The Etiology of Stability and Change in Religious Values and Religious Attendance

Studies have demonstrated little to no heritability for adolescent religiosity but moderate genetic, shared environmental, and nonshared environmental influences on adult religiosity. Only one longitudinal study of religiosity in female twins has been conducted (Koenig et al., Dev Psychol 44:532?C543, 2008), and reported that persistence from mid to late adolescence is due to shared environmental factors, but persistence from late adolescence to early adulthood was due to genetic and shared environmental factors. We examined the etiology of stability and change in religious values and religious attendance in males and females during adolescence and early adulthood. The heritability of both religious values and religious attendance increased from adolescence to early adulthood, although the increase was greater for religious attendance. Both genetic and shared environmental influences contributed to the stability of religious values and religious attendance across adolescence and young adulthood. Change in religious values was due to both genetic and nonshared environmental influences specific to early adulthood, whereas change in religious attendance was due in similar proportions to genetic, shared environmental, and non-shared environmental influences.     

Awards Presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the BEHAVIOR GENETICS ASSOCIATION

Announcement

Awards Presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the BEHAVIOR GENETICS ASSOCIATION Thursday, June 9th, Hotel Viking, Newport, RI, USA     

The lymphotoxin Cys13Arg polymorphism and cognitive functioning in individuals with schizophrenia

Genetic factors that modulate the immune response have been implicated as risk factors for schizophrenia and cognitive impairment. We assessed the correlation between cognitive functioning and the LTA Cys13Arg polymorphism in 351 individuals with schizophrenia, 122 with bipolar disorder, and 160 controls. There was a significant association between cognitive functioning and the LTA Cys13Arg polymorphism within the schizophrenia (p<0.008) but not the other diagnostic groups. There was no association between cognitive functioning and the two other polymorphisms in the same gene complex. The LTA Cys13Arg polymorphism may represent a risk factor for cognitive impairment in individuals with schizophrenia.     

C-reactive protein is associated with the severity of cognitive impairment but not of psychiatric symptoms in individuals with schizophrenia

OBJECTIVES: We investigated the association between serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a marker of inflammation, and the severity of psychopathology and cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. METHODS: We measured the levels of CRP in N=413 individuals with schizophrenia. Symptom severity was evaluated with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and cognitive functioning with the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS). RESULTS: The individuals with CRP >or=5.0 mg/microl had significantly lower RBANS cognitive scores than those with CRP <5.0 mg/microl (F=8.07, p<.005). However the CRP groups did not differ in the severity of positive, negative, or general PANSS symptoms (all p>.2). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated serum levels of C-reactive protein in schizophrenia are associated with the severity of cognitive impairment but not of psychiatric symptoms. The long term consequences of elevated levels of CRP require further investigation.     

Dietary energy density increases during early childhood irrespective of familial predisposition to obesity: results from a prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE: This study compared 4-year changes in daily energy density (ED; kcal/g) in children born at different risk for obesity, characterized the stability of ED and examined associations between ED and child body composition. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study to measure habitual dietary ED of children who are born at different risk for obesity. SUBJECTS: Children who were born at high risk (n=22) or low risk (n=27) for obesity based on maternal pre-pregnancy weight. MEASUREMENTS: Three-day food records were collected from children's mothers at child ages 3, 4, 5 and 6 years. Three categories of ED were computed (food only, food and milk, and food and all beverages) and body composition assessed at each year.Results:The mean (+/-s.e.m.) ED increased over time across all children (linear trend: P<0.003): 2.18+/-0.07 to 2.32+/-0.06 kcal/g (food only); 1.66+/-0.07 to 1.82+/-0.06 kcal/g (food and milk); and 1.24+/-0.04 to 1.37+/-0.05 kcal/g (food and all beverages). Intraindividual coefficients of variation were smaller than those previously reported for adults. Weight indices were not correlated with dietary ED (P>0.05). CONCLUSION: Dietary ED increased in young children, irrespective of their predisposition to obesity, between the ages of 3 and 6 years. The genes that promote childhood obesity may not exert their influence through dietary ED, which may be more strongly influenced by environmental factors.     

Association between cognitive functioning, exposure to Herpes Simplex Virus type 1, and the COMT Val158Met genetic polymorphism in adults without a psychiatric disorder

Previous studies have documented that serologic evidence of infection with the neurotropic human herpesvirus Herpes Simplex Virus type 1 (HSV-1) is associated with increased levels of cognitive dysfunction in individuals with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The catechol-o-methyl transferase (COMT) Val158Met polymorphism has also been associated with cognitive dysfunction in individuals with psychiatric disorders as well as in some control populations. We examined whether these factors are independently associated with cognitive functioning in adults without a history of a psychiatric disorder. A total of 240 individuals were evaluated with the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). We measured IgG antibodies to HSV-1 by enzyme immunoassay and employed real time PCR to measure COMT Val158Met genotypes. Serological evidence of HSV-1 was significantly associated with a lower RBANS total score independent of demographic factors and the COMT Val158Met genotype. The strongest association between cognitive functioning and serological evidence of HSV-1 infection was with the domain of delayed memory. Serological evidence of HSV-1 infection was associated with an 18-fold increased odds of having a severe impairment in this domain. The Val/Val genotype of the COMT Val158Met polymorphism was also significantly associated with the RBANS total score and with a moderate decrease in the domain of attention. Infections with HSV-1 and the COMT Val158Val genotype are risk factors for cognitive deficits in non-elderly persons without a psychiatric disorder.     

Item response theory analysis of DSM-IV cannabis abuse and dependence criteria in adolescents

Objective:To examine three aspects of adolescent cannabis problems: do DSM-IV cannabis abuse and dependence criteria represent two different levels of severity of substance involvement, to what degree do each of the 11 abuse and dependence criteria assess adolescent cannabis problems, and do the DSM-IV items function similarly across different adolescent populations?Method:We examined 5,587 adolescents ages 11 to 19, including 615 youths in treatment for substance use disorders, 179 adjudicated youths, and 4,793 youths from the community. All of the subjects were assessed with a structured diagnostic interview. Item response theory was used to analyze symptom endorsement patterns.Results:Abuse and dependence criteria were not found to represent different levels of severity of problem cannabis use in any of the samples. Among the 11 abuse and dependence criteria, problems cutting down and legal problems were the least informative for distinguishing problem users. Two dependence criteria and three of the four abuse criteria indicated different severities of cannabis problems across samples.Conclusions:We found little evidence to support the idea that abuse and dependence are separate constructs for adolescent cannabis problems. Furthermore, certain abuse criteria may indicate severe substance problems, whereas specific dependence items may indicate less severe problems. The abuse items in particular need further study. These results have implications for the refinement of the current substance use disorder criteria for DSM-V.     

Elevated ratio of maternal plasma ApoCIII to ApoCII in preeclampsia

Preeclampsia is a hypertensive disorder unique to pregnancy. Although the pathogenesis of the disease begins with aberrant spiral artery invasion in the first trimester, clinical symptoms usually do not present until late in pregnancy. Apolipoprotein CII (ApoCII) and its negative regulator, apolipoprotein CIII (ApoCIII), have recently been described as atherogenesis biomarkers in models of cardiovascular disease. Given the similarities in pathology, etiology, and clinical presentation between cardiovascular disease and preeclampsia, we hypothesized that the ratio of ApoCIII to ApoCII in maternal first trimester plasma would predict preeclampsia later in pregnancy. To test this hypothesis, plasma was prospectively collected from 311 nulliparas at 8 to 12 weeks gestation. After delivery, patients were divided into cohorts based on preeclampsia diagnosis. Conditioning monocytes with preeclamptic plasma potentiated monocyte adhesion to endothelial cells in an in vitro model. The ratio of ApoCIII to ApoCII was significantly elevated in patients with severe preeclampsia relative to normotensive and gestational hypertensive individuals (P < .05) as determined by mass spectrometry and competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) assays. These results support a predictive change in the ratio of ApoCIII to ApoCII in pregnancies complicated by severe preeclampsia.