Psychopaths, platypus, mammalian infants - REM sleep but no dreams may indicate white matter disconnect.

Wednesday, June 4th, 2008

Last January I wondered if psychopaths dream — and noted that the only mammal (or maybe one of the few mammals) that doesn’t dream is a platypus. This post follows up, with a discussion of the “Platypus Defense” as part of the murder trial of Hans Reiser. Plus platypus genome and microRNA and transposable elements [...]

The Post-Smoking Society: Smokers - quick - band together and sell your genomes.

Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

The anti-smoking drug Chantix is in the news for having significant side-effects — which brings up a conundrum: which is worse, the drug or the addiction?
New research shows the nature and the environment: (a) some people are clearly genetically loaded to smoke; and (b)  when people quit, they quit in groups of three.
Which brings up [...]

Sperm donor donates Fragile X premutation: Time for national genetic screening of gamete donations?

Thursday, March 27th, 2008

Alice with the dormouse
Sperm donation is an area full of unknowns: there really are few laws or regulations, and how would you enforce them anyway? We probably need some kind of national regulatory authority on this one — the cost to the children born is simply too large.
So, not surprisingly perhaps, a girl child [...]

Serotonin in Finland and Russia: correlates with hostility and drinking.

Thursday, February 14th, 2008

Here’s three papers (full citations and links, scroll down), two from Finland and one from Russia. These deal with being mean and drinking. And serotonin.
People have alcohol to loosen up, to remove inhibitions, to relax. But what about people who pick fights when they’re drunk? Are they tightly wound and naturally hostile — an [...]

Antisocial Genetic Type for ADHD has genetic variant for using up dopamine more quickly than normal

Thursday, February 7th, 2008

About 3000+ children diagnosed with ADHD were then tracked for many years to see if they developed antisocial behavior. The children were also genotyped as to a particular gene, the catechol O-methyltransferase gene (COMT) gene. The COMT gene is known to have variants associated with schizophrenia and other conditions involving trouble with cognition.
Lo [...]

Genetics: 200 family members having dementia-mutation studied for 13 years

Wednesday, January 16th, 2008

Brain. 2008 Jan;131(Pt 1):72-89. Epub 2007 Dec 7., “The tauopathy associated with mutation +3 in intron 10 of Tau: characterization of the MSTD family,” Spina S, Farlow MR, Unverzagt FW, Kareken DA, Murrell JR, Fraser G, Epperson F,Crowther RA, Spillantini MG, Goedert M, Ghetti B., Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School [...]

Hapmap update: Evolution speeding up; schizophrenia DNA very homozygous and looks like recessive selection

Sunday, December 30th, 2007

Which is better, for genes to change or for them to stay the same?
Is it better to evolve or devolve?
According to new hapmap data, evolution is accelerating with increasing human density and migration. We are evolving more quickly since the Pleistocene, according to a recent report in PNAS by Hawkes et al. Most of [...]

Fragile X is possibly fixable!

Thursday, December 20th, 2007

Neuron — Dölen et al.
New report: Potential relief for Fragile X sufferers.
Fragile X can be simulated in a mouse if you knock out a gene (FMR1). If you further block a receptor — called mGlu5 (metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 or MGR5) — the behavioral symptoms can altered. In the mouse model, the could genetically [...]

Neurological Correlates: Going on Anti-Depressants and Thinking “I’d rather be dead”

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

Cruickshank, George, “Suicide”
“A young woman has jumped from a bridge; two onlookers are standing on the bridge in upper right corner; ship masts are visible in lower left beneath the arch of the bridge through which shines a full moon.”
Regarding suicide - from the US CDC:
• Among young adults ages 15 to 24 years [...]

More Seven Deadly Sins: Gluttony

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007

Sardinia!

Sardinia, Satellite Photo (Wikipedia, Sardinia entry)

Sardinia, a beautiful gem of an island off the coast of Italy, known for gorgeous beaches, glamorous holidays, $2M birthday parties, and lately known for studying the genetics of its inhabitants. The population is considered an isolated one, like Icelandic populations, and therefore presumably more genetically homogeneous than [...]