Evidence for the role of EPHX2 gene variants in anorexia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) and related eating disorders are complex, multifactorial neuropsychiatric conditions with likely rare and common genetic and environmental determinants. To identify genetic variants associated with AN, we pursued a series of sequencing and genotyping studies focusing on the coding regions and upstream sequence of 152 candidate genes in a total of 1205 AN cases and 1948 controls. We identified individual variant associations in the Estrogen Receptor-ß (ESR2) gene, as well as a set of rare and common variants in the Epoxide Hydrolase 2 (EPHX2) gene, in an initial sequencing study of 261 early-onset severe AN cases and 73 controls (P=0.0004). The association of EPHX2 variants was further delineated in: (1) a pooling-based replication study involving an additional 500 AN patients and 500 controls (replication set P=0.00000016); (2) single-locus studies in a cohort of 386 previously genotyped broadly defined AN cases and 295 female population controls from the Bogalusa Heart Study (BHS) and a cohort of 58 individuals with self-reported eating disturbances and 851 controls (combined smallest single locus P<0.01). As EPHX2 is known to influence cholesterol metabolism, and AN is often associated with elevated cholesterol levels, we also investigated the association of EPHX2 variants and longitudinal body mass index (BMI) and cholesterol in BHS female and male subjects (N=229) and found evidence for a modifying effect of a subset of variants on the relationship between cholesterol and BMI (P<0.01). These findings suggest a novel association of gene variants within EPHX2 to susceptibility to AN and provide a foundation for future study of this important yet poorly understood condition

Life beyond the eating disorder: Education, relationships, and reproduction

We investigated sociodemographic characteristics in women with and without lifetime eating disorders

The significance of repetitive hair-pulling behaviors in eating disorders

We studied the relation between intrusive and repetitive hair-pulling, the defining feature of trichotillomania, and compulsive and impulsive features in 1453 individuals with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. We conducted a series of regression models examining the relative influence of compulsive features associated with obsessive compulsive disorder; compulsive features associated with eating disorders; trait features related to harm avoidance, perfectionism and novelty seeking; and self harm. A final model with a reduced sample (n=928) examined the additional contribution of impulsive attributes. One out of 20 individuals endorsed hair-pulling. Evidence of a positive association with endorsement of compulsive behavior of the obsessive compulsive spectrum emerged. Hair-pulling may be more consonant with ritualistic compulsions than impulsive urges in those with eating disorders

Sexual abuse in eating disorder subtypes and control women: The role of comorbid substance dependence in bulimia nervosa

Abstract: Objective: The relationship between sexual abuse and eating disorders remains uncertain. Recent data have raised the possibility of differential rates of sexual abuse among subtypes of eating disorders. Methods: We studied women with three subtypes of eating disorders: (1) 26 anorexia nervosa subjects (AN); (2) 20 bulimia nervosa subjects with comorbid substance dependence (BN+SDD); and (3) 27 bulimia nervosa subjects without substance dependence (BN−SDD). We compared women with these eating disorder subtypes to 44 control women (CW). Sexual abuse rates and diagnoses were assessed through direct structured interviews. Results: We found an order effect for sexual abuse which was most common (65%) in BN+SDD subjects, followed by a rate of 37% in BN−SDD subjects and 23% in AN subjects. Subjects of all eating disorder subtypes had significantly higher rates of sexual abuse compared to a rate of 7% in CW subjects. Discussion: Women with BN+SDD had the highest frequency and the most severe history of sexual abuse. However, the causal relationship between eating disorders and sexual abuse remains to be elucidated

The genetics of anorexia nervosa collaborative study: Methods and sample description

OBJECTIVE: Supported by National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), this 12-site international collaboration seeks to identify genetic variants that affect risk for anorexia nervosa (AN). METHOD: Four hundred families will be ascertained with two or more individuals affected with AN. The assessment battery produces a rich set of phenotypes comprising eating disorder diagnoses and psychological and personality features known to be associated with vulnerability to eating disorders. RESULTS: We report attributes of the first 200 families, comprising 200 probands and 232 affected relatives. CONCLUSION: These results provide context for the genotyping of the first 200 families by the Center for Inherited Disease Research. We will analyze our first 200 families for linkage, complete recruitment of roughly 400 families, and then perform final linkage analyses on the complete cohort. DNA, genotypes, and phenotypes will form a national eating disorder repository maintained by NIMH and available to qualified investigators

Designing disorder: spatial ordering and ethno-religious conflicts in Jos metropolis, North-Central Nigeria

This paper interrogates the connection between colonial administrative policies, its urban planning strategies and contemporary conflicts in an African city. Urban design can shed light on the socio-political processes in the evolution of the city in Africa. Apart from the master-servant relationship that characterized Euro-African relationship in the built environment, colonial regularization, and rationalization of urban space foregrounded power relations between different African groups in the city. This promoted struggles for space between different African groups – indigenes and settlers. Relying on interviews, focus group discussions and archival sources, this article discusses the ways in which historical forces and colonialism, in this case, colonial administrative policies and urban planning ethos, promoted a certain spatial ordering and power relations among disparate racial, ethnic and religious groups and the grievances they invigorated underlie nascent ethno-religious conflicts in Jos. It does so because conventional explanations in the mushrooming literature on urban conflicts and violence in Nigeria have all too often presented the conflicts as though they are recent developments, inspired by the consequences of structural adjustment programme, resurgence of identity politics and the politics of local government creation.https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rppe202021-06-30hj2020Political Science