Bipolar Disorder Daily News Blog

Bipolar Disorder and Attitudes Toward Having Children

A new study out of Australia which will appear in the journal Psychological Medicine has found that over a third of relatives of people with bipolar disorder are afraid to have children. The reason for their fear seems mainly to be stigma associated with the disorder. Despite a lower risk as compared to other genetic disorders, bipolar disorder aroused a more negative attitude from the 200 people who participated in the study, which was conducted at University of New South Wales. Even more surprising is that over half of the participants suffer from bipolar disorder themselves. Researchers state that studies Read more...

New Psychiatric Genomics Center Established

The Stanley Center for Psychiatric Genomics is a new research center opened by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory with a $25 million endowment from the Stanley Medical Research Institute. The new center will focus its research on understanding the genetics of disorders, such as Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia. The center will begin by comparing large numbers of people's genome sequences in hopes that they will be able to identify those genetic factors responsible in creating these mental illnesses. This type of focus couldn't have come at a better time; genetic components of Bipolar disorder seem to be on the brink with Read more...

New Gene Identification That Provides Clues to The Differences Between Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder

A new article published in this month's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences outlines gene variations found in people suffering from schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The goal of this study was to determine more specifically the differences between these two psychiatric disorders. Finding differences in genes would hopefully lead the way to new, better, treatments. Currently many drugs created for one of these disorders is also used for the other; with often less than ideal results. Read more...

Brain Holds Clues To Bipolar Disorder

Looking into the brain is yielding vital clues to understanding, diagnosing and treating bipolar disorder, according to findings being presented today at the Seventh International Conference on Bipolar Disorder. Two studies, featured in a press briefing held June 7, have helped to identify novel pathways and markers for diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The first study, presented by Husseini K. Manji, M.D., chief of the Laboratory of Molecular Pathophysiology at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), suggests that bipolar disorder arises from abnormalities in neuronal plasticity cascades – the complex machinery inside of nerve cells that regulates numerous Read more...

Bipolar Disorder Genetic Basis Identified by First Genome-wide study of illness

The likelihood of developing bipolar disorder depends in part on the environment, but also a genetic risk based on the combined, small effects of variations in many different genes in the brain, none of which is powerful enough to cause the disease by itself, a new study shows. However, targeting the enzyme produced by one of these genes could lead to development of new, more effective medications. The research was conducted by scientists at the National Institutes of Health's National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), with others from the Universities of Heidelberg and Bonn and a number of U.S. facilities Read more...

Plan for New Research on Genetics and Bipolar Disorder

The Zucker Hillside Hospital campus of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and a team of researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) plan to collaborate on research to identify key genes in the onset of Bipolar Disorder. The studies will last 2 to 3 years, and will focus on early onset Bipolar Disorder by focusing on children diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and their parents. The research group will be headed by James Watson, PhD, a noble prize winner who co-discovered the DNA molecule. Read more...

An Excellent Bipolar Genetics Blog

There is an excellent new blog (written by psychiatric genetics researcher Ben Pickard) that is focused on bipolar disorder genetics. In the blog Ben (and other writers) review many recent journal articles on the genetics of bipolar, and other brain disorders - in a way that for many people should be understandable (or at least most of it will be). If you want to learn more about bipolar disorder genetics then this blog is a good place to visit. The blog is rather technical -- so perhaps its most appropriate for college students interested in learning more about the area. Read more...

New Bipolar Disorder Risk Gene Identified (Slynar)

University College London (UK) has announced that they believe that they've discovered a new gene that increases the risk for both depression and bipolar disorder. The collaboration, led by Professor Hugh Gurling at University College London (UCL) and Professor Ole Mors at the University of Aarhus, first looked at bipolar cases in families living in the UK and in Denmark, and then at large numbers of unrelated people with bipolar disorder. The results of the genetic searches, published in the October issue of the American Journal of Psychiatry, identified the gene - known as Slynar - which is found on Read more...

Genetic Makeup of Aggression & Bipolar Disorder

Mice have long been used for studying human diseases, behavior, and our biology due to the fact that they have a surprisingly similar genetic makeup to us. Scientists have gone even farther now by studying the ability to change one's behavior due to genetic manipulation. In 2002, researchers at the University of British Columbia's Centre for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics accidentally made a form of highly aggressive mice. The scientists unintentionally deleted a gene that influences their brain development. The absence of this gene led to the mice becoming vicious towards their caretakers as well as the other mice that Read more...