular press and not of the research in question.) Methinks that you should have said this in your original post. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=23991 or send a blank email to leave-23991-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
re:[tips] Some movement disorders may be rooted in the brain............................ Well, duh!
Mike Palij wriote, "I'm having a hard time understanding Ed's post. Perhaps he is saying "Hey, the movement/muscle disorder either it has a neurological basis in the brain or it is psychological based (i.e., psychogenic) and that's too is in brain! It's all in the brain!" Which is a pretty trivial point and misses, well, the point. Perhaps Ed doesn't know what psychogenic illnesses are (e.g., as described here: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/psychogenic_movement/psychogenic_movement.htm ) that is, disorders that manifest themselves in some physical manner, such a abnormal movement or blindness or pain or fatigue and so on without any obvious organic or physical basis. If there is no organic basis, then either a psychological explanation or malingering might be considered. These types of "functional" disorders are often stigmatized by both the medical community (because there is no objective basis for the disorder) and the public (who think that the person is just faking it for some sort of secondary gain). The point of the research being reported is that movement disorders that have a genetic (i.e., known organic) basis and psychogenic basis have brain activity that is different from normal people just "faking". If this is trivial, I'd like to know why." 1) I don't think it's at all trivial to acjknowledge that all behavior is rooted in brain activity. Witness the number of unapologetic dualists publishing at a prolific rate and by the use of terms like "psychogenic." 2) I had thought that the entire notion of functional vs. organic illness was long defunct. Defining an illness as "functional" (i.e., not organic) simply because you don't know the biological basis is, IMO, patently absurd. When I was an undergraduate, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, etc., etc., were all considered "functional" disorders. Only things like Korsakoff's syndrome or general paresis were trotted out as examples of disorders with an "organic basis." The organic causes of "functional" or "psychogenic" disorders may be less obvious but they are there. (And just for the record, I was making fun of the headline in the popular press and not of the research in question.) Ed Edward I. Pollak, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus of Psychology West Chester University of Pennsylvania http://home.comcast.net/~epollak/ Husband, father, grandfather, bluegrass fiddler, banjoist & biopsychologist... in approximate order of importance --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: arch...@jab.org. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=23989 or send a blank email to leave-23989-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
