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McGeary JE, Benca-Bachman CE, Risner VA, Beevers CG, Gibb BE, Palmer RHC. Associating broad and clinically defined polygenic scores for depression with depression-related phenotypes. Sci Rep 2023; 13:6534. [PMID: 37085695 PMCID: PMC10121555 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-33645-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/11/2022] [Accepted: 04/16/2023] [Indexed: 04/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Twin studies indicate that 30-40% of the disease liability for depression can be attributed to genetic differences. Here, we assess the explanatory ability of polygenic scores (PGS) based on broad- (PGSBD) and clinical- (PGSMDD) depression summary statistics from the UK Biobank in an independent sample of adults (N = 210; 100% European Ancestry) who were extensively phenotyped for depression and related neurocognitive traits (e.g., rumination, emotion regulation, anhedonia, and resting frontal alpha asymmetry). The UK Biobank-derived PGSBD had small associations with MDD, depression severity, anhedonia, cognitive reappraisal, brooding, and suicidal ideation but only the association with suicidal ideation remained statistically significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. Similarly small associations were observed for the PGSMDD but none remained significant after correcting for multiple comparisons. These findings provide important initial guidance about the expected effect sizes between current UKB PGSs for depression and depression-related neurocognitive phenotypes.
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Affiliation(s)
- John E McGeary
- Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Providence, RI, USA
| | - Chelsie E Benca-Bachman
- Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Providence, RI, USA.
- Behavioral Genetics of Addiction Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.
| | - Victoria A Risner
- Behavioral Genetics of Addiction Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
| | | | - Brandon E Gibb
- Department of Psychology State, University of New York at Binghamton, Binghamton, NY, USA
| | - Rohan H C Palmer
- Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Providence, RI, USA
- Behavioral Genetics of Addiction Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Emory University, 36 Eagle Row, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA
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Huffmeijer R, Bakermans‐Kranenburg MJ, Gervain J. Maternal intrusiveness predicts infants' event-related potential responses to angry and happy prosody independent of infant frontal asymmetry. INFANCY 2020; 25:246-263. [PMID: 32362788 PMCID: PMC7188314 DOI: 10.1111/infa.12327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2018] [Revised: 01/31/2020] [Accepted: 02/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Infants' social-cognitive skills first develop within the parent-infant relationship, but large differences between parents exist in the way they approach and interact with their infant. These may have important consequences for infants' social-cognitive development. The current study investigated effects of maternal sensitive and intrusive behavior on 6- to 7-month-old infants' ERP responses to a socio-emotional cue that infants are often confronted with from an early age: emotional prosody in infant-directed speech. Infants may differ in their sensitivity to environmental (including parenting) influences on development, and the current study also explored whether infants' resting frontal asymmetry conveys differential susceptibility to effects of maternal sensitivity and intrusiveness. Results revealed that maternal intrusiveness was related to the difference in infants' ERP responses to happy and angry utterances. Specifically, P2 amplitudes in response to angry sounds were less positive than those in response to happy sounds for infants with less intrusive mothers. Whether this difference reflects an enhanced sensitivity to emotional prosody or a (processing) preference remains to be investigated. No evidence for differential susceptibility was found, as infant frontal asymmetry did not moderate effects of sensitivity or intrusiveness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rens Huffmeijer
- Laboratiore Psychologie de la PerceptionUniversité Paris DescartesParisFrance
- Faculty of Social and Behavioral SciencesLeiden UniversityLeidenThe Netherlands
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC)Leiden UniversityLeidenThe Netherlands
| | - Marian J. Bakermans‐Kranenburg
- Leiden Institute for Brain and Cognition (LIBC)Leiden UniversityLeidenThe Netherlands
- Department of Clinical Child and Family StudiesAmsterdam Public HealthVrije UniversiteitAmsterdamThe Netherlands
| | - Judit Gervain
- Laboratiore Psychologie de la PerceptionUniversité Paris DescartesParisFrance
- Laboratiore Psychologie de la PerceptionCNRSParisFrance
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3
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Poole KL, Schmidt LA. Early‐ and later‐developing shyness in children: An investigation of biological and behavioral correlates. Dev Psychobiol 2019; 62:644-656. [DOI: 10.1002/dev.21937] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2019] [Revised: 10/01/2019] [Accepted: 10/10/2019] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Kristie L. Poole
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour McMaster University Hamilton ON Canada
| | - Louis A. Schmidt
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour McMaster University Hamilton ON Canada
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Marino C, Riva V, Mornati G, Piazza C, del Giudice R, Dionne G, Molteni M, Cantiani C. Postnatal maternal symptoms of depression and child emotion dysregulation: The mediation role of infant EEG alpha asymmetry. Infant Behav Dev 2019; 57:101321. [DOI: 10.1016/j.infbeh.2019.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2018] [Revised: 04/11/2019] [Accepted: 04/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Markovic A, Achermann P, Rusterholz T, Tarokh L. Heritability of Sleep EEG Topography in Adolescence: Results from a Longitudinal Twin Study. Sci Rep 2018; 8:7334. [PMID: 29743546 PMCID: PMC5943340 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-25590-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2018] [Accepted: 04/16/2018] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
The topographic distribution of sleep EEG power is a reflection of brain structure and function. The goal of this study was to examine the degree to which genes contribute to sleep EEG topography during adolescence, a period of brain restructuring and maturation. We recorded high-density sleep EEG in monozygotic (MZ; n = 28) and dizygotic (DZ; n = 22) adolescent twins (mean age = 13.2 ± 1.1 years) at two time points 6 months apart. The topographic distribution of normalized sleep EEG power was examined for the frequency bands delta (1-4.6 Hz) to gamma 2 (34.2-44 Hz) during NREM and REM sleep. We found highest heritability values in the beta band for NREM and REM sleep (0.44 ≤ h2 ≤ 0.57), while environmental factors shared amongst twin siblings accounted for the variance in the delta to sigma bands (0.59 ≤ c2 ≤ 0.83). Given that both genetic and environmental factors are reflected in sleep EEG topography, our results suggest that topography may provide a rich metric by which to understand brain function. Furthermore, the frequency specific parsing of the influence of genetic from environmental factors on topography suggests functionally distinct networks and reveals the mechanisms that shape these networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andjela Markovic
- University Hospital of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
| | - Peter Achermann
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Neuroscience Center Zurich, University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Zurich Center for Interdisciplinary Sleep Research, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Thomas Rusterholz
- University Hospital of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
| | - Leila Tarokh
- University Hospital of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland.
- Institute of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
- Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
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Savage JE, Sawyers C, Roberson-Nay R, Hettema JM. The genetics of anxiety-related negative valence system traits. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 2017; 174:156-177. [PMID: 27196537 PMCID: PMC5349709 DOI: 10.1002/ajmg.b.32459] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2015] [Accepted: 05/05/2016] [Indexed: 01/11/2023]
Abstract
NIMH's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) domain of negative valence systems (NVS) captures constructs of negative affect such as fear and distress traditionally subsumed under the various internalizing disorders. Through its aims to capture dimensional measures that cut across diagnostic categories and are linked to underlying neurobiological systems, a large number of phenotypic constructs have been proposed as potential research targets. Since "genes" represent a central "unit of analysis" in the RDoC matrix, it is important for studies going forward to apply what is known about the genetics of these phenotypes as well as fill in the gaps of existing knowledge. This article reviews the extant genetic epidemiological data (twin studies, heritability) and molecular genetic association findings for a broad range of putative NVS phenotypic measures. We find that scant genetic epidemiological data is available for experimentally derived measures such as attentional bias, peripheral physiology, or brain-based measures of threat response. The molecular genetic basis of NVS phenotypes is in its infancy, since most studies have focused on a small number of candidate genes selected for putative association to anxiety disorders (ADs). Thus, more research is required to provide a firm understanding of the genetic aspects of anxiety-related NVS constructs. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeanne E. Savage
- Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
| | - Chelsea Sawyers
- Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
| | - Roxann Roberson-Nay
- Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA,Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
| | - John M. Hettema
- Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA,Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA
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Frontal brain asymmetry, childhood maltreatment, and low-grade inflammation at midlife. Psychoneuroendocrinology 2017; 75:152-163. [PMID: 27829190 PMCID: PMC5289285 DOI: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2016.10.026] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2016] [Revised: 10/07/2016] [Accepted: 10/27/2016] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
Abstract
Frontal EEG asymmetry is thought to reflect variations in affective style, such that greater relative right frontal activity at rest predicts enhanced emotional responding to threatening or negative stimuli, and risk of depression and anxiety disorders. A diathesis-stress model has been proposed to explain how this neuro-affective style might predispose to psychopathology, with greater right frontal activity being a vulnerability factor especially under stressful conditions. Less is known about the extent to which greater relative right frontal activity at rest might be associated with or be a diathesis for deleterious physical health outcomes. The present study examined the association between resting frontal EEG asymmetry and systemic, low-grade inflammation and tested the diathesis-stress model by examining whether childhood maltreatment exposure interacts with resting frontal asymmetry in explaining inflammation. Resting EEG, serum inflammatory biomarkers (interleukin-6, C-reactive protein, and fibrinogen) and self-reported psychological measures were available for 314 middle-aged adults (age M=55.3years, SD=11.2, 55.7% female). Analyses supported the diathesis-stress model and revealed that resting frontal EEG asymmetry was significantly associated with inflammation, but only in individuals who had experienced moderate to severe levels of childhood maltreatment. These findings suggest that, in the context of severe adversity, a trait-like tendency towards greater relative right prefrontal activity may predispose to low-grade inflammation, a risk factor for conditions with inflammatory underpinnings such as coronary heart disease.
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Goldstein BL, Shankman SA, Kujawa A, Torpey-Newman DC, Olino TM, Klein DN. Developmental changes in electroencephalographic frontal asymmetry in young children at risk for depression. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2016; 57:1075-82. [PMID: 27138464 PMCID: PMC4990483 DOI: 10.1111/jcpp.12567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/14/2016] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND A number of studies have reported that depression is associated with lower relative left frontal activity in the alpha band (i.e. frontal asymmetry, or FA), as measured by electroencephalogram. FA has also been hypothesized to be a vulnerability marker for depression. If this is the case, FA should be evident in offspring of depressed mothers, a group at elevated risk for depression. However, the results of previous offspring studies have been inconsistent and none of these studies has considered whether the relationship between FA and risk changes over development in children. METHOD We assessed FA twice, at ages 3 and 6, in 253 never depressed children from a community sample. Maternal history of depressive disorders was determined by a diagnostic interview completed by the mothers at the first assessment. RESULTS There was a significant interaction between maternal depression and offspring age at assessment, indicating that FA exhibits different developmental trajectories depending on level of familial risk for depression. Offspring of depressed mothers exhibited a decreasing relative left FA over the course of early childhood, while offspring of nondepressed mothers exhibited relatively similar, symmetrical, levels of frontal alpha activity at both assessment points. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest that changes in FA from early to middle childhood distinguish those at risk for depression and that cross-sectional assessment of FA may have limited value in understanding risk. These results highlight the importance of considering development in understanding the role of FA in depression.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Autumn Kujawa
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Illinois at Chicago, IL
| | | | - Thomas M. Olino
- Department of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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Douet V, Chang L, Cloak C, Ernst T. Genetic influences on brain developmental trajectories on neuroimaging studies: from infancy to young adulthood. Brain Imaging Behav 2015; 8:234-50. [PMID: 24077983 DOI: 10.1007/s11682-013-9260-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/07/2023]
Abstract
Human brain development has been studied intensively with neuroimaging. However, little is known about how genes influence developmental brain trajectories, even though a significant number of genes (about 10,000, or approximately one-third) in the human genome are expressed primarily in the brain and during brain development. Interestingly, in addition to showing differential expression among tissues, many genes are differentially expressed across the ages (e.g., antagonistic pleiotropy). Age-specific gene expression plays an important role in several critical events in brain development, including neuronal cell migration, synaptogenesis and neurotransmitter receptor specificity, as well as in aging and neurodegenerative disorders (e.g., Alzheimer disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis). In addition, the majority of psychiatric and mental disorders are polygenic, and many have onsets during childhood and adolescence. In this review, we summarize the major findings from neuroimaging studies that link genetics with brain development, from infancy to young adulthood. Specifically, we focus on the heritability of brain structures across the ages, age-related genetic influences on brain development and sex-specific developmental trajectories.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vanessa Douet
- Department of Medicine, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI, 96813, USA,
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10
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Niv S, Ashrafulla S, Tuvblad C, Joshi A, Raine A, Leahy R, Baker LA. Childhood EEG frontal alpha power as a predictor of adolescent antisocial behavior: a twin heritability study. Biol Psychol 2015; 105:72-6. [PMID: 25456277 PMCID: PMC4685041 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2014.11.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2013] [Revised: 10/31/2014] [Accepted: 11/22/2014] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
High EEG frontal alpha power (FAP) is thought to represent a state of low arousal in the brain, which has been related in past research to antisocial behavior (ASB). We investigated a longitudinal sample of 900 twins in two assessments in late childhood and mid-adolescence to verify whether relationships exist between FAP and both aggressive and nonaggressive ASB. ASB was measured by the Child Behavioral Checklist, and FAP was calculated using connectivity analysis methods that used principal components analysis to derive power of the most dominant frontal activation. Significant positive predictive relationships emerged in males between childhood FAP and adolescent aggressive ASB using multilevel mixed modeling. No concurrent relationships were found. Using bivariate biometric twin modeling analysis, the relationship between childhood FAP and adolescent aggressive ASB in males was found to be entirely due to genetic factors, which were correlated r=0.22.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharon Niv
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, United States.
| | - Syed Ashrafulla
- Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, United States
| | - Catherine Tuvblad
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, United States; School of Law, Psychology and Social Work, Örebro University, Sweden
| | - Anand Joshi
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Signal and Image Processing Institute, Brain and Creativity Institute, University of Southern California, United States
| | - Adrian Raine
- Departments of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, United States
| | - Richard Leahy
- Departments of Electrical Engineering, Biomedical Engineering, and Radiology, University of Southern California, United States
| | - Laura A Baker
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, United States
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Goldstein BL, Klein DN. A review of selected candidate endophenotypes for depression. Clin Psychol Rev 2014; 34:417-27. [PMID: 25006008 DOI: 10.1016/j.cpr.2014.06.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 74] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2013] [Revised: 06/08/2014] [Accepted: 06/12/2014] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Endophenotypes are proposed to occupy an intermediate position in the pathway between genotype and phenotype in genetically complex disorders such as depression. To be considered an endophenotype, a construct must meet a set of criteria proposed by Gottesman and Gould (2003). In this qualitative review, we summarize evidence for each criterion for several putative endophenotypes for depression: neuroticism, morning cortisol, frontal asymmetry of cortical electrical activity, reward learning, and biases of attention and memory. Our review indicates that while there is strong support for some depression endophenotypes, other putative endophenotypes lack data or have inconsistent findings for core criteria.
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12
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Genetic psychophysiology: advances, problems, and future directions. Int J Psychophysiol 2014; 93:173-97. [PMID: 24739435 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2014.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2013] [Revised: 02/10/2014] [Accepted: 04/07/2014] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
This paper presents an overview of historical advances and the current state of genetic psychophysiology, a rapidly developing interdisciplinary research linking genetics, brain, and human behavior, discusses methodological problems, and outlines future directions of research. The main goals of genetic psychophysiology are to elucidate the neural pathways and mechanisms mediating genetic influences on cognition and emotion, identify intermediate brain-based phenotypes for psychopathology, and provide a functional characterization of genes being discovered by large association studies of behavioral phenotypes. Since the initiation of this neurogenetic approach to human individual differences in the 1970s, numerous twin and family studies have provided strong evidence for heritability of diverse aspects of brain function including resting-state brain oscillations, functional connectivity, and event-related neural activity in a variety of cognitive and emotion processing tasks, as well as peripheral psychophysiological responses. These data indicate large differences in the presence and strength of genetic influences across measures and domains, permitting the selection of heritable characteristics for gene finding studies. More recently, candidate gene association studies began to implicate specific genetic variants in different aspects of neurocognition. However, great caution is needed in pursuing this line of research due to its demonstrated proneness to generate false-positive findings. Recent developments in methods for physiological signal analysis, hemodynamic imaging, and genomic technologies offer new exciting opportunities for the investigation of the interplay between genetic and environmental factors in the development of individual differences in behavior, both normal and abnormal.
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The Southern California Twin Register at the University of Southern California: III. Twin Res Hum Genet 2013; 16:336-43. [PMID: 23394193 DOI: 10.1017/thg.2012.127] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
The Southern California Twin Register at the University of Southern California (USC) was initiated in 1984 and continues to provide an important resource for studies investigating genetic and environmental influences on human behavior. This article provides an update on the current register and its potential for future twin studies using recruitment through school district databases and voter records. An overview is also provided for an ongoing longitudinal twin study investigating the development of externalizing psychopathology from childhood to young adulthood, the USC Study of Risk Factors for Antisocial Behavior. Characteristics of the twins and their families are presented, including recruitment and participation rates, as well as attrition analyses and a summary of key findings to date.
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Schmidt LA, Miskovic V. A New Perspective on Temperamental Shyness: Differential Susceptibility to Endoenvironmental Influences. SOCIAL AND PERSONALITY PSYCHOLOGY COMPASS 2013. [DOI: 10.1111/spc3.12014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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An integrative assessment of the psychophysiologic alterations in young women with recurrent major depressive disorder. Psychosom Med 2012; 74:495-500. [PMID: 22408133 DOI: 10.1097/psy.0b013e31824d0da0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 49] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Alterations in neuroelectrical activities coincide with major depressive disorder (MDD). This study examines the pattern of cerebral activity and cardiac autonomic parameters of euthymic women with recurrent MDD. METHODS Resting electroencephalograms and electrocardiograms were recorded from 20 women with MDD receiving escitalopram and 40 matched and healthy women. We computed frontal alpha asymmetry to evaluate the interhemispheric balance. Parameters of heart rate variability were extracted to assess cardiac autonomic control. Sample entropy was used to assess the complexity of neurocardiac dynamics. The relationship between cardiovagal activity and alpha electroencephalogram was examined with a coherence analysis. RESULTS Multivariable analysis of variance revealed a differential pattern of psychophysiologic variables between MDD patients and controls (p = .03). MDD was associated with a tendency toward lower left frontal activity (-0.06 [standard deviation = 0.14] versus 0.04 [0.17] lnμV(2), p = .04). Discriminant analysis demonstrated more right frontal activation, a lower high-frequency heart rate power spectrum, and a higher ratio of the low- to high-frequency heart rate power spectrum in patients with MDD compared with controls. Residual depressive symptoms (r = -0.09 to 0.11, p = .63-.99) and escitalopram dosage (r = -0.09 to 0.28, p = .22-.84) were not correlated with autonomic measures. Coherence between normalized high-frequency component of the heart rate power spectrum and alpha power was not significant (F3, p = .27; F4, p = .16). CONCLUSIONS Euthymic women with recurrent MDD have a distinctive psychophysiologic profile. This profile may reflect altered frontal activation and a reduced cardiovagal tone in depression.
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Schmidt LA, Fox NA, Perez-Edgar K, Hamer DH. Linking gene, brain, and behavior: DRD4, frontal asymmetry, and temperament. Psychol Sci 2009; 20:831-7. [PMID: 19493320 DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2009.02374.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 51] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Gene-environment interactions involving exogenous environmental factors are known to shape behavior and personality development. Although gene-environment interactions involving endogenous environmental factors are hypothesized to play an equally important role, this conceptual approach has not been empirically applied in the study of early-developing temperament in humans. Here we report evidence for a gene-endoenvironment (i.e., resting frontal brain electroencephalogram, EEG, asymmetry) interaction in predicting child temperament. The dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene (long allele vs. short allele) moderated the relation between resting frontal EEG asymmetry (left vs. right) at 9 months and temperament at 48 months. Children who exhibited left frontal EEG asymmetry at 9 months and who possessed the DRD4 long allele were significantly more soothable at 48 months than other children. Among children with right frontal EEG asymmetry at 9 months, those with the DRD4 long allele had significantly more difficulties focusing and sustaining attention at 48 months than those with the DRD4 short allele. Resting frontal EEG asymmetry did not influence temperament in the absence of the DRD4 long allele. We discuss how the interaction of genetic and endoenvironmental factors may confer risk and protection for different behavioral styles in children.
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Affiliation(s)
- Louis A Schmidt
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience & Behaviour, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L8S 4K1, Canada.
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