How the Poor are Getting Poorer: The Proliferation of Payday Loans in Texas via State Charter Renting

This Comment focuses on the nature of payday loans in Texas, including what a payday loan is, its cost to borrowers, and a brief discussion of how the payday loan industry is thriving. In order to understand these problems, a review of the relevant Texas usury laws as well as Texas statutes and the scope of their coverage as they relate to payday loans will be examined. Furthermore, the most favored lender doctrine as well as the exportation doctrine will be discussed, as these two doctrines permit payday lenders to avoid Texas law. Then, the unique relationship between payday lenders and federally regulated, state-chartered banks will be analyzed, as the nature of this relationship raises several concerns. Possible reforms include prohibiting lenders from being able to target the economically disadvantaged, and legislation that would impose severe penalties on lenders who take advantage of borrowers. In addition, a number of solutions will be proposed, which include (1) having the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) properly regulate the state-chartered banks they insure, (2) creating new Texas law that, instead of attacking the usurious interest rates, seeks to eliminate the practice of payday lending in Texas, and (3) providing borrowers with low credit an alternative to payday loans that does not trap them in a cycle of debt

How the Poor are Getting Poorer: The Proliferation of Payday Loans in Texas via State Charter Renting.

Abstract Forthcoming

2D:4D ratios in the first 2years of life: Stability and relation to testosterone exposure and sensitivity

The relative lengths of the 2nd and 4th digits (2D:4D) may provide an easily measurable and stable anthropometric index of prenatal androgen exposure, but no study has examined the development of 2D:4D in infancy and the potential impact of neonatal testosterone levels. We collected 2D:4D ratios from 364 children between 0 and 2 years of age. Saliva samples were collected from 236 of these children 3 months after birth and analyzed for testosterone. In addition, 259 children provided DNA samples which were genotyped for the CAG repeat polymorphism in the androgen receptor. There was substantial variability across age in 2D:4D. Sex differences were small compared to adults and did not consistently reach statistical significance. This suggests that 2D:4D may not function well as a proxy measure of prenatal testosterone exposure in infancy. In addition, the interaction of salivary T and CAG repeats predicted right hand digit ratio at 12 months and left hand digit ratio at 12 months and 24 months in males. The interaction of salivary testosterone and CAG repeat length also predicted change in left hand 2D:4D from 2 weeks to 12 months in males. This suggests that 2D:4D in adults may reflect, in part, neonatal testosterone exposure. No significant relationships were observed within females. No significant relationships were observed when salivary testosterone and CAG repeats were examined independent of each other. Results have important implications for the design and interpretation of studies which use 2D:4D as a proxy measure of prenatal testosterone exposure

A searchable database of genetic evidence for psychiatric disorders

This paper describes a new bioinformatic tool for use in psychiatric research, “SLEP” (Sullivan Lab Evidence Project). SLEP is a searchable archive of findings from psychiatric genetics that is freely available on the web for non-commercial use (http://slep.unc.edu). Via a simple interface, users can retrieve findings from genomewide linkage, genomewide association, and microarray studies for ADHD, autism, bipolar disorder, eating disorders, major depression, nicotine dependence, and schizophrenia. Findings can be save to disk or viewed via a genome browser

A framework for interpreting genome-wide association studies of psychiatric disorders

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have yielded a plethora of new findings in the past 3 years. By early 2009, GWAS on 47 samples of subjects with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder and schizophrenia will be completed. Taken together, these GWAS constitute the largest biological experiment ever conducted in psychiatry (59 000 independent cases and controls, 7700 family trios and >40 billion genotypes). We know that GWAS can work, and the question now is whether it will work for psychiatric disorders. In this review, we describe these studies, the Psychiatric GWAS Consortium for meta-analyses of these data, and provide a logical framework for interpretation of some of the conceivable outcomes

No association of the serotonin transporter polymorphisms 5-HTTLPR and RS25531 with schizophrenia or neurocognition

A promoter polymorphism in the serotonin transporter gene has been widely studied in neuropsychiatry. We genotyped the 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 triallelic polymorphism in 728 schizophrenia cases from the CATIE study and 724 control subjects. In a logistic regression with case/control status as dependent variable and 7 ancestry-informative principal components as covariates, the effect of 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 composite genotype was not significant (odds ratio = 1.008, 95% CI 0.868-1.172, P = 0.91). In cases only, 5-HTTLPR/rs25531 was not associated with neurocognition (summary neurocognitive index P = 0.21, working memory P = 0.32) or symptomatology (PANSS positive P = 0.67 and negative symptoms P = 0.46). We were unable to identify association of the triallelic 5-HTTLPR with schizophrenia, neurocognition, or core psychotic symptoms even at levels of significance unadjusted for multiple comparisons

A Survey of Genomic Studies Supports Association of Circadian Clock Genes with Bipolar Disorder Spectrum Illnesses and Lithium Response

Circadian rhythm abnormalities in bipolar disorder (BD) have led to a search for genetic abnormalities in circadian “clock genes” associated with BD. However, no significant clock gene findings have emerged from genome-wide association studies (GWAS). At least three factors could account for this discrepancy: complex traits are polygenic, the organization of the clock is more complex than previously recognized, and/or genetic risk for BD may be shared across multiple illnesses. To investigate these issues, we considered the clock gene network at three levels: essential “core” clock genes, upstream circadian clock modulators, and downstream clock controlled genes. Using relaxed thresholds for GWAS statistical significance, we determined the rates of clock vs. control genetic associations with BD, and four additional illnesses that share clinical features and/or genetic risk with BD (major depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit/hyperactivity). Then we compared the results to a set of lithium-responsive genes. Associations with BD-spectrum illnesses and lithium-responsiveness were both enriched among core clock genes but not among upstream clock modulators. Associations with BD-spectrum illnesses and lithium-responsiveness were also enriched among pervasively rhythmic clock-controlled genes but not among genes that were less pervasively rhythmic or non-rhythmic. Our analysis reveals previously unrecognized associations between clock genes and BD-spectrum illnesses, partly reconciling previously discordant results from past GWAS and candidate gene studies

Increased de novo copy number variants in the offspring of older males

The offspring of older fathers have an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism. In light of the evidence implicating copy number variants (CNVs) with schizophrenia and autism, we used a mouse model to explore the hypothesis that the offspring of older males have an increased risk of de novo CNVs. C57BL/6J sires that were 3- and 12–16-months old were mated with 3-month-old dams to create control offspring and offspring of old sires, respectively. Applying genome-wide microarray screening technology, 7 distinct CNVs were identified in a set of 12 offspring and their parents. Competitive quantitative PCR confirmed these CNVs in the original set and also established their frequency in an independent set of 77 offspring and their parents. On the basis of the combined samples, six de novo CNVs were detected in the offspring of older sires, whereas none were detected in the control group. Two of the CNVs were associated with behavioral and/or neuroanatomical phenotypic features. One of the de novo CNVs involved Auts2 (autism susceptibility candidate 2), and other CNVs included genes linked to schizophrenia, autism and brain development. This is the first experimental demonstration that the offspring of older males have an increased risk of de novo CNVs. Our results support the hypothesis that the offspring of older fathers have an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders such as schizophrenia and autism by generation of de novo CNVs in the male germline