A NOS-III haplotype that includes functional polymorphisms is associated with bipolar disorder

A NOS-III haplotype that includes functional polymorphisms is associated with bipolar disorder.

The pleiotropic messenger molecule nitric oxide (NO) has been implicated in a variety of higher CNS functions, including learning, memory, and emotionality. In the human brain, NO is predominantly formed by neuronal NO synthase (NOS-I), while the so-called 'endothelial' isoform NOS-III also contributes to NO generation. We recently reported that NOS-III knockout mice display decreased adult neu...

Functional Profiling of Single- Nucleotide Polymorphisms Associated with Bipolar Disorder

Valuing happiness is associated with bipolar disorder.

Although people who experience happiness tend to have better psychological health, people who value happiness to an extreme tend to have worse psychological health, including more depression. We propose that the extreme valuing of happiness may be a general risk factor for mood disturbances, both depressive and manic. To test this hypothesis, we examined the relationship between the extreme val...

CACNA1C hypermethylation is associated with bipolar disorder

The CACNA1C gene, encoding a subunit of the L-type voltage-gated calcium channel is one of the best-supported susceptibility genes for bipolar disorder (BD). Genome-wide association studies have identified a cluster of non-coding single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in intron 3 to be highly associated with BD and schizophrenia. The mechanism by which these SNPs confer risk of BD appears to be...

Sleep Disturbances in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: A Comparison between Bipolar I and Bipolar NOS

INTRODUCTION The diagnosis of bipolar disorder (BD) in youths has been controversial, especially for the subtype BD not otherwise specified (BD-NOS). In spite of growing evidence that sleep is a core feature of BD, few studies characterize and compare sleep disturbances in youth with BD type I (BD-I) and BD-NOS. Sleep disturbances are frequently reported in clinical descriptions of children and...