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Deep Brain Stimulation for Substance Abuse
Abstract Substance abuse represents a significant public health issue, yet current standard treatments are largely ineffective. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery may offer an effective interventional approach to treat substance abuse by enabling direct manipulation of neural circuits. DBS has been successfully used in patients with movement disorders and, more recently, in select psychiatric conditions. The ability of DBS surgery to address addictive behavior, however, critically relies upon fundamental knowledge of reward pathways within the brain. Recent evidence has provided insight into those pathw...
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - March 6, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Neuroimaging Biomarkers for Psychosis
Conclusions Currently, few neuroimaging biomarkers can be considered ready for diagnostic use in patients with psychosis. At least in part, this may be related to the challenges inherent in the current symptom-based approach to classifying these disorders. While available studies suggest a possible value of imaging biomarkers for monitoring disease progression, more systematic research is needed. To date, the best value of imaging data in psychoses has been to shed light on questions of disease pathophysiology, especially through the characterization of endophenotypes. (Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports)
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - March 5, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Sexual Impulsivity in Hypersexual Men
Abstract Hypersexual behavior is an emerging construct that is receiving increased attention from both clinicians and researchers. Several theoretical perspectives exist about hypersexuality and its associated characteristics. Although the role of impulsivity and how it might be linked to hypersexuality are still being investigated, this article attempts to highlight some of the important concepts related to impulsivity and how they differ from compulsivity. Findings from the field of neuroscience and psychology are integrated to give readers a broader perspective about existing perspectives about the eti...
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - February 12, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Epidemiological Studies of Substance Dependence and Abuse in Adults
This article reviews published data on the distribution of alcohol and drug abuse and dependence in the USA. Published data shows that alcohol use disorders are more prevalent than illegal drug use disorders, although the persistence of both disorders was similar over a three-year follow-up period. Significant variability exists within sex, racial/ethnic, and age groups. Men, Native Americans, and young adults, aged 18 to 25, are at a higher risk of substance dependence. Environmental correlates of disorder include early environmental factors, political environment, and social contextual factors. Systematically identifying...
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - February 12, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Novel Treatments of Psychosis
Abstract Since the advent of chlorpromazine in the 1950s, D2 receptor antagonist activity has been synonymous with antipsychotic medications. This single mechanism of action may explain the similarities in efficacy among approved antipsychotics. Additionally, extrapyramidal and metabolic side effects of antipsychotics present a significant burden to patient quality of life. Development of the next generation of antipsychotics has focused on novel mechanisms of action including drugs that act through the N‐methyl‐d-aspartate (NMDA) system, modify second messenger activity, and modulate neuronal firing....
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - January 27, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Early Detection of Psychosis: Recent Updates from Clinical High-Risk Research
Abstract The debilitating nature of schizophrenia necessitates early detection of individuals at clinical high-risk (CHR) in order to facilitate early intervention. In particular, comparisons between those who develop fully psychotic features (CHR+) and those who do not (CHR−) offer the opportunity to reveal distinct risk factors for psychosis, as well as possible intervention target points. Recent studies have investigated baseline clinical, neurocognitive, neuroanatomic, neurohormonal, and psychophysiological predictors of outcome; premorbid social dysfunction, deficits in neurocognitive performance, ...
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - January 18, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Is Impulsivity a Male Trait Rather than Female Trait? Exploring the Sex Difference in Impulsivity
Abstract Impulsivity is raising major interest clinically because it is associated with various clinical conditions such as delinquency, antisocial behavior, suicide attempts, aggression, and criminal activity. The evolutionary perspective argued that impulsivity relates to self-regulation and it has predicted that female individuals should have evolved a greater ability to inhibit pre-potent responses. There is supportive evidence showing that female individuals have better performance on cognitive tasks measuring impulsivity such as delay in gratification and delayed discounting mainly in childhood. Dur...
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - January 14, 2015 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Pharmacotherapy of Alcohol and Drug Dependence
Abstract Advances in neurobiology have increased our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of drug and alcohol dependence and led to the development of medications to treat addictive disorders (Koob GF, Volkow ND. Neurocircuitry of addiction. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2010;35(1):217-38). Addictive disorders are increasingly recognized as medical conditions, influenced by genetic, biological and psychosocial factors, for which the optimal treatment combines both pharmacological and psychosocial therapies (McLellan AT, Lewis DC, O'Brien CP, Kleber HD. Drug dependence, a chronic medical illness...
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - November 13, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Genome-Wide Association Studies of Autism
Abstract Autism is a complex disease with many genetic factors contributing to the variable phenotype presentation. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) using large cohorts and dense datasets have revealed a myriad of genes implicated in autism. Several of these genes belong to common biological pathways and gene networks that converge on potential therapeutic targets. In this regard, CACNA, GRM, CNTN, ubiquitin, and SLIT gene families have shown promising variants in association with autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders. Both common and rare variants reside on these genes discovered primaril...
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - October 23, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Genome-Wide Analyses of Working-Memory Ability: A Review
Abstract Working memory, a theoretical construct from the field of cognitive psychology, is crucial to everyday life. It refers to the ability to temporarily store and manipulate task-relevant information. The identification of genes for working memory might shed light on the molecular mechanisms of this important cognitive ability and—given the genetic overlap between, for example, schizophrenia risk and working-memory ability—might also reveal important candidate genes for psychiatric illness. A number of genome-wide searches for genes that influence working memory have been conducted in recent year...
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - October 17, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Association of Transcription Factor 4 ( TCF4 ) variants with schizophrenia and intellectual disability
Abstract Genome wide association studies (GWAS) have revolutionized the study of complex diseases and have uncovered common genetic variants associated with an increased risk for major psychiatric disorders. A recently published schizophrenia GWAS replicated earlier findings implicating common variants in Transcription factor 4 (TCF4) as susceptibility loci for schizophrenia. By contrast, loss of function TCF4 mutations, although rare, cause Pitt-Hopkins syndrome (PTHS); a disorder characterized by intellectual disability (ID), developmental delay and behavioral abnormalities. TCF4 mutations have also bee...
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - October 7, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Alzheimer’s Disease Genetics
Abstract Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the leading cause of dementia, and each year the number of individuals suffering from its consequences continues to increase, yet current treatments only delay AD symptom progression and do not modify the underlying causes of the disease. Recently, the genetics of AD have been explored with increasing scope and intensity, revealing that while only a portion of AD is familial, genetics play a strong role even in the common, apparently sporadic cases of AD. Initially, autosomal dominant forms of AD were discovered in genes that are now considered central to the pathoge...
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - October 3, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Genetic Modifiers and Subtypes in Schizophrenia
Abstract The vast differences observed in clinical features of schizophrenia are undoubtedly mediated in part by genetic influences. Schizophrenia has been conceptualized as either a collection of disorders with overlapping features or a singular diagnostic entity with modifying influences giving rise to the observed range of manifestations. Accordingly, attempts to connect genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity have predominantly investigated the genetic foundations for clinically defined subgroups or explored the effects of putative risk genes on observed variation in schizophrenia. Some evidence exists t...
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - October 1, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

Genome-Wide Studies of Specific Language Impairment
Abstract Specific language impairment (SLI) is a multifactorial neurodevelopmental disorder which occurs unexpectedly and without an obvious cause. Over a decade of research suggests that SLI is highly heritable. Several genes and loci have already been implicated in SLI through linkage and targeted association methods. Recently, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of SLI and language traits in the general population have been reported and, consequently, new candidate genes have been identified. This review aims to summarise the literature concerning genome-wide studies of SLI. In addition, this review...
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - September 25, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research

GWAS, Cytomegalovirus Infection, and Schizophrenia
Abstract In recent years, good progress has been made in uncovering the genetic underpinnings of schizophrenia. Even so, as a polygenic disorder, schizophrenia has a complex etiology that is far from understood. Meanwhile, data are being collected enabling the study of interactions between genes and the environment. A confluence of data from genetic and environmental exposure studies point to the role of infections and immunity in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. In a recent study by Børglum et al., a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the gene CTNNA3 was identified that may provide clues to ge...
Source: Current Behavioral Neuroscience Reports - September 25, 2014 Category: Neuroscience Source Type: research