BACKGROUND Serotonin neurotransmission and limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (LHPA) axis hormones are thought to be involved in the reinforcement of alcohol intake and contribute to the risk for alcoholism. In humans and macaques, a promoter polymorphism that decreases transcription of the serotonin transporter gene is associated with anxiety and altered LHPA-axis responses to stress, and i...

The aim of the present observational study was to assess the value of the C825T polymorphism of the beta-3 subunit of G proteins (GNB3) as well as of variants in the SLC6A4 gene (5HTTLPR and STin2 VNTR) and DRD2 gene (TaqI A and NcoI) as predictive markers for consistency in headache response to triptans in migraine patients. Consistent responders to triptans were defined as the migraineurs who...

We tested the hypothesis that gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) alters the DNA methylation pattern of the fetal serotonin transporter gene (SLC6A4), and examined the functional relevance of DNA methylation for regulation of the SLC6A4 expression in the human placenta. The study included 50 mother-infant pairs. Eighteen mothers were diagnosed with GDM and 32 had normal glucose tolerance (NGT)....

24 The factors that influence the timing of puberty and the onset of adult fertility are poorly 25 understood. While focus on the juvenile period has provided insights into how growth-related 26 cues affect pubertal timing, growth velocity during infancy that is sustained into the juvenile 27 period may be important. On the other hand, social factors, specifically exposure to 28 psychosocial st...

The serotonin system plays a key modulatory role in central nervous system processes that appear to be dysregulated in psychiatric disorders. Specifically, the serotonin transporter (SERT) is thought to be critical to many aspects of emotional dysregulation, and has been a successful target for medications that treat several psychiatric disorders. Here, we narrowly focused on two psychiatric co...

We review the evidence on physiological correlates of volunteering, a neglected but promising field of research. Volunteers are in better health, both self-reported and assessed, and perform better on cognitive tasks. Research thus far has not examined neurological, neurochemical, hormonal and genetic correlates of volunteering. Studies on charitable giving suggest that these physiological char...

The historical split between the worlds of quantitative and molecular genetics happened over a century ago and was born of divided emphasis on naturally occurring variation in complex traits and species-typical phenomena (i.e., assuming all members of a species are genetically the same except for a few rogue mutations that disrupt normal processes), respectively (Plomin et al., 2003). This spli...

See related article, pages 2228–2233. In 1994 I hypothesized that “deficient central nervous system serotonergic function” is a neurobiological substrate that could account for the clustering of psychosocial, biological and behavioral characteristics that increase risk of developing cardiovascular disease.1 It is gratifying, therefore, to see in this issue of Stroke the report by Muldoon et al2...

s | 9 Purpose: We aimed to investigate the genetics of antidepressant response in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in two ethnic groups. Hypothesis: We postulated that different genetic variations across known OCD candidate genes may predict antidepressant response in OCD patients with different ethnic background. Method: We examined two independent and ethnically different OCD...

s | 9 Purpose: We aimed to investigate the genetics of antidepressant response in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in two ethnic groups. Hypothesis: We postulated that different genetic variations across known OCD candidate genes may predict antidepressant response in OCD patients with different ethnic background. Method: We examined two independent and ethnically different OCD...