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Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that each last from days to weeks. If the elevated mood is severe or associated with psychosis, it is called mania; if it is less severe, it is called hypomania. During mania, an individual behaves or feels abnormally energetic, happy or irritable, and they often make impulsive decisions with little regard for the consequences. There is usually also a reduced need for sleep during manic phases. During periods of depression, the individual may experience crying and have a negative outlook on life and poor eye contact with others. The risk of suicide is high; over a period of 20 years, 6% of those with bipolar disorder died by suicide, while 30–40% engaged in self-harm. Other mental health issues, such as anxiety disorders and substance use disorders, are commonly associated with bipolar disorder.
A mental disorder is an impairment of the mind disrupting normal thinking, feeling, mood, behavior, or social interactions, and accompanied by significant distress or dysfunction. The causes of mental disorders are very complex and vary depending on the particular disorder and the individual. Although the causes of most mental disorders are not fully understood, researchers have identified a variety of biological, psychological, and environmental factors that can contribute to the development or progression of mental disorders. Most mental disorders result in a combination of several different factors rather than just a single factor.
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder subset in which people who typically have normal mental health throughout most of the year exhibit depressive symptoms at the same time each year. It is commonly, but not always, associated with the reductions in total daily sunlight hours that occur during the summer or winter.
Schizoaffective disorder is a mental disorder characterized by abnormal thought processes and an unstable mood. This diagnosis requires symptoms of both schizophrenia and a mood disorder: either bipolar disorder or depression. The main criterion is the presence of psychotic symptoms for at least two weeks without any mood symptoms. Schizoaffective disorder can often be misdiagnosed when the correct diagnosis may be psychotic depression, bipolar I disorder, schizophreniform disorder, or schizophrenia. This is a problem as treatment and prognosis differ greatly for most of these diagnoses.
Irritability is the excitatory ability that living organisms have to respond to changes in their environment. The term is used for both the physiological reaction to stimuli and for the pathological, abnormal or excessive sensitivity to stimuli.
Medical genetics is the branch of medicine that involves the diagnosis and management of hereditary disorders. Medical genetics differs from human genetics in that human genetics is a field of scientific research that may or may not apply to medicine, while medical genetics refers to the application of genetics to medical care. For example, research on the causes and inheritance of genetic disorders would be considered within both human genetics and medical genetics, while the diagnosis, management, and counselling people with genetic disorders would be considered part of medical genetics.
Vasopressin V1b receptor (V1BR) also known as vasopressin 3 receptor (VPR3) or antidiuretic hormone receptor 1B is a protein that in humans is encoded by the AVPR1B gene.
Christine Van Broeckhoven is a Belgian molecular biologist and professor in Molecular genetics at the University of Antwerp. She is also leading the VIB Department of Molecular Genetics, University of Antwerp of the Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB). Christine Van Broeckhoven does research on Alzheimer dementia, bipolar mental disorders and other neurological diseases. Since 1983 she has had her own laboratory for molecular genetics at the University of Antwerp, and since 2005 is focussing her research on neurodegenerative brain diseases. She is an associate editor of the scientific journal Genes, Brain and Behavior.
Neurotrophin-4 (NT-4), also known as neurotrophin-5 (NT-5), is a protein that in humans is encoded by the NTF4 gene. It is a neurotrophic factor that signals predominantly through the TrkB receptor tyrosine kinase.
SK3 also known as KCa2.3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the KCNN3 gene.
G-protein coupled receptor 143, also known as Ocular albinism type 1 (OA1) in humans, is a conserved integral membrane protein with seven transmembrane domains and similarities with G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) that is expressed in the eye and epidermal melanocytes. This protein encoded by the GPR143 gene, whose variants can lead to Ocular albinism type 1.
Wolframin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the WFS1 gene.
Cav1.1 also known as the calcium channel, voltage-dependent, L type, alpha 1S subunit, (CACNA1S), is a protein which in humans is encoded by the CACNA1S gene. It is also known as CACNL1A3 and the dihydropyridine receptor.
Vincent Timmerman is a Belgian scientist working at the VIB Department of Molecular Genetics at the University of Antwerp of Christine Van Broeckhoven. His research is focused on inherited disorders of the peripheral nervous system, classified as hereditary motor and/or sensory neuropathies and the most common inherited peripheral neuropathy is Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease or Hereditary Motor and Sensory Neuropathy (HMSN).
Rs6265, also called Val66Met or G196A, is a gene variation, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the BDNF gene that codes for brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) receptor 3B, also known as HTR3B, is a human gene. The protein encoded by this gene is a subunit of the 5-HT3 receptor.
Ankyrin-3 (ANK-3), also known as ankyrin-G, is a protein from ankyrin family that in humans is encoded by the ANK3 gene.
Neuronal growth regulator 1 also known as NEGR1 is a protein which in humans is encoded by the NEGR1 gene.
Cyclothymia, also known as cyclothymic disorder, psychothemia / psychothymia, bipolar III, affective personality disorder and cyclothymic personality disorder, is a mental and behavioural disorder that involves numerous periods of symptoms of depression and periods of symptoms of elevated mood. These symptoms, however, are not sufficient to indicate a major depressive episode or a manic episode. Symptoms must last for more than one year in children and two years in adults.
Calcium channel, voltage-dependent, alpha 2/delta subunit 4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the CACNA2D4 gene.
References
- ↑ Venken, T; Del-Favero, J (December 2007). "Chasing genes for mood disorders and schizophrenia in genetically isolated populations". Hum Mutat. 28 (12): 1156–70. doi:10.1002/humu.20582.
- ↑ Del-Favero, J; Gestel, SV; Børglum, AD; Muir, W; Ewald, H; Mors, O; Ivezic, S; Oruc, L; Adolfsson, R; Blackwood, D; Kruse, T; Mendlewicz, J; Schalling, M; Van Broeckhoven, C (April 2002). "European combined analysis of the CTG18.1 and the ERDA1 CAG/CTG repeats in bipolar disorder". Eur J Hum Genet. 10 (4): 276–80. doi: 10.1038/sj.ejhg.5200803 .
- ↑ Weckx, S; De Rijk, P; Van Broeckhoven, C; Del-Favero, J (February 2005). "SNPbox: a modular software package for large-scale primer design". Bioinformatics. 21 (3): 385–7. doi:10.1093/bioinformatics/bti006. PMID 15347573.
- ↑ Van Den Bogaert, A; Sleegers, K; De Zutter, S; Heyrman, L; Norrback, K; Adolfsson, R; Van Broeckhoven, C; Del-Favero, J (2006). "Association of Brain-Specific Tryptophan Hydroxylase, TPH2, With Unipolar and Bipolar Disorder in a Northern Swedish, Isolated Population". Arch Gen Psychiatry. 63: 1103–10. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.63.10.1103.
- ↑ Venken, T; Claes, S; Sluijs, S; Paterson; van Duijn, C; Adolfsson, R; Del-Favero, J; Van Broeckhoven, C (2005). "Genomewide scan for affective disorder susceptibility Loci in families of a northern Swedish isolated population". Am J Hum Genet. 76: 237–248. doi:10.1086/427836. PMC 1196369 . PMID 15614721.
- ↑ Researchers lift a corner of the veil of Depression [ permanent dead link ]
