@article {130, title = {Elevated Polygenic Burden for Autism Spectrum Disorder Is Associated With the Broad Autism Phenotype in Mothers of Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder.}, journal = {Biol Psychiatry}, volume = {89}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 03 01}, pages = {476-485}, abstract = {

BACKGROUND: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a multifactorial neurodevelopmental disorder that encompasses a complex and heterogeneous set of traits. Subclinical traits that mirror the core features of ASD, referred to as the broad autism phenotype (BAP), have been documented repeatedly in unaffected relatives and are believed to reflect underlying genetic liability to ASD. The BAP may help inform the etiology of ASD by allowing the stratification of families into more phenotypically and etiologically homogeneous subgroups. This study explores polygenic scores related to the BAP.

METHODS: Phenotypic and genotypic information were obtained from 2614 trios from the Simons Simplex Collection. Polygenic scores of ASD (ASD-PGSs) were generated across the sample to determine the shared genetic overlap between the BAP and ASD. Maternal and paternal ASD-PGSs were explored in relation to BAP traits and their child{\textquoteright}s ASD symptomatology.

RESULTS: Maternal pragmatic language was related to child{\textquoteright}s social communicative atypicalities. In fathers, rigid personality was related to increased repetitive behaviors in children. Maternal (but not paternal) ASD-PGSs were related to the pragmatic language and rigid BAP domains.

CONCLUSIONS: Associations emerged between parent and child phenotypes, with more associations emerging in mothers than in fathers. ASD-PGS associations emerged with BAP in mothers only, highlighting the potential for a female protective factor, and implicating the polygenic etiology of ASD-related phenotypes in the BAP.

}, keywords = {Autism Spectrum Disorder, Autistic Disorder, Child, Fathers, Female, Humans, Male, Mothers, Phenotype}, issn = {1873-2402}, doi = {10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.08.029}, author = {Nayar, Kritika and Sealock, Julia M and Maltman, Nell and Bush, Lauren and Cook, Edwin H and Davis, Lea K and Losh, Molly} } @article {118, title = {Synaptic processes and immune-related pathways implicated in Tourette syndrome.}, journal = {Transl Psychiatry}, volume = {11}, year = {2021}, month = {2021 01 18}, pages = {56}, abstract = {

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder of complex genetic architecture involving multiple interacting genes. Here, we sought to elucidate the pathways that underlie the neurobiology of the disorder through genome-wide analysis. We analyzed genome-wide genotypic data of 3581 individuals with TS and 7682 ancestry-matched controls and investigated associations of TS with sets of genes that are expressed in particular cell types and operate in specific neuronal and glial functions. We employed a self-contained, set-based association method (SBA) as well as a competitive gene set method (MAGMA) using individual-level genotype data to perform a comprehensive investigation of the biological background of TS. Our SBA analysis identified three significant gene sets after Bonferroni correction, implicating ligand-gated ion channel signaling, lymphocytic, and cell adhesion and transsynaptic signaling processes. MAGMA analysis further supported the involvement of the cell adhesion and trans-synaptic signaling gene set. The lymphocytic gene set was driven by variants in FLT3, raising an intriguing hypothesis for the involvement of a neuroinflammatory element in TS pathogenesis. The indications of involvement of ligand-gated ion channel signaling reinforce the role of GABA in TS, while the association of cell adhesion and trans-synaptic signaling gene set provides additional support for the role of adhesion molecules in neuropsychiatric disorders. This study reinforces previous findings but also provides new insights into the neurobiology of TS.

}, issn = {2158-3188}, doi = {10.1038/s41398-020-01082-z}, author = {Tsetsos, Fotis and Yu, Dongmei and Sul, Jae Hoon and Huang, Alden Y and Illmann, Cornelia and Osiecki, Lisa and Darrow, Sabrina M and Hirschtritt, Matthew E and Greenberg, Erica and Muller-Vahl, Kirsten R and Stuhrmann, Manfred and Dion, Yves and Rouleau, Guy A and Aschauer, Harald and Stamenkovic, Mara and Schl{\"o}gelhofer, Monika and Sandor, Paul and Barr, Cathy L and Grados, Marco A and Singer, Harvey S and N{\"o}then, Markus M and Hebebrand, Johannes and Hinney, Anke and King, Robert A and Fernandez, Thomas V and Barta, Csaba and Tarnok, Zsanett and Nagy, Peter and Depienne, Christel and Worbe, Yulia and Hartmann, Andreas and Budman, Cathy L and Rizzo, Renata and Lyon, Gholson J and McMahon, William M and Batterson, James R and Cath, Danielle C and Malaty, Irene A and Okun, Michael S and Berlin, Cheston and Woods, Douglas W and Lee, Paul C and Jankovic, Joseph and Robertson, Mary M and Gilbert, Donald L and Brown, Lawrence W and Coffey, Barbara J and Dietrich, Andrea and Hoekstra, Pieter J and Kuperman, Samuel and Zinner, Samuel H and Wagner, Michael and Knowles, James A and Jeremy Willsey, A and Tischfield, Jay A and Heiman, Gary A and Cox, Nancy J and Freimer, Nelson B and Neale, Benjamin M and Davis, Lea K and Coppola, Giovanni and Mathews, Carol A and Scharf, Jeremiah M and Paschou, Peristera and Barr, Cathy L and Batterson, James R and Berlin, Cheston and Budman, Cathy L and Cath, Danielle C and Coppola, Giovanni and Cox, Nancy J and Darrow, Sabrina and Davis, Lea K and Dion, Yves and Freimer, Nelson B and Grados, Marco A and Greenberg, Erica and Hirschtritt, Matthew E and Huang, Alden Y and Illmann, Cornelia and King, Robert A and Kurlan, Roger and Leckman, James F and Lyon, Gholson J and Malaty, Irene A and Mathews, Carol A and McMahon, William M and Neale, Benjamin M and Okun, Michael S and Osiecki, Lisa and Robertson, Mary M and Rouleau, Guy A and Sandor, Paul and Scharf, Jeremiah M and Singer, Harvey S and Smit, Jan H and Sul, Jae Hoon and Yu, Dongmei and Aschauer, Harald Aschauer Harald and Barta, Csaba and Budman, Cathy L and Cath, Danielle C and Depienne, Christel and Hartmann, Andreas and Hebebrand, Johannes and Konstantinidis, Anastasios and Mathews, Carol A and M{\"u}ller-Vahl, Kirsten and Nagy, Peter and N{\"o}then, Markus M and Paschou, Peristera and Rizzo, Renata and Rouleau, Guy A and Sandor, Paul and Scharf, Jeremiah M and Schl{\"o}gelhofer, Monika and Stamenkovic, Mara and Stuhrmann, Manfred and Tsetsos, Fotis and Tarnok, Zsanett and Wolanczyk, Tomasz and Worbe, Yulia and Brown, Lawrence and Cheon, Keun-Ah and Coffey, Barbara J and Dietrich, Andrea and Fernandez, Thomas V and Garcia-Delgar, Blanca and Gilbert, Donald and Grice, Dorothy E and Hagstr{\o}m, Julie and Hedderly, Tammy and Heiman, Gary A and Heyman, Isobel and Hoekstra, Pieter J and Huyser, Chaim and Kim, Young Key and Kim, Young-Shin and King, Robert A and Koh, Yun-Joo and Kook, Sodahm and Kuperman, Samuel and Leventhal, Bennett L and Madruga-Garrido, Marcos and Mir, Pablo and Morer, Astrid and M{\"u}nchau, Alexander and Plessen, Kerstin J and Roessner, Veit and Shin, Eun-Young and Song, Dong-Ho and Song, Jungeun and Tischfield, Jay A and Willsey, A Jeremy and Zinner, Samuel and Aschauer, Harald and Barr, Cathy L and Barta, Csaba and Batterson, James R and Berlin, Cheston and Brown, Lawrence and Budman, Cathy L and Cath, Danielle C and Coffey, Barbara J and Coppola, Giovanni and Cox, Nancy J and Darrow, Sabrina and Davis, Lea K and Depienne, Christel and Dietrich, Andrea and Dion, Yves and Fernandez, Thomas and Freimer, Nelson B and Gilbert, Donald and Grados, Marco A and Greenberg, Erica and Hartmann, Andreas and Hebebrand, Johannes and Heiman, Gary and Hirschtritt, Matthew E and Hoekstra, Pieter and Huang, Alden Y and Illmann, Cornelia and Jankovic, Joseph and King, Robert A and Kuperman, Samuel and Lee, Paul C and Lyon, Gholson J and Malaty, Irene A and Mathews, Carol A and McMahon, William M and M{\"u}ller-Vahl, Kirsten and Nagy, Peter and Neale, Benjamin M and N{\"o}then, Markus M and Okun, Michael S and Osiecki, Lisa and Paschou, Peristera and Rizzo, Renata and Robertson, Mary M and Rouleau, Guy A and Sandor, Paul and Scharf, Jeremiah M and Schl{\"o}gelhofer, Monika and Singer, Harvey S and Stamenkovic, Mara and Stuhrmann, Manfred and Sul, Jae Hoon and Tarnok, Zsanett and Tischfield, Jay and Tsetsos, Fotis and Willsey, A Jeremy and Woods, Douglas and Worbe, Yulia and Yu, Dongmei and Zinner, Samuel} } @article {116, title = {Epidemiology of Functional Seizures Among Adults Treated at a University Hospital.}, journal = {JAMA Netw Open}, volume = {3}, year = {2020}, month = {2020 12 01}, pages = {e2027920}, abstract = {

Importance: Functional seizures (formerly psychogenic nonepileptic seizures), paroxysmal episodes that are often similar to epileptic seizures in their clinical presentation and display no aberrant brain electrical patterns, are understudied. Patients experience a long diagnostic delay, few treatment modalities, a high rate of comorbidities, and significant stigma due to the lack of knowledge about functional seizures.

Objective: To characterize the clinical epidemiology of a population of patients with functional seizures observed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC).

Design, Setting, and Participants: This case-control study included patients with functional seizures identified in the VUMC electronic health record (VUMC-EHR) system from October 1989 to October 2018. Patients with epilepsy were excluded from the study and all remaining patients in the VUMC medical center system were used as controls. In total, the study included 1431 patients diagnosed with functional seizures, 2251 with epilepsy and functional seizures, 4715 with epilepsy without functional seizures, and 502 200 control patients who received treatment at VUMC for a minimum of a 3 years. Data were analyzed from November 2018 to March 2020.

Exposure: Diagnosis of functional seizures, as identified from the VUMC-EHR system by an automated phenotyping algorithm that incorporated International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision (ICD-9) codes, International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision (ICD-10) codes, Current Procedural Terminology codes, and natural language processing.

Main Outcomes and Measures: Associations of functional seizures with comorbidities and risk factors, measured in odds ratios (ORs).

Results: Of 2 346 808 total patients in the VUMC-EHR aged 18 years or older, 3341 patients with functional seizures were identified (period prevalence, 0.14\%), 1062 (74.2\%) of whom were women and for which the median (interquartile range) age was 49.3 (39.4-59.9) years. This assessment replicated previously reported associations with psychiatric disorders including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (OR, 1.22; 95\% CI, 1.21-1.24; P < 3.02 {\texttimes} 10-5), anxiety (OR, 1.14; 95\% CI, 1.13-1.15; P < 3.02 {\texttimes} 10-5), and depression (OR, 1.14; 95\% CI, 1.13-1.15; P < 3.02 {\texttimes} 10-5), and identified novel associations with cerebrovascular disease (OR, 1.08; 95\% CI, 1.06-1.09; P < 3.02 {\texttimes} 10-5). An association was found between functional seizures and the known risk factor sexual assault trauma (OR, 10.26; 95\% CI, 10.09-10.44; P < 3.02 {\texttimes} 10-5), and sexual assault trauma was found to mediate nearly a quarter of the association between female sex and functional seizures in the VUMC-EHR.

Conclusions and Relevance: This case-control study found evidence to support previously reported associations, discovered new associations between functional seizures and PTSD, anxiety, and depression. An association between cerebrovascular disease and functional seizures was also found. Results suggested that sexual trauma may be a mediating factor in the association between female sex and functional seizures.

}, keywords = {Adult, Anxiety, Case-Control Studies, Comorbidity, Delayed Diagnosis, Depression, Female, Hospitals, University, Humans, Male, Mental Disorders, Middle Aged, Odds Ratio, Risk Factors, Seizures, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic}, issn = {2574-3805}, doi = {10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.27920}, author = {Goleva, Slavina B and Lake, Allison M and Torstenson, Eric S and Haas, Kevin F and Davis, Lea K} }